Early Childhood Practitioners Strategies for Working With Aggressive Children (Part 1)

             This study compared 5 teachers’ existent strategies of aggressive behavior of 20 preschool age children who demonstrated mid- to high levels of aggression utilizing the development of the Antecedent-Behavior-Consequences (A-B-C) intervention behavior plans.  Results revealed that aggressive acts decreased due to specific, behavioral-based strategies that were implemented within the 5-week study.  In addition, data revealed the institutions of higher education must better prepare teachers in the areas of classroom management and early intervention strategies for aggressive behaviors.

 

Children between the ages of 3 and 5 who exhibit a specific emergent rise in unexpected aggressive behaviors and poor social skills are at greater risk of facing lifelong challenges in all areas of their lives. Excessive aggression, especially physical and emotional, may ultimately lead to such negative consequences as school failure, drug addiction, criminal activity, and incarceration (Barkley et al., 2000; Frey, 2000; Loeber, 1990; Pepler & Rubin, 1991; Stormont, 2000). Bell, Carr, Denno, Johnson, and Phillips (2004) observed that aggressive behaviors such as hitting, pushing, shoving and antisocial acts such as bullying and taunting are easily identified in early childhood settings. Although young children have always manifested some undesirable behavior traits, many more characteristic of one stage of development or another and within a range considered normal, the number of aggressive acts committed by preschool age children is escalating to unprecedented levels  (Campbell, 1997; Campbell, Shaw, & Gilliam, 2000;  Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Reguero de Atiles, Stegelin, & Long, 1997). A 2001 statewide study on pre-kindergarten expulsion in Massachusetts showed that 39% of teachers (119) reported expelling at least one child within 12 months due to aggressive acts (Gilliam, 2005). During 2003 and 2004, Gilliam (2005) conducted a national study showing that of 766,907 enrolled pre-kindergarten children, 5,117 were expelled from centers. Pre-kindergarteners are “being suspended or expelled from their educational programs, [but] almost no research exists on the topic” (Gilliam, 2005, p. 1).

Researchers have attributed the increase in aggression among younger children to their exposure to violence as “family violence and nonfamily assaults, witnesses of family and community violence, and viewers of media violence” (American Psychological Association, as cited in Slaby, Roedell, Arezzo, & Hendrik, 1995, p. 1). Garbarino, Kostelny, and Dubrow (1991) supported the idea that children’s daily exposure to violence was being increasingly exhibited in their interpersonal interactions. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) stated, “Those children who are not directly exposed [to violence] are affected by pervasive violence” (Slaby et al., p. 1). “Studies have shown that children exposed to models involved in aggressive behavior increase their own aggressive behaviors” (Wardle, 2003, p. 386). Media depictions of violent acts to resolve issues harm preschool children who have not developed the cognitive skills to distinguish between fantasy performances and real life. In the early 1990s, NAEYC developed a position statement about violence in children’s lives that included calling upon those who work with young children to act.

[It recommended that professionals] support violence-prevention efforts and promote children’s resilience to violence. . . The early childhood profession has an important role to play in breaking the cycle of violence in the lives of children through (1) professional preparation, development, and support; (2) early childhood programs and curricula; and (3) partnerships with parents. (Slaby et al., p. 175)

 

Early childhood practitioners play a particularly important role in helping children learn appropriate behaviors and in instilling prosocial skills (e.g., sharing, taking turns) the children will need as adults. When children learn prosocial skills, they are less likely to fight to solve problems (Richardson, 2000; Sebanc, 2003; Stormont, 2000; VanDerHeyden, Witt, & Gattis,

2001).

Direction of the Connection

            The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between perceptions of aggressive behaviors and if the implementation of the A-B-C behavior plan reduce or eliminate aggressive acts for children who exhibited mid- to high levels of aggression.  The review below is previous research of types of aggression, aggressive children’s profile, and early childhood practitioner’s profile.

