Preschool & Parenting Blog Archives

Under Stimulated & Over Stimulated Behaviors In Children

Understanding Under Stimulated & Over Stimulated Child Behaviors If you are reading this preschool article, chances are you have read ‘Part 1’ and are ready to go through the 4 types of behaviors. This article is going to focus on the first type, and that is, calming a child who has over or under stimulated senses. The child who has over stimulated senses will usually show signs of irritability, they may scream to drown out noise, tantrums, they may be non-verbal, try to run away, and show signs of nervousness or anger. The child whose senses are under stimulated may show signs of moodiness, they may be very quiet, they may rock, chew their clothing, and have no or low energy/motivation. Something must be happening to cause these behaviors to come out in a young child. Over Stimulated Child: For a child whose senses are over stimulated they may react in the ways noted above due to: the environment being too loud things moving too fast and its overwhelming lights are too bright things may be too confusing words are too confusing things may feel scratchy (clothing tags, certain materials, etc.) certain food textures may be painful to them Under Stimulated Child: A child whose senses are under stimulated is most likely experiencing mental and emotional shut down from boredom, and they will be spaced out and/or unfocused. They may need: more touch more people watching or taking notice of them more movement (rocking, jumping, running, etc.) louder sounds mouth stimulation (teething toys help) What should we never do about those behaviors listed for both types of senses? The number one thing to NEVER do is stop the behavior. If it is not harming anyone or themselves, then let them be. That behavior is more than likely having a calming effect on them and is helping them cope, and now we have an idea of how to help them. Let’s put ourselves in their shoes. Imagine you were sitting in a room with a bunch of people and everyone got to play their favorite song on a CD player. One member of the group plays a loud, ear piercing song that makes you feel uncomfortable and it’s so loud your ears hurt so you cover them and that helps you cope and you decide to keep your ears covered until the song is over. The person who has the song playing sees you and immediately comes over to you and pulls at your hands to take them away from your ears because they think you need to hear the song. You resist and it becomes a struggle. You then become angry, the person pulling your hands away is angry, and the rest of the people in the group become uncomfortable as they watch the struggle. Wouldn’t it be nice if you were able to keep your ears covered until the song was over or you were able to leave the room until you felt comfortable enough to join them again? […]

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Understanding Behavior Issues In Preschool Children

Child Behavior Issues & Problems – Part 1 I took a workshop on ‘Behaviors in Children’ at a early childhood education conference I recently attended. I was hoping to walk away with some effective strategies on how to deal with, and stop certain child behavior issues I was seeing in some of the pre k children in my classroom. Instead I walked out with a totally new way of looking at behavior problems. I quickly learned how “dealing” with them isn’t going to change anything, but how understanding these ‘child behavior issues’ and working with the child(ren) will make for a much more calm and happy teacher, child, and preschool classroom. I couldn’t wait to get home and share it will all of you Parents, Early Childhood Educators, and Child Care Providers. This, in an effort to make your job much easier and a little less stressful with a better understanding of (preschool) children and their behavior issues. I am going to write a few parts to this preschool article and make it into a series for everyone. I will write about one point at a time so I can really focus on it, explain it, and it won’t be consuming so much of your time to have to sit and read a 50 page article on every subject at once. In This Child Behavior Article: So in this article, (Part 1) I am going to explain what I learned about understanding behavior issues in preschoolers and young children. Once we have the meaning of that then in the next articles it will be easier to follow along with the examples, specified behaviors, and strategies to use to respond to them. The Child Behaviors Presentation Begins: The presenter talked about all types of behaviors which I myself and I am sure you have come across throughout many years of working in the Child Care field. Some of those behaviors are, irritability, anger, tantrums, kicking, hitting, moodiness, verbal aggression, clingy, rocking, fidgeting, power struggles, self inflicted injuries, screaming, no energy, selfishness, and that’s just to name a few. There are also children who have diagnoses like Autism, ADD, FAS, and more. Did you know that most, if not all behaviors have a real underlying issue behind them? And what has been the most common response we have all been guilty of responding with? I know I have been guilty of responding with ignoring the behavior, sitting on a “time out chair”, telling them to stop or a privilege will be taken away, and I am sure there are more maybe you have tried. The result is usually a frustrated teacher, negatively interrupted classroom, and emotionally unstable child. Why do we respond the way we do? Well for me, it’s what I was taught to do in College, society, and it seems like the easiest way to stop that behavior in the child and get on with things. What if we took a few minutes to get to know the child and figure out why

