Addressing Challenging Behavior in Young Children: The Leader's Role

Program director speaking with a teacher

Barbara Kaiser Judy Sklar Rasminsky

About the Book

Why do children behave the way they do? And why do teachers respond to children’s behavior the way they do? And what can you do to support all of them?

There is no single script or one right answer. But with the realistic and practical strategies in this book, directors and administrators of early childhood programs and principals of schools can develop the skills to build a team that works together to support all children and staff. Topics include

Defining your role as a leader and creating a positive social climate
Recognizing the messages children are communicating with their behavior
Examining the effects of your own and teachers’ biases and expectations on behavior
Guiding teachers to develop strategies for preventing and responding effectively to challenging behavior, focusing on building relationships
Collaborating with families
Understanding the effects of trauma on behavior and implementing trauma-informed practices

Your support and guidance can make all the difference in the ability of teachers, children, families, and the program itself to flourish.

Watch a conversation with the authors about the book, hosted by NAEYC Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Michelle Kang.

Introduction
- What’s in This Book?
  - How We Came to Write a Book for Leaders
  - Dedication
Chapter 1: Defining Yourself as a Leader
- Understanding Your Journey
- Learning to Lead
- How Do You Define Your Role?
- What Is Your Vision?
- What Leadership Style Works Best
- When Challenging Behavior Occurs?
- Getting to Know You
- Enhance the Climate
- Think About It
- For Further Learning
Chapter 2: What Is Challenging Behavior?
- Why Children Behave Inappropriately
- Risk Factors for Challenging Behavior
- For Further Learning
Chapter 3: How a Child with Challenging Behavior Impacts Your Leadership Skills
- Finding Ways to Welcome a Child with Challenging Behavior
- Being in the Classroom
- When Differences Arise
- Building a Team
- Developing a Common Approach Challenging Behavior
- For Further Learning
Chapter 4: Developing a Behavior Guidance Policy
- Start with Your Vision and Mission
- Focus on Prevention
- Intervention Strategies
- The Role of Families
- Supporting Staff
- Mental Health Consultation
- Collecting Data
- Exclusion
- For Further Learning
Chapter 5: Enabling Your Staff to Act
- Helping Staff to Understand Themselves
- The Amygdala Hijack
- Dealing with Stress
- Culture and Teachers’ Expectations
- Implicit Bias
- Using Data
- For Further Learning
Chapter 6: The Power of Prevention
- The Influence of Social Climate
- Physical Space
- Making Things Run Smoothly
- Teaching Strategies
- For Further Learning
Chapter 7: Why Change Is So Difficult
- Recognizing the Need for Change
- Why Do Educators Resist Change?
- Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate
- What Can You Do About Resistance?
- Implementing Change
- Take Care of Yourself
- For Further Learning
Chapter 8: The Role of Professional Development
- Begin with Your Staff
- A Learning Climate
- Create a Professional Development Policy
- Leaders Should Take Part, Too
- Looking for Professional Development Options
- How Can Staff Share Their Learning with Their Colleagues?
- For Further Learning
Chapter 9: Facing the Reality of Challenging Behavior
- How Does Your Staff Feel About Having a Child with Challenging Behavior in the Program?
- Getting Your Staff on Board
- Should the Child Remain in the Program?
- What About Moving the Child or the Teacher to Another Classroom?
- Supporting Teachers When There’s a Child with Challenging Behavior
- How Can Staff Meetings Help?
- When Is It Time to Call in Reinforcements?
- For Further Learning
Chapter 10: Working with the Family
- Open Communication Is Important
- Meeting with the Family
- The Role of Implicit Bias and Culture in Teacher–Family Interactions
- How Should You Handle Disagreements with the Family?
- What About Suggesting
- Families Seek Outside Help?
- How Do You Work with the Families of the Other Children?
- Is There a Better Alternative to Your Program?
- For Further Learning
Chapter 11: Helping Teachers Respond Effectively to Challenging Behavior
- Why Punishment Isn’t Effective
- Helping Your Staff Find Effective Alternatives
- The Importance of Responding to Early Signs of Challenging Behavior
- Several Effective Strategies
- When a Child Loses Control
- For Further Learning
Chapter 12: Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support
- How Does Functional Assessment Work?
- Observing Children with Your Teachers
- Creating a Behavior Support Plan
- Using Functional Assessment and a Positive Behavior Support Plan: Ryan
- For Further Learning
Chapter 13: Trauma‑Informed Practice
- What Is Trauma?
- What Can Trauma Do to the Brain?
- What Can Administrators and Teachers Do?
- Create a Safe, Predictable Environment
- Help Teachers to Develop Their Resilience
- Choosing Trauma‑Sensitive Care
- For Further Learning
Appendices
- Appendix 1: Sample Guidance Policy
- Appendix 2: Behavior Incident Report
- Appendix 3: Blank A‑B‑C Observation Chart
- Appendix 4: Ryan’s A‑B‑C Observation Chart
- Appendix 5: Ryan’s Behavior Support Planning Chart
References
Index
About the Authors
Acknowledgments

