A ten year Texas child was fined $260 and will have to go to court for misbehaviour! Well, that is one way of dealing with problem behavior, although I would hardly agree with it. This incident happened in the El Paso school district where misbehaviour can be fined and the child can be taken to court. Fortunately that is not the case in most school districts. But it does raise questions about coping with problem behavior in kids both at home and at school.
Why did this happen ? First the boy has a behavior disorder and is on ADHD meds. These meds make him feel drowsy and so he fell asleep in class. When he was woken up by the teacher, he had a rather bad reaction and starting shouting, rolling on the ground and refused to get up. The important thing to realize is that no one was hurt or threatened and no damage was done to school property. Was a fine the correct way to deal with this problem behavior? I doubt it !
What can parents do ? While this is a rather unusual case, it does throw up some pointers to bear in mind for problem behavior. Was the teacher aware of the boy's condition ? Maybe there was a possibility of IEP but neither parents nor teachers had bothered to follow it up. Finally, the drugs he was on could have been changed or some other treatment given.
Looking at problem behavior in teens, what can parents do ? There are no hard and fast rules about teen behavior and no concise set of rules to alert you that your teen may be in bad company or worse, may be in trouble with the law.
But there are some pointers to alert you to the fact that something is wrong but again, sometimes teenage behavior is unpredictable. Here are some pointers. Mood swings may be a sign that something is wrong although it very often a normal part of teenage attitude and behavior. Other signs are a sudden social withdrawal where they are no longer interested in the activities like sports and clubs that they used to do on a regular basis. Violent behavior could also be a sign that something is not quite right. These could be signs that there are some deep rooted problems and the parents should seek professional help.
If your teen is not in trouble or in bad company, that is great news. But there may be other problems such as lying, bullying and abusive violent behavior which may be putting pressure on your family structure. If this is the case, a child behavior program can solve many of these problems because it is simply a matter of learning a few strategies and techniques to deal with problem behavior and get your teenager back on track.
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