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Keeping A Preschool Child’s Attention

Keeping a Preschool Child’s Attention & Teaching Them Many parents and teachers have questions about how to teach children, how to get them to stay focused or to concentrate on learning activities while being taught in the preschool classroom or while learning at home. There are some simple things that can be done to help to improve on keeping a preschool child’s attention when teaching at home or in the preschool classroom. We answer a similar email question below and have placed it as a preschool article on our website for teachers and parents to benefit. Question from Visitor (email) About Keeping a Child’s Attention: “I need some way to keep my 2 yr. old’s attention and actually teach him things.” Our Reply: Hello and thank you for contacting us at Preschool Learning Online. If you are looking for preschool activities that will help your child concentrate and also develop these skills more fully here are some tips that will help. First of all, observe your child when he is just at regular play. What sorts of things is he interested in? Outdoors bugs trains art type activities etc? Whatever he is interested is what you want to focus on because that is what will spark his interest. Let’s say that you observed him playing for a day and you noticed that he was really interested in bugs. What you would want to do then is go to a dollar store or just any store you know has great prices and look for a variety of plastic bugs to play with, age appropriate picture books with bugs, little bug collecting kits etc. Then I would get a basket and put SOME of the items in it and set it out for him to play with. Give him the basket and let him be free with it, don’t tell him what to do with the toys and watch his imagination grow. He will be concentrating on a specific activity for a certain length of time and not even know it. A lot of times we wonder why children can sometimes seem restless or just spend a short time at one activity and get bored really easy. We as adults need to make sure we are observing the things that interest them and follow through. It may be a little bit of extra effort on our part but the rewards your child will reap will last a lifetime, and your son will be learning through play. You can help him focus on the different colors of bugs he has, count them, put them in a row or a pattern, etc. All of these things added to play will help him as he grows and gets ready for elementary school. I hope you have found this information helpful and please feel free to e mail me back with any other questions that you may have. © Marisa Robinson (R.E.C.E.) Preschool Learning Online Get All Our Preschool Articles At The Links to The Left:

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Teaching A Preschool Child With Developmental Delays

How to Teach a Preschool Class with Developmental Delays or Lack of Interest We receive quite a number of emails from our parents and teachers that visit our preschool and educational websites. We try to take note of the best questions and respond with educational answers that we feel will provide the best information, advice and solutions to everyone. You can see many of these emailed questions with our answers over the next few pages on this learning website. Please Share & Bookmark! Preschool Teaching Question from Visitor (email): “Thanks for the information but what do you do when your class is a delay class or the children just sit there and wont do anything? I am working with a self contain / delay group of children or they are just not up to par?” Our Answer: If you have a preschool class with developmental delays, lack of interest or you are teaching a preschool child with developmental delays that seems uninterested in learning, then the key would be to make whatever you are learning interesting and fun. This may take some trial and error but when you are able to pin-point what works it will be well worth it. Picture communication symbols work great. The reason PCS (picture communication symbols) work is because they are visual aids which make learning more interesting. In my pre k classroom in particular, when it was time to line up the children would run or push each other or be touching the person in front of them and bugging them and it wasn’t a very pleasant time. I found a PCS of children lining up and showed it to them for one week during circle time and made note of how the children in the symbol were in a straight line with their hands to their sides etc. In only a few days the children were lining up perfectly and patient with each other and were very calm. You can find PCS information on our website www.preschoollearningonline.com on the homepage in the left hand column/menu. As for uninterested children, try the symbols as well and make as many activities as you can hands on. Ask the children what their interests are or observe them and plan your activities according to their interests. You will be amazed at what a big difference these little changes can make. © Marisa Robinson (R.E.C.E.) Preschool Learning Online

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How To Get Preschoolers To Listen To You

