What is considered normal behaviour for children?

What is considered normal behaviour for children?

Children are playful and energetic, or calm and quiet. There’s no real single way for a children to behave like children, except to say they are unique. However, there are developmental norms that we can look to when taking about children.

As parents and educators, it’s easy to overlook the behaviour of their children or children under their care. At the same time, children are often over-scrutinised, and too much worry and anxiety is placed on what is normal and not normal.

Some of the most obvious and noted signs of behavioural issues are:

  • Inattentiveness
  • Unwillingness or inability to follow instructions
  • Throws tantrums in public
  • Aggression

While we can look at that and say it’s not normal, in many cases, this may be a reflection of the child’s inability to properly communicate due to various speech and language difficulties. Sometimes, the way the child acts is just a phase they go through as part of their development.

We should be taking into consideration other factors:

  • The child has poor vocabulary for their age
  • The child seems to have an inability to ask for clarification when given instructions
  • The child is inappropriately rude or careless when speaking

This may be especially important when assessing a child for special needs, when potentially half of students identified as “special needs” aren’t actually properly assessed. Misbehaving students and children are so often mistakenly assessed to have special needs due to the confusion over what is and isn’t normal behaviour.

In such cases where misunderstanding and miscommunication are high, it’s doubly important for parents and educators to consider what challenges the child may be facing so they can help the child resolve their issues.

The Advanced Diploma in Special Education (ADISE) programme will teach you how to diagnose children with special needs, and train you in Intervention Strategies as well as Individual Educational Plans.

CAE’s 12-month Advanced Diploma in Special Education course trains educators and parents in the identification, diagnosis and treatment of these needs and the basic principles and practices of effective teaching and learning. The programme is highly practice-oriented to ensure that what you learn in class can be applied to children with special needs under your charge.

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