6 Year old Bully...Help!

[VaChick80]

I work in a Montessori school (thus, a multi-age classroom) and have a 6 year old who intimidates both his peers and the younger children in my room. He is both verbally and physically abusive. The physical side of it is never very violent, more like poking, touching others things, mostly annoying stuff.

I need to think of consequences for him when these actions
happen. My school does not do rewards and punishment.
More along the lines of "consequences". Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do? :confused: Thank you!!

[Chef Dave]

I need to think of consequences for him when these actions
happen. My school does not do rewards and punishment.
More along the lines of "consequences". Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do? :confused:

Aren't rewards and punishments a form of consequence?

First - have you talked to the parents? Also, do you have a school counselor?

Here is a link to a site about bullying:
http://www.tooter4kids.com/bullying.htm

It includes three stories about bullying:
* "B" is for Brave
* The Bully
* Some call it Friendship

There is also an on-line movie from Brainpop as well as articles, lesson plans, and general information about bullying.

[VaChick80]

I had parent/teacher conferences a few weeks ago, and there reaction was not what I thought. They were very subdued, saying things calmly like, "Oh yeah, he does that at home to his brother..." I thought they'd have more of a reaction.
The mother did ask for ideas, which I gave her.

And you are right, consequences are type of punishment. :)
Oh, and no, we do not have a counselor. We are smaller private school.

I'm only a few years into this teaching thing. Still learning...:)

[mopar]

First, you need to determine the inappropriate behaviors that the student is doing and what behaviors the student could replace them with.

It often helps to look at your ABCs. Antecedent (what happens before the behavior), the Behavior and the Consequences (what are you currently doing-both positive and negative for the student).

Once you have them, teach the student the replacement behaviors. To get attention, walk to the teacher instead of yelling.

Then have set consequences when the student doesn't follow these new behaviors. You can give a warning. Then hand the student something as a reminder (a second more concrete warning). Then direct the student to a place away from the other students.

The above can be used for less physical behaviors. When the student is physical with the other students, they need to be removed from the students. The removal can be a quiet place int he classroom or another area in the school. The most important part is that they are not interacting with you or the other students. After 2-3 minutes, invite the student back and keep up with the consequences set in place.

You must have something positive set in place. If the student uses a replacement behavior, their consequence can be time with a special adult or peer, maybe computer time, depends on what the student enjoys. But you must have a positive consequence to reinforce the replacement behaviors.

[3rdgradeteach]

Was wondering thoughts on what to do with children that don't want to pay attention unless you bring out candy or something to push them. I didn't start out this way, but I tried it as a tool to help them study for a test and it worked. But they are so distracted somehow. Thanks!

[mopar]

Try to relate it to points now. For instance, if you give candy for every right answer, move to giving candy to every five points. If you keep raising the bar, eventually the students won't get candy. You have to move slowly though. You can't suddenly say five and then ten and then none. Do 2 for a couple of times and then jump to five for awhile. Slowly increase the demand.

Or trying tying points to other rewards like sitting by a friend for the day. Or a no homework pass. Simple things that are free.

[teach1027]

You could try having him be by himself, if he acts out and hurts a student, not really time out just have him be by himself for a bit. Also observe him and look for a trigger, because something is setting him of and you should be able to see it coming in a 6 year lod, maybe if you can identify the signs, you can redirect him before it escelates.