Any ideas on dealing with a 5 year old student that like to run away. kindergarten and babysitters?

Question

child does not deal well with school some days.

bit of a yeller and runner.

he wants attention but he is just too active to walk in a line to lunch.

He hates having to walk hand in hand, but it is often the only way to keep an eye on him.

Answer 1

The child and family need counseling, and the child may need medication or a special school. Diet can also be the culprit so keep a log of what he is eating  and then see if there is any common ground. (A great book is "Is This Your Child" by Doris Rapp). A child this age should know and be able to follow rules, and should be able to walk in line with ease, as well as deal with disappointments and other issues without yelling and running away. For now keep him by the hand. Pay a sitter extra for 1:1 to be sure she is in sight and sound at all times. Keep him occupied with actiities that he likes.  

Definitely get the child evaluated right away for emotional issues, autism or anything else that could be the cause.  Basically a full blown psych and educational, and physical. Good luck!

Answer 2

There may be many things at work here. Maybe the child has a social disorder that make it difficult for him to be around groups of people. Before labeling him as ADD or ADHD take a look at things like allergies. I know from experience that they can really affect a child's behavior. Do you know that if they it a food their allergic too it can stay in their body for 5 days! So if their constantly eating it, it's always there and this really can affect them in a bad way. I had a teacher who didn't believe me that chocolate would make a child be very 'hyper' so one day I allowed my daughter to eat chocolate at snack time....she then saw a child who was always quiet begin to climb onto tables and just spin around and around. After that she BANNED all chocolate from snack time and she had a much better class as a result. Please remember that your child may not be able to help this and give them as much love and support as you can. Really think long and hard and do ALOT of research before you even think about putting him on meds....he is very young and they can have long term affects. MAKE the school work with you on this and don't let them push meds just cuz it makes it easier for the teachers to deal with.

Answer 3

The kid may have psychological problems that are unknown thusfar in life.  I would suggest that you talks to a professional therapist, as they may be able to find the reasoning behind his current conflicts, which would then make it easier to solve them.

It sounds like an attention disorder or maybe he needs to talk about his emotions more often.

Answer 4

You should do an assessment first perhaps the APES or the Denver. Look at the scores for the social/emotional development and sensory categories very closely. If you see any flags then I would suggest getting an IEP asap.

Secondly, and this may work (it has worked for me) ask another adult to go along with you. Asst. Teachers are great for this. When the child leaves the line allow him to go let the asst. teacher take the class to the gym, cafeteria or wherever. Try not to allow the child to see you follow him but stay close to protect his safety. More than likely after a few minutes the child will become upset about being left behind when this happens you can step in and use this experience to talk about what can happen and how he felt being alone. Take it another step and do classroom activities about safety in numbers and being safe. Good Luck there is no easy answer!