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Child Behaviour

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What is behaviour?

Behaviour refers to how one conducts themselves. It is their actions, reactions and functioning in response to everyday environments and situations. Challenging behaviour is a term used to describe behaviour that interferes with a child’s daily life. Managing children’s behaviour is essential in maintaining order and structure in the lives of busy families, as well as setting children up for success.

It is important to be aware that behavioural difficulties can often be indicative of difficulties/delays in other areas including: self regulation, sensory processing, receptive and/or expressive language, executive functioning, social skills and planning skills.

Behaviour includes:

the ability to obtain, maintain and change emotion, behaviour, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or situation.

accurate processing of sensory stimulation in the environment as well as in one’s own body.

higher order reasoning and thinking skills

involves the ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions.

Why is behaviour important?

Challenging behaviour may seriously affect a child and parent/carers health and quality of life.

Some risks associated with challenging behaviour include self-injurious behaviour (including ingestion or inhalation of foreign bodies, hitting head on the floor or throwing body on the floor) can result in serious injuries. Accidental injury is also a common issue in children with aggressive behaviour, not only for them, but also the parents and carers involved.

oppositional behaviour may result in dietary deficiencies, weight loss or gross obesity.

Challenging behaviour can often lead to social isolation.

social isolations is likely to impact his sense of well being and transition to school.

Research also suggests that lack of social skills can lead to loneliness and depression from an early age.

How a person behaves is a direct reflection on their maturity.

 

If a child is having difficulties with behaviour you may notice:

Concerned about Child Behaviour?

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