Thoughts on supsending preschool students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the child probably has sensory or mild autism but I don't think the parents are getting the treatment needed to help the child.

Not every kid with autism has behavioral problems. Not every kid with behavioral problems has autism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the child probably has sensory or mild autism but I don't think the parents are getting the treatment needed to help the child.

Not every kid with autism has behavioral problems. Not every kid with behavioral problems has autism.

True but you won't know that until the kid gets evaluated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of assumptions being made here on all sides. That's to be expected from parents, but I would expect a school to have better resources and tools at their disposal to address the problem long before they resort to the last-ditch effort of suspension.

Most kids exhibiting disruptive behavior are not "problem kids". In almost all cases, it's a kid with a problem. And with preschoolers, we're talking kids who are just beginning to understand their emotions and don't have many coping mechanisms.

When I think of my own 4 year old, he's a really good kid who has moments but they're usually stemming from something I can fix: he's hungry, didn't get enough sleep, frustrated, nervous about a new situation. Then there are slightly more difficult issues that take some sleuthing, like when he went days without eating because he had an undiscovered food allergy to something I put in his lunch every day. Because he didn't want to sit still in front of something that was making him sick, he got up and walked around picking at others' food with predictable conflicts ensuing. Or when he stopped liking aftercare (something he'd previously loved) when the 3 boys he'd always played with started excluding him. Out of the blue, he started throwing unbelievable tantrums at pick up time. Not because he'd turned into a problem kid, but because he was distressed about something and needed my attention.

But if the assumption is just that he's a bad kid with bad parents? That's compounding a problem, not solving it. Preschool educators need to be about solving it. That's one place where youthful exuberance in a teacher is great, but experience in classroom management is more important. Teacher-student ratio is also a factor and that means the teacher should be getting more help, training and/or resources, not kicking kids out of school.

A tantrum with you upon leaving is not throwing a chair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the child probably has sensory or mild autism but I don't think the parents are getting the treatment needed to help the child.

Not every kid with autism has behavioral problems. Not every kid with behavioral problems has autism.

True but you won't know that until the kid gets evaluated.

Evaluations can be wrong. Many kids are overdiagnosed. Autism and sensory are the new over diagnosis and the we do not know what is wrong. Just like in the past it was add and ADHD. There is more to this story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the child probably has sensory or mild autism but I don't think the parents are getting the treatment needed to help the child.

Not every kid with autism has behavioral problems. Not every kid with behavioral problems has autism.

True but you won't know that until the kid gets evaluated.

Evaluations can be wrong. Many kids are overdiagnosed. Autism and sensory are the new over diagnosis and the we do not know what is wrong. Just like in the past it was add and ADHD. There is more to this story.

True evaluations can be wrong but insisting that the problems lay only with the school while refusing to get the child evaluated doesn't help matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so typical... Black child acts up in school, gets suspended and mother is shocked, upset and plays the race card. A child should not be throwing chairs in school/preschool. If the child is doing this at school, I'm sure he is doing it at home too. Mom is in denial.

^^ didn't read the article

And please stop using the phrase "race card". It just exposes you for the bigot you are.

[Anonymous]

Maybe if mom focused more on the kids than her business they would be doing better at school. School may be the safe place to act out. How sad she writes a story and posts pictures of her kids for them to see when they are adults as well as everyone else. Her business of writing and speaking is about her childhood problems and her kids. This is a business stunt to sell her books and speaking.

[Anonymous]

No thoughts on the claims that multiple children in the class have shown disruptive behavior? Sounds like there are classroom management issues going on as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of assumptions being made here on all sides. That's to be expected from parents, but I would expect a school to have better resources and tools at their disposal to address the problem long before they resort to the last-ditch effort of suspension.

Most kids exhibiting disruptive behavior are not "problem kids". In almost all cases, it's a kid with a problem. And with preschoolers, we're talking kids who are just beginning to understand their emotions and don't have many coping mechanisms.

When I think of my own 4 year old, he's a really good kid who has moments but they're usually stemming from something I can fix: he's hungry, didn't get enough sleep, frustrated, nervous about a new situation. Then there are slightly more difficult issues that take some sleuthing, like when he went days without eating because he had an undiscovered food allergy to something I put in his lunch every day. Because he didn't want to sit still in front of something that was making him sick, he got up and walked around picking at others' food with predictable conflicts ensuing. Or when he stopped liking aftercare (something he'd previously loved) when the 3 boys he'd always played with started excluding him. Out of the blue, he started throwing unbelievable tantrums at pick up time. Not because he'd turned into a problem kid, but because he was distressed about something and needed my attention.

But if the assumption is just that he's a bad kid with bad parents? That's compounding a problem, not solving it. Preschool educators need to be about solving it. That's one place where youthful exuberance in a teacher is great, but experience in classroom management is more important. Teacher-student ratio is also a factor and that means the teacher should be getting more help, training and/or resources, not kicking kids out of school.

A tantrum with you upon leaving is not throwing a chair.

