Supporting
Children with
Challenging
Behavior at
School: Universal
and Selective
Interventions
CSEFEL Vanderbilt University
Consortium
W.D. Tynan, Ph.D
Supporting Young Children with
Challenging Behavior at School:
Universal and Selective Interventions
Objectives
• 1. Identify the most effective teachable moments
for supporting young children with challenging
behavior.
• Identify important social emotional skills
• Describe effective, evidence-based teaching
strategies to support social emotional
development of young children and to manage
challenging behaviors
• What are your
behavior “hot
buttons”?
• How does it make
you feel?
Managing Personal
Stress: Thought Control
Upsetting Thoughts
“That child is a monster.
This is getting ridiculous.
He’ll never change.”
“I’m sick of putting out fires!”
“I wonder if Walmart is hiring?”
Calming Thoughts
“This child is testing to see
where the limits are.
My job is to stay calm and help
him learn better ways to behave.”
“I can handle this. I am in control.
They have just learned some powerful
ways to get control. I will
teach them more appropriate
ways to behave.”
“I feel undervalued right now –
I need to seek support from
my peers and supervisor.”
Adapted from Webster-Stratton, 1999
Managing Personal
Stress: Thought Control
Upsetting Thoughts
“He ruins everything! This is
going to be the worst year of my
career”
Calming Thoughts
“Having him in my class is going to
be a wonderful Professional
Development experience.”
Building Positive Relationships with Children
Age 2
Nonpervasive
Child Behavior
Problems at Home
Ripple Effects
(adapted from
C. Webster-Stratton, 1997)
Parent Criticism
&
Discipline Difficulties
Age 3-6
Behavior
Problems
at Home
Parent Discouragement
& Isolation from School
Behavior
Problems
at School
Ineffective Teaching Practices
Peer Rejection
Antisocial
Behavior &
Academic Failure
Age 7-8
Pervasive
Negative Reputation Of Child within
Community of Parents
Parent Isolation
& Depression
Negative
Reputation at
School
Child
Depression
Poor HomeSchool Connections
School Expulsion
Deviant Peer Group
Program-wide Positive Behavior Support
Individualized
Interventions
Social Emotional
Curriculum/Instruction
Creating Supportive Environments
Positive Relationships with children, families and
colleagues
Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003
Supportive Environments:
The Big Picture
• This is a place you can trust
– Safe
– Predictable
– Helpful
• This is a caring place
– Relationships
– Recognizing and responding to emotions
• You belong here, We belong here
– Uniqueness, diversity, individuality
– Community, caring working together
– Developing an ethos of friendship
Designing Supportive
Environments
•
•
•
•
Classroom arrangement
Schedule
Transitions
Activities and experiences
Classroom Arrangement
• Classroom is designed with a variety of
areas with easily viewed
boundaries
• Avoid wide open spaces
• Materials are organized and in good
working order – before children arrive
Schedule
• Consistent and predictable
schedule is available in a
developmentally appropriate way
• Alternate active and vigorous
activities with less active
experiences
• Addresses social emotional skills
Transitions
• Eliminate unnecessary
transitions and wait time
• Teach the expectations during
transition time
• Use pictures and other
consistent and salient cues
• Provide choices
Interactions
• Adult-adult interactions
– Model positive social skills
• Adult-child interactions
– Catch ‘em being good!
Identifying the
Teachable Moments
Identifying Teachable
Moments
Identifying Teachable
Moments
Teach Me What to Do
Instead
• Following rules, routines and
directions
• Identifying feelings in self and
others
• Controlling anger and impulse
• Problem solving
• Friendship skills
Following rules, routines
and directions
• Have a few simple rules for the
classroom
• Involve the children in developing
the rules
• Teach the rules systematically
• Reinforce the rules at high rates at
the beginning and at lower rates
throughout the year
Sample Rules
– Share materials
– Use an inside voice
– Listen to the teacher
– Touch gently
– Use walking feet
 

Show me five!
Emotional Literacy
• Emotional Literacy is the
ability to identify,
understand, and express
emotions in a healthy way.
Children with a strong
foundation in emotional
literacy:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
tolerate frustration better,
get into fewer fights,
engage in less self-destructive behavior,
are healthier,
less lonely,
less impulsive,
more focused, and
they have greater academic achievement.
