Education

Posted: August 5th, 2013

Introduction

Challenging behavior in a child can be defined as behavior whose intensity, duration and frequency are of a magnitude that is likely to jeopardize safety of the person or others around him or her (Irish National Teachers Organization 2004, p 3). In addition, behavior that seriously stalls activities causing delay in access and use of normal facilities by the affected parties can be termed as challenging behavior. In the study of disruptive behavior in children, a certain framework should be identified and in the case of the behavior of children the most appropriate conceptual; framework for study would be the school context. Disruptive behavior falls are of various manners, which may be attention seeking, poor social economic skills, medical problems affecting their behavior in social settings, communication difficulties or because of the effect of environmental factors.

Conclusion     

In the review of the literature of theories concerned with challenging behavior in children on a school conceptual framework, it is evident that the majority of studies undertaken take into account children of 5-16 years with less focus on the year range of 0-4 years. The percentage of the researches involving mixed grouped gender is at high but not a hundred percent, which reflects gaps in the theoretical explanation of differences in acquisition and distribution of behavioral attributes in relation to an individual’s gender. This review shows that different theories can be used to explain a child’s challenging behavior hence the most appropriate to a situation should be used in problem solving.