Addressing Whining and unwanted behaviour in young children

Whining: That Voice!

Whining is high on the list of childhood behaviours that are really, really obnoxious to parents.

Some kids have developed this strategy into a dramatic art form, and there are a few youngsters who definitively deserve academy awards for their performances!

Many parents dread saying "No" to their kids, or not giving the children what they want, simply because of the threat of the whining that will result.

As aggravating as whining is, it can be managed. That management starts with a good understanding of where the behaviour comes from, followed by the use of a Calm, Decisive and Consistent strategy to address it.

What Causes Whining? 
You don't have to search far to discover the causes of whining. The answer to the question goes something like this.

Good parents have two sides to them, a warm, loving side and a demanding dominant side. To the child, the warm, loving part of parenting involves fun, affection and good times.

The demanding part involves learning to follow rules, acquiring skills and, basically, growing up and accepting responsibility for your actions.

The warm side of parenting is more friendly; the demanding side is more challenging.

You generally won't run into whining from your children when you are operating in the warm parenting mode.

However, you will run into whining when you are coming from the demanding side of the parenting equation.

Being demanding is a big part of your job as a parent, but it can create frustration and inappropriate reactions from your youngsters.

When you ask or demand a behaviour from a child, they have two choices: They can bite the bullet and cooperate or they can do what we call "test and manipulate."

Whining is a form of testing and manipulation.

Adults Reinforce Whining?
What makes whining work for kids?

Whining continues, and gets worse when mums, dads, grandparents or teachers do any of the following:

1. See whining as abnormal, horrible behaviour.
2. Feel angry or guilty when the kids complain.
3. Talk, argue, yell or whine back when the kids moan.
4. Or worst of all, give in to the kids and let them have their way when they whimper.

Four Useful Strategies for Parenting a Whiner 

1. Dramatically change the way you think: Whining comes from GOOD parenting; it does not mean you did something wrong.

2. Tell your child, “Whining is for your room.” Let them moan where you can’t hear it, but once they have calmed down, make sure they comply with your initial 'demand.' If they do not, then send them to their room again and repeat until they are willing to comply.

3. Use small, reasonable consequences. For example, "For every minute you whine at me, you are going to pay me 25 cents."

This 'monetary' forfeit may only work in a deeply consumer-based society where the child has a certain amount of 'disposable wealth,' like the US and the UK, but the principal of applying a 'loss' for unwanted behaviour is sound.

Keep any consequence simple, clear and short. Then no more talking, until the child changes its behaviour and complies.

There is No Negotiation and No Discussion allowed as this is simply another 'Testing' behaviour used by the child to take control of the situation and avoid doing what you want.

If you find this difficult, try avoiding eye contact with the child as well as not talking, this will help you stay stronger and stick to your goal.

4. You can also try using the age-old Counting Method from 1‐2‐3 for addressing the whining, but this should be a well understood way of correcting your child's unwanted behviour. It should be something you have practiced with your child from when they were very young.

If you want more information on correcting unwanted child behaviour and advice on sleep, bed-wetting and more serious childhood conditions, visit www.dream-angus.com

UK Young cancer deaths 'halved in last 30 years'

The number of teenagers and young adults dying from cancer in the UK has halved since the 1970s, according to a report from Cancer Research UK.

Deaths fell from about 580 per year to 300 in this age group while the largest drop was in those with leukaemia.

More specialised treatments are likely to be behind the trend, the report said.

However, a teenage cancer expert said more young people should be enrolled on clinical trials.

Cancer remains the main cause of death from any disease in teenagers and young adults. Only transport accidents account for more deaths in this age group.

The report, Cancer Statistics Report: Teenage and Young Adult Cancer, calculated that about 2,100 young people aged 15-24 years old are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK.

But in the past 30 years or so, death rates have fallen in males from 88 deaths per million (in 1975-1977) to 44 deaths per million (in 2008-2010) and in females from 61 deaths per million to 31.

Leukaemia
Leukaemia deaths among teenagers and young adults have seen the greatest drop since 1995 in the UK - from an average of 54 per year to 39 in 2006-2010 in young males and from 38 to 21 deaths per year among females.

Brain tumours were the most common cause of cancer deaths in this age group between 2008 and 2010.

Simon Davies

Simon Davies, chief executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, said he was pleased by the figures but wanted to see greater improvements.

"More investment in rare cancer research is urgently needed. We want to work with Cancer Research UK and the pharmaceutical industry to ensure better access to clinical trials for young people with cancer."

