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b e t t e r s chools | J U LY 2 0 2 2
A Neurodevelopmental Approach to Behavior By Anna Keltner, Program Development, Connected Kids
A CASE STUDY: SAM Sam spends most of his time in the block center. He loves to stack the blocks into a high tower and run or kick to knock them down, causing the blocks to fly through the air, often hitting peers. During instruction, Sam reaches across the table to gather all the markers and tries to keep them for himself. He scribbles on his work instead of carefully practicing his letters and often has large outbursts. Sam is a struggling five-year-old. He is often described as impulsive, disruptive, inconsiderate, and unmotivated. His teacher is exhausted and feels like she doesn't know what else to do to manage his behaviors in class. We have all had a Sam or a version of Sam in our classrooms and have few answers regarding how to change their behavior. We know that supporting his development in self-regulation is a good place to start, but to provide a complete picture that guides our next steps, there is more to understand about Sam and students like him.
