Learning Plan for Alex

This learning plan addresses the unmet needs and disruptive behavior of Alex, a 4-year-old child. It includes setting goals, analyzing the behavior, implementing intervention strategies, and collaborating with family members. The plan aims to improve Alex's language skills, reduce disruptive behavior, and enhance his interest in learning.

Running head: LEARNING PLAN
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LEARNING PLAN
Name of the Student
Name of University
Author’s note

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INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING PLAN
Child’s Name: Alex
Date of Birth: 4 years 6 months
Summary & Background
Alex is a 4 years old child that stays with his mother, father and his older brother. Alex
gets along well with his grandparents and stays with them from 8:00 AM to 4 P.M. The physical
and the cognitive development in Alex has been found to be normal as per his age. However he
feels difficulty in pronouncing the some words. Ales sometimes acts socially toeards his friends
if he could not express his feeling properly. Alex often become restless during the lesson time
and distracts other children
Alex shows interest in constructive play and puzzles. Alex loves socialization as he has
got many friends. According to the anecdotal records, Alex has interests in music and the
movement programs.
Alex attends the preschool schedule for four days a week between 9 A.M and 5 P.M. The
preschool activities taking place in the center involves free play, group timing, and have ample
space for the outdoor play. There are five interest areas in the classroom, a block corner, a book
corner, a science corner and a crafts table.

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Details of the main points of concern (types of behavior)
Some of the behaviors of concern that can be pointed out in this session is that Alex
suffers from a language delay and when he is unable to express his feelings he often become
approaches his peers physically which might irritate his others friends. One of the concerning
behavior of Alex is that he feels distracted during the lesson times and has a tendency to disturb
other kids around him. During a mathematics class, Alex's attention drifted after 7 minutes, after
which Alex's attention drifted and Alex started rolling on the floor poking the other children who
were listening to the instructor. Alex repeated the same behaviors even after he was told to sit
still. Eventually when he was moved to sit beside the teacher, he started to show the same
behavior.
Another concerning behaviors that has been pointed out is that Alex often became
irritated if another children intervened in his work. Alex pushed aside Georgia, when Georgia
tried to fit the puzzle piece in the puzzle that Alex had been attempting.
Analysis and Interpretation
It is evident from the anecdotal records, the Alex often becomes restless during the group
lesson times that required listening and where he had to follow multiple instructions. It is
difficult to assess the true reason of inattention (Poulou 2015). Distractions and inattentiveness
are found to be common in children suffering from attention- Deficit /Hyperactivity disorder.
Certain children might face problem in prioritizing with the tasks. But it should be remembered
that all the problems related to paying attention are not ADHD( Devecchi et al., 2015). A child
who is facing problems to focus in school might have some chronic worries or the child simply
might not like the subject that he is being compelled to listen to It has to be mentioned that lack

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of understanding of the material might distract the child from taking part in the class activity, as
since it has already been said that Alex had been good in socializing and hence it feels annoyed
seeing other children playing attention towards anything that he does not like. Crogman and
Trebeau Crogman (2016) have stated that it is necessary to assess the learning style of each and
every child. In many cases children find it difficult to stay in track with the studying. The
learning styles of each and every child are different, for example there are visual learners,
auditory learners, the kinesthetic learners (Crogman and Trebeau Crogman 2016). The anecdotal
record states that Alex loves constructive play that indicates that he is probably a kinesthetic
learner and information retention in the child is poor with audio elements and lectures.
Alex has displayed some disruptive behavior such as pocking and the disturbing other
children during the study time. Hitting or pushing other children and showing aggressive
behavior had also been found in some of the cases. Alex might develop negative perception or
might feel alone when he finds no interest in the lesson but still finds his other peer listening with
interests. According to Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development, the initiative vs. guilt is
the stage that falls within this age group. As a children reaches a pre-school stage, they become
capable of initiating activities and asserting control over their world by the help of social
interaction and play. In such a stage, children might become disruptive or might feel insecured if
they found things not going according to their preferences or their initiatives misfiring (Poulou
2015). They also might develop feelings of guilt, for not being attentive to the classroom.
According to Dittman et al. (2016) kids might face problems with cognition or might suffer from
mood disorders that makes them manifest anger. Tsai, Hung and Lu (2012) have stated that
children suffering from disruptive mood dysregulation disorder can cause chronic tantrums or
irritability or ongoing temper tantrums. In most of running records it has been found that Alex

