Problem behaviors are generally behaviors that negatively affect the child's education, learning and skill development process, and cause harm or discomfort to himself and his environment. This type of behavior usually occurs in preschool or school age. It should be noted that if precautions are not taken, it will negatively affect children's development.
Although problem behaviors generally occur under the age of 10, they can be seen at every stage of childhood. There may be many reasons for these behaviors. Psychological characteristics of the child, experiences in the family environment, situations that cause incompatibility with school, bad role modeling, effects of mass media and many factors can cause constantly repeated problem behaviors in children.
Reasons of Problem Behaviors. What are they?
There may be many reasons why children develop problem behavior. As stated, situations arising from family, school or various external factors can cause constant negative behavior. However, it is necessary to distinguish between the factors that cause behaviors to occur and the reasons why children exhibit these behaviors. Children generally show problem behavior for the following reasons.
To express themselves
To attract attention
To get something they want fulfilled
Frustration
Feeling of inadequacy
Desire to be stubborn
Disliking the environment or incompatibility
Presence of an unloved person in the environment
An unloved person presence of the object in the environment
The effect of an existing disease
Functions of Problem Behavior
Achieving Social Interest and Attention: Some behaviors are positively reinforced because other people show interest and attention. In natural environments, less attention is paid to appropriate behavior; They behave more emotionally and show more interest in self-mutilation and aggressive behavior. Therefore, expressions of interest and social approval, along with physical contact resulting from the formation of these behaviors, can unintentionally provide positive reinforcement of these behaviors.
Object Obtaining: In addition to obtaining social attention, food , nes Obtaining toys, toys and activities also positively reinforces problem behaviors. In many studies, it has been determined that subjects show problem behavior in order to get the objects they want or to participate in the activity they want. (Doss and Richle, 1989; Lovass and Simmons, 1969).
Obtaining Sensory Stimulus: One of the reasons why problem behaviors occur and persist is that individuals lose vision as a result of problem behaviors; It is obtaining sensory feedback in the form of hearing or touch, or reducing this feedback.
Escape / Avoidance: Some individuals escape or avoid undesirable situations by showing problem behaviors. For example, a mother who asks her daughter to tidy her room says, "Let the room be tidied when I get back!" when her daughter starts screaming and stamping. He may say this and leave the room. When he returns to the room and realizes that it still hasn't been tidied up, he tidies it up himself, tired of dealing with his daughter. In this case, the girl learns that by showing tantrums, her mother will stop making demands on her. Thus, in the situation following the tantrum, the mother's desire to tidy up the room has disappeared.
The first thing to do here is to identify the cause and take steps to change the behavior. The severity, frequency and duration of the problem presented should be evaluated, and it should be investigated whether the parents' expectations are realistic. For example; Many behaviors occur with low to medium frequency, but only behaviors with increasing frequency are considered a problem.
The mother of 7-year-old İpek states that her daughter cries all the time. If Ipek had cried four or five times a day instead of four or five times a week when she couldn't get what she wanted, the problem would be much different. When her mother is asked to fill out a behavior frequency chart to evaluate Ipek's crying intensity, these objectively collected data enable her to see that Ipek's crying spells are much less frequent than the mother had predicted.
The charts also help determine behavioral patterns. can help. The parents of 8-year-old Mehmet determined one of his lunch snacks using the behavior frequency chart. They discover that Mehmet's tantrums are getting worse hour after hour and after his favorite television show. By simply changing Mehmet's schedule, they reduced his tantrums.
A subjective feature of problematic behavior is the severity of the behavior. Therefore, the severity of Mehmet's aggression was evaluated in order to determine appropriate interventions and to detect changes in behavior during the therapy process. One of the things that needs to be done is to ensure that parents objectively evaluate the events and behaviors that they evaluate subjectively. (1 point indicates arguing, 2 points indicates shouting, and the rating continues up to 5 points. If 5 points indicates punching and kicking, is Mehmet always angry at a level of 5? Is he very angry? (Receiving a score of 3 or more in the evaluation, rules for parental intervention) (A score of 1 or 2 may indicate that the problem can be solved independently.)
The duration of the problematic behavior is also important. Two-minute tantrums should be evaluated differently than thirty-minute tantrums. Likewise, if 15-year-old Ayşe If Ayşe postpones taking out the garbage for only 10 minutes instead of 10 days, it may be suggested that Ayşe's parents react differently.
Children repeat the behaviors called problem behavior for the reasons mentioned above. First of all, the reason for the child's constantly showing problematic behavior must be found. and this reason must be eliminated.It may be necessary to consult a specialist to change problematic behavior. Work done in cooperation with the family on problem behavior gives positive results in a short time.
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