Teachers and staff work together with the children to model consistency, set realistic limits for safety and establish positive behavior guidelines.
Rather than "after the fact"... Catch them doing something right first! Staff and teachers set out clear, concise expectations for positive behavior. Redirection is used prior to the child stepping over the boundaries of non-compliance. Teachers demonstrate and model respect for the children, colleagues and self. Children and students are provided with choices and are given a chance to reply and make appropriate decisions.
Children and students are guided through appropriate coping skills and self discipline. Teachers direct children's focus through verbal techniques and encourage independent control and appropriate behavior.
Teachers and Staff demonstrate:
Appropriate language + behavior
Children practice and develop behavior from what they observe:
Appropriate language and behavior
The methods that teachers use for guidelines and discipline are:
Intervention strategies - Respect, Proximity of Touch and Acknowledgment of Feelings
Redirection - Developmentally appropriate
Problem solving - Verbal strategies and practice
This strategy is used with younger pre-school age children when their developmental skills are not yet coordinated for a large vocabulary. To offer another activity or substitute one toy for another may quickly resolve a pending escalation. School age children, have more difficulty with this method due to the fact that they are more articulate and this would not be enough to help the child problem solve and not supply an alternative approach to situations.
Inevitably, there will be times when a child's behavior warrants the teachers or staff to intervene. When no physical danger is present, teachers approach children individually, getting down to their level and by speaking to the child by name in a quiet, controlled voice.
If a child begins to lose self-control, the teacher will move between the two children. It may only require the teacher to put an arm around a child to help quiet the child and defuse a situation. This may be an effective strategy if the issue is hitting, biting, pinching, kicking or thrashing.
Acknowledgment of Feelings
Teachers set examples of positive guidance and techniques that acknowledge the feelings of the child. Limits are set following the acknowledgment of feelings.
For younger children a simple acknowledgment of their feelings may be sufficient.
This strategy is used with younger preschool age children. By offering another activity or another toy may quickly resolve a pending escalation. With school age children, this method often isn't enough to help solve the problem independently, nor does it model alternative approaches to situations that may arise.
Children and staff work together to solve problems. All it may require is the teacher's help to mediate and state the problem then work with the child and help them try and determine a positive solution. Once a resolution has been found, teachers assist the outcome.
Next time try and remember how we worked together to resolve this.
Once the children begin to use positive problem solving techniques and become more familiar with coping with the new methods, they practice and remember how to resolve conflicts independently. They may even provide us with some other positive alternatives to problem solve.