Author Description

"Teachers of young children will feel validated by this book that explains the issues underlying behaviors that challenge us on a daily basis and shows how to address them effectively." -Xiomara Sánchez, NBCT, Dual Language Pre-K Teacher, Darwin Elementary School, Chicago, IL "Covers the breadth of children′s behaviors that teachers are likely to see, and describes the major motivators for them very well. The examples and scenarios are highly interesting, meaningful, and transferable to classroom practice." -Gail Hardesty, Early Reading First Mentor, Chicago Public Schools, IL Increase your understanding of children to guide and shape behavior in positive ways! Teachers are masterful in balancing the diverse backgrounds, social-emotional needs, and academic goals of children in their classroom-that is, if they can only get them to sit still, pay attention, keep their hands off of each other (or out of the fish tank), or a host of other effective aggravations! But creating a classroom of attentive learners takes more than swift discipline-it involves helping children make good behavioral choices by developing their self-control rather than controlling them to make the choices we prefer. Difficult Behavior in Early Childhood offers insight into understanding why certain children behave in certain ways, so teachers can react appropriately to individual behaviors and needs. In an engaging, conversational tone, the book covers: Reconciling the different behavioral expectations of families and schools Applying timeout effectively Motivating children immediately and powerfully Establishing and following through with boundaries Developing behavior incentive plans that work Identifying early signs of depression, anxiety, grief, and special needs Through informed practice, teachers can bring about positive behavioral change and healthy, productive development.