Facilitating Partnerships and Gathering Information

Maintaining collaborative partnerships with families is a journey that occurs over time. When educators speak with families regarding inclusion, support or behaviour needs, the experience can be emotional. When a child is having difficulties, often the family does not know how to support them. The family may feel a sense of relief, sadness, anger, disappointment, grief or even denial when the child’s needs become a discussion point. When discussing inclusion needs or concerns, educators must uphold the following principles:

• Maintain the aim to support the child's holistic development in the context of their life and family systems.
• Maintain a child-centred approach.
• Demonstrate and share strengths-based programs, approaches and information regarding the child, and demonstrate belief in children’s capacity to succeed.
• Demonstrate sensitivity and empathy regarding responses from families. 
• Provide holistic and empirical observational information, evidence and developmental information to support your concerns.
• Maintain professionalism and utilise the service policies and procedures.
• Choose the most appropriate time and space to have private, sensitive conversations.
• Acknowledge the importance of the role of the parent as the child’s first educator.
• Ask relevant questions and encourage family members to ask questions.
• Use language relevant to the family and provide supports where required (e.g. using an interpreter or ‘elder’ support).
• Demonstrate an understanding of the complex differences in current family systems, diversities and the evolution of modern families.
• Build relationships based on trust, rapport and respect.
• Enhance the service's ability to represent the child and their family within the environment and program.
• Encourage open communication and shared decision-making.
• Demonstrate knowledge and expertise in supporting the child’s challenges.
• Listen without judgement or bias, practising active listening. Demonstrate responsiveness to and respect for child-rearing practices.
• Invest in learning, and utilise culturally sensitive and relevant practices and communication.
• Respect culture and significance aspects of a particular culture, such as respecting Aboriginal history and acknowledging the land where the service is based.

Educators may observe that a child has delayed milestones. It is not their role to diagnose the child or suggest a diagnosis to the family. Instead, educators will share developmental expertise and typical milestone expectations with gathered observations or concerns. Educators will act in line with service policies and procedures and have preliminary discussions regarding their child's development with the supervisor before discussing developmental or behavioural concerns with the family.

The National Quality Standard (NQS) Quality Area 6 – Collaborative partnerships with families and communities7 reminds us that:

• Respectful relationships with families are developed and maintained, and families are supported in their parenting role.
• The expertise, culture, values and beliefs of families are respected, and families share in decision-making about their child’s learning and wellbeing.
• Current information is available to families about the service and relevant community services and resources to support parenting and family well-being.
• Effective partnerships support children’s access, inclusion and participation in the program.

Watch

Watch this video to learn about relationships with parents of children with disability: Child Disability: Supporting Parent Relationships’ from the Raising Children Network.

The service must consider how the staff communicate and share information with each family, which may have differing needs, including cross-cultural considerations and care practices, various forms of communication, non-verbal communication or translation support where needed.

Families may disclose concerns regarding their child’s behaviour or development during enrolment or further into the formed partnership with the service and its educators. However, it may be the case that families are unaware of any support, developmental, behavioural or inclusion needs.

During enrolment (or annual re-enrolment), the following information is typically gathered:

• Family background, including linguistic and cultural information
• Members of their family
• Previous illnesses or hospitalisation
• Previous diagnosis or infections (medical illness)
• The families’ developmental or behavioural concerns
• How the child plays, what they like to do and how they socialise
• Previous trauma, negative experiences or fears
• Support services or funding utilised (previously or currently)

Information families can offer to support learning and development can include:

• General family information
• Details of routine tasks (e.g. eating, sleeping, dressing, handwashing and toileting)
• Developmental milestones achieved or emerging
• Any health or developmental information (e.g. reports, diagnoses, disabilities, illness or hospitalisation, support services utilised, concerns)
• Relationships with others (e.g. parents, siblings, other relatives, neighbours, friends)
• Behaviour outside of the service
• Interests outside of the service
• Any particular planned or ongoing extracurricular activities in which the child engages (e.g. music, sports, art classes)
• Any excursions, holidays or visits where particular issues came up, such as sensory challenges or biases towards environments
• What is available to the child to support their learning outside of the service
• Areas of ownership and responsibility at home (e.g. the child sets the table, puts clothes in the washing basket, helps to feed the rabbits)
• Cultural information (e.g. hierarchy of importance concerning learning and development, the difference between genders or ages regarding tasks and opportunities, values on play, and exposure to religious or cultural elements or languages
• Any information about trauma, adverse childhood experiences or vulnerability
• Any expected changes to the child’s daily practice (e.g. change of house, grandparents moving in, pregnancy).