Identifying feelings in
Self and others
• Increasing emotional
vocabularies
• Learning how to recognize
feelings in self and others
• Emotional regulation (i.e.,
“calm down”)
• Empathy training
Increasing
Feeling Vocabularies
•Direct teaching
•Incidental teaching
•Use children’s literature
•Use songs and games
•Play “How would you feel
if?”
•Checking in
•Feeling dice and feeling
wheels
Feeling Wheel
Identifying feelings in
Self and others
• Learning to recognize how
someone else is feeling
– Facial cues
– Body language
– Tone of voice
– Situational cues
Identifying feelings in
Self and others
• Increasing emotional
vocabularies
• Learning how to recognize
feelings in self and others
• Emotional regulation (i.e.,
“calm down”)
• Empathy training
Relaxation thermometer
Take 3
deep
breaths…1
..2..3
Adapted from Incredible Years Dinosaur School
Take a Deep Breath
Smell the flowers
Blow out the candle
Relaxation thermometer*
*Source: Incredible Years
Photo by Carolyn Webster-Stratton
4. Generating
of solutions
5. Making a
decision
3. Clarifying of
interpersonal
goals
6. Acting on
decision
2. Interpreting
of Affective
Cues
•cause
•intent
1. Reading of
Affective Cues
•self
•others
Joseph & Strain, 2003
Controlling anger and
handling disappointment
• Recognizing that anger can
interfere with thinking
• Recognizing anger in oneself and
others
• Managing anger and controlling
impulse (the turtle technique)
Feeling finger prints*
*Source: Elias and Tobias
Photo by Carolyn Webster-Stratton
Turtle Steps
*Source: Incredible Years
Photo by Carolyn Webster-Stratton
Turtle Shells
*Source: Incredible Years
Photo by Carolyn Webster-Stratton
*Source: Incredible Years Photo by Carolyn Webster-Stratton
Red = Anger, STOP
Yellow = Feeling Uncomfortable, Be cautious
Green = Good, Go ahead
Handling disappointment
• Teach (“maybe next time”)
• Prepare (“I can only choose one
person to be my helper”)
• Prime (“If I don’t choose you and
you feel disappointed, what can
you do?”)
• Reinforce (“Wow, you really handled
that well! Way to go!”)
Reinforce Social Emotional
Skills in Informal and Formal
Ways
•Informal
Hugs, high fives, praise,
winks, smiles, thumbs-up
•Formal
Certificates/ Notes home
“Blast off”
Friendship Loops
Nobel Peace Prize
Superfriend Cape
Friendship Loops
Strategies for Developing
Friendship Skills
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Modeling principles
Modeling with video /puppets
Preparing peer partner
Buddy system
Priming
Suggesting play ideas
Direct modeling
Reinforcement
Friendship skills
• How to give suggestions (play
organizers)
• Turn taking
• Understanding how and when to
give an apology
• Sharing toys and other materials
• Being helpful
Friendship skills
• Learning alternative responses
to being teased, bullied or yelled
at
• Saying nice things
• www.csefel.uiuc.edu
• www.challengingbehavior.org
ELO for Alex
Initiating with a
peer
Problem
Solving
Identifying
Emotions
Sharing/
Taking turns
Arrival
Alex is the greeter (17)
Share his cubby with a
peer
As greeter, help children
“check in”
One pen for check in
Circle
Collect names
Can’t find calendar
number; one too few
carpet squares
Sing Happy and You Know
it, Read On Monday when
it rained
Hand out materials
Free Choice
“Buddy Play day”
Limit number of children at
sensory table/have Alex
choose an area last
Feeling Face Bingo at
Literacy Corner/Mirror play
Marble maze at Table
Toys
Snack
Snack Helper
Put one unsliced apple on
table
Make fruit/vegetable faces
One pitcher of juice and
small cups
Outside
Teeter totter, bat &
glove, parachute
Only put out one tricycle
Statue tag
In charge of water pitcher
and cups
It isn’t “either”/ “or”
Integrating Emotional and Early Literacy
•Social stories
•Write about children’s emotions
(dictation)
•Have word cards available with
emotion words and pictures
•Read children’s books and discuss
characters’ problems/solutions
•Read children’s books about
emotions