How do you deal with children with temperament in class?

Question

Stress?

Answer 1

You'll find plenty of ideas on teaching anger control/management techniques as part of an alternative to the regular curriculum at www.alternativeeducationbible.com

Answer 2

Make sure you have good classroom rules and implement them fairly and consistantly.  Be specific.  Make sure they know exactly what you are looking for. Reward good behavior with spoken acknowledgments and/or other extrinsic rewards such as edibles, extra computer time, etc.

For repeat offenders- you need to find out the reason for the behavior.  Is it for attention, to avoid something or self-stimulatory.  You can do this by completing a Functional Behavior Assessment.  This is a lot of work and you need help from your other team members.

Once you hypothesize what is causing the behavior, then you can move on to replacing the inappropriate behavior with a desired outcome.  To do this consistantly and to make sure the new behavior carries over to other environments you need a formal behavior management plan.

The best way to prevent inappropriate behaviors in class is to develop a rapport with the students as soon as possible.  They may be open to your suggestions and teaching and this may prevent the above from having to take place.

Answer 3

The best way to deal with children who have any kind of inappropriate behavior is to teach them an appropriate "replacement behavior."  For example, if you have a student who reacts to frustration by screaming and throwing himself to the floor, you calmly say, "John, I can only help children when they say (or sign) 'Help me, please.'"  Then you give the child support and assistance to say or sign, "Help me, please."  As soon as they have made an attempt to say/ sign "Help me, please," you say, "John, I would be happy to help you because you asked me for help!  Let's work together on opening your backpack" (or whatever is causing the temper outburst.)

Misbehavior is a form of communication, and it's up to us teachers to figure out what the student is trying to communicate, and then to help him or her learn a more appropriate way of communicating their wants or needs.  Do not give the child what he wants when he is having a temper tantrum, because that teaches him that he can get what he wants by tantruming.  Instead, teach the appropriate behavior and give him LOTS of assistance and support so he can approximate the appropriate behavior - then give him lots of positive reinforcement when he does what you have asked him to do.

Like all skills, behaviors are things that need to be learned and they need practice.  Just like children don't learn to write their names the first time they try, they won't learn appropriate behavior immediately.  Just stay consistent in your teaching, and the child will eventually learn.

Also, you may need to reinforce the children who ARE behaving appropriately - "Look, Maria is sitting in her chair with her hands to herself!  Good job, Maria!  And Sam is raising his hand to ask a question!  Great job, Sam - what's your question?"  In my class of young children with a wide variety of disabilities, I even give the kids a Skittle or an M&M or a sticker when they are doing the right thing.  Almost always, the kids who are misbehaving will eventually try the correct behavior when I say, "I can only give Skittles to kids who are sitting with their feet on the floor and their hands to themselves."