Analyze Factors That Affect the Behavior of

Children
At first glance, young childrens behaviors can be downright baffling!
Preschool teachers are taught that all behavior is communication and we are
trained to observe, document, and analyze childrens behavior to understand
what they are telling us.
Repetitive behaviors have a reason for
continually happening. Finding the pattern can help figuring out how to stop
it. First write down what happens. At first it feels weird, but our memories are
terrible. Writing down what happened can help you see patterns you may not
notice
otherwise.
Using
Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence
(ABC)
Antecedent means what happened right before, behavior means what
happened, and consequence means what happened right after can help
you find the pattern. Its a great observation tool.
Observing isnt enough you need to know many factors that make
behaviors happen. One of them being temperament traits. These are the
nine temperament traits which research says the extreme of one or a
combination may influence how a child will handle various situations and
experiences. 1. Activity Level: High or low energy 2. Sensitivity: High to low
sensitivity 3. Regularity: High to low predictability 4. Approach/Withdraw:
Approaches to Withdraws 5. Adaptability: Adapts easily to slow to adapt 6.
Mood: Positive to Negative 7. Intensity: More responsive to less responsive 8.
Persistence: High to low persistence 9. Distractibility: Not to highly
distractible. Where a child is developmental and their temperaments can
help you in knowing how to deal with misbehaviors. For an example if a
child is easily distracted and the child sitting close to them is very responsive
it may cause a conflict in ability to concentrate and learn. Moving the child,
either one, may totally change the situation around. Another factor is making
sure all childrens experiences are a good fit to their stages of social play.
The stages of social play are solitary play (infants), parallel play (toddlers),
onlooker (threes), associative (fours), and cooperative (fives). Their
environment is another factor. You must provide the environment with
activities that support what you want to happen. Look at it from a childs
point of view. If misbehaviors are occurring then you need to change the
environment. A stimulating, creative environment is neither too clean nor
too messy, but filled with objects that produce thought and curiosity. So as a
parent when looking at a classroom you see a lot of things going on at once
almost looks chaotic to you. As a teacher you look at your room as holding a
lot of opportunities for children to play together and explore things. As a
teacher you observe to see if the environment needs to be changed not by
how it looks, but by the behaviors from the children in the environment.
Change the environment, dont try to control the child. The
environment alone, could be causing misbehaviors. When children are given

real, relevant and legitimate opportunities to satisfy their curiosity,

behavioral challenges decrease. The classrooms invitation should be
saying, Welcome this is yours to play, and explore. Children cannot
practice self-control until they are in environments that provide opportunities
for control. If the environment is inviting and allows for children to make
their own decisions there will be less misbehaviors, and more control from
the children themselves. If they feel they can leave a situation to go to a
quieter place or a different activity, then they are making that decision,
implementing control of themselves. When a child is in distress they often
doesnt recognize the feelings of others. When children get angry you will
notice the signs such as yelling, lashing out, going to extremes, making
insulting remarks, and inflicting pain to others or self. Research has some
effective strategies which are soothing skills such as touch, sucking, music,
rocking, and water. We need to get out of the habit of singling out a child for
misbehaviors. Singling them out makes the environment more stressful.
If the information that you give to children is irrelevant to a child it will
be lost in space. Even adults have a better chance remembering the
important things from childhood that were relevant to them or hooked on an
emotion. It is important to remember the things that hold no importance to
children like the date, month, year, colors, shapes, numbers, and even
manners. For children to learn you need to observe what children like to do,
develop curriculum based on what children are interested in, provide
meaningful choices for them, support the learning styles they have, have
activities that focus on process not product, and make it fun. You need to tell
children what you want them to do. As an example, say walk, dont say
dont run in the hallway. Children will only hear you say, Run! Keeping
your words very simple will help them understand, and they will respond
better to simple words better than lectures. Adults need to consider
guidance practices that will lessen, rather than increase, pointless conflicts.
Two of the basic tools to use for learning about a child, and their family ties
are observation, and contact talks. Contact talks are conversations that an
adult has with children in order to understand them better. Having an idea
of how the family operates and behaves will help when there is a problem or
disagreement. Having a relationship established will make it easier to discuss
the situation. One of the most important obstacles for a new teacher or any
teacher is to get over their life experiences with school, and get in touch with
the parents/family. Parents/family can help and provide information about
their child. Listen to the child, and their parents/familys concerns. Making
home visits can be very beneficial to a teacher, because you can learn about
the childs family, and observe how they behave, and interact with each
other. Many parents/families hold reservations about schools/teachers,
because of their own experiences. As a teacher you may need to take the
extra step, and get them involved in their childs school experiences. Refrain
from making remarks that belittle the home environment like, at school
youre not a baby, you can act that way at home, but not school. Try to

encourage families to come into school to explain or show the differences in

cultures. Its beneficial for the child, and other children in class too. Families
who engage in school help their children.
In terms of overall development, we move through these levels a bit
like stages. As newborns, our focus (if not our entire set of needs) is on the
physiological. Soon, we begin to recognize that we need to be safe. Soon
after that, we crave attention and affection. A bit later, we look for selfesteem. Mind you, this is in the first couple of years! When looking at this
theory it applies to the behavior factor, because if you are lacking any of the
instinctoid, instinct-like needs, you will see children acting out to find the
attention they need. If a child has a history from war or homelessness then
you will see their need for that is greater than others, because they know
what it is like to not feel safe, not have a home, or to be hungry & thirsty.
Even children of divorced families feel an insecurity of love, and safety. As an
early childhood teacher it is important to know the history of your children it
will help with knowing what their basic needs are. So when you think of a
childs needs remember that they too need self-respect like a basic need to
achieve their full potential in life. Its our needs in life that can dictate our
behaviors. Our behavior can be based solely on one need that is overriding
all others. Observation of children will be our number one tool for knowing if
their needs are being meet or if they have a deficit somewhere. Its our job
to know these needs to provide an environment that meets these needs for
children.