I've been thinking about how I went from being completely overwhelmed by challenging behaviors like hitting, kicking, spitting (!?), throwing things, running out of the room, and just not listening…

…to loving working with children who exhibit challenging behavior.

And in fact, feeling a calling to help such children - and those of you who work with them - so much that I’ve in fact made it my life’s work.

In some ways, I was always drawn to those kids who were deemed “challenging” by myself and others.
But that doesn’t mean that early in my career I was successful with them..

I remember when Robert threw a giant tantrum - yelling and kicking me - at the park and refused to line up. The other kids, my co-teacher and even local families all watched. I was humiliated. I definitely questioned my career in early childhood.

10 years later I worked with Annalee - who exhibited many similar behaviors. She tantrumed, grabbed and was called “defiant” by her family and other teachers. By this time I had experience and a masters degree in ECSE yet I was still intimated to work with Annalee.

But I was also determined to be successful…and I was! Not instantly of course, but I quickly connected with her, built trust, and in no time she was motivated to follow more and more directions and she learned to use her words rather than her hands.

I’d say 3 key things enabled me to be successful with Annalee:

A positive mindset. I believed in myself and in Annalee.
My special ed training gave me a toolbox full of tools to teach self-regulation and to prevent aggressive behavior.
I relied heavily on the “folk wisdom” of early childhood using puppets, songs and just being playful to keep Annalee engaged and motivated throughout the day - she even came to large group!

In my experience when a positive mindset and early childhood folk wisdom are left out many challenging behavior prevention strategies fail.

So, where are you at in your journey and what’s missing in your toolbox?

Let me know in the comments below…