Just a note: You really have to get your infant emotionally ready for the various stages. Tantrums occur when they were not taught how to self regulate or transition. That learning process begins the day your bring your baby home.
Now if Ajani wants something and I explain to him he can not have it he will fuss as he is still learning. However, he does not fuss or cry for long as I helped develop his ability to self regulate and self sooth.
| Supporting Positive Behavior and Taming Toddler Tantrums: Learning Techniques to Promote Self-Regulation Using the Happiest Toddler on the Block Program |
| Editor's Note: Cathy Collyer, OTR, LMT is a pediatric occupational therapist and licensed massage therapist in private practice in southern Westchester county. She is a nationally certified Happiest Baby on the Block educator and a certified infant massage instructor. She presented this topic on October 30th at a NYZTT Roundtable. She can be reached at: tranquilbabiesny@gmail.com Toddlerhood can be a joyous time as young children rapidly gain cognitive and motor skills. This developmental period is also characterized by an increase in the intensity and frequency of tantrums, biting, and other challenging behaviors (Wakschlag et al, 2012). Research indicates that the brain's frontal cortex, necessary to achieve impulse control, negotiation, and problem-solving, is undeveloped in toddlers and remains so throughout the stage when they are experiencing significant life events (Marcdante, Kliegman, 2010). These can include gaining a new sibling, toilet training, and separating from the family to attend preschool. Dissonance between a parent 's and a child's temperament can create further frustration in both parties, and strong emotional responses of caregivers to aggression or rejection by the child in anger can occur. Parents and caregivers can feel like they are awash in the same emotional waves as their toddlers! Pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp developed The Happiest Toddler on the Block program through clinical experience and his desire to support families and caregivers as they navigate these early stages of development. The essential elements of his approach are: understanding toddler behavior through a developmental filter, using a style of paraphrasing during conflicts that engages toddlers at their level, and enriching play and routines with specific interactions that build patience, self-control and cooperation. This strategy can be used effectively with special-needs children who demonstrate language and cognitive skills in the 18 month to 4 year-old range. Dr. Karp has dubbed his paraphrasing strategy "The Fast Food Rule," and recommends that adults use developmentally appropriate language with agitated toddlers. In practice, this results in repetition of short phrases that imitate toddler speech. He recommends that gestures and facial expression, and even the adult's speech volume, should reach sufficient intensity to convey to toddlers that their complaints are clearly understood before attempting negotiation. This is the most controversial aspect of his approach for most caregivers and clinicians. Although a departure from the more traditional image of modeling a quiet and mature negotiation, this approach has the effect of fully connecting emotionally with an agitated or demanding toddler. Combined with strategies to build patience, respect and tolerance of limits, the Happiest Toddler on the Block approach supports self-regulation skills in toddlers of all ages REFERENCES Marcdante, K., Kliegman, R., & Behrman, R.E. (2010)Nelson Essentials of Pediatrics, 6th ed. Saunders. Wakschlag, et al. (2012). Defining the developmental parameters of temper loss in early childhood: Implications for developmental psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 55(11), 1099-1108. RESOURCES For more information regarding use of The Happiest Toddler on the Block strategies, see: www.happiestbaby.com (Taken from NYZTT Newsletter) |
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