Typical causes of problem behaviors:

• child cannot wait for long periods of time without something to do or without teacher's attention.
• child cannot predict when it will be his/her turn.
• child cannot attend to group directions.
• child cannot understand words of song or directions to activities.
• child desires to leave the room or play with toys in another part of room.

Some strategies to try:

• use a concrete visual way of explaining turn taking, for example pass a hat around the circle, show name or picture of the student to indicate a turn.
• give the child something to hold onto while waiting, for example have child hold sun while waiting to put it on the calendar or a copy of the story book the teacher is reading.
• place child's carpet square or chair closer to the teacher to eliminate visual distractions.
• use loop tape (a tape recording of the song that is activated by a switch) or objects to represent song.
• use objects or actions to relay meaning to the song or activity.
• eliminate distracting items from within reach of the group location.
• check the length of the group time.
• consider if the activity is stimulating enough for all the children.
• alternate quiet and active times in the schedule so that many sitting activities are not in sequence.