Behavior at Home

NICHCY is pleased to connect you with sources of information for helping your child with his or her behavior at home. Having a child with challenging behavior can affect the entire family, and family members often find the need for more information and guidance in this difficult area. The resources listed below are intended to connect families with resources and support.

Challenging behavior, of course, often occurs outside the home and may need to be addressed in other environments as well. Because behavior is such a huge topic, we've split up our resource lists into separate Connections pages, as follows:

• Behavior Expertise
• Behavior Assessment, Plans, and Positive Supports
• Behavior at Home (you're here!)
• Behavior at School
• Bullying

If you would like all of these separate pages rolled up into one resource you can print out, photocopy, and share with others, for your convenience we've also combined them all into: Behavior: The Works.

The list below isn't intended to be exhaustive of the behavior resources available---it's ever-growing. We'll be adding to this page constantly, so check back often to see what's new!

Using Positive Methods for Change at Home

• Help your children develop self-control.
  www.aboutourkids.org/articles/discipline.html
  Using real-life stories, this Web site (from the New York University Child Study Center) illustrates the warning signs of problem behavior, do's and don'ts of discipline, and references to related articles and books.

• How might you address your child's challenging behavior?
  www.pbs.org/parents/issuesadvice/inclusivecommunities/challenging_behavior.html
  You'll find this reader-friendly site is well organized. It has facts about all aspects involved in working with children who have challenging behavior. Links to information on assessment and special education are provided. The information is also available in Spanish, at:
  www.pbs.org/parents/issuesadvice/inclusivecommunities/challenging_behavior_sp.html 

• More on teaching kids self-control skills.
  www.naspcenter.org/pdf/behavior%20template.pdf
  Learn strategies to teaching kids the techniques for self control. Written by the National Association of School Psychologists, this 4-page document gives ways to help children identify their feelings and learn to recognize the connection between feelings and behaviors. It also offers specific techniques to teach your child how to handle anger.

• Yet more on teaching children to manage their own behavior.
  http://csefel.uiuc.edu/briefs/wwb7.html
  What Works briefs from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning summarize effective practices for supporting children's social-emotional development and preventing challenging behaviors. This 4-pager describes practical strategies for helping children learn to manage their own behavior and provides references to more information. A Spanish version is available at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/briefs/wwb7-sp.html

• What's the relationship between types of toys and children's social behavior with peers?
  www.evidencebasedpractices.org/bridges/bridges_vol1_no5.pdf
  This research synthesis from the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Early Childhood Development will tell you what types of toys and play materials are most associated with young children's social play.

• About-face for stormy preschoolers.
  www.evidencebasedpractices.org/bottomlines/bottomlines_vol1_no4.pdf
  This research-based, easy-to-read summary from the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Early Childhood Development will tell you about Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and its positive effects on childhood behavior.

• Alternatives to spanking.
  http://www.nmha.org/children/discipline.pdf
  Available on the Web site of the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), this article discusses the difference between discipline and punishment, the negative consequences of physical discipline, and a range of positive alternatives.

• Reinforcing small changes in behavior.
  www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=631&g=2
  Written by a psychologist who works extensively with children and teens with AD/HD and explosive and defiant behaviors, this article talks about how children and adolescents learn, about misbehavior, and small steps that parents can use to help their child toward better behavior.  

• Get behavior in shape at home.
  www.pbis.org/English/behaviorshape.htm
  How do you create a Positive Behavioral Support system in your home? This Web site gives easy-to-implement suggestions. Learn the reasoning behind different techniques and how to use them to achieve your behavior goals. Specific examples include: eating dinner, asking for things while grocery shopping, and budgeting to teach children the value of money. (Also available in Spanish, at: www.pbis.org/files/behshapespanish.doc)

• Learn practical solutions to common behavior problems.
  http://cecp.air.org/familybriefs
  This web page links to 12 different publications on various topics, including promoting resilience in children, encouraging good behavior, and how to get your children involved in addressing their own challenging behaviors.  

• Your parent-friendly guide to functional assessment and support.
  www.uoregon.edu/~ttobin/parent.pdf
  This 21-page guide describes what a functional assessment is, and what it can do to help your child. You can use this information to help your child at home, and also work with school staff to put a plan into place at school.

• Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and positive interventions:
  What parents need to know.
  www.pacer.org/parent/php/php-c79.pdf
  This publication will help you find out what is causing your child's problem behaviors. After you find the cause, you can create a game plan to support and encourage the behaviors you do want, and get rid of the behaviors you don't want. Also available in Spanish and Hmong.