CHALLENGING CHILD OBSERVATION ASSIGNMENT

For my observation assignment I chose Sam, a four-year-old boy who stays in my class for the aftercare program. I have worked with Sam previously in the camp last summer and became aware of his challenging behavior.
For starters, he has a medical condition – he is prone to epilepsy (the cause is unknown). Sam is on medication and his doctors are constantly adjusting it and testing his condition. Sam’s parents asked teachers to be on the lookout for the warning signs of epilepsy. So far we have not witnessed any seizures at school, only the slight eye twitching/rolling or slight muscle jerks on the shoulders. I’ve noticed that this happens when Sam gets tired or overwhelmed by noise, too many …show more content…

I try to catch him, but he is fast. When I finally get him, he falls down on the ground and throws a tantrum. At some point he yells at me: “I don’t like you!” (I heard Sam saying it to another teacher once before, her response was: “You don’t have to like me, but you have to listen to me because I’m your teacher.”) In order for me to calm Sam down, I need to calm down myself. I get down to Sam’s level and say as calm as I can: “I understand, you did not mean it to happen. I know you are sorry. Now, you have a choice either to put the toys away and line up at the door or I will help you do it and take you inside, because I have to go and can’t leave you here alone.” Then I turn to Sam’s buddies who are watching our interaction with curiosity: “Please, show Sam more toys to put away.” With a little more patience and persuasion, Sam calms down and joins the group. I praise him for his cooperation.

It was a crowd control failure on my part (Ch.7, p.107). The next day I separated kids into groups during clean-up, so that there were no more than five kids in each are of clean-up. I also did some self-reflection on why I almost lost it when I got hit by a toy. It evoked some childhood memories of hostile situations with my peers. I have to let go of them to be able to stay cool and collected, not stressed. I cannot allow a child to push my buttons. I need to understand my feelings and where they are coming from. Sam needs to see that I am