Types of Aggression

One view is that children exhibit three types of aggression to achieve a desired end: instrumental, hostile/physical, and relational/expressive (Bell, Carr, Denno, Johnson, and Phillips, 2004) Bell et al. suggested that instrumental aggression occurs when children use materials “to obtain an end (e.g., to get a desired toy)” (p. 7). This type of aggression is witnessed more often in a learning environment serving younger rather than older children. One example of instrumental aggression is biting, which generally occurs because children have limited language skills to articulate their needs and wants to peers; therefore, the children bite to convey their needs. McEvoy, Estrem, Rodriguez, and Olson (2003) reported that physical aggression, “such as hitting, pushing, kicking, throwing objects, or threatening to perform these acts” are all committed with the “intent to get their needs met through physical means” (p. 53). Hostile aggression requires teachers to monitor and reinforce prosocial skills to prevent further attempts to harm the victim because this form of aggression “is frequently directed toward the same children (i.e., the victims)” (Crick, Casas, & Ku, 1999, p. 377). Hildebrand and Hearron (1999) stated that hostile aggression is when the “child derives satisfaction from hurting another or doing damage” (p. 160). In working with children who exhibit hostile aggressive acts, teachers would be “wise to seek the assistance of a professional counselor or psychologist as well, for children who take pleasure in inflicting harm are probably in some sort of psychological pain themselves” (p. 160). Relational/expressive aggression is characterized by “cursing, taunting, ridiculing, or name calling [and] often accompanies physical aggression” (Bell et al., 2004, p. 8). If a teacher does not intercede when aggressive action takes place, the aggressor will “experience diminished self-awareness and self-regulation, lessened inner restraint, and heightened freedom to engage in aggressive or other deviant behaviors” (Goldstein, 2001, p. 165).

Hildebrand and Hearron (1999) asserted that children often exhibit aggressive behaviors because they have not learned alternative ways to express their feelings or get what they want. Therefore, they express their feelings by harming themselves, others, and property. This behavior shows that children need to learn how to use words to express their emotions and learn alternative ways to solve problems.

Aggressive Children’s Profile

Aggressive children demonstrate specific behaviors that have negative consequences for them and those around them. These children display “verbal provocations and threats, physical fights, poorly controlled anger, low frustration tolerance, bullying, and disruptive behavior” (Van Bilsen et al., 1995, p. 145), and these behaviors are directed at peers, teachers, and others with whom they interact with daily. As children continuously demonstrate aggressive social behaviors, they “are often rejected and ‘actively disliked’ by their peers, which causes them to retaliate aggressively or withdraw from further social interaction, thus setting in motion a negative pattern of social behavior that is difficult to reverse” (Farver, 1996, p. 333). Without intervention, this learned social behavior often continues through their lives and sets them on a downward spiral that may lead to incarceration (Farver, 1996).

Slaby, Roedell, Arezzo, and Hendrix (1995) reported that about “80% of children’s aggressive behaviors were directly rewarded by particular actions of the victims, such as giving up toys, crying, or withdrawing from the scene” (p. 158). If the victims of aggression continue with behaviors that serve as a reward to the aggressor, the aggressor is likely to soon commit a similar attack on the same victim. On the other hand, Slaby et al. (1995) reported, “When the victim did not submit to (and thus reward) the aggressor but instead stood up to the aggressor firmly but nonviolently, the aggressor was likely to change both the type of aggression and the choice of victim” (p. 158). This finding demonstrated that early childhood practitioners can intervene by helping children learn to resolve problems prosocially instead of resorting to aggression. Teachers can help children victimized by aggression and aggressive children to learn the skills they need to resolve using social skills.

Researchers have investigated the issue of gender difference and aggression in children in the learning environment. Fields and Boesser (2002) found that “Gender segregation appears to be a result of different styles of play” (p. 64): cooperative, associative, parallel, and so forth. Furthermore, they reported, “More boys tend to engage in rough-and-tumble play, and girls may congregate in the playhouse” (p. 64). Children’s developmental stages also influence their styles of play and the distinct forms of aggression they exhibit. Girls form exclusive relationships that can cause hurt feelings within the group, whereas boys form relationships through dominance and power games that cause physical injuries. These findings concurred with those of other researchers, who noted that the duration of aggressive acts was documented from early childhood to adulthood and that boys or men and girls or women were reported to exhibit distinct forms of aggression, with “boys [exhibiting] physical aggression [and] girls [exhibiting] relational aggression” (Crick, Casas, & Ku, 1999, p. 380).

Preschool-age children tend to play more often with same gender than with the opposite gender. How teachers view gender difference influences their interactions with boys and girls, causing them to treat girls “in ways that encourage compliance and dependence” and boys “in ways that encourage assertiveness” (Fields & Boesser, 2002, p. 64). Teachers may send mixed messages that boys should be aggressive and that some types of aggressive behavior are acceptable. When children enter childcare centers, teachers may be more lackadaisical in disciplining boys than girls, perhaps because boys tend to engage in rough-and-tumble play, while girls play in the housekeeping or dramatic play center.

