A to Z’s of Early Childhood
The science of child development and learning
B is for Behavior
Practical Strategies for Promoting Young Children’s Positive Behaviors
Families and practitioners often have questions about how to promote children’s positive behaviors. Did you know there are strategies that are easy to use and effective for helping young children learn positive behaviors and that prevent or address challenging behavior?
Strategies for Promoting Positive Behaviors
Here are six practical strategies to use with older toddlers or preschoolers to promote positive behaviors and prevent or address challenging behavior:
What We Know About Promoting Positive Behavior
The practical strategies listed above are common parts of evidence-based interventions that promote young children’s social-emotional and behavioral development.1
Consistent use of strategies that help young children learn positive behaviors has been shown to increase their positive behaviors and prevent or reduce challenging behavior.2, 3
What We Are Doing
The Anita Zucker Center is helping families and practitioners learn to use strategies that promote children’s positive behaviors and prevent or address challenging behavior.
Learn more:
Articles by Center Faculty and Collaborators
- Teachers’ Use of Effective Instructional Practices to Promote Positive Outcomes for Young Children with Behavior Challenges (Practitioner Article)
- A Classroom-Wide Model for Promoting Social Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior in Preschool Children (Research Brief)
- Outcomes of the BEST in CLASS Intervention on Teachers’ Use of Effective Practices, Self-Efficacy, and Classroom Quality (Research Article)
- Identifying Common Practice Elements to Improve Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes of Young Children in Early Childhood Classrooms (Research Article)
- Evaluating the Implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social-Emotional Competence in Early Childhood Classrooms (Research Article)
- Reducing Child Problem Behaviors: A Randomized Controlled Trial of BEST in CLASS (Research Article)
Other Resources
- Starters for Giving Positive Feedback and Encouragement
- How to Give Clear Directions
- Teaching Preschoolers to Cooperate with Requests
- National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning In-Service Suite: Stating Behavior Expectations
- Division for Early Childhood Position Statement on Challenging Behavior and Young Children
References
- McLeod, B.D., Sutherland, K.S., Martinez, R., Conroy, M.A., Snyder, P., & Southam-Gerow, M.A. (2017). Identifying Common practice elements to improve social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children in early childhood classrooms. Prevention Science, 18, 204-213. doi: 10.1007/s11121-016-0703-y
- Hemmeter, M. L., Snyder, P., Fox, L., & Algina, J. (2016). Evaluating the implementation of the Pyramid Model for promoting social-emotional competence in early childhood classrooms. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 36, 133-146. doi.org/10.1177/0271121416653386
- Sutherland, K.S., Conroy, M.A., Algina, J., Ladwig, C., Jessee, G., & Gyure, M. (2018). Reducing child problem behaviors: A randomized controlled trial of BEST in CLASS. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 42, 31-43. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.08.001
Dedicated to supporting the well-being of young children and their families, the Anita Zucker Center has engaged with its partners to launch an ambitious initiative designed to provide accessible and practical information about child development and learning to support parents, caregivers, professionals and policymakers.
The A to Z’s of Early Childhood is a trusted source that offers robust, quality and up-to-date information and resources informed by the science of early childhood development and learning – from short videos and quick tips to academic research and detailed policy briefs.