Challenging behavior in young children is prevalent, impacting 10-30% of those under age 5. Such behavior includes aggression, noncompliance, self-injury and can interfere with learning and social engagement. Over time, children who exhibit challenging behaviors face higher risks of poor academic and social outcomes including expulsion, peer rejection, and special education placement. Additionally, teachers report that challenging student behaviors negatively impact their job satisfaction and likelihood of remaining in the profession. Despite the impacts, few children exhibiting early problem behaviors receive intervention services.

1. Impact & Prevalence
of Unhealthy Social
Development

2. Challenging
Behavior

3. “Any repeated pattern of behavior, or
perception of behavior, that interferes with
or is at risk of interfering with optimal
learning or engagement in pro-social
interactions with peers and adults.”
(TACSEI, 2009)

4. – Noncompliance
– Aggression
– Self-injury
– Injury of Others
– Destruction of Property
(Neilsen, Olive, Donovan, McEvory, 1999)

5. Grabbi
ng
Spitting

6. 10-30% of
young children
under the age
of 5 use More than half
challenging of children
behavior. served by Head
Start programs
consistently use
(Center for Mental Health in Schools, 2005; Qi & Kaiser, 2003; TACSEI, 2007;
West, Denton, & Germino-Hausken, 2000)

7. • 390,536 children
in the U.S. have
been diagnosed
with Severe
Emotional
Disturbance.
• 3,158 of these
children are
under the age of
five.

8. 9 to 13% of American children and
adolescents
between ages nine to seventeen have
been diagnosed with serious emotional

9. Over 15% of all students with
disabilities (ages 6-21) are taking
behavior-altering medications.
(USDOE, 2005)

10. 10% to 25% of preschool children
in the United States meet the
criteria for
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
(ODD).
(IDEA Data Accountability Center, 2010; Webster-Stratton, 1997)

11. Compared to
children with other
special
needs, children
with serious
emotional
disorders:
–Miss more days of
school
–Have the highest
rate of school

12. (U.S. Department of
Education, 2002, 2006)

13. 2 of every 1,000 students are expelled
from grades K-12.
7 of every 1,000 preschoolers are
expelled each year for displaying
challenging behavior .
(Gilliam, 2008; Gilliam & Shahar, 2006; Hale-Jinks, Knopf, &
Kemple, 2006; Jacobson, 2005)

14. Children under five are three
times
more likely to be expelled.
(Gilliam, 2008; Gilliam & Shahar, 2006; Hale-Jinks, Knopf, &
Kemple, 2006; Jacobson, 2005)
.

15. About 1/3 of all adolescent students
with disabilities have been suspended
or expelled due to the
use of challenging behavior.
(USDOE, 2005; TACSEI, 2007)

16. Challenging
Behavior

17. …and has lasting effects.

18. Children who use
challenging behavior are
more likely to experience:
• Expulsion from
preschool
• Early and continual
peer rejection
• Strained relationships
with teachers

19. Children who use problem behavior from
a young age are more likely to:
• Fail in school
• Drop out of school
• Be arrested
• Abuse alcohol or drugs
• Engage in gang activity
(TACSEI, 2004; Vitaro, Larose, Brendgen, & Tremblay, 2005)

20. The use of challenging behavior
at ages 3 and 5 is the most
accurate predictor of
poor social outcomes in middle
and high school.
(TACSEI, 2007)

21. Approximately
48% of children
who use
challenging
behaviors in
Kindergarten will
receive special
education
services by 4th

22. Faculty in higher
education early
childhood programs
report that their
graduates are least
likely to be prepared
to work with children
who use challenging
behavior.

23. 80% of teachers
report that the
presence of
challenging
behaviors within their
classroom negatively
affects their job
satisfaction and the
likelihood that they

24. Of children
under the age
of six who show
early signs of
problem
behavior, fewer
than 10%
receive
services for
these

25. “If a child doesn’t know how to
read, we teach.
If a child doesn’t know how to
swim, we teach.
If a child doesn’t know how to
multiply, we teach.
… teach?… or punish?”
If a child doesn’t know how to
drive, we teach.
If a child doesn’t know how to 1998, p.2
–Tom Herner (NASDE President )
Counterpoint
behave, we…