Chilcare_Knowledge

Unit 337 - Knowledge K3C542 – Attention deficits or communication difficulties can have a number of effects on a child’s behaviour. Children with the aforementioned problems may find it harder to manage their behaviour which may results in behaviour linked to frustration such as temper tantrums and aggressive acts. You should try and predict a child’s needs or consider using a picture or sign system such as makaton to help communicate better if the child has such difficulties or speak to a professional. Specifically a child with an attention deficit will have difficulty concentrating due to low arousal levels and may show restless or erratic behaviour. Although this behaviour can be seen to be disruptive, especially during activities that involve prolonged sitting, you should try and keep that child’s interest. Keeping to strong routines and providing plenty of sensory activities as well as giving frequent feedback to the child (stickers etc) can help overcome these problems. Open ended activities and using visual cues during activities can also help the child maintain concentration. An attention disorder can affect a child’s learning and this should help overcome this problem as far as possible. In my setting we have a child with an attention disorder and he often benefits from one on one attention although this can’t always be done. K3D691 – Today a child centred approach to managing behaviour and encouraging positive behaviour should be used. Old and dated approaches often seen a child’s behaviour as a problem and not consider why the child is exhibiting this type of behaviour. A child centred approach concentrates on the needs of a child and reasons for their behaviour. A child centred approach means focussing on the underlying issues contributing towards a child’s behaviour. For example a child who is spoiling an activity for others may be doing it because he/ she does not feel accepted by others. A firm but respectful approach should be used in order to promote positive behaviour. Respect is also an important factor in promoting positive behaviour. Children need to learn how to respect others and how their actions and behaviour can affect others. They also need to respect the environment around them. You should focus on respect from an early age and encourage children to take turns and to respect each other as well as the environment around them. When dealing with behaviour you should consider how your strategies may affect the child. If you remove the child from the activity for bad behaviour you may be excluding the child from the opportunities that the activity provides. Where at all possible you should include the child in the full activity thus providing inclusive practice. There is also a link between the language skills of a child and their behaviour. A child with good language skills can communicate their needs better and are able to organise their thoughts and emotions better. However a child with poor language skills will often find it frustrating trying to communicate, and exhibit aggressive behaviours because of this. You should try and work on ways to communicate with the child in order to overcome this. There are many theories of how children learn behaviour and these can be used in order to encourage positive behaviour. The social learning theory developed by Bandura suggests that children learn their behaviour from imitating others, including you as a person that often spends a lot of time with that child. Social learning theory links closely to role modelling where you act as a role model for the child and they often imitate your behaviour. It is therefore that you exhibit positive behaviour so that the children do not learn bad behaviour from you. The behaviourist theory from Pavlov suggests that behaviour is repeated if it is rewarded in some way. Famously Pavlov’s experiment involved ringing a bell just before feeding some dogs. He did this repetitively and eventually rang the bell and didn’t give the dogs any food; however they still salivated as if the food was coming. The behaviourist theory forms the basis of all behaviour strategies, often through using positive reinforcement to encourage good behaviour. The theory suggests that behaviour that is rewarded in some way will be repeated, whereas behaviour that is punished or not rewarded will not be repeated. Interestingly behaviour is more likely to be repeated if it is rewarded inconsistently. However sometimes behaviour from the adult that provides attention for the child will be seen by the child as positive even if the adult meant it to be disapproving. This can often result in the behaviour being repeated. K3D692 - Different behaviours can be dealt with according to the situation as long as consistency and fairness is taken into consideration. My settings behaviour policy provides guidelines to deal with behaviour and this is consistent with other methods for dealing with behaviour such as: • Focusing on positive behaviour and acknowledging it appropriately • Provide adult attention so that a child will not try and get attention through negative behaviour. • Try and be aware of signs of boredom or frustration from children. • Make sure children are given an idea of how they should behave through clear statements e.g. please walk. • Involve older children in making rules and setting boundaries • Think of why the children are behaving in that manner (boredom etc) • Give reasons for things that are not allowed The behaviour policy should be agreed