When we consider sources of information, they are usually broken down into:

• Primary sources – This is direct information observed by the educators or first-hand information from the family.
• Secondary sources – Information from external agencies or services, such as welfare, allied health, maternal health and doctors. Thorough formal assessments are considered secondary sources.

Suppose further information is required to understand the child’s support needs. In that case, it can be beneficial to request the reports, assessments or plans the family has available or can obtain, including details of the support organisation where a child has used external services (early intervention, child protection, hospitals or specialists).

Observations are an everyday practice in every early childhood service for every child. However, specific observations must be noted when a child has been recognised as potentially having challenges in their development, behaviours or ability to engage in the service program.

Educators may look for particular areas to assess to better understand the child’s skills, capacity, strengths and challenges compared with age-appropriate expectations. Educators must keep strengths-based approaches in mind and perhaps consider utilising strength-awareness resources.

Resource

The following link is to a strength awareness resource that may help with strengths-based assessments: Character strengths! From AllPlay Learn. 

Social Development

Observing various social situations and dynamics for behaviour triggers or developmental challenges while interacting with others can assist educators in seeing where support may be needed. It may also enable educators to observe areas of strength to use as a cornerstone for the child’s learning.

Prosocial skills, empathy and theory of mind are linked to the relationship-building blocks necessary for developing social skills and relationships. A child should be able to notice and understand others and work cooperatively to meet the needs of others (in line with developmental expectations) as well as their own.

Questions you might ask yourself during observation may include:

• What is it that the child finds challenging (e.g. entry into play, conflict, control, exclusion, social play, building relationships with peers)?
• Can the child play in different stages/types of play (e.g. associative, cooperative) but choose particular types, such as solitary play?
• Which social play situations does the child find easier or more challenging (e.g. mealtimes are less challenging, and busier environments are more challenging)?
• Is it certain children, dynamics or groups that experience challenges? If so, who is the child, children or group, and why might this be?

Educators must observe and look for sociocultural context in play and support all children to grow in cultural and social competence to understand each other better. Educators need to facilitate these contexts within the daily program, ensuring each child is represented in the service and other children become more aware of different ways of ‘being’ and ‘playing’.

Educators need to be aware of bystander backlash or peers who need support due to being caught up in or victimised by the behaviours of children requiring support. Critical reflection is relevant here – an educator may ask themselves:

• Is it always the same child affected by the child requiring support?
• Are all the children being affected?
• Is it only certain groups being affected? If so, why might this be the case?
• What could be done differently?
• How am I supporting and ensuring the safety of all children at the service?

Emotional Development

Observing children's emotional diversity can help identify areas a child may find challenging, such as self-regulation or sensory overstimulation. Questions an educator might ask themselves when observing include:

When and where does the child get overwhelmed or struggle with self-regulation? How do the existing dynamics affect this?

Does the child become reclusive or isolate themselves at certain times or in particular spaces?

How does this affect their behaviour and ability to engage in the program?

Physical Development

When an educator is observing, any physical access issues and barriers a child has may produce various questions and critical reflections, such as:

• Can the child physically access all available play areas and areas of the curriculum?
• How might I support areas where access is challenging or not accessible?
• Does the child require alternative resources to support them in participating?
• Do you need to alter the physical environment and space?

Cognitive Development

Compared with typically developing children, some do not have a firm grasp on reasoning, understanding and making connections. As a result, they may require special support or equipment and toys to engage in cognitive play. In addition, their sensory needs and level of skill must be considered – it may be necessary to organise opportunities for several types of engagement, such as providing items with lights, items that make noise, or challenges that focus on manipulating various objects or, for children with vision impairment, navigating objects.

Questions educators might ask themselves about a child’s cognitive development include:

• What affects the child’s nervous system positively or negatively?
• What overwhelms or underwhelms the child?
• Are they interested in problem-solving? Do they like to work alone or with others during their investigation and manipulation?
• At what level are the child’s skills? Do I need to source cognitive tasks above or below the typical developmental level for the child’s engagement and learning?
• How does the child learn, think and reason?

Language Development

Children can develop their language and communication skills, both receptive and expressive, at different speeds, so it can be challenging to assess a child's language development, even when comparing them with a child of a similar age.