The report said that less than 20% of patients aged 15-24 with cancer take part in clinical trials, compared to 50-70% of child cancer patients under 15 in the UK.

It added that broadening access to clinical trials was essential to improve knowledge of the best treatments for cancers.

Dr Harpal Kumar

Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said more needed to be done to make treatments kinder and more effective.

"Drug development and clinical trials are at the heart of helping more teenagers and young adults both survive cancer and live a full life after their treatment.

"Too many young people are left out of clinical trials due to rigid age restrictions and this must change for us to continue to see improvements across all cancer types."

Those restrictions exist because there are potential dangers in giving young cancer patients adult doses of drugs, therefore researchers are often reluctant to develop trials which cover this age group. Children's cancer drug trials are also very specialised.

Although cancer mortality rates for young people are falling, the incidence of all types of teenage and young adult cancers combined has been rising since the 1990s.

The report was a collaboration between the North West Cancer Intelligence Unit, on behalf of the National Cancer Intelligence Network, and the Paterson Institute of Cancer Studies, at the University of Manchester.

The ABCs of Early Childhood Education - Infographic

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Each year, the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC) hosts Week of the Young Child, which focuses on bringing public awareness to the needs of young children and their families, and recognizes early childhood education professionals, services and programs designed to meet their needs.

With this year’s theme being Healthy Minds! Healthy Children, below is a helpful infographic that takes a look into some of the key fundamentals to child growth and development.

The ABCs of Early Childhood Education Infographic

Sleep Problems impairs the health of young diabetics

Young people with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) may have difficulty getting a good night's sleep, resulting in difficulty controlling blood sugar and decreased performance in school, according to a study published in the January issue of SLEEP.

Michelle M. Perfect, Ph.D., of the University of Arizona in Tucson, and colleagues used home-based polysomnography, actigraphy, and questionnaires to track the sleep health of 50 patients, aged 10 to 16 years, with T1DM; results were compared with a control group without diabetes matched for sex, age, and body mass index.

The level of glucose control was simultaneously assessed using continuous glucose monitors and hemoglobin A1C values.

The researchers found that, overall, young patients with T1DM spent about 21 minutes (or 5 percent) less time per seven-hour night in deep sleep than individuals without diabetes.

Even those with mild sleep difficulties experienced more hyperglycemia and emotional and behavioural difficulties, reduced diabetes-related quality of life, lower grades, depression, sleep-wake behaviour problems, poor sleep quality, sleepiness, and lower math scores.

Patients with sleep apnea had associated higher blood sugar levels. As sleep is a potentially modifiable behaviour, the authors suggest that improving clinician awareness of potential sleep problems could help these children and adolescents improve their quality of life.

"Overall, this study supports the need to inquire about sleepiness and sleep habits as part of the clinical care of youth with T1DM.

Clinicians and school-based professionals need to be aware that reports of daytime sleepiness, disrupted sleep, or poor sleep habits, may affect patients' daytime functioning, including the possibility of interfering with their diabetes self-care, quality of life, and school performance," the authors write.

10 Ways to support Young Readers

ICT has an important role to play through engaging and supporting children while they are learning phonemes and how to blend and segment words. 

These will be achieved through a mix of adult and child-initiated activities as they begin to apply what they have learned.

The following ten tips are just a few of the ways that will support our future young readers, and writers!

1.         Using an interactive whiteboard to teach blending and segmenting

Look for programmes that can deliver blending and segmenting for you on an interactive whiteboard.

These need to give the children plenty of practice at learning individual phonemes, then blending and segmenting across the word, in the correct order.

A ‘voice over or character that models how to do this ensures that the children learn the correct way to pronounce the phonemes as they blend and segment. The interaction with the characters on screen is great fun!

It also releases the teacher from the need to use cards to hold up and practise. S/he is then free to ‘look, listen and note’ what the children are doing – providing on going, easy to manage and effective assessment.

2.         Using CD-ROM games to practise and develop new phonic skills on an interactive whiteboard

Look for programmes that allow the class to play games in teams.  The children will enjoy showing off their newly acquired skills of blending and segmenting as they compete with each other. Reading words that appear on screen quickly, identifying missing letters in words - all supported by animations and colourful characters will engage the children and further strengthen learning.   

