Supporting students through transitions and challenging behaviours.
During my 25 day Funded Kindergarten placement I was once again able draw upon the skills learnt through the ‘Decoding Behaviour Summit’ to assist students through transitions, sensory overload, and challenging behaviours.
One particular student had been flagged for review with consideration to Autism, Sensory Processing issues and Oppositional Defiance. He had difficulties with transition into the service and was considered a flight risk during meltdowns. I had recognised a few behavioural similarities to my own children and consulted with my mentor about trying a few approaches that had been successful for us. Using feedback from the other educators as well as my own observations I had recognised that lack of control was a major trigger for him, and that he responded well to sensory stimulation.
Over the following days we tried to introduce more opportunities for this student to exert his own agency within the space. On a typical day students would start indoors. The space would be set with puzzles, games, books, and construction activities to allow parents to gradually transition their children into the service. For some children, a single activity would allow them to settle into the space and set a clear break for parents to say their goodbyes and leave the service for the day.
For the child in question, we made minor adaptations to the way he started his day, and it had dramatic impacts upon his ability to settle into the program. Upon arrival at the centre, we asked him if he would prefer to start his day inside or outside rather than ushering him straight in with the other children. He immediately grinned and responded “Inside!”, running to the drawing table. As he busied himself with the task of creating a treasure map, his mother was able to say a quiet goodbye and exit without challenge for the first time that week.
Throughout the day we continued this adaptation to language and made sure to always offer two options even if they still directed him to the same choice. When it was lunchtime, instead of telling him that we were sitting on the mat for lunch I would ask him “Would you prefer to sit on the edge or in the middle of the mat for lunch?”. When we were concerned that he was cold outside I gave him the choice of wearing his jumper or his jacket. This minor adjustment meant that we came across minimal opposition from this student as he was able to feel in control of his own surroundings.
To meet his sensory needs, I also revised the use of the sensory table. For the past few weeks, it had been used primarily for sand or water play. It was in a busy thoroughfare in the yard, so we moved it to a slightly quieter space and replaced the sand with Oobleck as he had shown an interest in other smooth and slimy textures during our inquiry into Clay. At times when this student would have otherwise become quite agitated and oppositional, I found that he would gravitate towards this space and calm himself. I reported this back to my mentor and she agreed that we would need to ensure that there was always the opportunity for him to access some form of sensory play as a means of regulating his behaviour and that she would continue to pay close attention to this after I had left.