Note

Receptive language is the understanding and interpretation of language. For example, when a mother (the speaker) asks her baby (the listener) whether they want a bottle, the baby nods or cries knowingly.

Expressive language is the production of sounds that create language and meaning. For example, when thirsty, a one to three-year-old (the speaker) points to some juice and says to their mother (the listener), ‘Juice.’

Watch

Watch this video to learn more about expressive and receptive language: Expressive and Receptive Language by Autism Live.

Questions an educator may ask themselves about a child’s language development include:

• How does the child’s language ability impact their ability to engage socially, build relationships and participate in the program?
• Does the child’s language ability cause frustration, behaviour challenges and the avoidance of engagement in the program?
• How does the child communicate?
• Does the child understand language?
• Can the child speak languages other than English (LOTE) or English as a second language (ESL)?
• Does the child’s language ability inhibit them from play?

Knowing whether a child understands language is important because it tells us if receptive language is developing and if they are processing what they are hearing. It does not matter which language the child understands – all that matters is their cognitive ability to understand a language.

Resource

The following resource can help you to determine children’s communication abilities: Strengths and Abilities Communication Checklist from AllPlay Learn. 

Understanding Behaviour

It is important to remember that children demonstrate various behaviours for various reasons, such as fatigue, change, illness, frustration, poor diet or hunger, and difficulty expressing needs. In today’s world, we see behaviour alterations caused by too much screen-based activity and insufficient active play. ‘Challenging’ or ‘difficult’ behaviours can be subjective, and the interpretation of these behaviours can change according to individual expectations of children, which vary from person to person and culture to culture and depend on the child’s position in the family or hierarchy.

Behaviour must be considered in line with the developmental expectations for the age group. Therefore, a good reflective question is whether the child is developmentally capable of what you want them to do. For example, we cannot expect a two-year-old to sit and focus on an activity for an hour without being distracted, showing defiance and frustration, or having a tantrum.

Particular challenging behaviour can arise due to the child:

• Not having the social and emotional skills needed to manage the moment
• Processing ‘big’ feelings, such as anxiety, anger, excitement or being overwhelmed.
• Feeling insecure, unwell or tired
• Wanting comfort or attention and trying to communicate it in a way they know how
• Feeling hungry or having a poor diet or unhealthy lifestyle
• Experiencing changes in family circumstances or routine
• Having a lack of preparation for change or new experiences.

Read

Learn about anxiety in children and how to help combat it from these links: 

• Anxiety from AllPlay Learn 
• Recognising and Supporting Children’s Anxiety for Educators from AllPlay Learn

When challenging behaviours are ongoing, intense, dangerous to the child or others, or impacting the child’s livelihood or daily functioning, there may be concerns about an underlying developmental condition or a more serious mental health issue. Behaviours that may cause these concerns can include:

• Constant tantrums
• Violent or harmful behaviour towards self, others, the environment or property
• Excessive anger or moodiness
• Extreme fussiness
• Ongoing self-isolation or melancholy behaviours
• Ongoing defiance.

Observing behaviour at different times of the day and in different contexts helps support the program and the child’s emotional well-being and self-regulation. For example, when an educator can predict the times when a child is likely to be tired or frustrated, they can be ready to jump in and support the child further in an experience that provides the necessary release or engagement.

Educators should also look for changes in behaviour, where children may have learnt to manage social situations or suddenly struggle to self-regulate their emotions, impacting physiological responses.

Read

Read these articles from The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne to learn about challenging behaviour at different ages:

• Challenging Behaviour – Toddlers and Young Children
• Challenging Behaviour – School-Aged Children:  
• Challenging Behaviour – Teenagers 

Methods of Observation

Observation is a form of research – you are gathering data to understand what is occurring and informing practice, reflecting on theoretical and developmental knowledge, along with the child’s background and any other contributing factors of potential influence. Using various observation methods to gain a holistic and conclusive understanding of a child is always the best practice. Many methods can be used to support educators in gathering information about children.

