One of the major needs of children with challenging behaviour is a significant and positive relationship with teachers and heads of school. Although this can be very demanding for teachers, they need to be equipped with the necessary training to better understand the children's feelings.
This need and others are the conclusions drawn by two authors on a study released two years ago, which involved a series of talks with children and youths with challenging behaviour.
Challenging behaviour has generated a large amount of literature and research. Yet, researchers themselves state that except for a small number of studies, the experiences and perspectives of individuals who have challenging behaviour have been generally ignored.
It is with the aim of carrying the messages and opinions of children with behavioural problems to the public, that the paper Maltese Youngsters With Very Challenging Behaviour Speak About School was recently published in the latest edition of the Journal of Maltese Education Research, published by the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta.
The authors - Angela Abela, senior lecturer at the University of Malta and course director of the professional Master's programme in clinical, counselling and educational psychology, and Mikela Smith La Rosa, who has worked with children and adolescents in various contexts, including A?enzija Sedqa's Teen Support Services, Dar Mer?ba Bik, St Patrick's Residential Home, and various summer schools in Malta and Sicily - analysed the views of 14 children, whose identities remain protected.
The paper draws its conclusions from a previous study conducted in 2006, See Me, Listen To Me: Children's Perspectives, for which the youngsters were interviewed, and aims to further carry their messages to the public.
The authors explain how this study "highlighted the youngsters' understanding, views and suggestions with regards to several areas in their lives. Given the very interesting views that most of these youngsters provided regarding their school experiences, this paper presents their feelings, explanations and understanding of how they got on at school, looks at what school meant to them and puts forward their suggestions."
The interviewed children - five of whom attended a special school - had experienced a wide range of heavy losses throughout their lives. Some felt labelled and bullied by their peers; some enjoyed the positive relationship with their teachers and peers, while others did not like the low level of instruction and the fact that it was not like a normal school.
Some children felt that their misbehaviour in mainstream education precipitated their placement in a specialist setting. On the other hand, some teachers or heads of schools were criticised for being too harsh, for picking on the children or for not maintaining confidentiality.
Dr Abela and Ms Smith La Rosa state that teachers need ongoing professional training which should include regular supervision so as to minimise any possibility of burn out of the school staff.
"Such training is very valuable as it enhances a much needed professional stance when working with these children. It helps school staff get in touch with the hardships that the children are going through and understand the children's feelings of frustration, rebellion, anger, loneliness, longing and sense of loss. The empathic relationship would certainly help in building up a positive relationship with the children."
The authors explain how proper assessment prior to admitting children in a specialised service, and adequate follow-up, is very important. One of the interviewees is a boy, who lost his mother at the tender age of eight, who was put in a special service because he was fed up of the school he was in.
"The chances are that this boy needed to be treated for depression rather than being placed in a special school. There is in fact a pressing need for multi-disciplinary teams to be set up in schools where teachers and head of schools can work hand in hand with psychologists, social workers, youth workers, family therapists, psychiatrists and other professionals."
Many children confided that they first started experiencing problems at school when they were still very young. Some also experienced problems at home, such as family instability, cognitive difficulties and even mental health problems.
The researchers state that several issues need to be addressed with the child both at school and with the family. Children need to be helped to consider short-term and long-term consequences and to cope with their situations including peer pressure and self-control. Early intervention is crucial for such children.
"Teachers and parents need to be supported by other professionals in order to be able to provide care for these children. Psychologists, family therapists and social workers who work hand-in-hand with the school can provide valuable intervention at this stage.
"This therapeutic infrastructure is still lacking in our schools when in fact we know that early intervention at a multisystemic level is the treatment of choice for children with challenging behaviour," the researchers say.
"There needs to be a concerted effort from different services for children on the island to work hand-in-hand, strongly liaising with the family and the school given that these are the two places where the child is spending most of his/her time."