How to Get Preschoolers to Listen to You & Respect You As a teacher or early childhood educator today, many wonder how to get preschoolers to listen in the classroom or outside the class room and respect what they are told from their parents or teachers, and act accordingly. Getting pre k kids, or young children in general to listen is no easy task for many teachers, and is the cause of much frustration for many. The preschool educational article written below is an original article written by Marisa Robinson, a professional early childhood educator (R.E.C.E) which gives insight into how to get preschoolers to listen by being consistent and firm in your actions. She provides some very valuable information and real life experiences for parents and teachers looking to take charge of the preschool or kindergarten children in their care and getting preschoolers/children to listen using some great ideas for fast, effective results that work. Read the entire educational article by Marisa Robinson (R.E.C.E) below and please Bookmark & Share. Getting Your Preschooler to Listen to You Information for Parents, Caregivers, and ECE Teachers Dealing with Behavior Issues In Children As an Early Childhood Educator I have had many parents approach me and ask this question: “How do you get my child to listen to you, they won’t do that for me, or, they don’t listen to me like that.” The answer is simple. If you want to know the answer please read this article and share accordingly. No means no. Now before you roll your eyes and say, “I’ve heard that before, I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work.” You need to read what I have tried and guarantee will work. I was a supply teacher for a while and would cover vacations and maternity leaves and sick days at a daycare. So I got tested really badly from the preschool children in my care. Why wouldn’t I, I was a new teacher that wasn’t there everyday so the children wanted to test me to see what they would get away with. One day in particular I had set out the teeter-totter for the children on the playground (among other toys to play with). One of the daycare rules that the children know very well is that when they are on the teeter-totter with a friend, they are not supposed to jump off the teeter-totter while they have their friend on the other end, up in the air. They know that their friend will end up slamming down to the ground and could be injured. I observed this one young boy do it to one of his friends. So I reminded him that we weren’t supposed to do that. About 15 minutes later I saw him do it again. As a Parent or ECE Teacher – What would you do? A. Give him 2 more chances? B. Remove him from the teeter-totter and let him play somewhere else? C. Keep reminding him of the rules hoping he will stop? D. Ignore the situation; he’s

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Early Childhood-Preschool Teacher Requirements

Preschool Teacher Requirements: Many people wonder about becoming an early childhood educator or preschool teacher. They feel that they have a good connection with children and enjoy kids so this may be an appropriate field for them to venture into. What are the needed skills? What can you expect? Take a look at some basic educational & personal requirements below for your consideration. Educational & Personal Requirements for a Preschool Teacher Your preschool teacher requirements would cover two specific areas. The first area of requirements for someone wishing to become a preschool teacher would involve the person having the education and skills necessary to become a early childhood educator while working in the field as a teacher dealing with infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school entry children. Personal Requirements: Teacher requirements involve one having firstly, a strong desire to work with children of different dispositions and age ranges as well as having patience to deal with children on a daily basis. An individual desiring to become a early childhood educator must understand that children are not always on their best behavior. Educating children can be very rewarding, but some days educating toddlers and preschoolers can be very taxing and your job as a preschool teacher involves guiding the children and educating them with patience. Educational Requirements for a Preschool Teacher: Educational requirements for an early childhood educator involve completion of certain levels of education. Those desiring to become a preschool educator need to have first successfully completed high school. Many high school or secondary school institutions have co-op programs or placement programs for those who are looking to get into the early childhood educational field. This is not a preschool teacher requirement, however these placement programs help high school students to see if childcare is an area which they enjoy and can deal with on a daily basis. This is a good option, but certainly not necessary. Colleges offer many options for early childhood education courses. In Canada many colleges offer the full 2 year early childhood education course or e.c.e course. Another option now available at many colleges in Canada is the 1 year fast track course. As you can imagine, the workload is much more intense as you are completing all pre k educator requirements in 1 year instead of the standard 2 years, however, this option may be best for some who want to complete the e.c.e course fast and get working in the preschool education field with their full diploma. For those of you who may not have colleges or educational institutions close by, you may also search for early childhood education diploma courses online. Some of the topics covered in an early childhood education course could include important topics or variations such as: health, safety and nutrition, creative expression, intro to programming, child development and behavior, parent teacher child relationships and communications or language. These topics are discussed in greater detail along with many other essential topics of learning as the early childhood education course

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