• Photos/videos – These require a written caption to express any information that cannot be seen within the image, such as what was said and what happened before and after.
• Jottings – These are short notes on relevant and pinpointed information about the observations of children. Jottings are written in the past tense and recorded after the event. It is important for educators to consider the subject matter they are photographing and how many photos they are taking. Video and photos must be meaningful and protect the rights and privacy of children.
• Learning stories or narratives –‘stories’ about a moment in time, with a beginning, middle and an end. They will usually include children’s quotes, actions, photographs and reflections, as well as the voice or collaboration of the families or the child, all in one observation. Learning stories are written in the past tense, as the information is combined later than the actual observation occurred. However, as the observations are ‘stories’, they are often written in the present tense.
• Running records – These are considered very time-consuming for educators, as they need to include every element observed in the set period, from which hand a child used to pick something up to how long the child stayed in one place and where they went next. The time each observation in the record is taken should be documented. Running records are not used very frequently due to time constraints – they also tend to capture information that may be less meaningful. Running records may be used when an observer is looking for particular development indicators or transitions of the child or where there may be behavioural or developmental concerns when the whole picture of a child is needed. Running records are written in the present tense, as they are written at the moment of observation.
• Language samples – These are predominantly used when concerns exist about language and capture a child’s linguistic efforts and conversations with others. The child’s language should be documented as quotations, with no alterations, so an accurate picture of the child’s language skills can be constructed.
• Time samples or event samples – These are used to determine where certain behaviours or challenges may arise. They may be used to see where a child spends their time and how long they stay there. They can also be used to see where children engage in the program, but they are rarely used for such purposes. Event sampling helps determine when, where and why behaviours may be occurring. In a time sample, an observation of a child will be made at set intervals, for example, every five minutes over a set period, usually an hour. The observations are intended to be short, like a memo, but should include with whom the child is engaged and which experiences or materials they use. The observations should show the child’s level of participation in the program.
• Anecdotal record – After learning stories, anecdotal records are the most common form of documented observation. They are written in the past tense and capture the most meaningful moments of a child’s day.
• Portfolios – There has been a lot of debate within the early childhood industry regarding portfolios, as they can be time-consuming to prepare. However, they are delightful for the family, the child and the educators to read through. They typically include artwork, learning stories (and sometimes other forms of observations), reflections, the child’s voice and events that the child was involved with at the service, such as ‘Farm Day’ or ‘Crazy Hair Day’. Most of the observations, and even images of artwork, are posted onto online sites to minimise the use of paper and to save educators the time it takes to put a scrapbook together. Most services that complete portfolios today include a collection of the child’s artwork that they can then take home and share at the end of the year.
• The child’s voice – Capturing what a child has said about something provides insight into the child’s thinking and interests. It may connect to an image, piece of artwork, or a photo, but often it is just the meaningful commentary given by the child at the moment. It often reflects their learning, especially emerging concepts. When educators promote children’s input and ask relevant questions, children can express their interest in learning, what they are doing and want to do next, and valuable insights into how the child thinks. 
• Developmental checklists and summaries – These are used to analyse a child’s development at specific points of the year or as required. They examine the separate areas of development to gather a picture of where the child is developmentally and their progression. Developmental checklists are taken at particular moments and measured against milestones typically expected for the child’s age range. As they focus on one moment in time, it is important to remember that, on the day of the observation, the child may have been excelling or may have been tired and struggling, so it is important to consider this along with any observations taken within similar timeframes to consider the child as a whole. A developmental summary is an overview of the evidence provided for some time. It will reflect goals and also learning outcomes.

Educators must ensure when making observations that they are not ‘missing out’ on experiences and engagement opportunities with the children, as their heads are buried in their iPad, cameras or notebooks.

Observing Behaviour

When observing a challenging situation or behaviour, it is important to get the whole story. For example, what happened before, during and after the behaviour? This concept is called the ABC method:

Antecedents – These are factors or triggers observable before the behaviour. Educators must identify these factors or triggers to consider what causes the behaviour. For example, is it always the same situation, dynamics, place and time? Learning to anticipate these precursors can significantly support the child in the area required, enabling them to manage and cope with their behaviour and situations and prevent misbehaviours—this is in line with Rudolf Dreikurs’ social discipline model.

It is also helpful to notice how a child reacts after the behaviour. What do they say? Do they appear upset with or proud of themselves or act as if nothing has happened?

Note

To see Little.ly Early Education Service’s examples of all the above observation methods, log in to the Little.ly Educator Hub, which can be located at: www.littlely.eduworks.com.au. Once you are logged in, find and view the observation sample templates.

Watch

Watch this clip to learn about the social discipline model: Rudolf Dreikurs by Julie Ta.

