Challenging BehaviorBeginning to Make a Plan

Susan Hill M. Ed ECSE

Outline of Session• REVIEW the essentials

– Challenging behavior for infants and toddlers• Who are these children?• What do we know?• Why do we respond? • What happens if we don’t resolve the behavior?

– Communication and behavior• Relationship between behavior and

communication• Acting out and social withdrawing behaviors

exhibited by infants & toddlers– Form and Function

• The iceberg concept

Outline• What do we do about challenging behaviors?

– Review the pyramid– Review the pyramid with a focus on the particular

child and family– Focus on the child to develop a plan

• Observe• Learn• Respond

Outline

• Develop A Plan– Short term (start today)

• Gather information• Observe, Learn, Respond• Partner with parents• Develop a consistent, workable plan

– Intensive, individualized intervention (October)

CSEFEL Definition of Challenging Behavior

What we are referring to when we say “challenging behavior:”

• Any repeated pattern of behavior that interferes with learning or engagement in pro-social interactions with peers and adults

• Behaviors that are not responsive to the use of developmentally appropriate guidance procedures

REMEMBER

• There are not a lot of infants & toddlers who exhibit challenging behavior as defined by CSEFEL.

and

• Behavior that caregivers find challenging ischallenging.

What do we know about children with challenging behaviors?

• Some come with these behaviors, others develop them in our care.

• Persistent challenging behavior is a sign that the child is distressed. Some need is not being recognized and is not being met.

• Persistent challenging behavior doesn’t go away on its own, but continues and creates more problems for the child.

Why do we need to respond to challenging behavior?

• Responding builds emotional literacy• Responding builds a feeling of empowerment• Responding builds communication skills• Responding builds cognitive skills • Responding builds relationships• And more…and more

When we respond, we are helping children build foundations for social competence.

When Challenging Behavior is not resolved…

• These children are vulnerable and often risk being expelled from child care and preschool settings.

• For older children with behavior problems, these problems were regularly identified in the younger years.

• Childhood ratings of behavior problems at ages 3 and 5 are the best predictors of later antisocial outcomes.

When Challenging Behavior is not resolved…

• Young children with challenging behavior are more likely to experience:– early and persistent peer rejection– mostly punitive contacts with teachers– family interaction patterns that are

unpleasant for all participants– school failure

Some causes of challenging behavior

• Developmental surge• Medical reasons• Biological differences• Social emotional environment • Discontinuity between care program and home• Lack of skill in communicating and interacting with

others• A combination of more than one

above

Causes of BehaviorGroup Activity

• Use Handout 3.6 Infant Toddler Home Environments and Circumstances– List some circumstances that could negatively

affect the behavior of an infant or toddler– Hypothesize about the family’s feelings – Hypothesize what the infant or toddler might be

experiencing emotionally.– What are some things we, as caregivers, can do to

relieve the child’s distress?

Behavior Communicates

• Behavior is a form of communication• “Negative” behaviors are most often a

signal of distress in infants and toddlers.• We need to pay close attention to how a

child is communicating so that we can understand what the intended message is.

• In infants and toddlers we need to be in tune to non verbal communication.

What is our goal?

• Our goal is to understand the communicative intent of these infants and toddlers. For infants and most toddlers--behavior IS their form of communication.

• Our goal is to address the distress of these children and intervene before the challenging behavior becomes entrenched for the child and seriously impacts the family, the care setting and the child’s relationships.