3.         Support for teaching handwriting on an interactive whiteboard

There are well researched links between fluent handwriting and improved spelling - so use a phonics programme which uses animations to demonstrate how to form letters. The teacher can stand at the back of the class and observe the children copying the form of these letters as skywriting (writing words in the air with a finger). This is an easy and manageable way to assess children’s progress.

4.         Manipulating letters of the alphabet on an interactive whiteboard

The provision of colourful alphabet letters on screen – capital and lower case - allows pupils to create new words and captions. They will need to select capital or lower case letters according to what they are writing. Unlike an assortment of magnetic letters in trays, these will not run out, and because these are arranged alphabetically, they are easier to locate.

As they manipulate these letters, pupils are also learning about the conventions of print - left to right, top to bottom, for example, and that letters in simple consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) words must be placed in the correct order. 

5.         Supporting the young writer on a PC – labels, signs, lists and rhymes

Teachers should type for the children when they are attempting to write their first lists and messages showing them how to say the word first then attempt to spell it by breaking it into individual phonemes. This can be linked to real purposes for writing, such as:

• labels for the role-play shop
• signs for the classroom
• a shopping list for the role-play area

As children become more experienced in using the keyboard, expect them to type for themselves. Children enjoy working in pairs at the PC – plan activities where they are collaborating together to type out a verse from a well known nursery rhyme, This is easier than creating something, from scratch. 

6.         Making an alphabet book with your pupils for a toddler

Arrange for children to work in pairs at the computer, finding and inserting three pictures that all begin with a certain phoneme. Provide an alphabet on a strip by the computer and signal which phoneme they should use.  These can be printed off and with the help of the children, made into a zigzag book.  Invite some toddlers in when it is finished - and arrange for a group of pupils to share it with them.

7.         Digital Photography

Photograph children at play during different phonic activities e.g.

• fishing for letters floating in a bowl of water
• finding letters buried in sand
• sorting and posting words starting with the same letter into the correct post box

Display these in the classroom on the boxes containing these resources – these will prompt the children to set up these phonic activities independently.

Take the children on a ‘print walk’ around the school and in the neighbourhood. Ask them to find signs, labels, street names and advertising captions on shop windows, and to take photos of these. 

When shared on screen with the children, or printed off and displayed, these form a great wealth of resources for looking closely at words, from initial letters to blending along whole words or parts of words. This encourages the children to think about the uses of print other than in books!

8.         Using a simple web cam to make a film 

Help children to video this blending and segmenting game ‘Cross the River’.

You need a puppet, a collection of cvc toys. e.g. cat, dog, hen, pig, cub, and five children. Give each child one toy and ask them to stand one side of the ‘river’ (a skipping rope).  The teacher stands on the other side of the ‘river’ and calls out the three sounds in a ‘robot voice’. Children listen carefully to the sounds, say the word to match their toy, and cross the river.

Video this game to save on a PC or interactive whiteboard and display as a screen saver throughout the year, to prompt the children to play this important game independently.

9.         Programmable toys

Using a control toy like a ‘Roamer’, stick individual phonemes on the back of the toy and ask the children to send it to the picture or toy that begins with that letter. Later on, stick cvc words on the toy and go through the same process. Later still, get children to write their own words and send it to their own selection of toys. Praise them for their spelling attempts.

10.       Search the web for phonic games, songs and stories.

Children may already be using some of these at home – ask their advice when you search with them! Make sure these games practise initial letter, or blending and segmenting through words in the correct order e.g. c-a-t and cat=c-a-t.

 

Young Czech Artist Helps Dyslexic Children

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Marketing materialism to the young is linked to self esteem

Peer pressure, targeted marketing campaigns and bad parenting have all been blamed for increasing materialism in children. Until now, there has been little evidence showing when this drive for material goods emerges in kids and what really causes it.

In one of the first studies to focus on the development of materialism among children, Deborah Roedder John, a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, reveals that a young person’s level of materialism is directly connected to their self-esteem.

In her recent paper “Growing up in a Material World: Age Differences in Materialism in Children and Adolescents,” in the December 2007 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, John and co-author Lan Nguyen Chaplin, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Illinois and Carlson alum, report the results of two studies conducted with children in three age groups.

In the first study, they found that materialism increases from middle childhood (8 and 9 years old) to early adolescence (12 and 13 years old) but then declines by the end of high school (16 to18 years old). This mirrors patterns in self-esteem, which instead decreases in early adolescence but increases in late adolescence.

“The level of materialism in teens is directly driven by self-esteem,” said John. “When self-esteem drops as children enter adolescence, materialism peaks. Then by late adolescence, when self-esteem rebounds, their materialism drops.”

