• Question: do you think it has anything to do with wanting attention and being bored that children develop behavior issues?

    Asked by michel1 to Alice JB on 10 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Alice Jones Bartoli

      Alice Jones Bartoli answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Hi again Michel,

      I think being bored is an interesting idea… but not in the way that maybe sometimes we get bored. Children with behaviour problems can sometimes have pretty short attention spans, so while most children could sit in a classroom and work on some maths problems for 30 minutes, the kids I work with really can’t – some of them can’t concentrate on something for more than about 5 or 10 minutes. We work on developing memory skills and attention skills so that children don’t get ‘bored’ so quickly and can really start to do lessons.

      Other times children might ‘want attention’, but this has far more to do with not really knowing what to do with their own feelings, so acting out by shouting or being aggressive is a way to get a teacher’s attention. When we work with children to help them to understand what they are feeling, we also help them to learn to ask for help, advice or whatever it is that they need.

      Thanks for your two questions – they’re very good points.

Comments