Child Behavior Disorders
Child Behavior Disorders provides practical and up-to-date information about behavioral issues seen in school-age children. Learning to recognize problems with social adjustment, emotional impairment, and self-expression is vital to meeting the needs of all students. This course gives educators guidance and practical advice in maintaining control in the classroom. Teachers will learn the psychology behind various behavioral disorders and how to identify and manage adverse behaviors. Additionally, teachers will learn that students with the same diagnosed behavior disorder can display symptoms very differently.
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Course Name: Child Behavior Disorders |
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Course Number: EDUC 712U |
Semester Credits: 3 |
Course Description
Behavior disorders, emotionally disturbed, or socially maladjusted are terms often used to describe children with challenging behaviors who are troubled or who cause trouble for those around them. Traditional methods of labeling and shaping children’s behaviors typically ignore children’s emotional state and neurological development at a great cost to the child’s ability to learn, develop, and form secure relationships. Educational and therapeutic models tend to treat anti-social and other challenging behaviors as motivated and incentivized.
However, in this course, a paradigm shift is presented that considers challenging behaviors are often adaptations to underlying stress and other emotional and neurological developmental issues. Understanding these factors as causal provides a pathway for treating these behaviors as well as identifying the teaching strategies that are best suited to the child. Using science-based approaches and working with natural brain functions provides the best opportunity to maximize the learning potential of children with challenging behaviors. This course empowers teachers to understand what underlies behavioral challenges to support children and their caregivers through case histories, worksheets, practical strategies, resources, and an abundance of information.
Goals
- Understand why traditional approaches are failing
- Understand the brain/body connections
- Understand the importance of individual differences
- Understand Dr. Porges’s Polyvagal Theory and the concept of neuroception
- Learn about the importance of the sensory system, including three new senses
- Learn that many challenging behaviors are manifestations of physiological stress responses
- Learn how to view problematic behaviors as adaptive responses and not purposeful misbehavior
- Learn how to deconstruct challenging behaviors to discover their causes and triggers
- Learn how to redefine the challenges of autism
- Learn ways to support children exposed to toxic stress and trauma
Course Contents
Part 1. Understanding Behavior
Revealing the Hidden, Adaptive Benefits of Behaviors
Top-Down or Bottom-up?
Individual Differences
Part 2. Solutions
Safety Is the Starting Point
Addressing What Underlies Behavior
Working on Challenges from the Body Up to Top Down
Part 3. Neurodiversity, Trauma, and Looking to the Future
Behaviors in Autism and Neurodiversity
Supporting Behavioral Challenges in Children Exposed to Toxic Stress and Trauma
Hope for the Future and Plenty to Do Now
Evidence of Learning Outcomes
Upon completing Child Behavior Disorders, the student will have demonstrated knowledge of child behavior disorders through detailed and readily-applicable coursework.
How to Register
Child Behavior Disorders can be completed in either an online or via emailed PDF format. It is open for anyone to register at any time during an open semester. After completion, students receive graduate, non-degree semester credit on official transcripts from the University of La Verne, an accredited university in La Verne, California.
Registration is fast and straightforward and can be done online or over the phone. Courses are offered on a rolling basis during three standard semesters, and you can begin whenever you are ready! The registration dates are:
- Fall: September 1 - January 31
- Spring: February 1 - May 31
- Summer: June 1 - August 31