Site Overview
Early childhood education in Arkansas is a collaborative effort of many unique programs, agencies, and guidelines. These agencies share the combined mindset that social emotional learning is essential to the development of our young children. Social emotional learning consists of a child's ability to identify, manage, and express emotions. This site combines the social, emotional and behavioral knowledge and resources provided through many local agencies in an effort to create a comprehensive reflection point for all early childhood educators within our state.
This site is intended to help educators handle behavior from the foundation of creating a structured environment and teaching a good core social emotional concepts to more intense behavior support where a mental health provider may be involved. The site is developed with the intention of moving through a tiered reflection process, ensuring sure that each tier of support is strong before proceeding forward. However, keep in mind that some behaviors are dangerous and require immediate intervention.
Special Note
Tiers offers suggestions for strategies used at each level and to determine which children need a more intensive tier of support. There are children who exhibit behaviors that warrant skipping levels and moving up to higher tiers immediately. This can include but is not limited to behaviors that would pose a safety risk to the child or others, children experiencing specific behavior concerns as the result of a disability, etc. Please take this into consideration as you navigate the site.
Defining Challenging Behavior
A behavior is considered “challenging” if it meets one or more of these criteria
Is immediately harmful to the child and/or others
Interferes with the child’s ability to learn and play
Puts the child at risk for future problems in school and in life
Let’s take a behavior—kicking—does this behavior meet the criteria?
✔ Yes, kicking is harmful to child and others.
✔ Yes, kicking others interferes with play and learning.
✔ Yes, kicking/physical aggression puts the child at risk for
future problems.
Before Beginning
Early childhood educators who use this site should begin by reflecting on overall program practices. Behaviors in young children are often a response to environmental factors. Young children use behavior as a form of communication when approaching things that are new or unsettling. Layout, spacing, scheduling, and other environmental factors (temperature, visual stimulus, etc.) are very important and can often trigger behavior problems if not implemented correctly. It is important to ensure that classroom design is meeting the needs of all learners prior to accessing the decision tree.
Each program/teacher should begin by considering Arkansas guidance:
Arkansas Minimum Licensing Requirements
Arkansas Better Beginnings Quality Rating
Programs often have their own set of standards to address such as:
It could also be useful to consider federal guidance and research:
National Association for the Education of Young Children Program Standards
Division for Early Childhood Recommended Practices.
These resources can provide the information needed to establish the good core program that is necessary and may eliminate some behaviors without proceeding to higher tiers.
Educators should also consider whether or not any significant changes have occurred in the child’s home life that would cause a change in behavior. Life events such as divorce, job loss, a move, etc. can cause a temporary change in behavior patterns. In many instances, when these factors are resolved in a timely and efficient manner, the behaviors will decrease. If the behavior is the result of trauma, consider Trauma Informed Care training through the PDR. If parents are in need of resources, the Statewide Community Resources Portal provides an easy search option to find contacts in the area where the family resides.
