Tuesday, November 29, 2016

4 yr old punches teacher at nap time

I have a 4 year old daughter who goes to a private school for Pre-K. She has always had normal behavior problems at school but has been evaluated by the county schools without any problems. She scored very high on cognitive processing and communication. Everything else was within normal range. She is exhibiting aggressive behavior towards one of her teachers. It usually occurs when her morning teacher leaves and children are with the afternoon teacher about to go down for a nap. She is defiant and does not want to nap. She has punched her teacher several times. We are not sure what to do with this point as we are anticipating that she is going to be expelled. She does not exhibit these behaviors at home.
Can you help?


Hi, You have identified a trigger for your child's anger:  nap time.  One solution would be for the teacher to substitute a quiet activity for your child in a space where she does not disturb the other children.  The teacher may be concerned how this will affect the other children, so you want to work with the teacher to come up with an idea that works for her and for your child.  You or the teacher should probably practice with your child in advance so she understands what to do.  You could explain that this is a privilege, but that if she disturbs the other children, she will not be allowed to do the substitute activity, One way to avoid anger overload is to anticipate it and then change the situation or the expectations, if possible, so that you avoid the problem.  

If the teacher is not willing or not able to come up with an alternative, then you (or someone you know) might need to take your child out for a walk at that time.  Or if you feel your child really needs a nap, then try to come up with a quiet activity she could do on the mat, where she might eventually get tired and nod off.  Another possibility is to use incentives and consequences targeting the hitting of the teacher, but I find that incentives and consequences do not often forestall anger overload.  Most young children are not thinking about consequences when a situation arouses their anger.

You also mention that she has had "normal behavior problems."  I'm wondering what that refers to.  If there are other triggers for her anger, other than nap time, then I would refer to my parents' manuals (and look at other blog posts) to learn about other ways to help reduce anger overload in children.

Best, Dr. Dave Gottlieb

1 comment:

  1. I was really want to get some more detail and information about the medical advice but your blog helped me so much thank you for sharing it.
    medical advice

    ReplyDelete