Purpose

 

To comply with best practice when managing challenging behaviour, all adults who work with children and young people have a crucial role to play in shaping their lives, staff have a unique opportunity to interact with children and young people in ways that are both affirming and inspiring. All adults who come into contact with children and young people in their work have a Duty of Care under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (the duty which rests upon an individual to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure the safety of a child or young person involved in any activity, or interaction for which that individual is responsible. Any person in charge of or working with children and young people in any capacity is considered, both legally and morally, to owe them a duty of care) to be accountable for the way in which they exercise authority, manage risk, use resources, and safeguard the children to promote their welfare. This means that staff who work with children need to keep children and young people safe and to protect them from physical, sexual, and emotional harm and staff need to be competent, confident, and safe to do so. The Children Act 2004, and the Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) places a duty on organisations to safeguard (a process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of health and development, ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables them to have optimum life chances) and promote the well-being of children and young people. This includes the need to ensure that the staff who work with our children are competent, confident, and safe to do so. 

This policy applies to all staff who have contact with children and particularly those who demonstrate challenging behaviour.

 

SEN Space adopts the position that challenging behaviour has a purpose, in that it meets a particular need for the individual. These needs may be demonstrated through a variety of emotions and behaviours. Therefore, it is important that staff can:

• Develop an understanding of these needs

• Anticipate the needs

• Soothe situations before they occur

• Provide the most appropriate responses to the emotions/behaviours displayed.

 

When working with individuals with challenging behaviour staff will be expected to:

• Ensure that the risk assessments place the children central to the purpose

• Support the individual through difficulties

• Preserve the dignity of the individual

• Ensure that rights and choices are promoted

• Create an environment in which individuals feel safe and secure

• Try to ensure that reflection, after an incident, places it in the context of the individual’s life and that this can be used to bring about positive outcomes for the individual.

 

Children identified as being at risk of challenging behaviour through their individual care plans and risk assessments, will be given the opportunity to have their views and wishes recorded. They will be encouraged to identify, as clearly as possible, what interventions they would and would not wish to be used; they must be encouraged to review their wishes with staff and changes must be clearly documented, within care plans and other documentation. If the member of staff, to whom the wish is being expressed, forms the opinion that the child lacks capacity to understand the wish they are expressing, the professional must record their opinion, and their reasons for it, alongside the record of the child’s wish. Parents will also be consulted at all stages of intervention.

 

Service and Profession

 

Specific Interventions, specifically based on the needs of the child, are utilised to support the prevention and management of challenging behaviours. Training for SEN Space’s specific intervention will be provided to all staff. Management will ensure, through regular supervision and performance appraisal processes, that all staff have the necessary knowledge, skills and support to manage the potential level of violence and aggression, in their employment role.

All staff who have been involved in an incident of challenging behaviour resulting in a staff member becoming injured will be offered timely support, based upon their individual needs or preferences. ‘Support’ can include:

• Practical help with transport or accessing medical help.

• Signposting to specific victim support or individual counselling.

• Critical incident analysis and guided reflection.

• Training updates.

• Additional training as required.

 

Record Keeping

 

All staff must adhere to the relevant policies, in order to ensure that all information, that will promote the proactive prevention and management of challenging behaviour, is considered, and acted upon. These include incident reporting and record keeping. 

 

Definitions

 

Challenging Behaviours "Severely challenging behaviour refers to culturally abnormal behaviour of such intensity, frequency of duration, that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in jeopardy, or behaviour that is likely to seriously limit or delay access to and use of ordinary community facilities." (Emerson, 1993).

 

To ensure that people with less severely challenging behaviour receive appropriate care and support Qureshi's definition is also provided.

 

"People are said to display challenging behaviour if they:

• Had, at some time, caused more than minor injuries to themselves or others, or destroyed their immediate living environment, or;

• Showed behaviour, at least weekly, that required intervention by more than one member of staff to control or remove them from physical danger or caused damage which could not be rectified by immediate support staff or caused, at least one hour’s disruption, or caused more than a few minutes disruption at least daily. (1994)".

 

Behaviours that could be described as challenging include:

• Physical aggression.

• Verbal aggression.

• Self-injury.

• Property destruction.

• Non-compliance.

• Anti-social nuisance behaviour.

 

It is accepted that the definition of any given behaviour as challenging is subjective and relative. Therefore, it is always necessary to precisely describe the behaviour that is being labelled as challenging, in terms of its effects on the child, on their lifestyle, and on other people.

 

De-escalation

 

This is defined as the purposeful use of a complex range of communication and therapeutic intervention skills, based on a knowledgeable understanding of the causes of the behaviour, which is aimed at the prevention, reduction, or management of the probability of such behaviour.

 

Restrictive Physical Intervention

 

SEN Space has a ‘No restraint’ policy. However physical intervention can be considered, BUT ONLY when there is a risk of serious harm to the child.

 

Procedure Incident Reporting

 

All incidents of challenging behaviour, physical or non-physical, and near misses to incidents will be reported using the SEN Space Incident and or behaviour form. Staff will be supported in the incident reporting procedure and advised to complete their submission, as soon after the incident or near miss as possible.

 

De-escalation Techniques

 

"De-escalation involves the use of techniques that calm down an escalating situation or child; therefore, action plans should stress that de- escalation should be employed early on in any escalating situation.

 

Managing Behaviour

• Responding to a child who displays challenging behaviour is no easy task. Reducing challenging behaviour takes time, energy and teamwork between the child, SEN Space and the family. There is no quick fix, but the rewards of supporting children to overcome their impulses are long lasting.

