Born Evil Pt. 1: Kids Gone Wild!!!

Yesterday I was scrolling through Facebook and came across this video of a little girl destroying a classroom. The child's mother posted the video with an asinine comment like, "The little princess is getting a time out tonight lol" or something flippant to that effect. She mentioned that it was in her Head Start classroom and there was an *edit, telling people to stop making rude comments about her parenting style and "don't tell me how to raise my child."

Well.

Of course I had to go dive headfirst into the comments section and boy oh boy was that a mistake.

I really shouldn't have reread these comments. Jesus Christ. 

It was the usual internet-troll-holier-than-thou mothers putting in their two cents- that child needs a beating! That child should get her ass whopped! Kids these days... Parents these days...What a spoiled little brat...Evil...Obviously she gets away with this at home or she wouldn't do it at school... on and on and on until eventually

I snapped.

No.

No no no!

This was a CHILD. A child that was obviously in some sort of turmoil, some sort of pain, to be acting out in this aggressive way.

Let me start at the beginning. As I mentioned, the little girl was in a Head Start program. 

What is Head Start? According to Wikipedia, 

"Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children's physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills." While eligibility is mainly income-based (you have to have a family income of 100% less than the federal poverty level), other factors are considered, such as such as disabilities and services needed by other family members."

So this means, off the bat, this child is (probably) living AT LEAST 100% under the federal poverty level! The federal poverty level for a family of 2 (say the girl and her mom) is $16, 460. We don't know if she's homeless. We don't know if she's starving. We don't know, but can assume, that she is living under her mother's stress and anxiety of living without proper means. 

(edit: I just came across this post in draft, so while it's not fresh in my mind, I'm going to continue my rant).

Head Start, cont.

"While eligibility is mainly income-based (you have to have a family income of 100% less than the federal poverty level), other factors are considered, such as such as disabilities and services needed by other family members."

 Ok, so let's say that the child isn't living in poverty. The only other way to be included in this program is to have a disability, or have a family member in need of special services. "Services needed by other family members" can allude to many things, but all of that can be attributed to the same effects that poverty may have on this child (anxiety, worry, fear), so let me move onto the idea that she has some sort of disability.

A child with disabilities may exhibit extremely challenging behaviors in the classroom. They may elope (run out of the classroom), act disrespectful or aggressive, tantrum, be noncompliant, self injurious or inflict self-harm...or, destroy the classroom. And guess what? There is always, always!,  a function for the behavior. 

Very Important Footnote: There is motivation behind every behavior that each and everyone of us display- which means, forget her having a disability- she's a tiny human! 

Regardless of whether or not she has a disability, or how severe it is, the fact of the matter is that something is playing a role in her actions. Many times, the function (reason or cause) of destructive or defiant behavior is escape (because they are unable to understand the work, cannot process verbal directions, are ashamed, are overwhelmed, or are bored). The function may also be attention seeking- an alternative (and unfortunate) way of pursuing a teacher or classmates to "Look at me!", stemming from the inability to communicate her needs effectively. The function could also be sensory (the classroom setting is too loud, too busy, too bright). She might have been hungry, or not have gotten enough sleep the night before.

As I don't know this child, and wasn't in the classroom prior to the incident (or ever), all I can do is use my professional experience to continue my assumptions. The teacher(s) need to answer the question "What happened prior to this incident? What caused it?" In other words, what was the Antecedent that occurred prior to this Behavior, and what was the Consequence of her actions? This is known in the SpEd world as an A-B-C analysis. Was she displaying escape Behavior, after the teacher gave her verbal directions that were unclear and confusing? Did she then effectively get to escape the undesired task as a Consequence? Did she destroy the classroom in order to gain the teacher's attention, negative though it was, as a Consequence (teacher yelling, punishment, being put on display on social media to cause shame and embarrassment)? When the child is able to achieve the desired outcome of the behavior (function), such as being able to get out of doing the assigned task, or get attention (any attention), the teacher is reinforcing that behavior. In other words, "I can't understand how to do this, so I'm going to throw the books around, and then my teacher won't make me do it...it's happened before!" Perhaps the teacher busy with other students, so she decided, "If I make a mess, the teacher will have to pay attention to me...that always works!" 

When you look at challenging behaviors as a teacher, or as a parent, it is absolutely essential that you are reflective of yourself and your response, because (not to play the blame game but...)how you react directly correlates with the function of the behavior (in layman's terms, letting them "get their way"). Giving in to escape, or giving attention in the form of yelling or punishment, strengthens the behavior and the likelihood of it reoccurring. As I recall, this was not an isolated incident with the little girl in the classroom, so it is fair to say that the behavior has been unknowingly reinforced. This little girl needs to be taught replacement behaviors- or the correct way to get what she wants- in order for this aggressive behavior to stop. What should she do if she is confused and needs assistance? How can she get positive attention from her teacher an peers? How can she communicate her needs effectively? Punishment for her acts of defiance may seem like the Consequence, but what happens next time she is confused, or feels like no one is paying attention to her? Yup...classroom eradication commence!