Do you have a challenging behavior?

There is a little girl in our 3's classroom that can be very challenging. Who am I kidding, there are MANY children in that classroom who can be challenging. I've talked about the teacher before, and some of her challenging behaviors in the classroom. It is a challenging classroom that she is doing a fabulous job with.

Let me add to this classroom story (remember the 3 year old little girl in the first sentence here?): Well, this child is going through some major changes at home. Her primary caregiver (grandma) is now working 2 jobs, so she doesn't get to see much of her at all lately. Her secondary caregiver (mom) is now working and going to school, so she doesn't get to see much of her at all either. What's a 3 year old to do when she is struggling to get some attention and some love at home and then has to come to school and fight for attention with 15 other children? She hits, kicks, scratches, throws tantrums, and anything else to get the teacher's attention.

Rather than giving her attention for the bad, we are putting into effect a strong effort to curb the behaviors by being proactive. Before she has an outburst, she gets to be involved in special tasks. This includes me coming in and taking her out of the classroom to do something special in the office; or getting pulled aside for a special game while outside; or just sitting in the corner of the room reading books; or anything else that makes her feel as if she is the only one around.

I can't tell you the results yet because we just started this yesterday; but I can give you a prediction that we will be very successful. She enjoyed playing with the hose yesterday when I took her out to the garden; just me and her. And she got as much time as she needed. She dictated when she was ready to go back. When she got back, there were no problems for the rest of the afternoon...sometimes they just need to feel important...

Now, my question to you is this: What challenging behaviors do you have in your classroom that you would like addressed? I am going to begin a regular segment on Fridays that will discuss these challenging behaviors and give some help in dealing with them. Anything big or little. What are your challenges?

Biting? scratching? whining? tantrums? children who isolate themselves? send me a note (or leave it in the comments) and I'll help you address them. Be sure I can get back to you so I can get a summary of background if I need it.