Background Information
Jack is a male child who is four years and six months old and lives with his parents, an older barber, and maternal grandparents. Four children make up his family, and Jack is shown to develop physically and mentally in line with his age. Jack struggles with expressive language, as evidenced by how he pronounces words. Concerned about this issue, Jack’s parents have hired a speech therapist to assist Jack in overcoming his pronunciation delay.
Jack enjoys building things, solving puzzles, and playing with his classmates, as stated in his profile. Jack occasionally uses physical actions to express himself when he finds it challenging to do so verbally. Jack is required to attend preschool in addition to kindergarten during his four-day workweek. In the classroom, Jack occasionally loses concentration during lessons and struggles with transitions, which causes other students to become distracted. According to his developmental history, Jack needs an intervention to support his communication skills, social interactions, and self-control in a classroom setting.
Observations/Concerns
From the profile given, Jack exhibits several areas of concern that need fixing to enhance his social interactions and practical learning. The first observable challenge is his inability to confidently express himself verbally with adults and fellow kindergartners. As the profile indicates, he needs help pronouncing words, which hinders his effective communication. This results in frustrations leading to temperament, which can be linked to his physical behaviour.
Physical aggression is also another concern that Jack shows. This can be attributed to pressure from his inability to express himself. When he cannot communicate his needs, he becomes angry and annoyed and thus resorts to violent acts to quench his temper. The final concern for Jack is restlessness and distractibility, which come from long hours of listening or lengthy instructions. The triggers and warning signs for Jack’s problematic behaviours include transition times and changes in routine, long listening hours, and complex instructions that he finds difficult to comprehend.
Analysis and Interpretation
Contributing Factors
Many factors relating to Jack’s developmental and personal characteristics shaped his observable problematic behaviours. The first notable is his expressive language delay, which can be used to understand his condition. As presented, Jack is finding it difficult to pronounce words and express himself to his peers, which makes him uncomfortable. This problem leads to a feeling of powerlessness; thus, he resorts to violent acts to gain attention and exert control.
Additionally, Jack’s temperament traits and developmental history have a role in shaping his behaviours. According to Rouse (2012), children naturally exhibit higher activity levels and challenges with sitting still and focusing for an extended period. As such, Jack’s restlessness and difficulty with transition may be attributed to lengthy lessons and complex instructions that children cannot comprehend. Finally, any developmental delays in other areas may also have contributed to Jack’s behaviour. For example, delayed cognitive and social-emotional developments also influence one’s behaviour, undermining the ability to understand and navigate social situations or regulate emotions.
The Purpose of the Behaviour
Children often have varied behaviours intended to communicate a specific message to their peers and adults. According to Porter (2016), children’s challenging behaviours and traits serve a purpose and are influenced by their developmental and personal characteristics. In this case, Jack’s behaviours are driven by his inability to express himself, influenced by language delay and difficulty in word pronunciation.
Law et al. (2017) support Porter’s (2016) arguments by finding that children with speech and language disorders exhibit challenging behaviours as a form of communication. Moreover, Moen et al. (2019) explain Jack’s aggressiveness and frustrations when other students help him with puzzles. This behaviour stems from his desire to assert independence. Jack’s exhibited behaviours could be for communication, self-regulation, and attention-seeking.
The Origin of the Behaviour
The origin of Jack’s problematic behaviours and traits can be linked to many factors within his developmental and ecological background. According to Moen et al. (2019), experiences and interactions with their environment shape children’s traits. Language delay contributes to difficulty in verbal expressions (Law et al., 2017). Jack’s inability to express himself verbally is justified since he reportedly has delayed language.
Moreover, Jack’s challenging behaviours may come from the teaching space. As Caudle et al. (2014) noted, the significance of classroom context in shaping children’s behaviours. This implies that Jack’s preschool transition times and structured lessons challenge him regarding self-attention and regulation.
The Child’s Unmet Need
Jack’s challenging behaviours and traits show that he has unmet needs within his developmental and ecological context. Jack’s characteristics show that one possible unmet need is his struggle with expressive language, which has influenced his communication with peers and teachers (Law et al., 2017; Theobald & Kultti, 2012). This unmet need has shaped Jack’s behaviours as he unsuccessfully tries to connect with other kindergartens. Thus, he is left powerless and frustrated, and thus shows violent actions to gain attention, self-regulation, and independence.
