EDAC314 hurdle task Sarah Lester S00153363

L is a seven year old boy who attends before and after school care on a daily
basis. By working with him every day, I have being able to observe instances
and patterns in his behaviour.

When playing with other students at before and after school care, L is observed
on multiple occasions yelling and snatching the toys off other children before
walking away from these situations crying. If an educator does not intervene
straight away, it can result in L physically hurting another child through hitting,
punching and kicking. In these situations once he has taken some time to calm
down and to stop crying L is asked by an educator about why he is acting in
that manner, where he proceeds to explain that the other children are being rude
to him and are not sharing the toys. Following this, the educator prompts L to
look at whether he is playing nicely with the other children and whether there is
anything he could do differently to ensure he is cooperating. This scenario
typically lasts for 5 minutes and can occur approximately 3 4 times a week.

On several occasions, L has reacted to these situations in adverse ways, where

he is recorded running out of the room, out of sight of the educator. In one
instance, L was hiding in another location in the school for 15 minutes, his
location was unknown to the staff at before and after school care and one
educator was out searching the school surrounds; it was reaching a point where
the police needed to be called. However, after 15 minutes L ran back into the
room laughing as though nothing had happened. Ls mum had being called, and
upon her arrival Ls mum and the lead educator sat down with L and discussed
his actions and what happened in the lead up to cause L to run and hide;
encouraging L to see the negative impact of him running away by expressing
how unsafe it is. Ls classroom teacher and other members of the school staff
have also expressed their concern with L running to hide when upset, showing
that this is an ongoing issue that does not just occur in before and after school
care.

On another occasion, I observed L returning inside from playing a game of cricket

run by an educator outside. L was crying and yelling, and when asked what was
wrong L began to push over chairs, throw papers on the floor, tip over containers
of toys and rip signs off the walls. This particular situation lasted for 5 minutes,
and during this time the educator watched L and waited for the right moment to
approach him where he was not throwing objects around; whilst also ensuring no
other children were at risk of being harmed. This moment came when L climbed
on top of a pile of chairs and sat their crying. It was at this point that the
educator asked L what the reason was behind his actions, in which L stated that
it was because one of the other children bowled him out during the game, this
prompted a discussion between L and the educator about playing games by the
rules so it is fair for all who are playing; this was followed by L voluntarily
cleaning up the mess he had made.

Ls behaviour in before and after school care has being observed over the
duration of term 1; it occurs on average three to four times in one week,
however can occur more or less on other weeks. This is dependent on variables
such as what sort of day L has had at school; in other words, was it overall a
good day or were there any altercations within the school yard or classroom. The
described situations lasted for approximately 3-15 minutes and depending on the
length and severity of the situation, another blow can happen soon after.

From the observations I have made, L is more likely to have an outburst of

negative behaviour if he has previously had one that day. However, not enough
instances have being recorded of situations occurring in morning care to
conclude whether L is more likely to react this way depending on the time of day.