Not the poster, but clearly you are missing the point. Do you really think a three year old understands that throwing a chair is more dangerous than throwing a tantrum. Clearly the child is acting out because he is having a difficult time coping with his emotions whether they be anger, frustration, or disappointment. These may be emotions that he does not experience regularly at home; or his mother may be attentive and able to help him manage better than his teacher who has to be attentive to multiple children . I do not think it is unrealistic that he does not exhibit those behaviors at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's probably not the case with the child in this article, but a huge problem is lack of sleep making little kids cranky and in some cases violent. I personally know of two kids this age who were suspended from daycare where the main issue was that mom and dad had to get everyone up really, really early to get everyone to school and work, sometimes via public transportation. I think that the bad performance of many neighborhood schools driving families to commute further in search of better schools has a downside in that it makes it harder to get kids enough sleep. I'd love to see DC do a public education campaign on the importance of proper sleep, and to get to the point where all neighborhood schools are good schools.

Absolutely. Add to that the fact that kids in distressed neighborhoods are often living in apartment buildings or on streets where there is noise all hours of the night. People out all night, sirens, stuff going on in the apartments/houses next door... it all adds to a situation where sleep can be difficult and is rarely uninterrupted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's probably not the case with the child in this article, but a huge problem is lack of sleep making little kids cranky and in some cases violent. I personally know of two kids this age who were suspended from daycare where the main issue was that mom and dad had to get everyone up really, really early to get everyone to school and work, sometimes via public transportation. I think that the bad performance of many neighborhood schools driving families to commute further in search of better schools has a downside in that it makes it harder to get kids enough sleep. I'd love to see DC do a public education campaign on the importance of proper sleep, and to get to the point where all neighborhood schools are good schools.

Absolutely. Add to that the fact that kids in distressed neighborhoods are often living in apartment buildings or on streets where there is noise all hours of the night. People out all night, sirens, stuff going on in the apartments/houses next door... it all adds to a situation where sleep can be difficult and is rarely uninterrupted.

Same PP - just to be clear though, I think the majority of kids with really really challenging behavior is from those kids being exposed to either lack of supervision or actual bad behaviors at home. Sleeplessness can make some kids cranky, but the kids really acting out usually have a lot more going on than just being tired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No thoughts on the claims that multiple children in the class have shown disruptive behavior? Sounds like there are classroom management issues going on as well.

Or that this is a preschool in a rough part of DC. For many kids preschool is their first time out of the house and it can really be when disruptive behaviors are shown. There are behaviors that can be managed by a teacher and then those that are so outside the real of classroom management.
As for thoughts about suspending a preschooler. Its tough. It it were impacting my kids preschool education- I would want a more permanent solution than suspension. Support, special education services, and counseling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of assumptions being made here on all sides. That's to be expected from parents, but I would expect a school to have better resources and tools at their disposal to address the problem long before they resort to the last-ditch effort of suspension.

Most kids exhibiting disruptive behavior are not "problem kids". In almost all cases, it's a kid with a problem. And with preschoolers, we're talking kids who are just beginning to understand their emotions and don't have many coping mechanisms.

When I think of my own 4 year old, he's a really good kid who has moments but they're usually stemming from something I can fix: he's hungry, didn't get enough sleep, frustrated, nervous about a new situation. Then there are slightly more difficult issues that take some sleuthing, like when he went days without eating because he had an undiscovered food allergy to something I put in his lunch every day. Because he didn't want to sit still in front of something that was making him sick, he got up and walked around picking at others' food with predictable conflicts ensuing. Or when he stopped liking aftercare (something he'd previously loved) when the 3 boys he'd always played with started excluding him. Out of the blue, he started throwing unbelievable tantrums at pick up time. Not because he'd turned into a problem kid, but because he was distressed about something and needed my attention.

But if the assumption is just that he's a bad kid with bad parents? That's compounding a problem, not solving it. Preschool educators need to be about solving it. That's one place where youthful exuberance in a teacher is great, but experience in classroom management is more important. Teacher-student ratio is also a factor and that means the teacher should be getting more help, training and/or resources, not kicking kids out of school.

Very very well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's probably not the case with the child in this article, but a huge problem is lack of sleep making little kids cranky and in some cases violent. I personally know of two kids this age who were suspended from daycare where the main issue was that mom and dad had to get everyone up really, really early to get everyone to school and work, sometimes via public transportation. I think that the bad performance of many neighborhood schools driving families to commute further in search of better schools has a downside in that it makes it harder to get kids enough sleep. I'd love to see DC do a public education campaign on the importance of proper sleep, and to get to the point where all neighborhood schools are good schools.

Absolutely. Add to that the fact that kids in distressed neighborhoods are often living in apartment buildings or on streets where there is noise all hours of the night. People out all night, sirens, stuff going on in the apartments/houses next door... it all adds to a situation where sleep can be difficult and is rarely uninterrupted.

This is not the authors situation. She is a professional woman living in a nice community with lots of support. Read her website and twitter. Big difference from kids in that environment and one she is providing.

There is a difference between a tantrum and throwing a chair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No thoughts on the claims that multiple children in the class have shown disruptive behavior? Sounds like there are classroom management issues going on as well.

Or that this is a preschool in a rough part of DC. For many kids preschool is their first time out of the house and it can really be when disruptive behaviors are shown. There are behaviors that can be managed by a teacher and then those that are so outside the real of classroom management.
As for thoughts about suspending a preschooler. Its tough. It it were impacting my kids preschool education- I would want a more permanent solution than suspension. Support, special education services, and counseling.

This is not a DC school.