Another unmet need that can be drawn from Jack’s behaviours is sensory stimulation and physical engagement. According to Thelen and Klifman (2011), their research emphasized the importance of incorporating transition strategies and providing opportunities for children to enhance their development. As such, Jack’s restlessness during lessons and change times indicates his need for increased movement and sensory requirements during such critical times.
Skills That Need to Be Taught
Jack’s lack of essential life skills is the core cause of his unpredictable and questionable characteristics. Therefore, addressing his behaviours demands teaching him various essential coping skills. Firstly, Jack needs to improve his expressive language through speech and language therapy intervention (Law et al., 2017). Through language and speech therapy, Jack will be able to express his thoughts and needs to his peers and teachers, and thus, he will feel heard, which in turn, enhances his learning experience.
Another skill that Jack needs to be taught is emotional regulation. Jack’s brutality and violent acts could only be addressed by teaching him how to control his emotions at critical times. Such skills that he must be trained in are deep breathing or visual aids that could help him express himself more acceptably. Social skills are also crucial for Jack to interact peacefully with his peers. According to Moen et al. (2019), teaching children skills such as sharing, turn-taking, problem-solving, and seeking guidance helps them engage positively. Finally, empowering Jack with self-advocacy skills will enable him to recognize when he needs adult assistance.
Planned Approach
Preventative Strategies
Following the interpretation and analysis of Jack’s behaviours and traits, two preventive strategies that can be employed to address the identified unmet needs include the implementation of a visual schedule and social-emotional learning (SEL). These strategies aim to teach Jack the necessary skills to manage his emotions and behaviours and prevent the onset of the challenging traits. The visual schedule will particularly prevent the challenging behaviours observed in Jack because it will enable Jack to understand what he has to go through in the day.
Moreover, the visual schedule will prevent such behaviours since it helps Jack understand the day’s structure, providing him with a feeling and sense of security and predictability. This strategy will only be viable with the help of teachers and other support staff who take on Jack’s responsibilities while in the preschool. This is true because research has shown that visual schedules effectively remedy problem behaviours among infants (Porter, 2016). It is, therefore, the responsibility of Jack’s teachers and support staff to implement a visual schedule and help him navigate and explain any changes that he may need to understand.
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is also another strategy that can be employed to prevent Jack’s identified problematic behaviours. This involves the implementation of SEL in the classroom where Jack learns. Jack will be taught the skills that are necessary to control emotions.
Moreover, his decision-making skills and ability to interact with peers will form the basis of his teachings. In doing so, Jack will gain more prosocial skills to associate with his peers. The activities of this strategy will be planned and implemented by teachers, support staff, and other preschool stakeholders responsible for the children.
This program tends to work with Jack in identifying the triggers of his challenging behaviours and thereby embarks on teaching him alternative and more appropriate ways to respond to such frustrations. SEL will be an appropriate preventive measure for Jack since research indicates that SEL reduces challenging behaviours in children by a larger percentage (Nix et al., 2013). Thus, to completely prevent the problematic behaviours shown by Jack, teachers and support staff need to identify the triggers and signs to effectively implement the appropriate strategies to instill essential life skills in Jack.
The sequence for implementing these two strategies will encompass Jack’s parents, teacher, and support staff. The visual schedule to be created will depend on Jack, and he will be provided with one to take home. Teachers and other preschool employees are also expected to work with Jack to develop a set of rules and goals for behaviour change in the classroom, posted in a prominent location.
SEL activities are also expected to be incorporated into the classroom routine with the guidance of teachers, among other employees. For the successful implementation of these two programs, the role of each staff member and teacher is critical. Teachers are entitled to create visual schedules and develop SEL activities. On the other hand, the support staff will work with Jack to navigate the visual schedule, besides reinforcing positive behaviours. Finally, Jack’s parents will also play a role by reinforcing the skills that Jack acquires at school and supporting Jack at home.
Intervention Strategies
Jack’s described profile reveals that he has already developed problematic behaviours such as aggression, temperament, restlessness, and the tendency to distract other peers during lessons. All these behaviours stem from his inability to express himself to his peers verbally and thus rely on other unnatural means as a method of communication. Positive behaviour support and social skill training are the two strategies particularly suitable for Jack’s situation. The two programs aim to intervene in Jack’s identified problematic behaviours and equip him with the required life skills to engage in more positive and appropriate behaviours.
