Family Life and Disability

1. Family Life and Disability Behavior Problems

2. Things a child can do to make you worried and upset: • Running away from home • Breaking objects you would prefer not broken • Hitting other children • Taking things that don’t belong to them • Whining

3. Reasons why children do these things • They want to get something • They want to get away from something • They want to tell you something • They didn’t know of anything better to do

4. Changing behavior problems • Observe the child’s behavior and see if it brings something he wants. Try and stop him from getting what he wants from this behavior.

5. Common situations children try to escape from • Tasks that are so difficult that they are frustrated • Noisy environments • Too many children • Other children too close to the child • Too much stimulation in the classroom

6. Helping Children with Behavior Problems • When children are frustrated with difficult tasks, slow down and break the tasks into smaller steps • When children are seeking to communicate, provide other means of communication, teach sign language, provide the children with attention before the problem starts

7. General strategies for reducing behavior problems • Have a small number of rules • Give advance warning when changing activities • Keep a regular schedule