Behaviours – What actions or behaviours are you trying to minimise, maximise, encourage, or discourage? Document the behaviour and share the information with all stakeholders working with the child so they know and understand the behaviour clearly. You may want to consider what strategies have been used before to encourage or discourage the behaviour.

Consequences – Consider the natural and logical consequences for displaying the behaviour and the likeliness of the consequence affecting the behaviour.

Natural consequences require no input from educators and are experienced by the child due to their actions or choices. For example, a child’s bike was stolen because the child left it outside the front of their house, even though they were asked to put it away – they instead chose to go inside and play with their blocks.

Logical consequences are enforced by an adult and are structured according to the behaviour. For example, the Lego gets put away if it is thrown.

Watch

Watch this video to learn about the different types of consequences: Build the Relationship, Change the Behavior: Natural and Logical Consequences by Very Important Parents Program.

After collecting sufficient data (multiple observations, over multiple days, at different times of the day, for a period long enough to gather a complete picture of the child), analyse this information together with the developmental milestone document or any other relevant information you can use as a baseline, along with any other primary or secondary information.

If it is clear that a child faces consistent challenges within the program, try to document the specific areas they find difficult, including particular times or days the child struggles to get through as well as play areas or dynamics that seem to cause difficulty. It is also helpful to speak with the child to seek their thoughts about the things they find hard to do or handle.

If the behaviour becomes heightened in intensity or persistence, or the risk of harm increases and the behaviour is not in line with age-appropriate expectations. Then, it can be a sign of a developmental condition or a more serious mental health concern. It is important to record whether the behaviour impacts the child’s ability to engage in the program and affects their coping with life.

Have discussions with colleagues and service mentors, such as educational leaders, to discuss your concerns. Collaborate, devise ideas or methods to support the child, and review considerations you may have missed. If you, and the people you consult, believe the behaviours are of concern, discuss this with the service director and arrange a time to meet the family to discuss these concerns further. Have all your documentation ready to demonstrate your concerns, and ask the family if they have noticed similar difficulties.

If the concerning behaviour requires further assessment, ensure you are prepared with the details of the assessment process so you can lead the family in the right direction. The family may be able to utilise funding inside or outside of the service, so you may wish to provide them with information about these options where relevant. When discussing referrals or funding, you may:

• Refer the child to a GP or paediatrician for developmental advice
• Explain the Inclusion Support Program (ISP) to the family and how it can be integrated into the service’s program
• Explain how the ISP supports the child, the family, and other professionals and educators working with the child – discuss how it allows for a better understanding of how the child can be supported to reach their full potential (certain types of support are outside of the scope of expertise in early childcare education services)

Read

Learn about inclusion support plans at this link: Inclusion Support Program from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority.

Learn More

Read about supporting Aboriginal children at the following link: Supporting Aboriginal Children and their Families from the Victoria State Government (Vic) Department of Education and Training.

Suggest the family visits the AllPlay Learn website, which has a wealth of information on how to support children who may have a disability or diagnosis. The AllPlay Learn website can be found at the following link: https://allplaylearn.org.au/ 

Variables and Influences on Children’s Behaviours

Children often use behaviour to communicate a need to be met. How a child communicates their needs depends on variables and influences that impact their behaviour. Reviewing a child’s behaviour against those variables can inform an educator’s responses.

Variables are observable characteristics with descriptions based on agreed classifications or measures. They can include gender, developmental stage and age, cognitive abilities, disability, social skills and culture. 

Variables can be broken down into person variables and situational variables: 

Person variables

These are individual for the person and can influence behaviours :

• intelligence
• mood
• concentration levels
• if a child is tired, they may be more irritable

Situational variables

These are environmental and can influence behaviours:

• noise
• temperature
• level of lighting
• optimum lighting can enhance learning experience

Common variables and influences can include:

• sufficient nutrition and hydration 
• sufficient sleep and rest
• sufficient exercise and activity
• sensory processing and reactions to stimulation
• lack of consistency, unpredictable routine, insufficient structure
• developmental challenges and behavioural disorders
• overuse of electronic devices.

This list is not exhaustive but indicates other factors to consider when observing children’s behaviours. 

Identify variables and influences on a child’s behaviour by:

• reviewing pre-existing information
• gathering information in collaboration with educators and the family
• gathering information during observations.