Another major approach to helping children reduce aggressive behaviors is to build self-esteem in children who lack it. Miller (2004) noted that aggressive inappropriate behaviors indicate that children feel a "sense of hopelessness” (p. 236). Without early intervention to reduce aggressive antisocial behaviors, children will likely continue disruptive aggressive habits into adulthood. Preschool is an optimal time for professionals and parents to teach social skills such as sharing and taking turns to solve problems as a means of obtaining the desired object (Mize & Ladd, 1990). Children must be given concrete examples of how to respond in a prosocial manner and chances to practice appropriate social skills for building positive interpersonal relationships and self-esteem.

References

 

Barkley, R. A., Shelton, T. L., Crosswait, C., Moorehouse, M., Fletcher, K., Barrett, S., Jenkins, L., & Metevia, L. (2000). Multi-method psycho-educational intervention for preschool children with disruptive behavior: Preliminary results at post-treatment. Journal Child Psychology, 41, 319-332.

 

Bell, S. H., Carr, V., Denno, D., Johnson, L. J., & Phillips, L. R. (2004). Challenging behaviors in early childhood settings: Creating a place for all children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

 

Campbell, S. B. (1997). Behavioral problems in preschool children. In T. H. Ollendick & R.J. Prinz (Eds.), Advances in clinical child psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 1-26). New York: Plenum Press.

 

Campbell, S. B., Shaw, D. S., & Gilliam, M. (2000). Early externalizing behavior problems: Toddlers and preschoolers at risk for later maladjustment. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 467-488.

 

Crick, N. R., Casas, J. F., & Ku, H. C. (1999). Relational and physical forms of peer victimization in preschool. Developmental Psychology, 35, 376-385.

 

Farver, J. M. (1996). Aggressive behavior in preschoolers’ social networks: Do birds of a feather flock together? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 11, 333-350.

 

Fields, M. V., & Boesser, C.  (2002).  Constructive guidance and discipline preschool and primary education (3^rd ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill Prentice Hall.

 

Frey, K. S. (2000). Second step: Preventing aggression by promoting social competence. [Electronic version]. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 1-14.

 

Garbarino, J., Kostelny, K., & Dubrow, N.  (1991).  No place to be a child:  Growing up in a war zone.  New York:  Lexington.

 

Gilliam, W. S. (2005). Prekindergarteners left behind: Expulsion rate in state prekindergarten system. Yale University Child Study Center. Retrieved June 30, 2005, from http://NtlPreKExpulsionPaper03.02new.pdf

 

Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., & Miller, Y. (1992). Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: Implications for substance abuse prevention. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 64-105.

 

Hildebrand, V., & Hearron, P. F. (1999). Guiding young children (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

 

Loeber, R. (1990). Development and risk factors of juvenile antisocial behavior and delinquency. Clinical Psychology Review, 10, 1-41.

 

McEvoy, M. A., Estrem, T. L., Rodriguez, M. C., & Olson, M. L. (2003). Assessing relational and physical aggression among preschool children: Intermethod agreement. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 23(2), 53-63.

 

Miller, D. F. (2004). Positive child guidance (4th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning.

 

Mize, J., & Ladd, G. W. (1990). Toward the development of successful social skills training for preschool children. In S. R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 338-361). New York: Cambridge University Press.

 

Pepler, D. J., & Rubin, K. H. (1991). The development of treatment of childhood aggression. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

 

Reguero de Atiles, J. T., Stegelin, D. A., & Long, J. K. (1997). Biting behaviors among preschoolers: A review of the literature and survey of practitioners. Early Childhood Education Journal, 25, 101-105.

 

Richardson, R. C. (2000). Teaching social and emotional competence [Electronic version]. Children and Schools, 22, 246-252.

 

Sebanc, A. (2003). The friendship features of preschool children: Links with prosocial behavior and aggression. Social Development, 12, 249-268.

 

Slaby, R. G., Roedell, W. C., Arezzo, D., & Hendrix, K. (1995). Early violence prevention tools for teachers of young children. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

 

Stormont, M. (2000). Early child risk factors for externalizing and internalizing behaviors: A 5-year follow-forward assessment. Journal of Early Intervention, 23, 180-190.

 

Van Bilsen, H. P., Kendall, P. C., & Slavanburg, J. H.  (1995.  Behavioral approaches for children and adolescents challenges for the next century.  New York:  Plenum Press.

 

VanDerHeyden, A. M., Witt, J. C., & Gatti, S. (2001). Descriptive assessment method to reduce overall disruptive behavior in a preschool classroom. School Psychology Review, 30, 548-567.