Positive behaviour support is one approach that Jack’s teachers can employ to address the exhibited behaviours that have been described. According to Carter and Ellis (2016), reinforcing positive behaviours and teaching alternative behaviours to replace odd ones is an effective way to initiate behavioural change among children. Visual cues, verbal praise, and reward systems can implement positive behavior support. This implies that teachers and support staff can encourage Jack to embrace desired and recommended behaviours constantly. For instance, using a visual schedule can provide clear expectations for Jack, so that he can understand the sequence of events and transitions in preschool (Spritz et al., 2010).
The visual support will assist Jack in reducing anxiety and confusion, thus promoting a sense of predictability and routines in his daily activities. Moreover, it is also expected that staff members and teachers employ strategies such as token economies, where Jack earns points for showing appropriate behaviour. The tokens can be exchanged for desired activities or privileges that Jack would show as a result of the planned strategies.
Social skill training is also another strategy that can be used to intervene in Jack’s problematic behaviours. According to Moen et al. (2019), targeting specific social skills like communication, cooperation, problem-solving, and empathy helps address unnatural behaviours in children. Through planned and structured activities and events, role-playing exercises, and games, Jack can practice these skills to strengthen his relationships with peers. For instance, allowing Jack to practise role-playing scenarios will stimulate social situations that Jack has reported finding challenging, and thus, Jack will develop appropriate responses and problem-solving strategies.
Implementing the two discussed strategies—emotional regulation and positive reinforcement—is part of the intervention plan for dealing with Jack’s challenging behaviour. Jack will be guided through exercises like deep breathing or mindfulness as part of the emotional regulation technique by staff members who will determine his emotional state. Jack’s appropriate behaviour will be recognized and reinforced through verbal praise or material rewards as part of positive reinforcement (Saunders et al., 2012).
The teacher will carry out the plan, and the teaching assistant will offer one-on-one assistance during exercises and activities to reinforce learning. Adding more support personnel, like a school counsellor, may help Jack improve his ability to control his emotions. The staff members hope to address Jack’s behaviour and support his social and emotional development by adhering to this defined timeline and performing their respective roles.
References
Carter, M. A., & Ellis, C. (2016). Work “with” me: Learning prosocial behaviours. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 41(4), 106–114. Web.
Caudle, L. A., Jung, M.-J., Fouts, H. N., & Wallace, H. S. (2014). Early childhood preservice teachers’ use of verbal and non-verbal guidance strategies across classroom contexts. The Teacher Educator, 49(1), 61–74. Web.
Law, J., Dennis, J. A., & Charlton, J. J. (2017). Speech and language therapy interventions for children with primary speech and/or language disorders. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 1(1). Web.
Moen, A. L., Sheridan, S. M., Schumacher, R. E., & Cheng, K. C. (2019). Early childhood student-teacher relationships: What is the role of classroom climate for disadvantaged children? Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(3), 331–341. Web.
Nix, R. L., Bierman, K. L., Domitrovich, C. E., & Gill, S. (2013). Promoting children’s social-emotional skills in preschool can enhance academic and behavioural functioning in kindergarten: Findings from Head Start REDI. Early Education & Development, 24(7), 1000–1019. Web.
Porter, L. (2016). Young children’s behaviour: Guidance approaches for early childhood educators. Read How You Want.
Rouse, L. (2012). Family-centred practice: Empowerment, self-efficacy, and challenges for practitioners in early childhood education and care. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 13(1), 17–26. Web.
Saunders, R., McFarland-Piazza, L., Jacobvitz, D., Hazen-Swann, N., & Burton, R. (2012). Maternal knowledge and behaviours regarding discipline: The effectiveness of a hands-on education program in positive guidance. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 22(3), 322–334. Web.
Spritz, B. L., Sandberg, E. H., Maher, E., & Zajdel, R. T. (2010). Models of emotion skills and social competence in the Head Start classroom. Early Education & Development, 21(4), 495–516. Web.
Thelen, P., & Klifman, T. (2011). Using daily transition strategies to support all children. Young Children, 66(4), 92–98.
Theobald, M., & Kultti, A. (2012). Investigating child participation in the everyday talk of a teacher and children in a preparatory year. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 13(3), 210–225. Web.