Children and Young People Behaviour Essay

Describe the benefits of encouraging and rewarding children’s positive behaviour. It is a necessity for a care provider to reward positive behaviour as positive reinforcement is vital for a child’s development. If you only punish a child for negative behaviour and not rewarding positive behaviour as well it will make the child develop a distort view of cause and affect, leaving them unsure of what is positive behaviour. This will then lead onto the child acting in a negative way in order to receive attention as it’s the only way they know how to get attention. Encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour balances out this problem and makes children want to try and receive positive rewards. The child will learn that doing something good will give them the right attention that they deserve and less likely to act out in a negative way for attention. Rewarding a child for their good behaviour encourages them to want to try new things so that they can receive even more praise therefore giving them more confidence and self-esteem. The confidence to try new things allows the child to learn new things and develop in many different ways. Care givers should be aware that not all rewards have to be big and a simple high five and a smile or a sticker will encourage a child to maintain good behaviour. For example if a child is learning how to write the letters, saying â€Å"well done† and giving the child after each attempt will make them want to keep trying until the can write the letter correctly. Describe behaviour problems that children and young children may display at different ages and that should be referred to others. Whom should these be referred to? Young children may develop a number of different â€Å"behaviour problems† during their development. A common behaviour problem is biting which normally starts around the age of 18 months. Although it may seem as if the child is being aggressive it is important for care providers to remember that it is a form of exploration, children use their mouths to explore as it is one of the most developed parts of their bodies. Infants don’t have self-control at this young age so they could bite someone when they feel excited or even for no reason and because they see something close that they can bite. When this trait continues when the child is a toddler it is still out of frustration, if a child is unable to communicate using their words they get frustrated not being able to get their message across therefore bite instead. Care providers should speak together with the child’s parents or guardian in rder to devise a plan of action on how to handle the situation. However if the situation is still a behaviour problem for a child who is over the age of 3 years it will be taken more seriously as the main causes for biting are no self-control and lack of communication but at this age most children have both of these qualities so their reason for biting may be different such as attention seeking. Further help may need to be asked for by a specialist in behaviour management in order to find a speci fic solution for the behaviour problem. Temper tantrums occur for most toddlers. The reason that temper tantrums are used as the child gets frustrated that they can’t control their environment around them and the actions of others. For example if a child asks to go and play outside but the care providers at their nursery tells them no they would throw themselves on the floor and shout, the beginning of their tantrum. Language has not fully developed for toddlers so they may not understand why they may not be allowed to do what they wish. It has been shown through studying young children that a high percentage of children will snatch toys, push other children over or fight with other children. They may not have reached the stage in their development when they understand some things are theirs, some things belong to others and some things are shared between children (for example nursery toys) At the age of 5 years this is when a child would transition into school. This may be due to separation anxiety or having to interact with people they are not familiar with. Trouble adapting to their new environment could cause behaviour problems such as not wanting to operate with the new rules in their school. However at the age of 5 language is much more developed and parents can explain to the child and reassure them to make them feel more comfortable and get used to their new environment. Although they have come very far in their development by this age there are still more things for a child to achieve from the age of five years. This can result in the child becoming very frustrated with themselves if they can’t do something â€Å"perfectly† as they may not get the results they want when completing a task such as drawing a picture of their parents. At the age of five years the child may also try to test limits as they are exploring their independence. This will be shown through talking about or simple not listening to instructions when told to do something. Whining and tantrums are also sometimes still common at this age as the child has only recently left pre-school and have not developed enough to understand that there are other ways of expressing themselves. In order to resolve this behaviour problem it is down to the school to keep reminding the child what is expected of them and try to encourage and reward positiove behaviour. Talking to parents is key as you can work together to try and resolve a problem that may only be temporary due to the child’s age. It is important for both parents and child providers to remember tat what may seem like disobedience may simple be a lack or language or lack of attention and most cases of â€Å"disruptive behaviour† will be grown out of as the child develops in all aspects. For example a child of two and a half years has not developed many communication skills so growls at the other children in the pre school instead of talking. Although this behaviour is unacceptable the child should simple be spoken explaining that its not nice and focus on the underlying problem which is the speech elay and try to encourage the speech instead. If through the helkp of the care providers at the pre school and the parents can’t speed along the speech then a speech and language specialist may be needed in order to help the child.