Book Details

Product Code: 1153
ISBN: 978-1-938113-89-5
Publish Date: 2021

Citation (in Chicago 17th ed. style):

Kaiser, B., & J.S. Rasminsky. 2021. Addressing Challenging Behavior in Young Children: The Leader’s Role. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Related Resources

Articles

"Valuing Diversity: Developing a Deeper Understanding of All Young Children's Behavior" - The book’s authors, Barbara Kaiser and Judy Sklar Rasminsky, take a closer look at how culture shapes expectations for children’s behavior. (Teaching Young Children, December 2019/January 2020)

"'How Can I Help You?' Reconsidering Behavior Management" - In this article, Adam L. Holland and Kathyrn A. Ohle explore behavior management practices that engage children more fully in school and produce long-term behavior improvements. (Young Children, May 2020)

"Reducing Challenging Behaviors During Transitions: Strategies for Early Childhood Educators to Share with Parents" - Discover strategies that you can share with families to prevent challenging behavior during routine activities both inside and outside the home in this article by Anne M. Butler and Michaelene M. Ostrosky. (Young Children, September 2018)

Audience: Administrator (director or principal)

Age: Early Primary, Kindergarten, Preschool

Topics: Child Development, Social and Emotional Development, Guidance and Challenging Behaviors

Barbara Kaiser

Barbara Kaiser is the coauthor of Challenging Behavior in Young Children (now in its 4th edition) and Meeting the Challenge. She has taught at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and at Concordia University and College Marie-Victorin in Montreal, Canada, and presented workshops, keynote speeches, and webinars on challenging behavior in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world. Barbara acted as chief consultant for the Mr. Rogers’ Family Communications project Challenging Behaviors: Where Do We Begin? and for Facing the Challenge, an instructional DVD produced by the Devereux Center for Resilient Children.

Judy Sklar Rasminsky

Judy Sklar Rasminsky is a freelance writer who specializes in education and health. With coauthor Barbara Kaiser, she has written Challenging Behavior in Young Children and Challenging Behavior in Elementary and Middle School, which both earned Texty awards from the Text and Academic Authors Association; and Meeting the Challenge, a bestseller selected as a comprehensive membership benefit by NAEYC. In addition, the team has authored a guide for Canadian parents, The Daycare Handbook, and a fact book for educators on HIV/AIDS.

Reviews

Reading this wonderful book, I feel as if I’m sitting in the room with Barbara as she talks with our staff about the issues they are facing. As early childhood leaders and directors, we need to model the acceptance and understanding that children aren’t trying to challenge us—they are trying to communicate their critical needs to us. We have to learn their “language” by being astute observers, acknowledging our own biases, and assisting children to form much-needed relationships with caring adults. Accepting and including a child who challenges us will benefit that child, that family, the teaching staff, and the entire community.

—Mary Graham, Executive Director, Children’s Village, Philadelphia

While many books and resources discuss how to manage children’s challenging behavior, be an effective program leader, or address issues of equity, this is the first book to weave these three important topics together. Leaders will find vital information and tools to ensure that the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of all children in a program are being addressed so they can be successful.

—Mary Louise Hemmeter, Professor of Special Education, Vanderbilt University

Children measure their worth by how adults treat them. When a child finds that his voice or actions offend a teacher, he often clamps down or amps up in response. Kaiser and Rasminsky offer leaders compassionate, culturally informed strategies teachers can delight in using so they do not continually feel exhausted by children’s exuberant or defensive self-expression.

—Holly Elissa Bruno, Author on emotional intelligence, trauma, and recovery