Youth At Risk Behavior
in the Primary Classroom
Signs of youth at risk behavior in the primary classroom.
Communication and play behaviors are different in struggling students. Knowing what to watch for helps with teaching at risk students.
Often we think of students at risk as teenagers or young adults. Elementary children are also at risk for later developmental and social problems when they come from certain backgrounds. These can include: - Economic and social deprivation
- Community or neighborhood disorganization
- Alcohol/drug-involved parents
- Poor parenting styles
- High impact changes in life situations
- Lack of friends
- Early antisocial or withdrawn behaviors
- High levels of conflict in home/family life
- Low achievement expectations
- AD/HD or other neurological issues
When these factors are present in youth at risk behavior, helping at risk students becomes more challenging.
These behaviors can be observed in younger children who come from these situations.
By recognizing them, we can teach at risk students to redirect behaviors and increase positive communication in the classroom.
Often this is done through a specific behavior intervention plan.
Youth At Risk Behavior:
Communication Behaviors
A observant teacher can watch at risk behaviors through how a child interacts with peers. Primary teachers know that what we see in the classroom may not always match what is going on out on the playground or in other areas.
What to Look for in Communication Behaviors- Delayed receptive and expressive language; consult your Speech Therapist
- Inability to follow age-appropriate directions
- May not use appropriate language to communicate feelings, wants or needs
- May express needs, wants and fears through banging, stomping, shouting, or throwing
- May show listlessness, passivity and/or lack of social awareness
- Spend more time observing play rather than participating
- Inappropriately initiates peer interaction by hitting, pushing, biting, swearing or making negative remarks
- Shows deficits in communication under the social learning theory
Teaching At Risk Students: Improving Communication- Use "hands-on" activities to reinforce the child's expressive language
- Adhere to established classroom routines to create a safe environment
- Use eye-contact and give simple one step directions
- Immediately respond to beginning attempts at conversation
- Acknowledge and reflect the child's feelings
- Verbally direct the student's behavior
- Ignore inconsequential verbal behavior
- Intercede with extra support
- Provide opportunities for cooperative learning with an adult available for assistance and reassurance
- Model verbal language for students to use with each other
- Set consistent limits on inappropriate behavior with a classroom management plan
- Identify and articulate felines by labeling emotions and helping them express them through role-playing
- Provide alternatives ways for children to express their feelings, such as writing or art
Youth At Risk Behavior:
Play Behaviors
What to Look for in Play Behaviors- Does not organize own play; increased aimless wandering
- Difficulty in joining others at play
- Easily over-stimulated by too many people, things, noise or movement
- Cannot select materials and focus adaptively
- May appear confused at how to interact with peers
- May show discontinuity or disorder in how they play
- Does not understand concepts of sharing or taking turns
- Initiates play that is inappropriate or dangerous
Teaching At Risk Students: Improving Play Behaviors- Provide space and materials that do not need to be shared
- Model choices for the child with correct verbal cues
- Model interactive play and how to work with others as part of a classroom management plan
- Provide opportunities during lessons for sharing and taking turns
- Provide opportunities for the child to work with others with an adult available for assistance and reassurance
- Model how to select materials and what to do with them
- Decrease the amount of choices available to the student during certain times, such as centers, free choice or indoor recess
- Work on active listening skills in the classroom
- Provide support and encouragement during play through verbal reinforcement of correct behaviors
At risk youth behavior can be redirected and changed in the early elementary classroom. Teachers are a critical part in observing, redirecting and supporting at risk students.
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