Communication Expresses…

• What the infant or toddler is experiencing

• What it is like to be in that child’s body

• What it is like to be in that child’s world

Continuum of Emotional Expression

Social Withdrawing………………………..Acting Out

Two different and extreme forms of emotional expression

Infants Communicate in Many Ways• Gaze aversion (looking away)• Yawning• Expressions

– Pushing out of the lips– Wrinkling the brow– Lip grimace; lip compression– Smiling– Tongue show– Brow raising– Dull look

• Vocalization– Giggling– Crying– Squealing

Infants Communicate in Many Ways(cont’d)

• Movements– Pulling away– Joining of hands– Arching back, stiffening– Clinging posture– Lowering the head– Hand to eye– Hand to ear– Hand to mouth– Hand to stomach– Reaching for caregiver

Acting-Out Behaviors• Fussing• Inconsolable crying• Frequent or intense tantrums• Pushing• Hitting• Biting• Frequent throwing of things or knocking things down or destroying property

• Persistent refusal to allow or participatein activities

• Harm to self or others

Social Withdrawing Behaviors• Pulling away while being held• Rarely cooing• Rarely babbling or talking• Looking sad• Not showing preference for caregiver• Not making eye contact• Whining• Being overly compliant or avoidant with

the caregiver• Diminished efforts to use communications

skills that have previously been used

The Behavior You See is Just:

…the tip of the iceberg

• Behavior has:– FORM (what you see…the tip of the

iceberg)– FUNCTION (why it happens….what is

underneath)

We have to know the FUNCTION before we can change the FORM.

5 Minute Iceberg Activity

• In your group list 1 function of behavior and as many forms as you can think of which could communicate that function.

OR• Choose 1 form of behavior and brainstorm a

list of functions.

What do we do?

• Review the foundational levels of the pyramid

• Review the foundational levels of the pyramid with the particular child and family in mind.– Behavior does not improve even when:

• Staff and parents have formed a positive relationship

• Staff has worked to develop a positive relationship with child & honor individuality

• Environment promotes appropriate behavior• Environment supports the development of

social and emotional skills

What do we do?

Making a Plan

• Focus on the child because this:– Makes us more likely to be able to respond with

empathy to her needs– Helps us be more intentional about problem

solving– Will assist us in restoring the child’s sense of well

being– Will enable the child to spend his emotional

energy on development– Will help us keep our own emotions in check

Questions to Ask About the Meaning of the Behavior

• What is the child experiencing?

• What is the child’s perspective on the situation?

• What strengths can be observed in the child’s development or behavior patterns.

• What, when, where, how and with whom is the undesirable behavior occurring?

Making a Plan

• Observe– To learn all about the child and the behavior

• Learn– To determine appropriate response

• Respond– To the form and function of the behavior

• Review– How well the response is working– AND be ready to redo and adjust along the way!!

Making a Plan• Observe ( 3 handouts-examples)

– The child in daily routines • Is child engaged? • What is child doing?• What are others doing?

– The child’s interactions • With people- strangers, familiar adults, peers• With “things” – toys, food, etc..

– The child in the environment• What is going on?• How does it feel to you? How is child reacting?

Making a Plan

• Learn– From observations– By gathering more information

• Reassure parents that you are going to work with them and ask them to share information

• Use CSEFEL caregiver form– What information you still need

• What pieces are missing? What questions do we have?

Making a Plan

• Respond to the child (handout)– Acknowledge distress– Offer comfort– Use words– Be attuned (in sync) to child’s individual needs– Help the baby/toddler achieve the understood

intention– Be developmentally appropriate

Safety of child and others is top priority

Making A Plan

• Develop a short term plan with your team.– What do I need to observe? To learn?– How am I (or we) going to respond to this behavior

while we are gathering the information needed?– What support do I need?

• Begin to gather information for intensive, individualized intervention.

Group Activity

• Share contact information with your group

• How will you communicate between now and our October meeting?

• If you have a child of concern right now, discuss with the group and begin to develop a short term plan.

• Behavior is a way of communicating.• Challenging behavior is most often a way of

communicating distress in infants and toddlers.• We have to respond to challenging behavior.• It is not easy to respond to challenging

behavior, but we can do it.• We need to observe, to learn and to respond in

order to effectively change behavior.• We can develop a plan that will work for

the child, the family and for us.

Major Messages to Take Home