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I'm fresh out of ideas for curbing dcb's behavior and need some new ideas for today...
Dcb turned 2 last month and since then he has been very difficult. He has been difficult since day 1 from throwing extended screaming fits to biting but I was able to curb those behaviors and have somewhat normal days until he turned 2. Then it was like someone cranked up the difficulty level to the point where I dread his arrival and feel instant relief when he's gone. For every 1 time I have to redirect or otherwise stop a behavior from 1 child, he needs to be redirected or stopped at least 10-15 times. It's stressful.
Anyway, the behaviors I'm really struggling with are:
1) Toy taking. He ddoesn't play. He just constantly tries to take and hoard toys. In the past, telling him "no take. Go play" worked wonders but he has regressed to the point where he has to be separated from the group in his own play area until he is calm and/or we move to a new activity.
2) Hitting/kicking/spitting/pushing. He does this immediately upon arrival and throughout the day. I observed that often he does this to assert control over the other children. He also likes their reaction. I taught them to say "stop" when he is trying to get rough but also seems to make him lash out more and they also tell him that they don't like it and they often move away from him as he approaches but that makes him more excited and he does it more so I have to intervene as soon as I see him getting ready to hit/push/etc and then tell him "no hit/push/etc. That hurts." And then move him to his own area to play. But now he does it randomly as he is walking by or when excited or when he sees another child playing...so I tried making his day more structured and adding in more physical activities but that did nothing...the behavior is worse than ever to the point where he hits himself or throws anything within reach if I remove access to the other children.
3) Not playing toys. I mentioned this before but this is to the extreme where if he isn't allowed to hoard or take toys from others, he refuses to pick a toy to play with or play with the toy given to him. He'll do everything but play. He climbs my furniture, kicks my walls, kicks the floor, slams into things, headbutts things, tries to hang from doorknobs, climbs on the wall using the baseboards, etc. I redirect him to sit and play constantly and give him options but he won't do it. Giving him appropriate physical activities don't work as either this makes him more aggressive towards the other children or he will go back to his poor behavior as soon as we go to the next activity. I can't spend all day entertaining him alone, which is the only time he seems to focus for a little while.
I've tried talking to his parents about it, but dcm just says she can't say no to him at home or else he throws massive fits and describes him as touchy. Dcd blames dcm and says she spoils him and feeds him sugar and gives in all the time and doesn't enforce bedtime and so forth. Neither take responsibility. I have sent home notes saying he needs to work on xyz and they say he's fine at home. He probably is since he doesn't have other kids to compete with.
What else can I do? I'm ready to set an end date for him as I am seeing a lot of regression and my usual tricks aren't working anymore. He is very smart and pretty verbal so I know I can get through to him...I honestly don't know if I can do this much longer though...
Dcb turned 2 last month and since then he has been very difficult. He has been difficult since day 1 from throwing extended screaming fits to biting but I was able to curb those behaviors and have somewhat normal days until he turned 2. Then it was like someone cranked up the difficulty level to the point where I dread his arrival and feel instant relief when he's gone. For every 1 time I have to redirect or otherwise stop a behavior from 1 child, he needs to be redirected or stopped at least 10-15 times. It's stressful.
Anyway, the behaviors I'm really struggling with are:
1) Toy taking. He ddoesn't play. He just constantly tries to take and hoard toys. In the past, telling him "no take. Go play" worked wonders but he has regressed to the point where he has to be separated from the group in his own play area until he is calm and/or we move to a new activity.
2) Hitting/kicking/spitting/pushing. He does this immediately upon arrival and throughout the day. I observed that often he does this to assert control over the other children. He also likes their reaction. I taught them to say "stop" when he is trying to get rough but also seems to make him lash out more and they also tell him that they don't like it and they often move away from him as he approaches but that makes him more excited and he does it more so I have to intervene as soon as I see him getting ready to hit/push/etc and then tell him "no hit/push/etc. That hurts." And then move him to his own area to play. But now he does it randomly as he is walking by or when excited or when he sees another child playing...so I tried making his day more structured and adding in more physical activities but that did nothing...the behavior is worse than ever to the point where he hits himself or throws anything within reach if I remove access to the other children.
3) Not playing toys. I mentioned this before but this is to the extreme where if he isn't allowed to hoard or take toys from others, he refuses to pick a toy to play with or play with the toy given to him. He'll do everything but play. He climbs my furniture, kicks my walls, kicks the floor, slams into things, headbutts things, tries to hang from doorknobs, climbs on the wall using the baseboards, etc. I redirect him to sit and play constantly and give him options but he won't do it. Giving him appropriate physical activities don't work as either this makes him more aggressive towards the other children or he will go back to his poor behavior as soon as we go to the next activity. I can't spend all day entertaining him alone, which is the only time he seems to focus for a little while.
I've tried talking to his parents about it, but dcm just says she can't say no to him at home or else he throws massive fits and describes him as touchy. Dcd blames dcm and says she spoils him and feeds him sugar and gives in all the time and doesn't enforce bedtime and so forth. Neither take responsibility. I have sent home notes saying he needs to work on xyz and they say he's fine at home. He probably is since he doesn't have other kids to compete with.
What else can I do? I'm ready to set an end date for him as I am seeing a lot of regression and my usual tricks aren't working anymore. He is very smart and pretty verbal so I know I can get through to him...I honestly don't know if I can do this much longer though...
). I just say something about the stuff that directly affects me...like the pickup craziness.
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