How should disruptive behaviour in children between 5 and 10 years of age be best dealt with at school & home?

Answer 1

I recently completed an essay on this for my degree in education studies, after looking at many many behaviour control theories I found an approach constructed by william glasser works really well. Its called the Ten Step Theory. I have outlined the general idea below but there arew some websites which go into greater detail.

Step 1: Analyse our present situation by asking yourself these questions, what am i doing?, how do i react when children misbehave? Do i shout, threaten, ignore, exclude, refer to others etc.

Step 2: As a second question: Is what im doing working? If not then you may as well stop diong it.

Step 3: Give positive reinforcement to children when they are not misbehaving. Giving 'the time of day' or some form of recognition to difficult children when they are doing nothing out of the ordinary. Children will then get the message that you have the capacity to be nice as well as the capacity to be tough.

Step 4: If a child disrupts the class the teacher can respond by saying 'what are you doing' quickly, sharply but not angrily. This is instead of 'stop it' or ' dont do that'.

Step 5: If disruption/misbehaviour continues repeat step 4 and add 'is it against the rules?. It is important for children to be taught to obey simple, reasonable rules. If still no response say 'this is what i saw you doing and it is against the rules.'

Step 6: If disruption persists then the teacher states 'we've got to work this problem out' ie, find a solution whereby the child follows reasonable rules and does not disrupt the learning of others, the teacher then states, 'this cannot continue, we have to work it out'.

Step 7: If no solution is found then the child should be withdrawn from the group and placed by themself in the same area until a solution for them being part of the group is worked out.

Step 8: If the child still disrupts then they should be sent out of the classroom to some designated place in the school. They must 'work it out' before being allowed to return.

Step 9: If the student is still disrupting others and refusing to work it out then they should be sent home and their parents told they cannot return until they are willing to work out a way of fitting in with the rules.

Step 10: If parents report they are unable to handle the child then refferal to some community agency should be made to get some help for the family.

Sorry if thats really long but there's no way of condensing it!! You could also try a good comments book, where teachers and parents write in good things that the child has done (no negative comments) and the child doesnt behave they are told that no comments can be written for that period and they'll have to start and try again the next day.

Answer 2

There are a lot of possible causes for disruptive behavior, and to deal with it appropriately, the adults at home and school need to find out the cause in each individual case.

I think that some disruptive behavior situations are due to personalities- some people (even adults) are more energetic, gregarious, effervescent (bubbly) than others, and those who are less out-going have a harder time dealing with the extra energy. A personality issue should be dealt with very carefully- you don't want to teach a child that his basic nature is "bad" or "wrong". Personality should be celebrated.. then directed to a healthy outlet- give the child a healthy or even useful way to use that energy.

I think another cause of disruptive behavior in kids can be a disruption in their life- abuse, moving, new sibling, divorce, re-marriage, older sibling moves out (to college, marries?) etc. and the kid wants to express frustration, but doesn't have words, or wants to re-exert control in their life. Again this situation should be delt with in a compassionate manner.

In the case of frustration at lack of words, I think counseling is a good idea- help the child express his feelings in a constructive appropriate manner.

In the case of a child that wants more control in his life, there are ways for any child to have control in certain facets, and extra-curricular activities may be an option.

Answer 3

We have a son that is developmentally delayed and due to a medical condition has severe behavioral problems. We were able to get IBI (Intensive Behavioral Intervention) services for him and the therapists worked wonders. One of them that works well for us is a relaxation technique. Have the child take 3 deep breaths, then slowly count to 10, then play google bugs. The google bug can be on any part of the body and the only way to get it off is to shake it off. Usually by this time everyone is calm and laughing. Another thing that works fairly well is redirection. When the child is misbehaving, try redirecting his/her attention to something completely different. If the child is misbehaving in order to get attention (like our son does) then the best way is to completely ignore him/her until the child stops the negative behavior. Be sure and tell the child that when they stop misbehaving then they will have your attention. I hope these suggestions help. They did for us and we now have a much more peaceful home and our son is doing much better in school.

Answer 4

You need to discover the cause of the disruptive behaviour and deal deal with it that way. Basically every child reponds differently as each of them have their own set of circumstance so it's very difficult to give one defining answer.

Answer 5

Ignore the disruptive behavior and praise appropriate behavior.

Children of those ages generally act up for attention. If you give them attention for being disruptive, then they will just do it more.

Emphasize and reward any desirable behaviors exhibited by the child.

Answer 6

First off. there needs to be a distinguish between who it the parent and who is the child. The teachers in need to be the teachers and stop trying to be the parents. Adult issues must be spoken around adults only, the kids must be excused to go play. We are making to much out this age group, because they are going to play and get into trouble. Our concern is that if they are healthy and safe.

Answer 7

I haven't got a clue, but when you find out let me know.?
but i must admit that willobee was pretty close to the mark.

Answer 8

ask Jo Frost the supernanny to visit for a week and teach them as well as you some cooltechniques on this... you wont regret it..

watch her on ABC.com

Answer 9

remove access to tv, video games etc at home until behavior improves. you are the adult and you decide what can and can't be done at your house.

Answer 10

clearly defined boundries and a firm hand.