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Strong Response to Poor Behavior
April 27, 2007
Two shorten the road.
-Irish proverb
-Irish proverb
The ExchangeEveryDay for March 30th generated a record number of reader responses �" and the responses certainly set a record for the amount of emotion expressed. The story for the day focused on a New York Times article that charged that "keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class."
While we cannot do justice to the impassioned and thoughtful responses from readers, we are going to share below a few "brief" excerpts from a sampling of the views shared. To read all the responses in their entirety, and to share your own views, go to the ExchangeEveryDay for March 30th.
Joyce Webster, Houston, Texas: "In too many cases, the child who is labeled as disruptive in school is the child who is eager to learn, confident, and active. Valued by the teacher, however, is the child who sits quietly and demands nothing."
Marsha Enquist, Chicago, Illinois: "When I reached the study's author, Margaret Burchinal, yesterday, she asked if she could explain something she feared had been missed. 'I'm not sure we communicated this, but the kids who had one or two years of day care by age 4 1/2 �" which was typical for our sample �" had exactly the level of problem behavior you'd expect for kids of their age. Most people use center care for one to two years, and for those kids we're not seeing anything problematic.'" [Note: We encourage you to read Burchinal's extensive comments in Enquist's response.]
Alison Pepper, New York, New York: "The consensus from the professionals in the field that I have spoken with about this article is that this actually reflects back on the elementary schools and their lack of best practices in behavior management for children."
Sheila Olan-MacLean, Peterborough, Ontario: "Perhaps the reasons that children are seen as more disruptive in class is that their sense of self is more developed and children who have spent time in child care have been encouraged to make decisions for themselves."
Gay Macdonald, Los Angeles, California: "Perhaps good changes for children will flow from the vigorous discussion engendered by this report. Our ECE staff has long been worried about the challenges faced by children leaving an environment that stresses critical thinking and self-regulation for highly structured elementary school classrooms where docility and conformity are the highest priorities. Every year we brace ourselves for the criticisms �" your children ask too many questions and have far too much energy! For these 'failings' they are noted as 'problem' children."
Gwen Morgan, Lincoln, Massachusetts: "Here's what people need to know. (1) This study produces findings every year, following the same children. It is an interesting study, long-term but not a longitudinal study that can be said to measure effects, unless they are huge effects, because there is no control group, no data on the quality of the service the parents chose. (2) Jay Belsky is not the principal investigator, and he appears to lack scientific objectivity about the findings, unlike the other authors and investigators in the study....(3) When first findings began to be analyzed, Belsky did an unprecedented thing for a scientific study: he wrote a New York Times article announcing that spending a long time in child care early in life makes children more aggressive, exhibiting disturbing behavior. That is unprecedented because scientists publish their findings in scientific journals, where fellow scientists can understand the meaning of the data, in this case a significant but tiny finding that parents would interpret as a large risk, but that scientists would understand in their more intense angels-on-a-pin discussions...."
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Play Environment Consulting
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Re: New York Times Article
I wonder in this debate if anyone has thought about the physical environment contributing to this behaviour! Sheila Campbell & Nancy Dill's study "The impact of change in Spatial Density on Children's behaviours in a Day Care setting" published in "When Children Play" proceedings of an international conference on Play and the Environment edited by Frost & Sunderland and published back in 1986 examined how the physical environment impacts on children's play.
They emphasise that the "play behaviour of preschool children are influenced by a total amount of space and organisation of areas and the effect of the environmental influence on the children is primarily noted in terms of play behaviour". The settings in which the play occurs as well as the size of the settings and type of equipment is also stressed in the earlier work of Krichevsky & Prescott. They point to the relationship between enviornment (settings) and anti-social behaviour plus a breakdown in staff handling.
In my consultancy on physical environments, the adverse impact of crowding appears to be a frequent factor in management of children problems. In Australia this crowding (cramped conditions) operates both inside buildings and in playgrounds. Proactive planning is critical.
Busy Bees Preschool Center, Inc
Fitchburg, MA, United States
Thank-you Gwen Morgan for applying your analytical mind and getting to the vaidity questions of the research.
Indeed, the elementary school environment needs to change to accomodate the incoming young children so that they are learning, and not being "taught at".
Children need to move their bodies periodically, and not be lead through mazes of activity and behavior.
St. Michael's School
Wilmington, Delaware, United States
I believe there may actually be two significant points for discussion on the topic of behavior of children who have spent significant time in child care. 1. Yes, bright and confident children are asking many questions, and seeking both exciting activities and challenges. They may chatter a lot and demand attention. Is this 'problem behavior'? I believe that child care workers who are not sufficiently or properly trained in child development have inappropriate expectations and are themselves often annoyed by children who make demands on them. 2. Children who spend time in poor quality settings where individual needs are not met or understood are often left to fight for things to occupy themselves, materials and adult attention. They are learning lessons of 'survival of the fittest' and may be developing some of the bullying behaviors we are seeing in schools. Over my 37 years as a teacher and administrator in early education, I have found that many, (probably most) child behaviors are in response to environments and/or situations adults have created. When will we realize that QUALITY is the answer to many of the problems in early care and education? Our industry needs trained teachers, curriculum and good planning, and family involvement. Children need space, quiet and active times, proper and sufficient materials, guidance (not punishment), good nutrition and respect. Until we get it right on a larger scale we will be subject to criticism from many directions.
Parkersburg, WV, United States
These comments offer insight, but a common solution to many of the discipline problems was missed. The phrase "developmentally age appropriate" for pre-K ages would have lots of time daily to move and not be restricted in a chair. Thus behaviors improve. "Hothouse" centers stressing symbolic acquistion of language tend to have the disciplaine issues. The whole child being developed in pedagogy of constructivism in variety of modalities have successful learners with fewer discipline issues.
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