www.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265

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CICC E-News, Issue #2. September 2007

Challenging Behaviors in Child Care

by Chris Bentley, Center For Inclusive Child Care Technical Assistance Director

When challenging behaviors happen in child care, facilitating the responses of the children, parents, and staff in a program can also be challenging, but is a responsibility of a leader or primary caregiver that cannot be ignored or put on a back burner. Some of these behaviors can include a child biting another child, hitting or scratching or using other forms of aggression. If a child’s behaviors are not addressed respectfully and immediately, they will escalate. You also need to assure that all staff communicating to a family are on the same page, consistent in philosophy and recommendations.

Please keep in mind that dismissing children from a program prior to providing all evaluations and interventions possible can be detrimental to that child’s future successes. Parents of the children who have been hurt (bitten, hit, etc.) may attempt to dictate enrollment practices and policies of the program, but use this as an opportunity to also educate them.

Here are a few thoughts or wording options as you talk with parents or staff:

• Remind parents that we are early childhood professionals and embrace the strengths and challenges of all children and work with them and their families when struggles occur. We will not brush over concerns, but address them and establish appropriate interventions. This can take some time, but progress will be made.
• When we observe challenging situations, we take the opportunity to collect data, which helps in decision making and in setting up intervention strategies.
• As a program, we are a family – family members do not throw each other out when a challenge faces them, they work together to support all involved and work through the challenge, and together celebrate progress.
  
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www.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
• We will do everything we can to protect children from getting hurt; the intervention strategies will support this as well as modified staffing patterns.
• It is also our role as Early Childhood professionals to educate the children who may be the recipients of challenging behavior, teach them to not allow themselves to be bullied, to stand up for themselves, and to assist their peer in appropriate behavior (as age appropriate for them).
• Remind families and staff that confidentiality is mandated. We can provide global information about the above philosophies, but child care programs cannot identify children involved to others and we cannot provide details of the intervention plan except to parents of the child and staff involved in the intervention. You can say – in situations like this – examples of what we can do is ….
• Support the family in referral to support or evaluation if that is warranted.

Please contact the Center for Inclusive Child Care (CICC) if we can support you through these program challenges.

Please also watch for an upcoming Info Module on the topic of biting which will be available soon in the CICC online Learning Center.

The Center For Inclusive Childcare || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265