Discussion 1 & 2

ECE201: INTRODUCTION TO EARLY CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR

WEEK THREE INSTRUCTOR GUIDANCE

Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction. -Anne Sullivan

Welcome to Week THREE of ECE201!!

As we learned last week, all children display challenging behaviors. This is a normal part of development. When children have a difficult time controlling their emotions adults need to provide positive and clear guidance. Seems simple right?  Well, as anyone who has worked with children knows, it can be more difficult then it seems. Fortunately, there are research-based approaches and guidance strategies that adults can use to help children manage their behavior.   As the quote above suggests, using guidance strategies that are based on respect and empathy for children is a key part of your role as an ECEC professional. Far more than they need instruction and lectures, punishment and consequences, children need sympathy and guidance in their quest to manage themselves and to take their place gracefully and joyfully as fully functioning members of their families, their peers, and their communities. 

Overview of the Learning Week

This week we focus our learning on approaches and strategies to guiding young children’s behavior that are both respectful and effective. As an ECEC professional your knowledge about how children learn and grow will provide a foundation for using these strategies in ways that are developmentally appropriate for each age and stage.  By the end of the third week of our journey together you will have:

· Analyzed guidance strategies for supporting children with challenging behavior.  

· Explained how the A-B-C worksheet analyzes student behavior.  

· Explained how data collection can support and address behavioral issues.  

· Identified common target behaviors in young children and proposed possible functions  

Instructor Expertise

Guidance Strategies In your first discussion you will be asked to choose guidance strategies that you feel most aligned with in terms of your own goals and values. According to Kaiser & Rasminsky (2012), behavior problems can be addressed in three ways: guidance, discipline, and behavior management.  Guidance is connected to a child’s decision-making process and allows children to make their own choices within their environment. Discipline is connected to consequences; children learn that their choices have consequences. When discipline takes place the ECEC teacher/provider will show more control than when he or she is providing guidance. It is during behavior management that the ECEC teacher/provider will display the most control. When a child is displaying negative behaviors it is also the ECEC teacher/provider who will enforce consequences and rules. There are many different strategies that can be used to assist with children’s behavior. As an ECEC teacher/provider, you will decide what approach works best for you. Whatever approach you feel most comfortable with, be sure it is age- and culture-appropriate. Here are some common strategies:

· Assist children into understanding boundaries.Discuss with children what is okay and what is not okay. Consistency is the key and modeling the desired behavior is important. Avoid negative language and enforce guidance with positive direction such as “We help each other” or “We are kind to each other.” For a toddler, especially, saying something like, “Were you trying to be his/her friend and wanted his/her attention?” rather than, “It was naughty to hit” can help a child learn to connect words and phrases to feelings and actions. 

· Use positive language. It is important to choose your words carefully, especially when you are guiding children's behavior. Use short and simple sentences. Keep the focus on what the positive behavior is instead of the negative behavior. Here are a couple of examples, “Use your quiet or inside voice.” And, “We walk inside.” Avoid phrases such as “Stop screaming and shouting!” and, “Don’t touch that!”

· Be a model for positive behavior. As educators, children are observing you all the time. They observe you talk to other children and adults. They observe how you respond to every situation! Set a good example and model appropriate behaviors that children can take on as their own (Gartrell, 2006).

· Provide opportunities for independence. Offering choices to children provides them with the feeling that they have a say in their routines. Something as simple as “Do you want the ball or the bicycle?” can be powerful. Offering choices allows children to feel that what they want matters and assists with developing communication skills (Kostelnik, Whiren, Soderman, Stein & Gregory, 2005).

· Talk to children and not “at” them. Children often don’t hear you when you are talking (or shouting) “at” them. Unless it is culturally inappropriate, you will be much more effective if you get down on their eye level. Look them in the eyes (if it is culturally appropriate) and talk to them in a positive tone. It is okay to encourage or guide a child into displaying appropriate behavior such as saying, “You hurt his feelings. He looks sad. What do you think you can do to make him feel better?” You are allowing the child to make that choice and very importantly, allowing him/her to make restitution.

· Respect children and try to understand their behavior. It is important to talk with children who are misbehaving to see why they are acting out or if there is another issue bothering them. Remember, everything may not always be as simple as it seems. If their behavior could talk, what would it be saying?

· Find out what is culturally appropriate. It is important to discover the ways people in the child’s family communicate and what is considered appropriate behavior. For example, in some cultures it is considered inappropriate for a child to look an adult in the eye. In other cultures, it is considered inappropriate for an adult to bend down to a child’s eye level.  

· Encourage appropriate behavior. Whatever the culture, educators & families should to encourage and acknowledge the appropriate behavior when it is observed. This will help children develop self-esteem and encourage them to continue the positive behavior. Share with their families the positive behaviors the child is displaying.

There are “packages” and courses that focus on positive discipline. Two that are tried and true are Love and Logic and Positive Discipline.  Love and Logic  is a “natural consequences” approach. It empowers children and with the guidance of their ECEC teacher/provider, teaches them that they are capable of solving their own problems (Fay & Fay, 2000).  Another possibility is  Positive Discipline . Its focus is on the innate desire for children to connect with others to teach social and life skills in a manner that is deeply respectful of both children and adults (Nelson, Erwin & Duffy, 2007). Finally for more information on how to avoid power struggles and how to provide positive discipline in the life of your child, check out these Eighteen Ways to Avoid a Power Struggle (Nelson, 2014).  Watch the video below for further information on encouraging good behavior in children. As you watch consider whether you think these strategies are ones you could try.

