Understanding and Supporting Children’s (mis)Behaviour
“Optimal relationships between children and adults and an optimal environment stimulate and give support to this spontaneous inner development. When it occurs, a change takes place in the child called normalisation.”
Mario Montessori
Education for Human Development, p. 36
Montessori, having trained as a doctor, worked in asylums with children with special needs. Inspired by the work of Itard and Seguin, she developed learning materials to support these children leading many to expect that the Montessori materials are a secret tool ensuring children with additional needs will learn. It can cause surprise and perhaps frustration when this is not the case.
In this article in the Times Educational Supplement, Alfie Kohn sets out why he feels that everything you think you know about behaviour management in schools is wrong. Other interesting articles on ‘behaviour management’ all focus on how behaviour is communication:
- Do you need Behaviour Management in Early Years?
- The Attention Seeking Child
- The Gottman Institute – An Introduction to Emotion Coaching
Finally, this course, offered by our friends Tammy Oesting from ClassrooMechanics and Seemi Abdullah from Trillium Montessori, looks at:
- Where “misbehaviour” comes from and how you can reframe it
- The five stages of addressing misbehaviour
- Simple steps to take when emotions are running high