There are five domains of child development: physical, intellectual, emotional, social and moral. These relate closely to the Shanker Method of the five domains of stress (discussed in detail in 3.1). You can examine the variables influencing children’s behaviours against each domain:

Biological

• insufficient sleep
• low energy
• irritable

Emotional

• experiencing strong emotions
• can't self-regulate

Cognitive

• complex skills are required
• the child is having difficulty

Social

• cannot pick up social cues
• has difficulty making/keeping friends

Prosocial

• others in group have strong emotional responses
• the child is overwhelmed in a group setting

Responding to the Needs of Other Children

Outbursts and challenging behaviours can cause distress in others, rendering them powerless and causing a strain on the environment. Such behaviours can bear upon other children, causing a reaction. Such reactions can include feelings, such as:

• scared or anxious 
• irritated or frustrated 
• intimidated 
• overwhelmed
• entertained and finding the behaviour funny
• relieved that someone else is in trouble
• helpful, trying to calm the others and help the educator.

For children affected by another child's behaviour, an educator can take various actions to respond to their needs that are appropriate to the behaviours displayed and the children's reactions. Consistent support with positive practices to support behaviours include:

• identify the problem by asking each child to state their side and how they feel
• ask children to suggest a solution and the possible consequences of the solution 
• provide comfort to children affected by the behaviour 
• move those affected to a different area to allow time to support those who displayed the behaviours
• move the children who have displayed the behaviours so they can calm down and those affected can resume their activities.

Educators must remember that their actions should model appropriate care and support to encourage positive ways to express needs and build pro-social skills in the child exhibiting the behaviour and those affected by it.

Restorative Practices

Restorative practices are another model to support children affected by behaviours. Focusing on mediation and accountability, they provide a framework where children can develop recognition and ownership of their feelings and actions, listening, sharing, and building empathy. They can also establish group norms or expected behaviours everyone wants to use and see.

Restorative practices can support everyone involved through mediation after an occurrence. For example, children can voice their hurt from their perspective, and the child who displayed the behaviour can understand how it affected the other, assisting them in reconciling the relationship. These practices usually focus on these questions or similar:

• What happened?
• What were you thinking at the time?
• Who or what was harmed by these actions?
• How can the harm be repaired?

It is essential to critically reflect on the inclusive practices and guiding behaviour used at a service. When you observe children to assess their needs, you are essentially becoming an investigator or researcher.

For collected data to be helpful in understanding and appropriately supporting the children, the ‘researcher’ should consider whether they are asking the ‘right’ and ‘most meaningful’ questions when gathering the data they need.

Critical reflection on these practices should be ongoing, as educators often use trial and error to discover what ‘works’ and what aids or supports the child’s needs.

Read

Learn more about reflective practice: Viewing Excellence as a Process, Not a Result from We Hear You.

Educators often frame their reflective practice within a set of overarching questions, developing more specific questions for particular areas of enquiry.

Overarching questions to guide reflection include:

• What are my understandings of each child?
• What theories, philosophies and understandings shape and assist my work?
• Who is advantaged when I work in this way? Who is disadvantaged?
• What questions do I have about my work? What challenges me? What sparks my curiosity? What confronts me?
• What aspects of my work are not helped by the theories and guidance I usually draw on to make sense of what I do?
• Can other theories or knowledge help me better understand what I have observed or experienced? What are they? How might those theories and that knowledge affect my practice?⁸ 

Educators must reflect upon their knowledge, skills and confidence to discover gaps. No one is an expert in all areas, and it is important to reflect honestly and ask yourself: In which areas would I benefit from or need support? How can I develop and grow in these areas?

When planning for learning, educators will consider each child's individual needs and development – it is also important to consider individual needs and development when establishing the ‘right’ strategies for supporting children’s behaviour. Children need to have the cognition to process the strategies and the ability to meet the requirements. For example, you would not expect a one-year-old to put their hand up and wait to be asked to speak. For example, babies and one to three years olds are not developmentally ready to understand the perspectives of others; you cannot expect them to do so. Also, they cannot generalise rules and information from one context to another. Children's expectations must be appropriate and achievable for their age and development.

Strategies for supporting development and behaviour include: 

• Setting limits, boundaries and reminders
• Encouraging self-efficacy, choice and agency
• Modelling
• Distraction and redirection
• Mediation, group mediation and self-management
• Praising and highlighting positive behaviours
• Language and social behaviour concepts

Setting Limits, Boundaries and Reminders

Young children will need constant reminders about limits and boundaries. You may notice that you will need to enforce a rule in each particular context, as young children cannot yet generalise the information or fully understand when behaviour is acceptable and when it is not. So, for example, you can hit balloons and balls but not other toys or people.

