Pacific Oaks College

Pasadena, California

HD - 497 Working with Children who Challenge Teacher’s Skills

Professor Isaac Carreon, Ph.D.

Diane Gonzalez

April 8, 2018
 In the book “Challenging Behaviors in Young Children” by Barbara Kaiser and Judy

Rasminsky, define challenging behaviors, offer research based theories to help understand

certain behaviors in children, and offer strategies to help children, families and teachers to better

understand, prevent and respond effectively to challenging behavior. In this paper, I will provide

a brief overview of some key issues discussed in this book, state the most useful information I

received from reading this text as well as relating it to theory.

What is challenging behavior? Kaiser and Rasminsky define challenging behavior as

“any behavior that interferes with a child’s cognitive, social, or emotional development, is

harmful to the child, other children, or adults, (and) puts a child at high risk for later social

problems or school failure” (Kaiser & Rasminsky, 2012, p7). For children that exhibit this type

of behavior at an early age, it is essential to find the root of the problem as soon as possible so

that children are given the tools necessary to change the behavior. Some aggressive behavior or

impulsive behavior is common and “age appropriate” for very young children. As children begin

to explore their environment, learn to regulate their feelings, and develop the language necessary

to interact with peers, the aggressive or impulsive behaviors usually stop by age three.

Although the book states by age 3 children usually stop using physical aggression, we

know that for some children the physical aggression may escalate or manifest themselves into

other forms of challenging behaviors. For example, verbal aggression is sometimes more

common in children that have develop the language skills to effectively communicate with other

children or adults. Like a child in my class, who began to show signs of verbal aggression with

teachers and peers after finding out her mother was expecting another child. We later learned

she was using verbal aggression as a way to communicate her fear of losing her place within the

family unit. After offering her foster parent some support and strategies to use at home, one-to-
one support with a marriage and family therapist and in class support from teachers, this child

was able to implement the tools given to her by everyone and slowly the behavior began to

deescalate.

Another form of challenging behavior noted in the book is reactive behavior. The book

states this behavior is “angry, impulsive, and not at all controlled, it is often aimed at hurting

someone” (Kaiser & Rasminsky, 2012, p12). Children who show this type of behavior usually

live in a “harsh” environment and lack the cognitive skills to make moral judgements and often

blame others for their behavior. For example, several years ago I had a child in my class that

when he got angry he would climb furniture, throw toys, yell using swear words and kick, bite or

hit teachers. His behavior was often aimed at adults and when other children would approach

him he would yell at them as a form of intimation but if they other children would hit back he

would often retreat. We later learned that his mother was using drugs, in and out of his life and

as a result he and his siblings were being raised by his grandmother and step grandfather. After

several attempts of intervention, he aged out of our program and entered the public school

system.

When working with children like this, it is often very difficult for teachers to continue

working with them and offer the family support because many times teachers may take the

child’s behavior personal. I found what the book said about “start fresh everyday, whatever

happened yesterday, let it go” (Kaiser & Rasminsky, 2012, p82) useful information. A teacher’s

job can be stressful so it is important for them to acknowledge their feelings, talk to someone for

support, ask for help when situations become too stressful, and recognize when the situation is

out of their control. Teachers must also be careful when talking about challenging children with
other people so as not to label children and give false misconceptions that will later follow the

child.

Another tip that was useful was about play . Kaiser and Rasminsky write based on the

theory of Lev Vygotsky, “pretend play is the key to developing self-regulation...while

pretending, children act in a more socially mature fashion, pay attention and remember more

deliberately and consistently, and in general show better self-regulation of behavior, emotion and

cognition” (Kaiser & Rasminsky, 2012, p163). This is important for teachers to note because

through play teachers like myself, can implement certain strategies to help children learn

appropriate social behavior. Like in B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning Theory, we can use

play to teach children appropriate behaviors, and apply consequences for inappropriate behavior.

In closing, Kaiser and Rasminsky provided much useful information for managing and

offering support for children that have challenging behavior. By communicating and building

relationships with families, engaging them to be proactive in their child’s learning, and

respecting their cultures, we can work together to understand, prevent and respond effectively in

changing challenging behaviors in children. I really enjoyed this book and have recommended it

other teachers at my site. In my opinion, there is nothing I would critique about the book; it

offers practical information to help understand brain development, risk factors, teaching

guidance and preventing challenging behavior early in a child’s life, all which is relevant and

useful in understanding human development.