CHAPTER # 01

INTRODUCTION

CAUSES AND PREVENTIONS OF CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS IN

PRIMARY CHILDREN. CASE STUDY

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND

In the past few years, professionals from various disciplines have expressed alarm regarding the

implications of seriously challenging behaviours exhibited by primary children [1]. Increasingly, it is

understood that serious and persistent challenging behaviours in early childhood are associated with

subsequent problems in socialization, school adjustment, school success, and educational and vocational

adaptation in adolescence and adulthood [2]. As a result, numerous authors, as well as official reports,

have noted the importance of identifying, preventing and resolving challenging behaviours in primary

children as early in their development as possible. Unfortunately, there remains limited understanding

across professionals, disciplines, and service systems regarding what is known about early challenging

behaviours and what can be done concerning prevention and intervention. Part of the professional

reticence pertaining to challenging behaviours is that much behavioural topography (e.g., tantrums) that

are considered challenging in elementary school students is developmentally typical in early childhood.

Without a clear delineation of the window during which more mature topographies are expected to

emerge, it can be difficult to distinguish serious problems from typical developmental progressions.

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1) Shonkoff, J. P., & Phillips, D. A. (Eds.) (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early development. Washington, DC: National
Academy Press.
2) Campbell, S. B. (1995). Behavior problems in preschool children: A review of recent research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,
36, 113–149.
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INTRODUCTION

Still, the growing acknowledgement that early challenging behaviours can have serious long-term

consequences has led to more concerted efforts to define and resolve early challenging behaviours.

Fox (2003) recently defined challenging behaviour as “any repeated pattern of behaviour, or perception

of behaviour, that interferes with or is at risk of interfering with optimal learning or engagement in pro-

social interactions with peers and adults” [3].

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

“Causes and prevention of challenging behaviours in primary children”

In addition to the complexities associated with defining and identifying challenging behaviours, there

are similar difficulties in understanding what can be done to prevent challenging behaviours from

developing in the first place and, once identified, what can be done via intervention to divert the

challenging behaviours to more socially adaptive developmental trajectories.

NEEDS AND SIGNIFICANCE

For over four decades, researchers from several disciplines have conducted longitudinal and

retrospective studies concerning the impact of challenging behaviour on children’s behavioural

trajectories. It is noteworthy that these studies have been based on a wide variety of theoretical

orientations and have used a wide variety of measurement methods and data analytic procedures. By and

large, the data linking early appearing problem behaviour to later developmental and social adjustment

difficulties are correlational in nature. As such, appropriate caution should be taken when interpreting

these data.

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INTRODUCTION

3) Fox, L., Dunlap, G., Hemmeter, M. L., Joseph, G. E., & Strain, P. S. (2003). The teaching pyramid: A model for supporting social competence and

preventing challenging behavior in young children. Young Children (July), 48–52.

Notwithstanding these differences and cautionary notes, consistent findings have emerged, as when

children with significant problems are neither identified in a timely way nor given appropriate education

and treatment, their problems tend to be long-lasting, requiring more intensive services and resources

over time. Moreover, when the challenging behaviour of young children is not addressed in an

appropriate and timely way, the future likelihood increases of poor academic outcomes, peer rejection,

adult mental health concerns, and adverse effects on their families, their service providers, and their

communities. On a day-to-day basis, it would appear that children who engage in severely challenging

behaviours represent the population of youngsters who are of greatest concern to primary caregivers and

service providers [4]. Of this larger group, those labelled as disruptive, noncompliant, aggressive, defiant,

or oppositional predictably find their way to the top of the service provider’s list of referrals, other

placements, and “most troubling.”

OBJECTIVES:

• To understanding and identifying the challenging behaviours of primary children.

• How can we prevent the challenging behavior of young children at an early stage?

• To understanding the process of intervention and improvisation against the challenging

behavior of primary children.

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INTRODUCTION

4) Strain, P. S., & Timm, M. A. (2001). Remediation and prevention of aggression: A 25-year follows up of RIP graduates. Behavioral
Disorders, 26, 297–313.

RESEARCH QUESTION:

Q: Why do primary children engage in challenging behaviors?

Q: What are the major challenging behaviors in primary children?

Q: what can be done to prevent challenging behaviors from developing in the first place?

