Behaviour

Behaviour is how we react and function in response to everyday situations. Challenging behaviour can often be used as a term to describe a behaviour that limits a child’s ability to engage in any given activity or participate in daily life.   When looking at a behaviour, it is important to be aware that these may be occurring due to difficulties or delays in other areas such as sensory processing, self-regulation, social skills, executive functioning and planning, as well as receptive and/or expressive language difficulties. An Occupational Therapist may support you with analysing this behaviour through observation and information gathering, to then being able to help children build their skills in areas they find challenging.  

If a child is having difficulties with behaviour, they may:

• Become frustrated easily

• Have frequent outbursts or tantrums, or those that last a long time

• Display opposition to parent or adult requests

• Withdraw from challenging tasks

• Be violent or unsafe including kicking, hitting or biting