Spotlight on Young Children: Challenging Behavior

Preventing and Responding to Challenging Behavior

Addressing challenging behavior is a daily concern for early childhood educators. It’s estimated that roughly 10 to 14 percent of children from birth to 5 years old demonstrate serious behavioral concerns, resulting in significant impacts to their learning and social interactions.

Children engage in challenging behavior for many different reasons; preventing and responding to that behavior begins with understanding why it occurs. This book curates and organizes articles from Young Children and Teaching Young Children that

• Help teachers build trust and connections with children
• Highlight evidence-based positive behavior intervention and support strategies
• Aim to prevent suspension, expulsion, and other punitive discipline
• Support teachers and families in implementing effective teaching strategies for social and emotional skills children can use instead of challenging behavior
• Show how to adapt practices to consider the cultures and contexts of children 

Each article in this collection is accompanied by questions to prompt deeper thinking on the content. With this resource, fully see and hear children as you honor and support their well-being, as well as your own.

Charis Lauren Wahman, PhD, BCBA-D, is assistant professor of special education at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on training early childhood teachers on evidence-based practices within the framework of Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) to stop suspension and expulsion of preschool children. She examines the experiences of families whose children have significant social and emotional needs. Charis’s research aims to understand the contextual factors that hinder or enhance a child’s social and emotional development while improving the quality of school-based intervention services for young children and the relationship between schools and families. Her work has been published in journals such as Remedial and Special Education, Children and Youth Services Review, Education and Treatment of Children, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, Psychology in the Schools, Early Childhood Education Journal, Young Children, and Young and Exceptional Children.

Janice K. Lee, PhD, BDBA, is the state coordinator for the Nevada Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Interventions (Nevada TACSEI) Pyramid Model Partnership. In this role, she facilitates the State Leadership Team and oversees all work related to Nevada TACSEI training and technical assistance for public and private early care and education programs. Previously, she worked as a case manager, consultant, early interventionist, and research faculty. She has over 20 years of experience as a trainer, coach, technical assistance provider, and consultant at the local, state, national, and international levels. Janice’s research interests include early childhood, challenging behavior, social emotional development, autism and developmental disabilities, families, implementation science, positive behavior support, and personnel preparation.