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Spotlight on Young Children

Challenging Behavior

Janice K Lee editor Charis L Wahman editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:National Association for the Education of Young Children

Published:12th Sep '24

Should be back in stock very soon

Spotlight on Young Children cover

This book will be promoted via various NAEYC marketing efforts, including

  • Social media pages promotions (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest with a reach of over 200K followers)
  • Promotional emails
  • Advertisements in Young Children, Teaching Young Children, and Exchange magazines
  • NAEYC’s seasonal resource catalogs
  • A webinar presented by the author(s) on a topic covered in the book soon after its publication
  • Advertising and selling the publication at various early childhood conferences and trade shows (NAEYC’s Annual Conferences, NAEYC’s Professional Learning Institutes, Zero to Three, etc.)

Preventing and Responding to Challenging Behavior


Addressing challenging behavior is a daily concern for early childhood educators. It’s estimated that roughly 10 to 14 percent of children from birth to 5 years old demonstrate serious behavioral concerns, resulting in significant impacts to their learning and social interactions.

Children engage in challenging behavior for many different reasons; preventing and responding to that behavior begins with understanding why it occurs. This book curates and organizes articles from Young Children and Teaching Young Children that


  • Help teachers build trust and connections with children
  • Highlight evidence-based positive behavior intervention and support strategies
  • Aim to prevent suspension, expulsion, and other punitive discipline
  • Support teachers and families in implementing effective teaching strategies for social and emotional skills children can use instead of challenging behavior
  • Show how to adapt practices to consider the cultures and contexts of children 

Each article in this collection is accompanied by questions to prompt deeper thinking on the content. With this resource, fully see and hear children as you honor and support their well-being, as well as your own.

Spotlight on Young Children: Challenging Behavior provides perspective from numerous voices in the field, sorted into tiered practices from the pyramid model—preventive, targeted, and intensive and individualized. Throughout the collection, the guiding premise of cultivating environments that are relationally safe and culturally responsive is effectively conveyed. By integrating reflective questions and a message of self-care as foundational practices, this book is likely to be useful to both new and experienced early education professionals.


—Anita Osborn, Licensed Educational Psychologist and Infant-Family Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist


Everyone working with children and teachers is very aware of the dysregulation that children are exhibiting now more than ever, with behavior crying out for support and guidance. This latest excellent volume of NAEYC’s Spotlight on Young Children series is full of extremely applicable research and practical strategies that can support all of the areas educators are responsible for: tools to help us teachers stay regulated ourselves; tools to teach children about resilience and self-regulation; and tools to build compassionate classroom communities.


—Joanie Calem, Inclusion Advocate and Workshop Presenter, First Do No Harm


This resource has some very good advice for teachers and caregivers of young children, especially regarding cultural understanding and responsiveness. There are excellent suggestions for gaining an understanding of family practices and values as well as the cultures of children’s families. In addition, there are valuable tools for analyzing children’s challenging behavior with ways to reflect on how to respond.


—Nora Krieger, Associate Professor Emerita, Bloomfield College of Montclair State University


Spotlight on Young Children: Challenging Behavior offers a nuanced look at an increasingly important topic in early childhood. Each chapter provides professionals with new lenses and tools to help children learn and grow with patience and grace, even in the most difficult moments.


—Adam Holland, Technical Assistance Specialist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

ISBN: 9781952331305

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

128 pages