Encouraging Self-Efficacy, Choice and Agency

It is important to encourage children from around two to three years old to make their own choices and learn to understand how to take control of their own life. To begin with, choices should be small and relatively insignificant. They can then increase over time as the child can handle more options. It is important to remember that if something is not an option, do not ask it as a question—it will just confuse the child if they make a choice that is not acceptable, for example, an educator asking whether the child wants to wash their hands before lunch. Instead, give realistic choices, such as the choice between multiple play options, indoor or outdoor play (where available), blue or red paint, trains or cars, an apple or a pear, or a song or a story.

Giving children the agency to make their own decisions helps to empower them to take ownership of their choices. This assists in building the skills children need to become independent and make positive life choices, and it also helps them feel validated and valued as individuals.

Modelling

Humans are wired to observe and imitate what others do, especially when it suits us. This is because humans are social creatures and learn from the people around us. It is easy to forget educators' influence on children, but a simple way to observe this is to watch what the children do and say throughout the day. Are they mimicking you? Are there positive modelling influences that benefit them? These are important areas for reflection.

If you want the children at your service to practice certain behaviours and follow certain limits, show them what they should do. For example, show them how it looks if you want them to speak softly to each other and with respect. If you want them to use strengths-based approaches, such as character development virtues, demonstrate them, be consistent and explain why you use them at particular times.

Modelling may also include demonstrating responsiveness to the needs of others. However, responding too promptly to the behaviour needs of infants and children can be detrimental to their understanding of their actions. Infants require time to develop understanding and security. As the children develop, educators may be able to give them more space to observe how they manage behavioural situations on their own. Educators will only act if their assistance or intervention is required.

Note

Suppose you are already working in an early childhood education service. In that case, you may observe the power of role modelling by selecting one concept, for example, ‘being kind’ or ‘kindness’, and promoting it throughout the week to the children. You could ask the children to look for acts of ‘kindness’ and call them out, but you can draw attention to them when you notice them too. For example, you could say: ‘Lilly, you were so kind to Renee when she cried. I bet it made her feel so much better.’ Also, report to the child’s parents when the child is present: ‘Lily was practising such kindness today with the other children.’

Distraction and Redirection

For young children, distracting them from behaviour by providing engagement elsewhere may be the best solution for them to stop. This is because their development may not be advanced enough to understand certain boundaries. Simply distracting them can minimise unsafe behaviours and encourage them to become interested in another activity of benefit to them. Very young children will not remember set limits and will remember only how they received stimulation from an action, whether it was appropriate or not.

Mediation, Group Mediation and Self-Management

Mediation may be required to resolve conflicts when children cannot work out their differences. Finding a quiet, private space to discuss their differences respectfully is important to the children's self-esteem, self-efficacy, social relationships and trust. This will also model how to manage problems in the future. To help manage their conflict, you can ask them simple questions such as:

• Can you tell me what the problem is?
• What have you done to try to solve the problem? Did it help? If not, why do you think that is?
• What else do you think could help solve the conflict?
• What do you think you could do if this occurs again

Consider how the children can learn to complete these skills together without an adult. Through the educator modelling and repeating ideal conflict resolution strategies, the children can learn and practise managing their interpersonal problems.

Read

To learn more about problem-solving for children, visit these links: 

• 5-Step Problem Solving for Young Children from Heart-Mind Online. 
• Problems Solving Steps from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations.

Praising and Highlighting Positive Behaviours

When you see positive behaviour, highlight it by letting everyone know how wonderful the behaviour was to encourage the child to repeat the behaviour. Tell the child, the class and the child’s family what you saw—this also role models appreciation for the positive behaviours of others. You might encourage the children to high-five each other or to praise a peer who they saw do something kind, helpful, caring, etc. You may even have a visual system, such as pictures around the room, demonstrating how children can support positive behaviours.

You might also give out ‘warm fuzzies’ – a ‘warm fuzzy’ is when you appreciate a behaviour or trait of a person. For example, you could say: ‘I give Renee a warm fuzzy for always being helpful and assisting me when I have trouble completing my puzzle’ or ‘I give Jess a warm fuzzy for always making me laugh when I feel sad – you are funny.’ Everybody loves a warm fuzzy!