 

• Research into challenging behaviours in early education services has found the most frequent actions were pushing, pulling, fighting over objects, children taking an item from someone else, and kicking or throwing things, with around 77 per cent of the challenging behaviour occurring during free time activities.

 

 

• Challenging behaviour can be a symptom of an underlying issue and by seeking to understand the causes of the behaviour, educators can learn what is driving the reaction and how to respond. Children may lash out due to frustration or because they haven’t yet learnt how to control their impulses or resolve conflicts. Sensory overload or dysregulation can be a key factor also.

 

• Other causes may include stressful life events through to behavioural issues like ADHD, autism or a learning difficulty that challenges the child’s ability to manage and express their feelings effectively and appropriately.

 

 

• Also important is the child’s environment and the relationships that inhabit it. Relationships built on warmth and mutual respect can teach children pro-social behaviour. As prevention is better than cure, creating an environment that supports children to feel valued and safe will mean negative behaviours are less likely to arise.

For children to learn to behave well, they need to know what ‘behaving well’ looks like. Communicating this clearly allows children to learn why certain behaviours are welcome and why others are not.

A Behaviour Guidance Policy between children and educators can help promote clarity and consistent approaches so everyone is prepared and knows how to respond when required.

To assess and manage challenging behaviour in young children there are four key steps to follow:

1. Identify behaviours causing concern

If a child is displaying challenging behaviour, it’s time to stop and record your observations. Note details such as when the behaviour happened, who else was involved and what happened before and after the incident. By carefully monitoring and addressing these situations, staff can begin to identify why they may be happening. This can help target strategies to manage the child’s behaviour more effectively.

1. Understand reasons behind the behaviour

These types of behaviours happen for a reason. Staff need to look at what might lie beneath. The reasons why behaviours occur are many and varied. Social changes, frustration, attention seeking, poor role modelling, and learning difficulties are just a few. The way to identify these reasons will involve careful observation and documentation, and discussion with the family and colleagues.

1. Teach appropriate behaviours

After identifying the behaviours causing concern, it is then important to identify the positive behaviours that need to be developed in the child. Taking an instructional approach to behaviour gives children the chance to learn and practice how to behave in a learning environment. Staff can support children by identifying a small number of behavioural expectations and defining specific examples or rules of what those expectations look like across common settings or routines – such as during activity time and in the bathroom or playground – and by directly teaching children how to put those expectations into practice.

1. Use behaviour management techniques

Behaviour management strategies need to be moulded to the individual child and are often a case of trial and adaptation. The important thing is to try one or two strategies for an extended period to allow the child to respond, and to be consistent both yourself and between other staff and carers.

 

When faced with challenging behaviour, here are some key strategies that can be helpful:

• Create a predictable environment

The SEN Space environment plays a central role in encouraging positive behaviour. Create a predictable, orderly learning environment to maximize structure and predictability.

• Minimise and plan transitions

Transitions can be a particular concern related to young children’s behaviour and frequently impact how orderly the environment is. Staff can support positive behaviour throughout transitions by planning for them ahead of time, using visuals, alerting children before transitions occur, and providing a clear signal at the beginning of each transition.

• Model the behaviour you expect

Be a positive role model. A controlled tone of voice and a calm attitude should be adopted by the staff in all situations. Children learn from observing adults working together and collaborating and modelling positive behaviours. This encourages children to move towards considerate actions that support an understanding of inter-dependence.

• Recognise good behaviour and achievements

Providing children with specific, positive feedback helps them learn what appropriate behaviour looks like. Verbally commending appropriate behaviour as it occurs is an essential tool for room management. Staff can create opportunities for more formal recognition of positive behaviour such as sending home a certificate when they “catch” children demonstrating positive social behaviour.

• Give specific and timely feedback on negative behaviour.

Explain to children what they are doing wrong and offer them options to change and lay out the consequences of such behaviour.

• Use positive language

Empathetic or reflective language is a subtle way of providing positive messages to a child. It conveys to the child that you are seeing them, trying to understand them, and acknowledging any feelings they may be experiencing. For example, using words such as ‘Perhaps’, ‘Maybe’ and ‘Sometimes’ in interactions enables children to agree or disagree if they want to, rather than the adult deciding how the child may be feeling and why they are behaving negatively.

• Provide emotional outlets

Children get stressed and frustrated so plenty of opportunities to express this in a safe and appropriate way will decrease the chance of these emotions bubbling over. Put on some music, paint, draw, dance, and sing. Stomp around like angry monsters or go for a run outside. Soothing music or a quiet space can help reduce tense feelings, also play is important to teach emotional regulation, problem-solving and social skills.

Talk about feelings

We encourage emotional articulacy in SEN Space by discussing feelings. The use of social stories and visuals to help children understand expected behaviours, work through interpersonal issues, practice conflict resolution skills and help them understand new perspectives. This will give children confidence and a structure to talk about how they feel.

• Be firm when needed, help organise feelings

Children need the security that comes with knowing there are limits and that when they need help with their behaviour, they will get it. Children need adults to set reasonable boundaries and help them to organise their feelings and responses. Staff can support children to focus on the outcomes of being considerate to others while searching for a fair and equitable resolution, that supports learning.

• Involve families and other professionals

Communicate with parents and keep them in the loop when their child have displayed challenging behaviour. Staff play an important role in helping families support and guide their child’s behaviour in positive and effective ways. Key Workers, OT’s and play therapists in the setting can help support the child and devise behaviour plans alongside management.

 

 

Written by Vikki Benton 10/10/2022

Reviewed 17/10/23 by Zoe Quinn