Zoe’s Letter
Hi,
I’m a preschool teacher in a child care center and I have a concern about a four-year old boy, Robby. He’s high energy! I don’t want to label him but I am at my whit’s end. He is impulsive and incapable of controlling his own body. He often uses his whole body inappropriately to communicate and participate in play. He flails round and round in circles, uses karate chops, kicks his feet and throws toys around the room. He will “flop ” around at circle time and at lunch time.
During these active movements, he accidentally collides with other children. He is sorry when accidents happened.
Robby will sleeps between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM. But When he lies down, his body collapses beneath him, and as he falls asleep, he yells out and flops around like a like a fish out of water.
Coping with Robby’s uncontrolled movements is exhausting. It’s a challenge for the other children to play with him. I try and take him and the class outside as early as possible after everyone arrives but I can’t do that every day.
He is a lovable whirlwind constantly on the move and unable to remain still. I don’t want to label him with ADHD or have him evaluated yet.
There are moments of calm. He can be well mannered and respectful to others especially when he plays with trains and looks at books. Robby is already reading at a 1st grade level.
I am concerned about the safety of the other children. They can easily get hurt when Robby is out of control.
Your help will be much appreciated,
Zoe
Coping with Robby’s uncontrolled movements is exhausting.
Our Response
Dear Zoe
Thank you for your letter. In general, four-year-olds are very active as they seek independence. We understand the challenges you face and hope to support you, Robby and the other children in your care.
The scope of the teaching challenges tells us:
You are teaching in a childcare center in which Robby is likely to spend long periods of time during the day;
- Robby is a highly energetic boy who is not yet able to control his own physical movement;
- Robby energetic physical movement requires close supervision. This puts a strain on the educators;
- Robby creates a safety risk to himself, to educators and to the other children in the classroom;
- Robby is an able child who already reads at a 1st grade level.
We are suggesting that you introduce a number of strategies into your classroom that will help overcome the challenges Robby, the other children and the educators face.
He is a lovable whirlwind constantly on the move and unable to remain still.
- Provide Robby with physical play opportunities that require him to use his physical skills in a purposeful and controlled way.
A wonderful, quick read is the article, Building an encouraging classroom with boys in mind by King M. with Gartrell, D. It gives suggestions to set up a fitness center in a well-organized classroom in which Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) is used. Depending on your classroom space, it is easy to modify the fitness center to fit your classroom.
https://drjuliejg.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/2-build-enc-env-boys.pdf
The fitness center will help you overcome your teaching challenges by enabling:
- Robby to use his physical energy appropriately and so develop more control over his movement;
- Educators to effectively supervise Robby’s physical play and so reduce the stress levels they currently work under;
- Robby to engage in purposeful physical play and so reduce safety risks in the classroom.
Overview of information on Developmentally Appropriate Practice:
The encouraging classroom for boys will also empower girls. It will open areas of interest that may not otherwise be explored by all the children in your classroom.
I don’t want to label him but I am at my whit’s end.
2. Organize the daily routine into long unbroken periods of play in centers.
Read page 34 and 35 in the article: Rethinking Environments and Activities:
https://drjuliejg.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/2-build-enc-env-boys.pdf
The fitness center will help you overcome your teaching challenges by:
- Creating a permanent physical play area in your classroom that is available for Robby to choose to play in throughout the day;
- Replacing Robby’s unsafe physical play with engaged physical play that will reduce conflict with other children
We also suggest you read this short article, The importance of physical environment in child care, that will help aspects of your teaching challenges:
- Well designed physical areas allow children to make strong relationships by developing a sense of security and by safely exploring spaces;
- Make sure the physical area, the equipment used and the supervision levels are safe.
http://www.troyrecord.com/article/TR/20110224/NEWS/302249961
Robby is already reading at a 1st grade level.
- To support Robby’s safe play and reading abilities, we suggest you:
- Ensure a wide range of books are made available to him in the book area that will reduce his overly physical movement and extend his concentration;
- Ask your local public librarians to help you find books that reflect Robby’s interests and support his current reading level;
- This website has good suggestions for first-grade level reading books that may interest Robby:
https://www.greatschools.org/gk/book-lists/favorite-books-for-first-graders/
We appreciate your thoughtfulness about not labeling Robby and also your awareness of the times he is calm. We wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Heather, Lorraine and Tricia