Ok parents I need some advice my little master started school at the start of this year has become quite difficult at school with running away from the teachers and not listening. Can anyone give some advice his teachers and I are struggling he was fine for the first couple weeks. I feel like I'm failing
6 Replies
Does he do as he's told at home? Is this a sudden surprise to you? Just need more info, if it is a school problem or a behavioural problem?
He does listen majority of the time when he's at home. Just recently started this misbehaving at school. The teachers have no idea why no being bullied or any other indicators as to why. He started off as it seemed like he was just testing the boundaries with the teachers but now he's just flat out not listening. I feel like the school is calling me at least every second day having to collect him early as they can't control him
So if he is a well behaved boy at home, you know he is unlikely to require a diagnosis and it is a school problem that you need to address. I would look at rewards for good behaviour at school, maybe weekly, start at 3 good days, gets reward, then increase to 4 and 5. You don't want to set him up for failure. Also, can the teacher offer insight into when the bad behaviour occurs, is there are pattern (only misbehaves during outdoor activities or free time/group work or sitting on the mat or structured lessons etc.). If you and the teacher can identify triggers you can create strategies to stop it before it begins. Good luck, going to school is such a big step, I am sure you will have these teething problems ironed out in no time.
This doesn't sound like just a 'naughty child'. This sounds like there are underlying issues and school has just highlighted them. So I would be making an appointment with GP so I can get referrals to peadiatrician, child psych etc. get everything looked at. Get to it fast as wait lists can be long and you want to rule out everything ASAP. If there is an underlying issue then you want to know that ASAP so your son can get the support he needs.
Have a conversation with your son. Find out what he likes, doesn't like at school. Ask him why he runs away and doesn't listen? What insight can he provide. Did he attend kindy, what was his participation like there? He might be the kind of child who needs loads of attention and praise. When he is doing the right thing do the teachers praise him or reward him somehow?
But I think your son can probably provide insight.
Yes get a professional to help.
Perhaps hes figured out if he does this he gets you to come early? Does he like school? Want to go in the morning? Really it could be any number od things with him or the circumstance I bet a professional will get to it pretty quickly and be able to help with techniques.
My twins are on behaviour books at school. (they are also a handful at home though)
There's a list of all of twins classes down one side and they earn a smiley face stamp or frowny face stamp at the end of each class. They are in seperate classrooms but both teachers have found this to be most effective. Both boys set a goal each term for their behaviour book, they can earn 9 smiley faces in total each day, twin a has a goal of at least 7 happy faces per day to earn his special gold star every friday and twin b has a goal of 8 happy faces per day. If they are too naughty they get sent to 'think tank' (detention) for a short period.
Through the behaviour book we were able to find out specifically which classes they were naughtiest in and pin point why. They were both naughty in maths and english because they were struggling, they then got sent in a smaller group with the teachers aide for extra assistance. Twin a was naughty in music, we worked out it's because he doesn't like the music teacher as she's not a patient lady so he now does extra activities with his usual teacher during music class as he was disrupting the entire class which was odd because at home he LOVES anything music related.
They also have specific rules related to the behaviour book, for example twin b has a massive 'I can't do it' attitude so in addition to the usual classroom rules he has 'I can't put my hand up to ask for help' after a set amount of time his teacher will ask him if he needs any help because he used to put his hand up as soon as the work was assigned without even looking at the work, he would straight away say it was too hard. He now makes an effort with his work. Twin a used to ask to go to the toilet every 5 minutes to get out of work, one of his extra rules is 'I can only ask to go to the toilet once during class' and his teacher will ask him if he needs to go before class starts etc as he was being extremely excessive with it.
Maybe a behaviour book would be beneficial? It gives them a goal to work towards. Sorry if my examples are confusing!