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had shown aggressiveness and restlessness for not being listened which can be linked to the
above mentioned rationale.
Again in one of the records, it can be seen that Alex has repeated the same thing even
after he had been instructed not to do so, which signifies a behavior of disobedience or defiance
in children (Besnard et al. 2015). Disobedience in children can be because of certain
institutional factors, social factors as well as the home ambience (Dittman et al. 2016). A child
often learns from the attitude of the parents (Cheung and Pomerantz 2012). Some of the
predisposing factors for the development of disobedience involve the amount of respect that the
family members show for one another, the conflict occurring between the parents, whether or not
any spanking or hitting is involved , whether the family is undergoing through any stressful times
(Cheung and Pomerantz 2012). Since we do not have an in-depth knowledge about any such
personal conflicts in his family, it is very difficult to consider them as one of the factors for
Alex’s behavior. Often children are strong willed and have strong sense of autonomy and thus
refuses to obey instruction given by others, if he/she does not seems to be alright.
Prevention
Some of the unmet needs of the child that can be identified his difficulty to pronounce
new words, lack of attention in the lessons due to lack of motivation or due to the selection of
wrong learning style. In order to address the unmet needs of the child it is necessary to do a
comprehensive planning which involves setting of appropriate goals and objectives to be
achieved within a timeframe.

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Some of the goals recommended for Alex would be –
 Alex should be able to gradually develop the capability of the learning new words.
 Ales should express less disruptive behavior.
 Although Alex socializes with many friends but he should develop residence and should
not display aggressive behavior frequently.
 Alex would be able to retain information for a longer period of time and would not
disturb his peers.
 Alex would develop interest in mathematics learning.
After the development of suitable goals for Alex. It is necessary to understand the triggering
factors that are causing this disruptive behavior. Disruptive behavior in child generally involves
complex interaction between the child and environment. Hence, it is necessary to examine the
individual child, the family and the environmental domains (Rogers 2015). Some of the factors
that requires evaluation are the parent and child interaction, the employment status of the parent,
prolonged separation from close family members. At the family level the interaction between the
parent and the child are the key areas of monitoring and enquiry. Warm and nurturing
relationship with the parents are the protective factors of any child (Rogers 2015). There are also
certain health conditions that might lead to specific disruptive behavior in child. Hyperactivity of
disruptive behavior might be common in children with primary language or communication
disorder. Hence, before planning any activities or any learning plans it is necessary to rule out
the chances of any pathological mental disorder.

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Detecting the learning style
It is necessary to detect the learning style of Alex, as it is clearly visible that he is
certainly not an avid listener and can only retain information by experience. Hence a
comprehensive planning should be made to design suitable play based activities for Alex.
Collaboration with the family members
In order to under the triggering factors of Alex’s behaviors and the unmet needs of the
child, it is necessary to involve in strategic partnership with the family members (Kowalenko et
al. 2016). The voices of the families are necessary in the planning, implementation, prioritization
and retooling the strategies. If required home visits can be made to understand the ambience of
Alex’s house. Meetings can be held with the family members to inform the child’s behavior to
the parents and their possible opinions about this kind of behavior. It is necessary to understand
the motivation and the functions behind a behavior (Wittmer 2012). Hence, being able to
understand the motives behind the behavior of the children, helps the teachers to decide on the
methods used to modify the behaviors.
There are several community based services that provides help to children if they suffer
from different behavioral disorders due to cognitive problems.
Intervention
 Some of the useful strategies to manage the disruptive behavior in children are setting
rules for the children. The rules used should not be too many in umbers as that the

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children are likely to forget that there are too many rules. The rules set should be easier to
follow (Alenazi 2015).
 One of the ways of encouraging desirable behavior is verbal praise. Words of recognition
like “Good” , “well done” and descriptive praises like “ Thank you Alex for helping me
to clean the constructive play room” can act as motivators for children like Alex. It
should be mentioned, that even if a child fails to achieve the desired goals, e/she should
be praised and encouraged (Victoria State government. 2017). Again rewards can also be
interesting engaging activities such as playing with the toys, riding a bicycle or materials
like goodies or stickers can be given as rewards for children achieving the goal.
 Positive attention like smiling at the children, giving them thumbs up, or merely giving
them a friendly patting on their shoulders can be some of the positive gestures (Tully and
Hunt 2016). However, it is important to note whether the child loves such kind of
friendly touching.
 It is necessary to find out referral services, who can help out Alex in his the speech
difficulty. In case of Alex, a pediatric speech language pathologist can be contacted with.
The educators should collaborate with the family members of Alex , before
recommending such services.
 Some of the other strategies involve planned ignoring, that is when children misbehave, it
is necessary that no attention should be paid (Tully and Hunt 2016). Planned ignoring
could be effective for dealing with mild to moderate attention seeking behavior in
children such as whining or poking other children. It is necessary to ignore until the child
stops misbehavior.