In a second study, John and Chaplin boosted self-esteem by giving children positive information about peer acceptance. Children were given paper plates with positive descriptors about them, such as smart and fun, which were provided by their peers in a summer camp setting.

This seemingly small gesture drastically reduced the high levels of materialism found among 12 to 13 year-olds and the moderate levels of materialism found among 16 to 18 year-olds.

“Particularly relevant,” said John, “is the fact that by simply increasing self-esteem in teens, we see a decreased focus on material goods that parallels that of young children. While peers and marketing can certainly influence teens, materialism is directly connected to self-esteem.”

It is clear from this study that 'label' marketing is cynically aimed directly at the self-esteem of young children, teenagers and young adults.

For parents interested in instilling positive values in their children and teens, the message is clear: encouraging a sense of self-worth among young people can reduce the impact of cynical marketing and the emphasis on material goods.

22 Things to Consider when Communicating with Young Children

To ensure they get a flying start on the road to education, parents, teachers and students should all be encouraged to communicate with each other from day one.

Here are some suggestions to aid that communication:

1. Remember to use all your senses - Use drawings, dramatic gestures, actions, emotions, voice, mime, chalkboard sketches, photographs and visual materials to provide clues to meaning.

2. Repetition builds familiarity - Repeat your actions using the same simple structures and actions.

3. Avoid complexity - Simplify your message as much as possible breaking them into smaller, manageable parts to give newcomers a chance at comprehending.

4. Start with a bang - Make sure the children's attention is focused.

5. Pay attention to each child in turn - Don't insist, however, that they make eye contact with you when you are speaking to them. This is sometimes difficult for them and can be considered rude in many cultures.

6. Be aware of your delivery and speech - Modify it if necessary. Talk at a slow-to-normal pace, in short sentences. Use a pleasant tone of voice at all times.

7. Use simple sentence structures - Use subject-verb-object and high-frequency words

8. Use names of people rather than pronouns - they may not understand who 'he, she or it' refers to.

9. Pause after longer phrases or short sentences, not after each word. You do not want to distort the rhythm of the language.

10. Avoid using the passive voice and complex sentences.

11. If you have something important to convey, speak one-on-one to the student rather than in front of the class. The anxiety of being in the spotlight interferes with comprehension.

12. Ask simple yes/no questions. Accept one-word answers or gestures.

13. Be an active listener. Give full attention to your newcomer and make every effort to understand his / her attempts to communicate. Smile.

14. Talk in a calm, quiet manner. Raising your voice does not help comprehension

15. Demonstrate your patience through your facial expressions and body language.

16. Give your quieter children extra time to respond.

17. Encourage new children to act out or to draw pictures to get their meaning across. Don't jump in immediately to supply words.

18. Correct pronunciation and grammar by repeating the response accurately. Do not ask the student to repeat the correction. This can be very embarrassing.

19. Resist the urge to over critisize and correct. This will inhibit new children and they will be less willing to speak.

20. Allow children to use a dictionary to find words that they cannot acted out.

21. Check comprehension frequently. Don't ask "Do you understand?" This is not a reliable check since many students will nod "yes" when they don't really understand.

22. Never use irony or sarcasm - That would not be well understood and is an abuse of status.

Be patient: you are taking the children on a long journey and they need to find their pace and enjoy the benefits along the way. Stop occasionally and let them smell the flowers.

The education of dyslexic children from childhood to young adulthood

The past two decades have witnessed an explosion in our understanding of dyslexia (or specific reading disability), the most common and most carefully studied of the learning disabilities. We first review the core concepts of dyslexia: its definition, prevalence, and developmental course.

Next we examine the cognitive model of dyslexia, especially the phonological theory, and review empiric data suggesting genetic and neurobiological influences on the development of dyslexia.

With the scientific underpinnings of dyslexia serving as a foundation, we turn our attention to evidence-based approaches to diagnosis and treatment, including interventions and accommodations. Teaching reading represents a major focus.

We first review those reading interventions effective in early grades, and then review interventions for older students.

To date the preponderance of intervention studies have focused on word-level reading; newer studies are beginning to examine reading interventions that have gone beyond word reading to affect reading fluency and reading comprehension.

The article concludes with a discussion of the critical role of accommodations for dyslexic students and the recent neurobiological evidence supporting the need for such accommodations.

Download and Read the full article here ..........