Challenging Behavior, Expulsion and Suspension: Steps to Prevention

1. Challenging Behavior, Expulsion and Suspension: Steps to Prevention Priscilla Weigel & Dea Anderson February, 26, 2016

2. Our Role Children look to early care and education professionals to help them navigate through the chaos of life by providing them with nurturing care and support.

3. What is Meant by ‘Expulsion’? Expulsion is the removal or dismissal of a child from an early care and education program generally due to issues related to challenging behaviors.

4. What is Meant by ‘Suspension’? Suspension is the temporary removal of a child from his or her child care setting for any period of time.

5. What is Meant by ‘Challenging Behavior’? Challenging behavior has been defined as any behavior that: • interferes with children’s learning, development and success at play • is harmful to the child, other children or adults • puts a child at high risk for later social problems or school failure (Klass, Guskin, and Thomas, 1995)

6. What are Common Challenging Behaviors? The most common specific challenging behaviors in children younger than 5 years of age are aggression, noncompliance, defiance, tantrums and the destruction of property.” Strain & Timm (2001)

7. The Basics to Consider when Challenging Behaviors Occur: • Developmental age of the child • Frequency = how often the behavior occurs • Duration = how long the behavior lasts • Intensity = the strength or power of the behavior • When = time of day • Where = location/where behavior occurs • Who = who is interacting with/near the child when the behavior occurs

8. Why the Concern about Expulsion? Facts from a national study of prekindergarten programs: • Expulsion rates 3 times higher in child care programs than in K-12 programs • 4 year olds are expelled at 50% greater rate than 3 year olds • Boys expelled 4.5 times more often than girls • African-American children: twice more likely to be expelled than Latino and white children, and more than five times likelier to be expelled than Asian-American children Gilliam (2005)

9. What Factors Contribute to Expulsion? Factors that appear to influence rates of expulsion: Early Care and Education Programs expulsion is higher in profit-based and faith-affiliated programs - expulsion rates are lowest in Head Start and public school- based programs Early Care and Education Classrooms - expulsion is higher when the class size is large - expulsion is higher when there is a larger mix of children ages 3 and 4 years of age Early Care and Education Professionals - expulsion is higher when a professional reports a high level of job stress (Gilliam, 2005)

10. What Other Factors Contribute to Expulsion? • Early care and education environment • Lack of knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) • Practitioners lack of access to tools, training and support • Zero tolerance policies • Concern about other children leaving the program due to child’s behavior • Attitude of acceptance of expulsion as an effective intervention

11. Child Risk Factors • Lack age/developmentally appropriate social skills • Self-regulation • Ability to initiate & maintain play interactions • Attachment issues • Lack of healthy attachment to at least one important adult • Temperament or personality • Lack of “goodness of fit”

12. Additional Child Risk Factors • Physical health issues • Hearing, vision, speech challenges • Poor nutrition/hunger • Sleep problems • Mental health issues • Long hours • Some children spend upwards of 50 – 60 hours per week in early care and education settings • Parent/Practitioner conflict

13. Family Risk Factors • Poverty/Economic hardship • Homelessness • Domestic violence • Parental/Familial mental health issues • Parental/Familial physical health challenges • Substance use/abuse

14. What Behaviors Contribute to Expulsion? Children that are at risk for expulsion frequently exhibit challenging behaviors such as… • Aggression towards peers and/or adults • Swearing • Running away • Power struggles • Frequent tantrums/meltdowns • Destroy property

15. The Impact of Expulsion • Much more likely to be ill-prepared for kindergarten • Among those most at risk for school failure • Low self-esteem • May become labeled as “bad”, “naughty”, etc. • More likely to experience peer rejection • Experience multiple losses (friends/peers, caregiver, etc.) • Lack the opportunity to develop a sense of belonging • Learn that their worth is based on what they do rather than who they are as an individual

16. A Place to Begin… One of the most important strategies in lowering the incidence of young children being expelled from early care and education settings is to be proactive in the creation of an environment that is: • developmentally appropriate • age appropriate • individually appropriate • culturally appropriate

17. Proactive Strategies Learning Environment: • Visible and well-defined play spaces/learning centers • Adequate number and size of play spaces/learning centers • Appropriate number of children in each play space/learning center • Organized and accessible toys and materials • Learning centers and activities prepared before children arrive • Consider the colors, lights, sounds and other sensory stimuli. • Adequate opportunities for child-directed choices

18. Proactive strategies….continued Schedules & Routines: • Establish a consistent schedule and daily routine • Develop a schedule that promotes engagement and success • Balance active & quiet activities • Balance small group & large group activities • Balance teacher-directed and child-directed activities • Create a visual schedule depicting the daily routine • Teach the schedule to the children • Prepare children prior to a change

19. Proactive strategies….continued Transitions: • Minimize the number of transitions during the day • Minimize the length of time children spend waiting • Prepare children for transitions by providing a warning • Plan transitions so that children have something to do while they wait • Teach children the expectations related to transitions • Use individual supports and cues for individual children when necessary

20. Proactive strategies….continued “Child care providers continue to list coping with challenging behaviors as their number one need for additional training.” Center for Evidence-Based Practices, 2005 Professional Development: • Pursue training in the areas of: • Behavior • Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) • Inclusion of children with challenging behaviors • How to intentionally facilitate development of social/emotional skills in the early care and education setting

21. Strategies for Reducing Expulsion • Develop a proactive policy around challenging behavior, expulsion and suspension • Provide clear expectations and guidelines for behavior in your parent handbook • Establish relationships with each child through positive interactions during non-challenging times • Develop a practitioner support system • Create opportunities for family involvement and building connections with parents • Observe and document day to day behaviors for each child

23. “Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also to those who need it so much” Daphne Rose Kingma

24. Resources for Challenging Behaviors • http://www.inclusivechildcare.org • http://challengingbehavior.org • http://www.cehd.umn.edu/CEED/publications/tipsheets/default.html • http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/ • http://depts.washington.edu/hscenter/ • http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/challenging-behavior/tips-tools-challenging-behaviors.html • http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/resources/ECLKC_Bookstore/PDFs/TA10%5B1%5D.pdf