Is it Sensory or Behavioral? How to address Challenging Behavior

By SensorytOTspotSensory in the Home, Sensory Processing Theory and Techniques, Uncategorized

I am constantly asked by families how to tell if a behavior is the result of a sensory dysfunction or a learned pattern of behavior.  To be honest the answer is not an easy one to figure out, especially with young children who can’t tell us what may be bothering them or what they need.

Think of an infant; babies cry to tell us what they need and want.  An infant may cry as a direct result of being hungry, needing a diaper change, needing to be burped, or being tired.  However, an infant may also cry as a result of wanting to be held and picked up.  Just like an infant, children’s behavior always has a reason behind it, whether that reason is a sensory regulation issue or a learned behavior requires us to look at what has happened in the environment to cause the behavior.

If we look at the environment and what was happening prior to the behavior itself, we may find that someone took a toy from the child and the child became upset and hit his peer.  There was a true identifiable precursor to the behavior that caused it.   In this instance, I would say that this particular behavior was strictly behavioral and can be corrected with redirection (i.e. explaining to the child that we don’t hit our friends we use our words).

However, if no one appeared to be near the child and nothing really happened prior, but the child started hitting his peers with no known cause, I would say that the likely cause is sensory processing difficulties.  Likely sensory explanations of hitting could range from the classroom noise and commotion became too much for the child to handle, to the child may be seeking external deep pressure input from his environment as a means to calm his system.  Identifying what the sensory need was that caused the behavior is then needed to determine the best way to address it (i.e. providing more deep pressure activity throughout the day, or providing a quiet calm down space when the environment becomes overwhelming).

Another way to identify if a behavior is stemming from a sensory cause or a learned pattern is to look at their response to your reactions.  If a child stops the behavior when an adult intervenes with verbal redirection then it is likely a behavioral cause, although I know from experience that sometimes it may take several attempts for the child to actually listen and stop the unwanted behavior.  However, if a child appears to understand your want for them to stop and appears as though they just can’t help themselves but to engage in the behavior, this is likely a sensory cause.  For example, a child who may engage in the behavior of jumping on the couch.  A child who is engaging in this jumping behavior as a learned pattern of behavior; will ultimately stop jumping on the furniture following several verbal commands and redirection.  A child who continues to engage in this jumping behavior regardless of any verbal commands or redirection; may have a sensory need that is ultimately driving them to engage in said behavior.  Providing increased opportunities for jumping in more appropriate ways of play (i.e. jumping on a mini trampoline), may ultimately stop the unwanted behavior and address the child’s underlying sensory needs.

The tricky piece to this behavioral or sensory puzzle, is that a child that may have gotten extremely upset from a behavioral response can ultimately cause their sensory system to become unregulated resulting in a sensory processing issue.  For example, a child began crying and screaming because a peer took a toy away from them.  It took a few minutes to figure out that the peer took the toy and that’s what caused the behavior.  In the meantime, the child continued crying and carrying on.  In that time, the child overloaded their sensory system to the point that they are unable to calm themselves down.  Have you ever gotten so upset, or cried so hard that even after you calmed yourself down those feelings and emotions kept coming back and well after you calmed yourself down the crying continued in waves?  This can happen with young children too.  Once their sensory system hits it’s threshold it can be hard for a child to calm themselves down requiring us to intervene and assist them with coping mechanisms and sensory strategies.

As you can see there is a lot of grey area between behavior and sensory processing with young children.  All in all we cannot truly dissociate the two completely.  Our emotions and our sensory system are tied closely together and overall children do not develop the ability to self regulate their sensory system until approximately the age of 6.  Therefore, young children’s sensory systems and their ability to regulate it is continuing to develop throughout their toddler and preschool years.  As early childhood professionals and parents we need to be mindful of this and provide our children with support during times of need rather than providing punishments.  Overall, I have found that sensory strategies can help mitigate negative unwanted behaviors in young children when combined with consistent verbal cues, redirection, and positive reinforcement.  Combining behavioral and sensory strategies for addressing unwanted behaviors can be a powerful tool to use as educators and parents.  Here are my tips for addressing challenging behaviors in young children:

  1. Stay Calm: As simple as it sounds, this one is huge.  Remaining calm and demonstrating a regulated sensory state to our little one’s can help them to regulate their own sensory system.  When we begin to escalate and become overwhelmed ourselves it only adds to the chaos and confusion of the moment.  If we can try our best to remain calm and model that relaxed state to our child, it will assist them with finding that same calm state of mind and body.  Remember children learn through modeling and imitation.  They are constantly watching what we do and say, so use the moment as a perfect opportunity to teach them how to stay calm during stressful times (I know what you’re thinking: easier said than done, but if we can be more mindful of it it will make the whole process easier).
  2. Provide Deep Pressure Input:  When you become upset what do you find comforting?  Some people just need a good old hug to help them work through their emotions.  A hug is a simple strategy to provide comfort to people that are struggling and help them calm down.  The reason why a hug is so comforting is the fact that it provides deep pressure input into the sensory system.  Deep pressure input is ideal for calming a stressed and overloaded sensory system.  For some children a simple hug is all they really need to find comfort and calm their body down.  Other children prefer a deeper bear hug.  While some children may need something different like a deep pressure massage to the shoulders and arms.  Whatever it is, deep pressure input to the sensory system will have a calming and relaxing effect on the child.
  3. Use Deep Breathing Techniques: Simple deep belly breathing in through your nose out through your mouth can be extremely calming for both adults and children in times of stress.  I typically like to begin deep breathing with a simple count down from 10 to 1.  This count down gives your body time to calm down and take that much needed sensory break.  You can assist your child by calmly and slowly counting down from 10 to 1 with them.  Following that simple countdown, your child should be relaxed enough to complete deep breathing with you to further calm their sensory system.  Model the deep breathing for your child and complete it together for best results.
  4. Praise your Child for their Self Regulation:  When your child has regulated their sensory system, praise them for using the sensory strategies to calm their body down.  Children benefit most from positive reinforcement, so telling them what a good job they did dealing with these difficult situations and emotions will have lasting benefits.  With continued reinforcement and repetition your child will begin to learn how to use sensory strategies and coping mechanisms to manage sensory overload and challenging situations on their own.  In the meantime, we can continue to teach them the skills to become independent.  Remember each meltdown and challenging behavior is an opportunity to teach self regulation skills.
  5. Talk about what was Bothering the Child: Now that your child is in a calm and relaxed state now is the time to discuss what happened and provide suggestions to mitigate the issue together.  This is a perfect opportunity to teach simple problem solving skills to the child, especially now that they have a regulated sensory system.  When children are upset and their sensory system is unregulated they are not in a state for learning to occur effectively.  Attempting to discuss solutions to the situation when your child’s sensory system is unregulated is like having it go in one ear and out the other.  When a child has regulated their sensory system, this is when real learning and processing of information can occur.

Overall, young children need our support during times of distress and upset.  A child who may be acting out could have underlying sensory needs that are contributing to the behaviors.  Remember a child’s sensory system is continuing to develop and adapt during the toddler and preschool years.  They are just learning how to self regulate their sensory system and they will not begin to master this skill until the age of 6.  We need to view these challenging behaviors as opportunities for learning to occur.  Teaching your child how to cope and self regulate versus punishing will allow your child to learn how to independently deal with difficult situations in the future.

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