Encouraging Good Behaviour in Children

URL:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-bLKdL1yGo

The ABC's of Behavior For your second discussion and your written paper this week you will focus on a deeper understanding of what is called applied behavior analysis. There are many different behavioral approaches when working on modifying or changing a child’s misdirected behavior but they all stem from the same factors. Whether data is taken from a developmental assessment, a functional needs assessment or ABC chart, each approach serves to assist the child with learning to modify the behavior by asking the questions needed to understand why the behavior occurs and what happens as a result.  In any approach a first step is to observe the child and collect data to create a baseline. When observing a behavior that is challenging to a family the specialist will gather information that can assist with the family’s concerns. This information may include a description of the behavior, when it occurs, what happened prior to the behavior, and the family response. All these components are factors of ABC analysis.  The ABC approach to behavior analysis can be very useful in determining negative behaviors that need to be decreased in young children. A is for antecedent, which is the condition(s) before a behavior occurs, or what happened before; B is the behavior; and C is the result of the behavior or consequence. All these factors lead to a behavioral modification approach called applied behavior analysis (ABA). Professionals often use ABA when working with children using the ABA approach especially with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Alberto & Troutman, 2012). The focus of applied behavior analysis is to modify observed behaviors, this approach uses environmental factors to modify or decrease the targeted behaviors. Behavioral responses can be changed when you focus on the antecedent which is what happened before the behavior occurred (Alberto & Troutman, 2012). Once all observations and data are collected they can use this information to develop and implement a behavioral plan that can be used by the ECEC providers/teachers, families, and other involved adults.  For more information on the ABC approach to analyzing behavior, watch the YouTube in the Critical Reflections section below. It is a powerful method that can be very effective in the right circumstances. It also requires specialized training.  Have a great week and let me know if you need or want further information on these topics!

Critical Reflections / Application Opportunities

Watch the YouTube below on the ABCs of Behavior and as you watch, reflect on the following questions:

· Can you relate to a personal experience in which you observed all three components of the ABC’s of behavior?

· What types of assessments do you prefer when observing children’s behavior?

· When the antecedent of a challenging behavior is discovered, how would you address the issue?  

· How will you address this issue with the child’s family?

The ABC's of Behavior

URL:  http://youtu.be/GxcIM8klHuY

Weekly Learning Activities

✓	Week 5 Learning Activities	Due Date
	Guidance Strategies   After reading Chapter 9 of the course text, choose one of the following guidance strategies to elaborate on: developmental discipline, ECEC teacher/provider effectiveness training, collaborative problem solving, positive reinforcement, natural and logical consequences, time-out, or time-away. Answer the following:  What did you learn about your chosen strategy? What information surprised you? How will you use this information in the future? Make sure to cite the class text.  Respond to at least two of your peers.	Day 3
	A-B-C Analysis of Target Behaviors    Complete the IRIS module  Functional Behavioral Assessment: Identifying the Reasons for Problem Behavior and Developing a Behavior Plan  and the  A-B-C Analysis . Address the following questions based on the video in the A-B-C Analysis:  What is the target behavior? What seems to be triggering the challenging behavior? What are the consequences that seem to maintain it? What function does this behavior serve for the child? Provide an example of another situation in which you can identify the antecedents, target behavior, consequences and function of behavior.  Respond to at least two of your peers.	Day 3
	Functional Behavioral Assessment Short Paper After reviewing the reading for Week 3, address the following in a two- to three-page paper: · Describe how ECEC teacher/providers collect data in order to determine the functions of a behavior.  · Analyze the importance of collecting and reviewing data before implementing specific interventions to address challenging behavior.  · Discuss three common behaviors a ECEC teacher/provider may see in young children and target for modification or replacement. Propose possible functions for each of these common targeted behaviors Your paper must be two to three pages in length (double-spaced, notincluding title and reference pages) and utilize APA formatting. It must cite at least two scholarly resources (including the course text). Citations must be properly formatted in APA style. Lastly, please notethat this information will be used for your Final Project, due in Week 5.	Day 7

Additional Materials

Guiding Young Children: 21 Strategies Earlychildhood NEWS is an online resource for ECEC teacher/providers and families of children, from infants to age 8 years. It includes articles about child development, developmentally appropriate practices, health and safety, behavior and guidance, assessment and much more. This is an online article that focuses on 21 strategies for guiding children’s behavior. ProECEC teacher/provider This website contains discussions and ideas about how to effectively implement techniques to guide positive behavior in the classroom. Zero to Three A non-profit organization that focuses on children ages 0-3 years of age and focuses on how to nurture development. Zero to Three offers tips and tools for challenging behaviors; they offer a variety of resources for families and educators. Check it out!

References

Alberto, P. A., & Troutman, A. C. (2012). Applied behavior analysis for ECEC teacher/providers (9th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill. Fay, J. & Fay, C. (2000). Love and logic magic for early childhood. Institute:Golden CO. Gartrell, D. (2006). A guidance approach for the encouraging classroom (4th ed.). Albany, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning. Kaiser, B. & Rasminksy, S. J. (2012). Challenging behavior in young children (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc Kostelnik, M., Whiren, A., Soderman, A., Stein, L., & Gregory, K. (2005). Guiding children’s social development (5th ed.). Albany, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning Nelson, J. (2014).  Eighteen ways to avoid a power struggle . Retrieved from http://www.positivediscipline.com/articles/power.html Nelson, J., Erwin, C., & Duffy, R. (2007). Positive discipline for preschoolers. New York: Three Rivers Press. Sources for Visuals cartoon : http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html mother and daughter : https://www.flickr.com/photos/rubbermaid/9342784933/