KEY WORDS:

Challenging behaviour: Refers to a behaviour that interferes with children’s learning, development and

successful play, or it is harmful to the child, the other children or an adult and it puts a child at high risk

for later social problems or school failure.

primary children: Refers to children in, 9 to 11years old child.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

QUALITATIVE APPROACH

To explore the challenging behaviours of primary children, the researcher will use the qualitative

approach which enables me to study by means of my presence and interaction with young children

and the educationists as well as teachers, in addition, the qualitative research approach help to

explore what my research participant in a close association and to understand how they think, learn
 CHAPTER # 01
INTRODUCTION

and deal with the challenging behaviours of primary children. it also helps me to get a complete

picture and an in-depth understanding of the challenges and their influences on primary children.

EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

The researcher will use exploratory research within a paradigm. the rationale for the selection of

exploratory research is the applicability of the research. The researcher will perceive exploratory

facts and draws a conclusion. This research deals with the causes of challenges and the prevention

to overcome this behaviour.

STUDY CONTEXT
The researcher will conduct this research in Aga Khan Diamond Jubilee School, Ahmadabad. A

unit of Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan. The researcher chooses primary student of ages 9-

11 from the lower junior section of the school.

SAMPLING

The sampling is the field research that includes a selection of a research site, time people and

events (Merriam, 1998). The researcher will use purposeful sampling by selecting those

participants who provide me rich data for maximum insight and understanding of challenging

behaviours.

Apart from young students, the researcher will also select three educators and the parents of my

research participant because the researcher will want to get in-depth knowledge about the causes of

challenging behaviours in young children.

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

The researcher will use three tools to collect the data. Observation, Interview and researchers own

descriptive memos. The purpose of using different tools was to explore the rich knowledge about

the challenging behaviours of primary children.

SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW

Semi structure interview has used for the data collection in this study. The rationale for choosing

semi-structured interviews was their open-ended format, which permitted the researcher for

obtaining interesting issues and topics associated with this research.

“the semi-structured interviewed is one with predetermined questions with open-ended format that

are asked of all respondents in the same manner. “Eber(20003)cites1998,at p.23)

OBSERVATION
The observation will allow the researcher to stay in the real school situation and look at things

happening there. It provides as a source for taking field notes and describing challenging behavior

in the school context.

In many cases, systematic direct observation of behaviour is the most desirable measurement

method. An investigator identified the behavior of interest and devises a systematic procedure for

identifying, categorizing, and recording the behavior in either a natural or "staged" situation.

(Merriam 1998, Robson 2002).

MY OWN DISCRIPTIVE MEMOS

I also maintained records of my own descriptive memos in the written for; I kept on continuously

compiling these memos throughout this project. In these memos I tried to capture the events, my

reflection and hunches at the end of these memos.

To test my claims I used in my descriptive memos, for the validation purpose I recorded the detail

description of all events, which I captured during my field work and reflected on them.

DATA ANALYSIS

In qualitative research the analysis usually starts with the data collection process and the researcher

write memos while collecting data in the field simply data means making sense of the data

collected by me (researcher)and in qualitative approach , it is an ongoing process(Rallish &

Rossman 19198)I transcribe the interviews soon after recording them. During transcription I was

also trying to make some sense of the data and getting some hints for the upcoming interviews. I

also read my reflective memos, observation field notes to find the common things in all sources.

ETHICAL COMSIDERSTAION

In research we deal with human beings so taking care of ethics is an important aspect of the

research process. I shared consent letter with the research participants. The informed consent letter

ensure that the participant s entered the study voluntarily and could withdraw from it any time

without any penalty , the observation also raises ethical pitfalls when the participants are not been

informed therefore I took permission from the participants before every observation.

I also share some of my findings with the participants to give then a picture of their practices.
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INTRODUCTION

STUDY LIMITATIONS

The study is limited to only one school of Ahmed Abad Hunza and my whole research is based on

behaviors of primary children of age 9-11 years therefore it is not applicable for other age groups, I

have collected my data in only 6 week time, therefore the time for data collection was not enough

because the study normally need longer time. Longer time in the field allows the researcher to

collect and analyze data by taking several interviews and observations for carrying out an in-depth

study.

DISSERTATION OVERVIEW

Chapter 1: This chapter will introduce the topic, states the background of the problem, then it
will also discuss the research questions, significance and aims of the study and also defines a few
technical terms related to the research topic

Chapter 2: Encompass the previous research findings from the literature. It will also critically
examine issues related to the topic and offer suitable suggestions from the literature.

Chapter 3: This chapter will deal with research methodologies, design data collection process,
tools and limitations of the study, and research ethics.

Chapter 4: This chapter is about the analysis and findings of the data, it also reports research
findings in a thematic manner.

Chapter 5: This chapter reports the implication and recommendations for the future in the light
of findings and analysis finally concluding remarks captures the whole research briefly.