Child Care Research Paper

Copyright 2011 ZERO TO THREE. All rights reserved. For permission requests, visit www.zerotothree.org/permissions

Challenging Behavior and
Expulsion From Child Care
The Role of Mental Health Consultation deBorah f. perry
Courtney holland
Georgetown University

nikki darling-kuria
CKD Communications, LLC
Martinsburg, West Virginia

sarah nadiv
University of Maryland

T

here is strong evidence that social and emotional skills are as critical to school adjustment as are competencies in language and academic readiness skills. When kindergarten teachers report that children are not entering school ready to learn, they are most often referring to deficits in social and emotional skills. Left untreated, early behavioral problems can develop into
These interviews were arranged whenever a consultant found out that a child she was working with was going to be expelled from a child care center. Sometimes parents decided to remove their child from child care before the child was formally asked to leave, and we interviewed consultants, directors, teachers, and parents in those cases as well. There was a different interview script for each type of respondent—consultant, director, teacher, and parent. The questions were open-ended in order to allow each interviewee to direct the conversation as much as possible. In total, we conducted 35 interviews: 20 with consultants, 7 with child care program directors, 5 with teachers, and 2 with parents. Most of the children were White, 3- or 4-year-old boys.
Only two of the children were girls.
Our research team recorded, transcribed, and analyzed the interviews using qualitative data analysis software. We routinely returned to the transcripts to gather more information and make sure any conclusions we drew or themes we found accurately represented the interviewees’ descriptions of their experiences. These interviews yielded a rich array of stories that informed our understanding of the factors that
Ava, an early childhood mental health consultant, had been working with Ben at that center for 5 months. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and sensory processing disorder and had an individualized education plan. Ava was teaching Ben and his providers strategies to reduce Ben’s challenging behavior and increase his ability to participate in classroom activities. Ava continued working with Ben at little Stars, starting on his very first day in the program.
At first, things seemed to go well. Ben’s teachers were aware of his diagnoses and knew that he was receiving occupational therapy. They expected that it might take Ben a little extra time to adjust to his new environment, and Ava came to Little Stars once a week for 3 hours at a time to help him. Because
Ben was at a new child care center, Ava had developed a new action plan and reviewed it with the director at little Stars, Ben’s teacher, and Ben’s parents. After a few weeks, though,
Ben’s teacher and the director at little Stars became concerned about Ben’s behavior.
Ben had a difficult time engaging in classroom activities and interacting