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 In extreme cases, disruptive behavior in children can be restricted by choosing an
appropriate consequence which might involve depriving the children from any privilege
(Dada and Okunade, 2014). For example, if ales fights with his peers for a toy, then the
toy can be taken away from Alex for 10 minutes or hen Alex is seen to push Georgia, the
puzzle can be taken away from Alex , so that such behavior is not repeated in the near
future.
 Again, when children misbehave, he/she could be taken away from the activity, such as
letting Alex to sit in solitary for few minutes.
 The learning style for teaching Alex needs to be changed. Since Alex is an kinesthetic
learner , mathematics can be taught to him by the help of STEM learning or hands-on
techniques such as use of ice-cream sticks to teach mathematics or teaching simple
physical scientific phenomena by using interesting STEM based activities. Learning plan
should comply with the ELYF frame work (Australian government, department of
education and training. ,2017)

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References
Alenazi, S.S., 2015, September. A Proposed Perspective for Effective Classroom Management
Based on Glasser Model. In 1 st International Conference on Teaching & Learning (ICTL) (Vol.
14, p. 9).
Australian government, department of education and training. (2017).Early Years Learning
Framework. Access date: 14.2.2019. Retrieved from:https://www.education.gov.au/early-years-
learning-framework-0
Besnard, T., Verlaan, P., Davidson, M., Vitaro, F., Poulin, F. and Capuano, F., 2013.
Bidirectional influences between maternal and paternal parenting and children's disruptive
behaviour from kindergarten to grade 2. Early Child Development and Care, 183(3-4), pp.515-
533.
Cheung, C.S.S. and Pomerantz, E.M., 2012. Why does parents' involvement enhance children's
achievement? The role of parent-oriented motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology,
104(3), p.820.
Crogman, H. and Trebeau Crogman, M., 2016. Generated questions learning model (GQLM):
Beyond learning styles. Cogent Education, 3(1), p.1202460.
Dada, E.D. and Okunade, H.F., 2014. Classroom undesirable behaviours and strategies used for
controlling them among primary school teachers. Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of
Business and Management Review, 3(9), pp.51-57.

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Devecchi, C., Dettori, F., Doveston, M., Sedgwick, P. and Jament, J., 2012. Inclusive classrooms
in Italy and England: the role of support teachers and teaching assistants. European Journal of
Special Needs Education, 27(2), pp.171-184.
Dittman, C.K., Farruggia, S.P., Keown, L.J. and Sanders, M.R., 2016. Dealing with
disobedience: An evaluation of a brief parenting intervention for young children showing
noncompliant behavior problems. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 47(1), pp.102-112.
Kowalenko, N.M., Mares, S.P., Newman, L.K., Williams, A.E.S., Powrie, R.M. and van
Doesum, K.T., 2012. Family matters: infants, toddlers and preschoolers of parents affected by
mental illness.
Poulou, M.S., 2015. Emotional and behavioural difficulties in preschool. Journal of Child and
Family Studies, 24(2), pp.225-236.
Rogers, B., 2015. Classroom behaviour: a practical guide to effective teaching, behaviour
management and colleague support. Sage.
Tsai, M.L., Hung, K.L. and Lu, H.H., 2012. Auditory event-related potentials in children with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pediatrics & Neonatology, 53(2), pp.118-124.
Tully, L.A. and Hunt, C., 2016. Brief parenting interventions for children at risk of externalizing
behavior problems: a systematic review. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(3), pp.705-719.
Victoria State government., 2017.Early childhood.Access date: 14.2.2019. Retrieved
from:https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/EarlyChildhood

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Wittmer, D., 2012. The wonder and complexity of infant and toddler peer relationships. YC
Young Children, 67(4), p.16.
Appendix
Reflection
Individualized lesson plan making in early childhood studied would be really difficult, if the
observations are not made properly. While observing a child we generally use a range of
different observation methods like the running records, the learning stories to work samples and
the photographs. Using a variety of observation helps us to observe, analyze and interpret the
interest, abilities, skills and needs of a child. I believe that observation would help me in
providing a foundation for the individual assessment and the planning of a child. Some of the
common type of observations that I would have performed are anecdotal records that would have
given me a clear account of each and every activities of the child, which would eventually help
me to interpret the behaviors and analyze their needs. However, I also find it important to
conduct an interview with the guardians such that I can acquaint myself or tally the needs of the
child with the subjective data. Analysis and the interpretation of the record is the most important
part as it would help me develop the interventions for the child. While developing the
interventions, it is necessary to comply to the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood
Education and Care, that assists the childhood educators to implement the framework in their
learning plan. Lastly, I would make sure that the individualized plan serves both the cognitive,
social and the emotional needs of the child.

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