Is it behaviour? Is it development? Is it something else? The challenge for Early Childhood Professionals

Early Childhood Professionals are experts in early childhood development. They have a deep understanding of developmental milestones, developmentally appropriate practise and the importance of play. Their passion and dedication to supporting children to reach their full potential is inspiring.

However, there’s one area that often leaves Early Childhood Professionals weary, wary and bewildered, and that’s behaviours. Not just any behaviours, I’m talking about big behaviours, such as oppositional behaviours or behaviours that result in others getting hurt or injured or property being damaged, melt downs, explosive tantrums, self-harming behaviours, escaping and fleeing behaviours and the list goes on.

Let’s face it, supporting children in the early years through these big behaviours is no easy feat, especially when you’re responsible for a group of children with different needs and interests all at the same time. There’s no “quick fix” and sometimes strategies that work for a while seem to suddenly stop working, leaving Early Childhood Professionals not only wondering why, but sometimes even questioning their own skills and abilities. Not to mention feeling exhausted and frazzled with all their other duties and responsibilities that also compete for their time, attention and energy.

During my 30 years in the industry as an Early Childhood Early Intervention Practitioner, Teacher and Social Scientist, I have been called upon by hundreds of Early Childhood Teachers & Educators to support them in understanding and addressing behavioural and developmental concerns they have for children in their care.

As with most referrals I receive, the child is initially unknown to me, I have never laid eyes on them, and there’s a lot of ground to cover in a limited amount of time. Once I have parent/carer consent, I start gathering as much background information about the child as possible, always meeting in person with the child’s parents or carers as well as the Early Childhood Professionals.

Where available, I also gather information, reports and assessments from other professionals who work with the child and their family, including Paediatricians, Psychologists, Allied Health Therapists, Family Support Workers, Child Protection Case Workers etc. All this information can help to understand the child’s background and his or her needs, which are central to addressing behavioural and developmental concerns in Early Childhood.

At this stage, I have a lot of information about the child, but it’s all second-hand, open to interpretation and I still haven’t met them or laid eyes upon them, so I can hardly claim to know or understand the child.

Before I can come close to knowing or understanding the child’s needs, let alone being able to offer help and support to the child’s Teachers and Educators, I must first dedicate sufficient time and my full, direct attention to observing this child in their natural environments. This is key to building understanding of any child.

As Anthropologist, Mary Catherine Bateson said:

“Observation is the first act of love and the first act of education.”

There is so much to see when observing a child but it’s how you see that makes the difference. If you see a child’s behaviour as a misbehaviour, your view of the child is already tainted before you’ve begun.

Psychologist Dr Ross Greene offers a view of behaviour, which serves as a helpful lens. He says: “Behaviour is communication; it is our job to listen and understand the message.”

A child’s behaviour can communicate so much. When we closely observe and listen, we can begin to discover, learn and understand their messages.

Is it an unmet need?

We may discover that the child’s behaviour is communicating an unmet need such as being hungry, tired or sick. We may even discover that the child is looking for love or connection or safety and security.

Recent adaptations of Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s (1908-1970) famous Hierarchy of Needs theory, propose 6 core human needs. These core needs are love/connection, variety, significance, certainty, growth and contribution. Understanding these 6 core needs is a powerful tool to better understand and address early childhood behaviours.

Did you know that almost every challenging behaviour stems from one of these 6 core needs?

Once we recognise and understand what need is not being met, we can make the changes necessary to support the child’s optimal functioning and well-being. Sometimes the change needed is the unreasonable expectations we have of the child, such as expecting a toddler not to touch objects in their environment.

Once the child’s needs are met and our unreasonable expectations are removed, big behaviours may decrease or cease.  

Is it developmental?

There are times when the child’s behaviour may be due to a delay in their development, such as the child with delays in their social/play skills and language development, who uses their physical self (e.g., biting or hitting) to communicate or initiate play.  

Recognising the difference between a developmental delay and challenging behaviour is an important distinction to make. Without this recognition and understanding, our efforts to address big behaviours may be wasted.

A child with developmental delays requires specialised early intervention support. With the right early intervention, the child’s skills and development can begin to improve and subsequently the big behaviours decrease or cease.

A growing area of knowledge in early childhood development is the field of neuroscience and early brain development. If we are to effectively support children’s behaviour and development, it’s critical to understand the brain science. A child’s brain develops rapidly in the first 3 years of life; starting with the brain stem (survival brain), then the cerebellum (motor/movement brain), the limbic system (feeling brain) and the neocortex (thinking brain).

The thinking brain (neocortex) can not work optimally until the feeling brain (limbic system) is regulated!

This is why a meltdown is not the time to talk it out. A child in meltdown is in their survival brain and dominated by their feeling brain. In that moment, they can’t access their thinking brain so will not be thinking clearly: neither do we when we’re upset. The more upset a child gets, the further from regulation they get. The same applies to us.  

Here, our work as Early Childhood Professionals is to help children navigate their survival and feeling brain so they can access their thinking brain. We can do this by giving them space and the support they need to work through their emotions, to calm down and to empower them to develop the ability to regulate.

 Asking a child to think, stop or fix their actions when they are in meltdown, not only goes against all that is known about brain development but it’s also an unreasonable expectation and goes back to understanding their needs.  

When we have knowledge about children’s brain development, early childhood development, developmental delays, unmet needs and expectations and how to pick up on these messages by observing and truly getting to know the children in our care, we can begin to approach things differently and gain confidence and competence in addressing and supporting big behaviours that once left us bewildered.

By Bronwyn Stratford August 26, 2024

References

Conkbayir, M. (2023) The Neuroscience of the Developing Child: Self-regulation for wellbeing and a sustainable future.

Greene, R. (2021) The Explosive Child: A new approach for understanding and parenting easily frustrated, chronically inflexible children. Sixth Edition.

Price, J.  The 6 Human Needs.

Accessed August 2024 from www.barriefht.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-6-Human-Needs.pdf

Salter, G., Johnston, C., Lunn, H. (2005) Does This Child Need Help? Identification and Early Childhood Intervention. Early Childhood Intervention Australia (NSW Chapter) Inc.

The Australian Childhood Foundation (2011) Bringing Up Great Kids Parenting Program.  Program Manual