September Newsletter 2012

I’m starting to think that I will always be adjusting to life with three kids! It certainly is more challenging when you the parents are outnumbered isn’t it? Our newest addition is getting bigger every day, rolling over and almost starting to crawl. Sadly, we have learned that Little A has some food allergies to tomatoes and sunflower seeds, with more testing to be done in a few weeks.

However, it doesn’t appear he is allergic to nuts, unlike our oldest son. I almost think nuts would be better than sunflower seeds, since this particular ingredient appears to be in everything! Sunflower oil is the new thing and is frequently an ingredient in organic foods that we buy for Mr C due to his allergies to wheat, nuts and eggs. Hopefully, he will outgrow these!

Mr C started kindergarten this year and so far, he loves it! He is having some difficulties keeping his hands to himself (I think this is largely due to his sensory issues), but generally only has to be warned without any further consequences. They have a great discipline policy at school that I personally think is awesome and effective (you can read more about this below). This has been so good for him, since he really needs this type of structure. Overall, all is well with the family!

What’s New at child-behavior-guide.com?

Child-behavior-guide.com updates

I have finally had some time to add new pages, and have completely revamped my behavior help section. I have included a new section with help for child discipline, including step by step instructions for time out. Of course, I am always an advocate of Parenting with Love and Logic, but for some parents creativity is not their strong suit and it’s better to have a more structured guideline for discipline. As a parent and/or educator, you have to decide not only what will work best for the individual child, but also what works best for you. If you aren’t able to be consistent with one method, then that particular discipline is not going to work regardless of how great it may be.

• Child Discipline
• Time Out For Kids
• Discipline through Privilege Loss
• Spanking
• How to Discipline a Toddler

After last year’s Halloween costume photo contest was such a success, I have decided to do another this year. Whether you are going to a party or just dressing up for trick or treating, you could have a winning photo of your kids/family! Grand Prize wins $125 to Target just in time for holiday shopping!! Click below to submit your entry…

• Photo contest for kids

Bonus Child Behavior Tip

School Discipline

Sometimes it can be frustrating as a school professional to deal with child behavior problems in the classroom. It is also frustrating as a parent that can’t be there to observe or intervene during such problems. I’m not quite sure how they discipline at other schools, but I have to say I am very impressed with the discipline policy at my oldest son’s primary school.

Each child has a set of 4 cards that are displayed on the wall in the classroom for all to see. They go in order from green, yellow, pink, and red. Each child starts the day on green. When a classroom rule is broken, the child first gets a verbal warning and a card pulled showing they are now on yellow.

If a rule is broken again, the child gets another card pulled showing they are now on pink. Pink means the child has to serve a 5 minute time out during a recess. If another rule is broken, the child goes to a red card and has to miss an entire recess. During recess the child must go to a behavior room to write a plan, read a book related to behavior etc.

If a child reports to the behavior room more than once in a week, a possible noon or after school detention is assigned. Parent contact is made if this occurs repeatedly to arrange a meeting. Severe behavior, such as physical aggression, results in the child immediately going to a red card and meeting with the principal during an entire recess.

During this time the principal walks around the playground with the child talking about what happened and what they will do differently next time.

At the end of the day each child has a calendar in his folder that allows the child to color the appropriate day based on what card they ended on that day. I think this is great for the child to be reminded of how they did that day.

Other consequences include: Restitution work, Saturday school, counseling and in school suspensions.

The reason I think this is such a great discipline policy is because it doesn’t reward escape behaviors by removing the child from the classroom during learning time. One of the worst things a school can do is have a consequence be time away from the classroom.

You ultimately end up reinforcing behavior that is due to the child disliking the classroom. For prevention, classes should incorporate fun activities that not only allow them to learn, but also allow them to see learning is fun!

What’s in the News?

Exercise Helps ADHD Behaviors

Getting children with ADHD involved in sports, could be even more beneficial than just burning off energy. According to David Bucci, an associate professor at Dartmouth's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, exercise also involves other factors. Observations of children with ADHD in Vermont summer camps revealed that athletic players tended to display a better response to behavioral interventions than children who were more sedentary.

It was also discovered that previous experiments in laboratory rats with ADHD-like behavior revealed that exercise was able to reduce the extent of these behaviors. The team observed that in the same way as exercise affects male and female children with ADHD differently, exercise also proved more beneficial for female rats than males.

The team then proceeded to examine the dynamics of how exercise appears to improve learning and memory, the 'brain derived neurotrophic factor' (BDNF), which plays a role in the developing brains' growth. They discovered that BDNF expression in exercising rats was positively connected with improved memory.

This could prove to be a valuable intervention for children with ADHD. By getting them involved in exercise and sports, along with other behavioral interventions, the need for psychotropic medications may not even be necessary. It would be especially neat to see how it could affect students to continue to have recess throughout their teen years, engaged in sports or other exercise activities once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

For more information go to www.medicalnewstoday.com

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