ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses common strategies from preschool that are used at the center, school, and classroom level to address challenging behaviors of children. Public schools are required to ensure that learning environments are safe, secure, and orderly, so that teachers can teach and children can learn effectively. Most states leave the decision about discipline codes to individual schools or school districts. Verbal reprimands are one of the most common forms of discipline used in the classroom or the principal's office. The zero tolerance policy particularly leads to suspending and expelling an alarmingly high number of young children from early childhood programs. Timeout is a common classroom discipline practice used in many schools, early childhood classrooms, and in special education classrooms for all grades. The chapter explains why some of common strategies are at best ineffective and at worst unethical and abusive. It presents research relating to these strategies and suggests positive alternative approaches to be used.
