Module 2: Behaviour and behavioural issues

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Behaviour

Sometimes the behaviour of someone with special needs can be overwhelming and might cause us to focus our attention on just that behaviour. Behaviour is what is seen as the “act” that needs to be (or not be) disciplined. Behaviour is defined as the way that a person behaves in response to a particular stimulation or stimulus. In other words: behaviour is a reaction to something. Behaviour can therefore not be understood if you do not understand what is being reacted to. Most times, especially where there are special needs involved, negative or “bad” behaviour is due to a lack of skills, not due to a lack of discipline. Therefore, you will need to teach your child the necessary skills to cope with these behaviours or situations, and not discipline them because they cannot control themselves yet. (This lack of skills will be discussed as the symptoms of the different diagnosis in later lectures). Important: Never punish a child for behaviour outside their control.

Identifying possible causes for behaviour

Behaviour	What it looks like	What the causes could be
Aggression	Pushing Hitting Spitting Throwing	Poor social judgement Sensory overload or misperceptions Frustration over communication limitations
No initiative	Laziness Not motivated Waits for commands or hints	Poor concept of time Unable to organise behaviour/tasks
Discipline	No response to: Scolding Isolation Guilt Shame	Limited receptive language Abnormal pain experience (sensory issues) Does not understand cause and effect Inconsistent memory retrieval
Lacking in play skills	Cannot entertain him/herself Doesn’t know how to use toys Doesn’t know how to play with friends Breaks toys	Doesn’t understand concept of rules Cannot organise own time Lacks understanding of imaginary play
Tantrums	Screams without cause Does self-harm Destroys toys	Cannot say what he/she needs Doesn’t understand situations Low frustration tolerance Need for closure or consistency Emotional stress
Sleep	Doesn’t fall asleep Wakes up extremely often Wanders around at night	Hyperactive Easily distracted Hypersensitive to noise, light, texture, etc Doesn’t like and resists change
Toilet	Soils and wets self Smears faeces Goes to the toilet at the wrong places	Does not recognise body signals Poor sequential memory Easily distracted Physically muscles and core have extremely low tone
Eat	Does not chew Refuses new food Eats non-food items Fearful	Impaired taste (sensory issues) Impaired hunger drive (could be due to medication as well) Poor food recognition Fears change

Aspects to focus on when working with special needs children (that will aid in helping the child as well as the adult understand behaviours):

Communicative intent: the use of facial expressions, gestures, verbalizations and/or written words to deliver a message.
Expressive language: a broad term used that describes how a person communicates their wants and needs. This includes facial expressions, gestures, intentionality, vocabulary, semantics (word/sentence meaning), morphology and syntax (grammar rules).
Receptive language: the ability to understand information. Understanding words, sentences and meaning of what others say or what is read.
Abstract language: (the opposite of tangible that things we know through our senses) this refers to intangible qualities, ideas and concepts. These are words that indicate things we only know through intellect; e.g. truth, honour, kindness, grace.
Brain integration: getting the different parts of the brain to work together to process information and effect responses.
Cognitive skills: brain-based skills we need to perform any task, from easy to complex.
Fine and gross motor skills: fine motor skills are small movements that require the use of the muscles in your fingers, toes, wrists, lips and tongue. Gross motor skills are big movements that require the large muscles in your arms, legs, torso and feet.
Self-help skills: the actions of bettering oneself or overcoming problems without the aid of others (independence).
Perceptual development: the process of taking in, organising and interpreting sensory information to make informed choices and decisions.
Play skills: some children need to be taught how to play. Play is important for learning as children learn about shapes, colours, cause and effect, and themselves through play. It also helps a child to learn social and psychomotor skills (coordination, manipulation, dexterity, grace, strength, speed). It provides a means for the child to develop and a process by which social and physical skills develop.

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