Social Story

I am going to focus on my target child's issue of hitting.  He is not  overly aggressive, but he has problems keeping his hands to himself and it is often an issue with other children.  It is a disruptive habit and it causes the other children to tell on him often, or often results in rough-housing in which someone gets hurt. 

In observations, I have noticed that the antecedents seem to be transition times.  When he is in the process of a task, such as engaging in circle time or playing in centers, he is very much engaged and on task.  But when we are cleaning up to come to the carpet for circle time, or cleaning up for lunch, or lining up to go outside he uses those opportunities to wrestle and hit other boys.  Many of the other boys seem to be more mature than my target child, and they know that this is not the time for play, so they either tell me or try to disengage him.  This is causing a problem for him socially, because the boys are beginning to keep a distance from him to make sure that they are implicated in the rough-housing.  Of course the behavior is hitting, slapping, or wrestling.  The consequence is often just a verbal "calling down" by me or the assistant teacher.  In terms of consequences, I'm not sure what the child is getting out of it because for the most part the other boys do not enjoy this and do not engage. 

Regarding my target child's temperament, he exhibits negative persistence.  He can be whiny and nagging and will not "let go" of a topic very easily.  I also see that he has some impulsivity issues, so he has trouble controlling himself when the urge to attack someone strikes him.  According, to Jane Nelson (1999), time out only works temporarily to stop the behavior at that moment, but for long term results positive reinforcement is going to have to be used to "end the power struggle" in the classroom.  She argues that time out fosters resentment from the child, which leads to rebellion.  I do employ time out for aggressive physical attacks, but for target child's brand of hitting and wrestling, I will try other methods.

I will make sure that my days are consistent.  They are, for the most part, and our daily schedule is posted (with pictures).  I am going to be assigning target child specific duties during transition, for example I will ask him to put the legos in the bin and then go to the carpet and look at one book until all friends are finished rather than saying simply "clean up."  I may have to be close to him in proximity for a while to make sure he is on task.  And he has already moved up to the front row near me in circle time.

Cook, R., Klein, M., and Tessier, A., (2008).  Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children with Special Needs.  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Pearson Prentice Hall.

Nelson, J., (1999).  Positive Time-Out.  Rocklin, CA:  Prima Publishing.

Tureki, S., (1985).  The Difficult Child. New York: Random House.