Note

Practise giving people warm fuzzies at home or in the workplace, and watch how they react to receiving (and giving) them. You may also begin to see this practice occurring naturally after the activity.

Language and Social Behaviour Concepts

Behaviour guidance should generally be concise and clear—too many words or instructions can confuse. Educators will benefit from using the same simplified instruction and focusing on what they need the children to do instead of what the children should not be doing, for example, saying ‘sit on the chair’ instead of ‘do not sit on the table’. Also, educators should try to use the word ‘no’ only when a child is unsafe or at risk.

Over time, children will understand why certain behaviours are preferable to others, especially regarding social expectations. Children between the ages of three and five are more able to understand why they should or should not engage in a particular behaviour. For example, they can determine that they should not sit on tables through never having been anywhere where people sit on tables instead of chairs. With this age group, you can conduct discussions in an age-appropriate manner to create an understanding of why people do and do not do certain things. For example, you can talk through why we sit on chairs when at a table: sitting on the table may introduce germs to its surface, or the activity will not fit on the table if we sit on it. Explaining the reasoning behind desired behaviour is important because this understanding will increase the chances that the child will comply.

Conversations may need to include discussing the feelings and perspectives of others, which are still reasonably foreign concepts to young children. For young children to understand these concepts, it may be appropriate to teach them to ask their peers how things make them feel and why they think and feel the way they do. This will also help children develop genuine empathy and theory of mind, and in the future, if the child is unsure how someone feels or sees the world, they know they can ask.

Children entering pre-school and kindergarten place significance on what others say to them and what the family and community have taught them. By this age, children will have begun to enforce learnt rules upon each other—this can be a helpful way to continue to guide behaviour. They will also learn to take ownership of and feel responsible and protective of their environment and the people in it as long as the rules are reinforced concerning their peers.

Remember, when guiding behaviour, you should focus on the behaviour, not the child. Therefore, it is advised that you do not use terms such as ‘good girl’, as these are person-centred labels. Educators need to promote self-esteem and confidence and guide and support children’s understanding of expectations, remembering that the children are still learning. Learning takes time and requires consistent, positive approaches.

Read

Read the following article to learn how to help children handle ‘big emotions’: 5 Steps to Managing Big Emotions: Printable Poster from Childhood 101. 

Activity 2A: Responding to behaviour

Part 1

Ask someone you know to observe you for five minutes as you run your daily life. Ask them to say ‘don’t’, ‘stop’ or ‘no’ as often as is relevant. Once completed, consider how this felt and how you wanted to behave in return.

Part 2

For one day, attempt to focus only on the strengths-based behaviour and positive responses to the behaviours of all people you come across.

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessments and professional practice.

Activity 2B: Handling tantrums

Watch

Watch this video of an educator handling a child’s tantrum: Peaches Tantrum, a Clip From Learning Opportunities Bundle of Classroom Moments by Devereux Center for Resilient Children:

Reflect on and discuss:

• The practices of the educator
• How the educator escalates the behaviour of the child
• The child’s developmental needs
• How the situation could be more positively managed

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessments and professional practice.

Activity 2C: Reflection in action

Read the NQS newsletter and the scenarios at this link:

Curriculum Decision Making for Inclusive Practice from the Victorian Inclusion Agency. 

For each scenario, discuss the service’s reflections and strategies for supporting each child and their strengths, focusing on how the educators implement reflective practice. To complete this activity, use what you have learnt in topics 1 and 2 and the information in the newsletter.

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessments and professional practice.

Activity 2D: Sourcing information for support and guidance

Reflect on TWO areas of behaviour and inclusion (e.g. supporting children with anger challenges, supporting children who speak ESL or are from refugee families, supporting children who are hearing impaired, supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children). There are many useful sites, courses and webinars for professionals to utilise that will help with this activity, for example:

Children with Additional Needs in Early Childhood Modules from the Victorian Government. 
Inclusive Foundations for Children with Disabilities – Early Childhood Education and Care from All Learn Play.

Locate at least FOUR resources to support your professional knowledge and skills in these areas, and add the details to the worksheet.

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessments and professional practice.

Activity 2E: Strategies and age groups

Use this worksheet to determine the appropriate age group for each of the behaviour strategies:

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessments and professional practice.