· Respond to your peer. Give your peers at least one additional strategy to use when dealing with parents. Explain if you agree or disagree with your peers’ opinions regarding the family’s responsibility for the behavior. Please remember to be respectful when disagreeing with an opinion.
PEERS POST:
· How will you prepare for a meeting with a family when a challenging behavior occurs?
First, I will discuss with my supervisor why a meeting should occur. I will go over with my supervisor what I’m planning to say in the meeting to make sure I’m delivering my concerns in a respectable manner. I will make sure I have documentation on why I’m having these concerns about their child’s behavior.
· List three strategies you will use when meeting with a family to discuss their child’s behavior.
First, I will greet parents with a smile and have a friendly tone. I will start off with positive comments about their child. I will discuss their child’s strengths. “When parents know that you appreciate their child’s strengths, they’re more likely to approach the situation constructively” (Kaiser, & Sklar, 2017). I will next discuss why I asked to have this meeting and discuss my concerns about their child’s behavior that I have been seeing in the classroom. I will ask parents to have they been seeing the same behavior at home if so, do they have any advice on how I can handle it in the classroom. I will also ask, have there been any changes at home? “Invite them to share their thoughts and concerns as well as their past successes with their child and any information they have regarding her behavior or diagnosis” (Kaiser, & Sklar, 2017). Next, I will discuss the plan on how I will be handling the behavior and ask them do they agree with it and do they have any input. I will suggest that we meet back in a few weeks to see how everything is going. Is the plan working or do we need to come up with a new plan to help with their child’s behavior? “After giving the facts of the incident/behavior, let the parent know how you’re taking care of the problem at school. Include what rule(s) the student broke and how he or she will be held accountable” (Linsin, 2011).
· Examine your own attitude and discuss whether or not you think families are responsible for how their child behaves at school. Support your stance.
Since I have been working in the education field, I have learned that it is always not the parent’s fault that a child is having challenging behaviors. Some parents can be doing everything right and sometime a child will still have challenging behaviors.
· What data and records will you bring into the discussion to help move the conversation forward in a positive direction?
The data and records I will bring to the discussion are observation notes and anecdotal notes. I will also bring some of the child’s portfolio work because I also want to share their child’s strengths also.
· Beyond these considerations, what other factors may be involved?
You need to be prepared on how you will handle a situation if a parent gets upset about what you are telling them about their child’s behavior. If there is a language barrier, make sure the meeting is scheduled when the parent is available, the parent is willing to have the meeting with you to discuss their child’s behavior.
-Shannon
References
Kaiser, B., & Sklar Rasminsky, J. (2017). Challenging behavior in young children: Understanding, preventing, and responding effectively (4th ed.). Retrieved from https://content.uagc.edu
Linsin, M. (2011, June 4). How to talk to parents about their misbehaving child (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2011/06/04/how-to-talk-to-parents-about-their-misbehaving-child/
