Nicole Turner

Professor Moten
HD 426
September 30, 2015

Reflection 1 Challenging Behavior in Young Children

Overview Chapter 2 and 5
Chapter 2 is filled with information about risk factor that may cause behavioral issues in
young children. The chapter points out all areas that could be factors for behavior problems:
Biological Risk Factors and Environmental. The areas that I find most informative and intriguing
are found in both biological and environmental. I feel these two area are the most informative
because in my teaching experience these are the two areas that I have rarely focused on when
working with a child with behavioral issues.
What was the most useful information you received from this chapter.
Genetic is the one that I found most useful. I find this one the hardest to detect in children
because most parents are not usually this in touch with their behavioral issues or if they are they
are not humble and willing to share this information with the teachers. I have had to dig deep to
see that genetic might be the reason for the childs behavior.(Example1) I can recall a few times
in my teaching experience that I could clearly see where the issues were stemming from. I was
having a first 30day parent conference with a childs parents. I had never met dad, this was my
first time interacting. He dropped off before I got to work. While going over the childs portfolio

and learning development. I reached the part that discussed social skills. I began by saying, this
is the area that I am most concerned about. I asked if they had seen the incident reports that were
sent home. Mom said, Yes I have seen them and I have discussed them with my son and
husband. The husband did not say anything He just shifting in his chair and looked away from
me. I noticed the father seemed a little irritated so I adjusted my approach. I asked if he had any
siblings or playmates at home and if so, Can they tell me a little about their interaction? Mom
said, He has an older sister. He get angry and hit her a lot at home. I asked, What type of
prompting usually happens when the hitting happens at home? Mom said, Its hard to explain
and understand. Many times his sister has not instigating the assault at all. She just walks to close
to him or ask a question and he just hits her. I said, Okay, this makes more sense now. We are
observing the same type of behavior here at school. At this point dad stands up and leaves the
room, slamming the door on his way out. Puzzled I ask, Is he alright? Mom says, This is the
second school we enrolled him and we were hoping it was the last school.
I ended the meeting feeling like, I see where he gets from. The book indicates
studies show that antisocial behavior is 40 to 50 percent heritable (Moffitt, 2005: Rhee
&Waldman, 2202) I mentioned this to my director but Im not sure if the wife ever made the
connection.
(Example 2)Another incident occurred due to complication at birth. The child was
premature birth and was very aggressive. He was 3years old and had many complication
whenever we had circle time. He did not want to sit or he wanted to be in a teacher lap. If we let
him sit in a teachers lap other children wanted to imitate this behavior and we did not want this
to begin a trend so we often encourage him to sit next to the teacher. He would get and run
around the class. At conference time with the parent we told her about this and she just said he

never has done that before. We later found out that he came from the Regional Center and had
low birth weight and premature birth.
We all came to a conclusion that this was a possible answer to his aggressive behavior.
Chapter 5
This chapter is describing how children who have not had a proper attachment as a child develop
behavior s that will have an effect on their character throughout his/her life. The child will not
allow his primary caregiver to comfort. He tries to rely on his own skills and insecurities in his
day to day activities. There have been studies that support these findings (Weinfeld 1999) the
character traits that are displayed are aggression lack of focus and no social skills.
What are some of the items that I would challenge or critique from the book?
The gender section of the book states that boys are more physically aggressive than girls
(20) I dont know if I agree with this. I feel like the environment plays a big part in this
statement. I have had all girl classes and I had just as many situations and when the class is
mixed. I think the age of the children also plays a huge role in this setting. A group of toddler
girls shows just as much physical aggression as boys. They are all going after the same toy and
dont know how to problem solve they all make attempts to bite.
Would you recommend this book to others?
I would definitely recommend this book. It has great chapter to help with challenging
behaviors. I am especially interested on Chapter 4 Behavior and the Brain and Chapter 7
Preventing Challenging Behavior. With all the growing reports on behavioral problems, I believe
both teachers and parents would benefit from the information in this book.

Behavior and Brain would help me to understand what triggers a child to react and if I
could understand this then I would be able to stop some of the incidents from happening and the
same with Chapter 7 I dont think anyone wants to be around a child with challenging behavior
so learning to help the family, teacher and child to stop the behavior would be a powerful tool
and resource.
These chapter shows the importance of proper attachment. It helps us to see that without
proper care as an infant it will affect how he handles situations though out his life. As caregivers
we can often misunderstand these behaviors and see the child as difficult when it fact it could be
a reflection of improper attachment formed at birth.