Guidance and Discipline Policy

Professionals who work with young children expect to be met with challenging behavior from time to time. The overarching goal of the ECLS guidance policy is to reflect on the form and function of children’s challenging behavior and provide developmentally appropriate guidance strategies to help children meet program expectations—be safe, be kind, be responsible. The administrative and teaching staff take this responsibility seriously and we convey our policies and approaches to all families, staff, and practicum students in our community. 

At the ECLS, we define challenging behavior as any behavior that:

  • interferes with children’s learning, development and success at play; 
  • is harmful to the child, other children or adults; or
  • puts a child at high risk for later social problems or school failure. 

Challenging behavior may be direct (e.g., hitting, pushing, biting, kicking) or indirect (e.g., teasing, ignoring rules or instructions, excluding others, name-calling, destroying objects, having temper tantrums). Often, these challenging behaviors are developmentally appropriate, typical, and normal—and they change with support and social, emotional, and cognitive development.

The ECLS applies the Pyramid Model as a framework for promoting young children’s healthy social and emotional development.

 Pyramid Model image

 

We set the stage for success by employing an effective staff, preparing high-quality supportive environments, and building and maintaining nurturing and responsive relationships. This UNIVERSAL PROMOTION OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT of all children includes the following components: 

Staff design the physical environment to minimize conflict. They provide multiples of toys and materials for groups of children, define classroom and outdoor areas clearly to allow for both active and quiet play, and strive to maintain an appropriately calm level of stimulation. 

  • Staff maintain age-appropriate expectations for children’s behavior. They attempt to minimize unreasonable waiting and transition times, and limit the length of large group and teacher-directed activity times according to children’s developmental levels. Staff afford children large blocks of uninterrupted, but well supervised, time during which to make their own activity choices. 

  • Adults closely observe and supervise children’s activities and interactions. They observe challenging behavior to identify events, activities, interactions, and other contextual factors that may predict and/or contribute to it. With low ratios of adults to children and staff emphasis on attentive observation, they can often intervene to guide children before situations escalate. 

     

SECONDARY PREVENTION PRACTICES target social emotional strategies to prevent problems. Adults provide explicit instruction and support as they model self-regulation, coach children to express and understand emotions. Staff show that we can accept, manage and communicate feelings in direct and non-aggressive ways. They let children know through words and actions that they are not fearful of a child’s intense emotions and will not punish, threaten or withdraw from them. 

  • Staff help children describe problems, generate possible solutions, and think through logical consequences of their actions. The adult role is to be a helper in positive problem solving. Staff want children to value cooperation and teamwork; adults help them to learn peaceful approaches to interacting. 

     

TERTIARY INTERVENTIONS are used to provide individualized support for children with persistent challenges. Such interventions are family-centered, assessment-based, and comprehensive. They emphasize skill-building and include graduated behavior supports. General guidelines include the following:

  • Guidance, will always be positive, productive and immediate when behavior is not in alignment with classroom expectations. Under no circumstances will a child be humiliated, shamed, frightened, coerced or subjected to physical punishment or verbal, physical or psychological abuse by any staff member, student, or volunteer working in the ECLS programs. 
  • Children whose behavior endangers others will be temporarily supervised in a location within the indoor/outdoor classroom that is safe. Staff do not use seclusion or “time out” (the traditional chair in the corner). The intention of this intervention is for adult to support co-regulation. Staff will model and coach self-calming strategies. As the child appears ready, they will then process the problem with the staff member and any other concerned parties. Staff stay close to support emotional needs, ensure all child(ren)’s safety, and prompt prosocial skills to support the child(ren)’s successful reentry into play and learning. 
  • For children with persistent, serious, challenging behavior, teachers, families, and other professionals work as a team to observe, document, and develop and implement an individualized action plan of graduated behavior supports that will address the behavior and facilitate the child’s inclusion and success. 

 

STAFF MAY NEVER USE PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT, PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE, OR COERCION when disciplining a child.

  • Examples of physical punishment: Shaking, hitting, spanking, slapping, jerking, squeezing, kicking, biting, pinching, excessive tickling, and pulling of arms, hair, or ears; requiring a child to remain inactive for a long period of time. ​
  • Examples of psychological abuse: shaming, name calling, ridiculing, humiliation, sarcasm, cursing at, making threats, or frightening a child; ostracism, withholding affection, seclusion. ​
  • Examples of coercion: Rough handling (shoving, pulling, pushing, grasping any body part); physical restraint (forcing a child to sit down, lie down, or stay down) except when restraint is necessary to protect the child or others from harm; physically forcing a child to perform an action (such as eating or cleaning up). ​​

NOTE: The use of a physical escort, “the temporary touching or holding of the hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, or back for the purpose of inducing a student who is acting out to walk to a safe location properly used when necessary to protect the child or others from harm is NOT coercion (H.R. 7124 — 115th Congress: Keeping All Students Safe Act.” www.GovTrack.us. 2018. February 1, 2024 https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr7124)​.

 

Every member of the ECLS professional staff understands and follows our disciplinary approach as well as the standards on guidance and management in our California State Licensing Regulations (https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/child-care-licensing). We work intensively with our practicum student caregivers so that they also understand and employ this guidance approach. Practicum students are never left responsible for responding to a child’s serious challenging behavior alone.

 

When a pattern of behavior persists that endangers self, others or property, or significantly disrupts the program, we will work with a child’s family to find solutions, up to and including referral for outside services or exclusion from the ECLS program. Exclusion will always be a last resort, after all other possible interventions have been exhausted and there is agreement that a different setting is in the best interest of the child. In that circumstance, the ECLS will offer assistance to the family in accessing services and an alternative placement. Our actions will always comply with federal and state civil rights laws.