by all and fit in with the care standards of the home country in which we work. It is necessary to review the policy regularly and assess its effectiveness. A good policy will fit in with the aims of the setting and ensure consistency in dealing with behaviour and enable the child to realise what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. K3D693 – It is important to agree behaviour management programmes with children, families and colleagues. People who deal with the children such as colleagues and families need to understand the way in which positive behaviour is encouraged and the aims of the setting. This could be brought to the family’s attention during admission to the nursery or during a meeting with the family. If a family understands this then they will be more able to understand your actions in relation to dealing with behaviour. Colleagues need to agree behaviour management programmes and understand them in order that they can also deal with the child’s behaviour consistently. It is also beneficial to discuss behaviour strategies with families where a child is showing signs of challenging behaviour so the strategy can be used at home as well as in the setting. Children can also be involved in behaviour strategies. Negotiating a contract for behaviour helps the children feel that you respect their views and will listen to them but you are ultimately in control. Negotiating with children is obviously different depending on their age (due to development of language and cognitive skills) but older children can discuss their feelings with you. K3D694 – Although negotiation or positive reinforcement is enough for a child to show positive behaviour, this is not the case for all children. Some children will need structured support in order for them to show positive behaviour. This may come in the form of a programme to encourage positive behaviour. The child’s behaviour may be due to a learning difficulty or a desire to explore their boundaries. A clearly defined, structured approach will often be beneficial to these children, as they will know exactly what is expected of them. Before developing a behaviour management programme you need to try and understand the reasons for the child’s behaviour. The child’s behaviour will usually be down to an underlying issue. You need to gain information on the child to understand how to deal with the behaviour and the reasons for it. It may be necessary to talk to the parents in order to find out about the things in a child’s life that may be affecting his/her behaviour. Through pooling this information you will be able to develop a strategy on dealing with the behaviour. It may also be beneficial to simply observe the child for a period of time to try and understand the reasons for his/her behaviour. K3D695 – Once a behaviour management plan has been implemented it is essential that you monitor it. This should be done by all including other colleagues and family members. It is often too easy to recognise bad behaviour rather than positive behaviour and therefore being observant is important. Once technique that may be useful in monitoring the effectiveness of a programme is the event (or frequency sample) method. This involves an adult that is not involved in the activity observing a child and using a worksheet to record the activities and behaviours of the child. This sheet may show the time, what the child is doing (who they are playing with), and when they are exhibiting both positive and negative behaviour. It may also include a comments section to write extra notes in that may be useful. K3D696 – When implementing the behaviour programme it is important that you are patient and wait for the plan to work. A child may have some good sessions but then have a bad one and this is completely normal. One reason for this is that the child may see themselves as naughty and it may take time for the child’s self concept to change. No changes to the behaviour programme should be made without being patient with the original plan for a prolonged period. However the practicality of some programmes or difficulty implementing the programme may mean that a plan needs to be changed. It may also be the case that a child is not responding to the reward given or the plan is simply not working. In this case the programme should be reviewed in order to ensure that any gains from the original programme are not lost. K3D697 – When dealing with behaviour it is important that you take a firm but respectful approach. This means looking for strategies to prevent unwanted behaviour rather than waiting for it to happen. Unwanted behaviour will always occur in some shape or form and you should be calm and controlled when dealing with it. Intervening in situations can come in several shapes and forms including: • Facial expression/ eye contact – When a child is showing unwanted behaviour making eye contact and giving a look of disapproval will often make them stop. When the child then shows good behaviour immediate praise should then be given. • A determined “No” – Often saying no firmly to a child will stop them from performing unwanted behaviour. However it is important that when you say no that you mean it and do not go back on your decision. • Explaining consequences of actions – Explaining the consequences of a child’s actions or behaviour can also be effective. For example in my setting I asked a child to stop splashing other children in the water tray, explaining to her that it will get their clothes and hair