Children’s Challenging Behaviour: Teachers’ Understanding and Intervention

Abstract

Challenging behaviours are observable behaviours that can affect the environment and often have a negative influence in the child and those around. The concept of challenging behavior (CD) refers to behavior difficulties or problems that can be shown be children, teenagers or adults. This concept appears to characterize the behavior as a challenge instead of labeling people as a problem. From this point of view, challenging behaviours are seen through the view of development psychology, and perceived as developmental struggles or delays in social, emotional and academic areas. The causes for challenging behaviours are diverse, resulting from genetic vulnerabilities and environmental stress The probable causes for disruptive and challenging behaviours can be explained through an ecological approach, based on Bronfenbrenner’s findings (1979). Challenging behaviours fulfill a function or purpose and are kept by the individual as long as they show themselves to be a successful adaptation to the environment. The pattern for challenging behaviours changes considerably according to the considered target characteristics and the age of individuals. Individuals with challenging behaviours are not all alike. We should focus on the behaviours’ target characteristics because they describe the behaviours to change.