Teachers- i need new ,good advice on handling a difficult 5 year old in my class. He's very sweet.?

He is disruptive and makes it difficult to do anything. I can't send him home- we are working on a star chart- but he has problems with impluse control so that's hard.

Amber2009-04-30T09:57:16Z

Favorite Answer

Yes, sending him home is not usually the situation. He definately needs to learn self-control as soon as possible because it will be more difficult come formal schooling. Being disruptive and lack of impulse control does point to POSSIBLY attention deficient or something similar and even if it's not, you'll find a LOT of good ideas if you search the internet for techniques for ADHD/ADD; or check out books from the library with this disorder. A lot of techniques just benefit the classroom as a whole.

With a child I have presently that is very impulsive I find that I "shadow" him as much as possible and we've made progress. I've observed this child long enough to see the "symptoms" of making a poor choice and I sign "stop and think". This works nicely because after awhile I don't have to be so near him and I don't even have to verbalize the thought. I've also found that with this age...often the impulsiveness usually shows up at around the same time of day. Child is getting tired or hungry but it's not quite time for nap or lunch. Possibly it's just after outside time when he can't seem to calm his body down by himself. If you observe the child over a period of time and mark down when and what occurs, most likely you will see a pattern and then you can tailor your guidance specifically for him.

Using a visual schedule or in this case maybe a visual consequence schedule would be helpful. If ______ then ______. Consistent consequences and following through makes a big difference. Be sure that all teachers are on the same page.

At group times, seat the child near a teacher. Or have the teacher seat themselves near the child. If you can get volunteers or extra staff during "busy" times of the day...it can be helpful.

Be sure to make direct eye contact when talking to him...and multiple times throughout the day. Also be sure that you are finding positive things to say throughout the day so that it doesn't always seem you are "nagging" him.

Use physical contact such as a hand on the shoulder or back...sometimes you don't even need to say anything...just make your presence known. Have a smile ready when he looks at you.

I bet some of his disruptiveness is at circle/story time. Give him something that he can fiddle with during this time. Sometimes I allow the whole class something to fiddle with (pass a basket around) but sometimes I just matter of factly state that so and so needs a little more help staying focused so we are going to give him a (koosh ball) to touch and fiddle with during story time. Have very clear rules about where and how he can use this fiddle toy. Needs to stay in his lap, etc.

Often children like this need more "process" time. When you ask him a question or give an instruction, consciously stay silent for 5-10 seconds. Give him a chance to follow through.

Maybe this child's situation worsens during free play. This is usually because this time is undirected and children with possible ADD/ADHD have a very difficult time with undirected/unstructured time. It would not be uncalled for to "plan" his time together with him before letting him go into free play. Help him come up with tasks to do and follow through. A picture schedule definately helps here because you can't expect a child to remember all of his plan.

It's hard to give specific ideas since I haven't observed the child. But maybe one of the above will help.

♥╒U ♥2009-04-30T08:38:01Z

i'm not a teacher, but my niece and nephew are in kintergarden right now and have ADHD real bad and they are disruptive almost all the time. they are on a system where if they have a good day the teacher will give them kind of like an award.. it's just a piece of paper that says "___ was caught being good today!" they take it home, show their parents, parents sign it and they bring it back to get a sticker or sometimes a piece of candy or a cool pencil or something. and if they have three in a row then the whole class gets a treat. :) it works for them, and it works at home too. we use the star chart here. you just have to make a really big deal about it when theyre good and then they'll try to be good more often.
good luck

Anonymous2009-05-01T17:33:10Z

Maybe you need to involve him more getting him to be a 'special helper' I have a child in my class who is very difficult (more than disruptive actually hits kicks and throws things at the teacher as well as children) if you involve him more you will find that you have his attention and he'll focus on what you are getting him to do
Hope that helps
Good luck

?2016-10-02T15:19:53Z

nicely, Wit's end, you're able the place i've got considered 2 of my pals finally end up. They felt very almost precisely such as you do and have been given incredibly annoyed while people pronounced the subject may be incorrect nutrition or not sufficient interest or not sufficient discipline. My desirable suggestion to you is in keeping with their studies. First, take your son to a doctor to make specific that his bloodwork is favourite. One chum became into instructed this type of habit could have a thyroidal or different variety of hormone imbalance as a reason. If this is governed out, then, you may desire to ask a expert approximately specific forms of remedies and clarify the way you sense approximately drugs. one in each of my chum's youngsters replied o.k. to a behavioral scientific care and did not require drugs. in spite of the indisputable fact that, it did require a number of of paintings on the area of the mothers and dads and biweekly primary practitioner's visits. As for my different pals' daughter, the scientific care wasn't sufficient, and that they did supply her drugs. the medicine did wonders for her. She is not at all "zombie-like". She behaves like an extremely favourite new child. If it did come to drug scientific preserve your son, in simple terms keep in mind that drugs and dosages have replaced lots even over the previous couple of years. The greater contemporary drugs in lots of circumstances do not reason the matters you have considered till now. I agree that it would be greater desirable in the adventure that your son does not could desire to take the meds, yet do not in hassle-free terms rule it out thoroughly till now you talk to a doctor. you have a fortunate son to have a mom who cares this lots.

Anonymous2009-04-30T14:53:15Z

I'm not a teacher but i'm a childcare student so i've had experience with children like this, theres a few things you do one of them is obvouisely to try and ignore it if you can as he will probably be attention seeking. Also you need to tell him he can have good things when he shows good behaviour, for example a child was like this in a settng I worked in and she liked doing the washing up so when she showed good behaviour she was able to do this.

Show more answers (3)