Orange County Student Mental Health

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Culturally Responsive Strategies to Support Young Children with Challenging Behavior

Source: Young Children

Resource Type: Website or Webpage Article

Audience(s): City or County Agency Staff, Community Member or Organization, Educators, Families, Health or Mental Health Professional, School Staff or Administrators, Students

Focus Population: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Color), Foster Youth, Immigrant or Refugee, LGBTQ, Youth in Military Families, Youth with Disabilities

Topics: Culturally Responsive Supports, School Climate and Classroom Supports

In this article we describe five culturally responsive core strategies to promote positive teacher relationships with young children in preschool and minimize challenging behavior: learn about children and families, develop and teach expectations, take the child’s perspective, teach and model empathy, and use group times to discuss conflict. As African American boys experience a much higher rate of suspensions and expulsions from preschool settings than do other children (Gilliam 2005), these relationship-building techniques are particularly relevant for teachers as they reflect on their own practices and biases—especially toward African American boys—in early childhood classrooms