Weekly Series — Behavior Made Easy
Kids prefer to do their best if they can.
Children act out with behaviors when cognitive demands exceed their ability to respond adaptively. Acting out becomes a natural defense to possible demands. Acting out starts to be easier than coping with demands. Whining, crying are at the lower end of the spectrum. If the problems are not solved behaviors continue to escalate up the spectrum to include things like biting, hitting, hurting others or self harm. If unresolved, the next level of behaviors comprise things like alcohol, drugs, violence, all the way up to taking one’s own life.
If a child has a learning disability in the area of reading or math, the process is to help them develop skills to read better. If a child is labeled with a developmental delay in socio-emotions, behavioral or adaptive challenges then we should apply the same understanding and compassion. Instead of thinking in terms of functional behaviors, we should focus on the adaptive skills they need to grow and develop.
The skills to target include flexibility, adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving. In the next article we will outline some ways to build those skill areas.
For kids, doing well is always preferable to not doing well. They would do well if they can. The solutions are simple, find the skills that they are lagging, and teach them.
I hope this was helpful. All your comments and input are greatly appreciated. Don’t forget to follow us on Medium and join our newsletter at daVinci Publishing