wet. I then said that I would remove her from the water activity if she carried on doing it. You should also explain what you will do if they carry on showing unwanted behaviour as previously mentioned in my example (removing the child from the activity). • Removal of equipment – This should only be used as a last resort or if you threatened to do so. If you do this then you should give the child something else to do to prevent them from showing further unwanted behaviour. • Time out – Time out should only be used with older children as younger children do not have the skills to reflect and calm down. It should not be a punishment and instead be a way of allowing the child to calm down and reflect on what they have done. Long periods of time out should not be used as this could be seen as exclusion. K3D698 – When working with children it is important that you communicate with them as appropriate for their stage of development. A baby communicates differently to a 7 year old. When talking to children or asking them to do something for you then you should be clear in what you are asking them to do and not be ambiguous in the way you word your instructions. You will often ask a child to do something when really they have no or limited choice in the matter. Using humour especially sarcasm is inappropriate too as this could also lead to some ambiguous directions or cause confusion. Another point to note is to ensure that you have the full attention of the child before relaying instructions as a child will often be immersed in an activity. With regards to timing of instructions children will forget something you said 20 minutes ago and this is worth taking into consideration. This closely links in with behaviour and you should be aware that children will show different behaviours according to their age and stage of development. You should therefore be realistic in your expectations of children’s behaviour. This will help in defining boundaries with children. A child with poor language skills will not be able to communicate their needs with you very well and therefore will be more likely to exhibit aggressive or unwanted behaviour out of frustration. Very young children will not yet of set clear boundaries and be aware of what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. As they become older they will start to realise these boundaries and their behaviour will change accordingly. There are also other factors that affect behaviour such as developmental issues like speech impediments etc. K3D699 – Behaviour is closely linked to a child’s self esteem and relationships with others. From a young age children develop a picture of themselves known as a self concept and this can have an effect on their self esteem. A child who’s self concept shows a picture that they are bad and are incapable of being good will often exhibit unwanted behaviour. You should try and discourage a self concept such as this being formed through not making a child feel bad about themselves on a regular basis. A child’s self concept is closely linked to their self esteem. A child will often learn how to annoy adults and children alike as they get older and develop relationships with others. Developing a child’s self esteem and helping them believe in themselves will often result in them showing appropriate behaviour. A happy, confident child will almost certainly exhibit good behaviour. A child that has low self esteem should be encouraged to believe in themselves and develop their self esteem in order that they will exhibit more appropriate behaviour. With regards to relationships children will often behave differently depending on who they are with. When children are with people that they know children will often behave well as they are aware of the boundaries. When children show inappropriate behaviour it is often just to get attention from an adult. Building relationships with these children is important and may be the key to getting them to exhibit more appropriate behaviour. Children should be treated as individuals and you should work on and praise their strong points. K3D700 – There are many possible reasons for a child exhibiting challenging behaviour. As previously discussed in other questions a special need or just attention seeking or low self esteem may be the cause. However there may be other reasons as to why a child is exhibiting challenging behaviour. There may be specific background difficulties such as a family unit recently split up or an ongoing family feud. It may simply be that a child is feeling unwell or even that they are moving house and may feel unsettled. It is important that you try and look at the individual needs of the child and the reasons for why they are exhibiting this behaviour and act accordingly. In summary anything that is happening in a child’s life may affect the way in which they behave. A break in a routine or something that is not considered the norm can often affect a child’s behaviour. K3D701 – It is important that an adult has a realistic expectation of a child in the things that they do and the way in which they behave. Expectations that are too high may put unwanted pressure on a child and may lead to unwanted behaviour due to low self esteem. Low expectations from an adult will lead to poor social development of a child. Children should be encouraged to develop their skills in all areas and the balance between high and low expectations should be met in order to give the child high self esteem and to be able to learn new skills.