Positive behaviour management

Differentiation/planning

Ensure that plans and continuous provision reflect the children in the setting at the time, are personalised and are based on observation and knowledge of their learning and development needs (stage of learning). This should reflect their interests, be challenging, interesting and fun!

Relationships with parents/carers

Ensure that there is ongoing dialogue with parents/carers right from the start. Where there are difficulties regarding a child’s behaviour, careful consideration needs to be given to ways to build a close working relationship so that the sensitive issues around behaviour can be discussed together constructively, aiming for a shared approach. Advice should be given to support the development of the home learning environment with specific behaviour strategies/activities. Ensure staff are aware of any cultural differences which may affect behaviour.

General expectations

All staff member’s expectations must be appropriate to the age/stage of development for each individual child. The expectations need to be known and understood by all staff and shared with children. These should be modelled and referred to regularly by staff. Practitioners should consider the child’s perspective.

Child interests

Find out what the individual child is interested and fascinated by both in the setting and at home. Use this knowledge for planning activities that will engage the child.

Adult role

Punishment or adult anger is never appropriate with young children and will not support development of positive behaviour. The key person should observe closely to identify any triggers for unwanted behaviour and develop individual plans for support if appropriate. Consider what the setting can change to support this child develop positive behaviour patterns.

Strategies for positive behaviour management

Reinforce positive behaviour

At every opportunity catch them ‘getting it right’ with smiles, praise and specific reference to what they did well can make a huge difference. Some children find overt praise difficult to handle, so find out what works best for each child. Photographs of the children showing everyday positive behaviours could be used to reinforce this.

Positive relationships/attention

Acknowledgement, warmth, humour, shared fun experiences, individual time together talking with and listening to the child, playing with and following the child’s lead can make a difference. Look at adult deployment/relationships with the child. Consider planning regular time with the key person for this. This should be regularly reviewed. Ensure parental involvement at all stages.

Communication

Get down to the child’s eye level, gain his/her attention but avoid forcing eye contact. Refer to the Communication and Language section for further information. A hearing test is advisable for any child whose behaviour is causing concern.

Physical Development

There needs to be continuous provision for gross motor skill development as well as planned opportunities to develop these skills and to be active. Physical activity can calm and channel activity in a positive way. Adult deployment is important to maximise this.

Feelings

Make sure children learn the appropriate language to describe feelings and use puppets, stories, role-play, etc. to develop this. Normalise negative feelings, e.g. it is okay to be angry, but some children may need support to show this in an appropriate way.

Instructions

Give positive messages to enable the child and others to focus on your expectations e.g. “Walk thank you”, rather than “Don’t run”. Give consideration to body language and tone of voice. Avoid confrontations, working together as a team to identify appropriate expectations and how messages are given in a calm way. If children don’t understand instructions given, staff need to change their approach.

Transitions

Giving the child a five minute warning (visual as well as auditory) will help with transition times. The child may continue to need to be directed during these times and given specific tasks. Transitions can also be supported by a visual timetable, displayed at child height and referred to.

Choices

The child may respond well to controlled choices e.g. “Shall we sing the ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ or ‘Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’? (with visual props) rather than “What would you like to sing?” This gives the child an appropriate sense of control and ownership but within carefully considered boundaries.

Turn taking

The child may need practice and reminders (appropriate to age/stage) about sharing and taking turns. Provide developmentally appropriate opportunities, with levels of support suited to their needs e.g. playing with the marble run, adding bricks to a tower, sharing snack, etc. All staff need to be aware of ways to help the child (and others) on a daily basis.

Hurting other children

After these incidents support the hurt child immediately. This is unacceptable behaviour however the response should be appropriate to the age/stage of the child. If there are heightened emotions, provide a quiet space for the child to calm down. Naughty chairs and time out are not appropriate or effective for young children.

Tantrums

For children under five tantrums are part of normal development. There needs to be a whole team approach, agreed in advance and written into the policy.

Anxious/ withdrawn behaviour

Consider individual needs to work out why the child is behaving in this way. Allow a child to watch a situation before expecting them to join in. Give time to practice skills individually or in very small groups. Encouraging self-talk and visualisation of achievement can support managing anxiety.

Praise

The positive behaviours e.g. sharing the spade with another child at the sand tray, with the adult describing the positive behaviour. Ensure more time is given to praising the preferred behaviour rather than the undesirable behaviour so as not to reinforce the latter.

Peripheral vision

Keep a watch out at all times to catch things before they ‘go wrong’ and capture the ‘good’ moments. Distraction can be a useful strategy for many children.

Be prepared

Know the child, know what their triggers are and how they can be avoided. Discuss this with the child and parent. Support (adult to adult) – look after and listen to one another, share ideas about what works well, with whom, when and where. Plan strategies together based on shared knowledge to ensure consistency. Difficulties with behaviour can be very stressful and upsetting.

If strategies above do not make a difference with in a month or two, seek help from your Early Years Consultant

Please refer also to advice sheets ‘Behaviour management: A Graduated Approach – Quick Guidelines’, ‘Working with parents/carers’ and ‘Meeting with parents/carers’.