Any advice on handling a child who refuses to do what you ask him to do? Most of the time, it happens when I need to remove him from the group for a brief time due to behavioral issues. He'll just lie on the ground and refuse to get up.

I teach sped preschool, lots of behavior challenges, and the first thing I try to do is identify the “why” of the behavior. Is he trying to gain attention? Escape a demand? Meet a sensory need? Most of my interventions are “antecedent based interventions”, so I focus on trying to prevent the behavior from happening.

If he constantly won’t listen when you ask him to leave the group, then how can you support him during group time so that he can remain there? Does he need a token system, some fidgets, a special chair/spot to sit? I would focus on changing the behavior that leads to removal.

Thank you for your advice. I believe the reason for much of his misbehavior is a craving for attention. I try to "catch him" being good and give him as much positive attention as possible, but it's not easy to ignore his misbehavior. Since I wrote this post, his behavior has spiraled to the point of endangering the safety of himself and others (e.g., throwing chairs and other objects, climbing on high furniture, doing backflips off the couch, etc.). I am thus forced to give him attention in order to keep him from hurting himself or others. Consequences such as removal from an activity, loss of a privilege, and logical consequences seem to not mean anything to him. I am really at a loss as to what to try. What do you do in sped preschool for this type of behavior?

Sorry to hear it’s getting worse! I know how difficult that can be. First, does he have any areas of delay? Are his communication skills, social skills, cognitive skills, etc. appropriate? Knowing that helps determine if this is *just* a behavioral issue or a symptom of something more.

If it’s just behavior, and you feel like it’s all attention seeking, then your goal is to give him that attention for positive behaviors only. I would probably implement a token system (you can find some free ones on simply special ed’s page on teacherspayteachers). He would earn a token for every good choice and eventually earn a reward when he gets all of them. For negative behaviors, I would ignore everything except things that are unsafe. Make a list of the behaviors that you can ignore and the ones you can’t. For the ones your can’t ignore, I would do a countdown “I need you to have feet on the floor or you need to take a time out. 3,2,1” If he listens, reinforce immediately with a token. If he doesn’t, a structured time out with a timer would be implemented.

I would be sure to teach the system beforehand and review (I like to do sorting games using pictures) things that are safe choices and unsafe choices. Make sure parents know what’s going on and the system that will be used. Everyone working in your classroom will need to be super consistent, especially with ignoring.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for taking the time to offer so many suggestions. I appreciate it! I have scheduled a parent-teacher conference for early next week and we will be going over the plan moving forward.