Welcome back to this week’s segment of After School Tea Time! Get your tea cups ready because we have more to spill this week! Keep your questions coming because you could be helping someone who has similar questions!

Question from Hartford County- There is a child in our program who is experiencing some behavioral issues. They do not listen when they are told to stay in their seat, pay attention or follow directions. We have had to ask this child multiple times to stay on task. The child also distracts the other children in our program. Do you have any advice on how to handle this situation?

Hey Hartford, thank you for asking this question. Behavioral issues in programs have been a huge topic of discussion, especially because of the pandemic. It is a difficult situation but there are methods that can help. I would gather all the information about the behavioral issues. When did you start noticing this behavior? What are the behaviors? How long has it been happening for? How severe is it? Does this child have a friend in the program that you see them constantly interacting with? I would also ask their friend if they know anything that might be happening with this child. I would have a conversation with the child and ask if they are having any issues. I wouldn’t ask immediately of the issues are happening at home, ask as a general question. Let this child explain what is going on from their perspective. If you feel like you are still missing information, I would try to reach out to a parent/guardian. Since you mentioned that this child is distracting other children in the program because of their behavioral issues, this would also be a good opportunity to remind all of the children of the classroom norms and rules. Encourage the children to follow directions by offering small rewards or prizes. These don’t have to be material things either, they can be recognition for practicing good behavior. We hope that this helps!

We’ll see you next week for another segment of After School Tea Time! Don’t forget to submit your anonymous questions here.