NICHCY: National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilitites

• Behavior Expertise
• Behavior Assessment, Plans, and Positive Supports
• Behavior at Home (you're here!)
• Behavior at School
• Bullying

The list below isn't intended to be exhaustive of the behavior resources available, but it will certainly get you started and lead you to yet more information and resources.

• Help your children develop self-control.
  http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/about_discipline_helping_children_develop_selfcontrol
  Using real-life stories, this Web site (from the New York University Child Study Center) illustrates the warning signs of problem behavior, do's and don'ts of discipline, and references to related articles and books.
  
  
• How might you address your child's challenging behavior?
  http://www.pbs.org/parents/inclusivecommunities/challenging_behavior.html
  You'll find this reader-friendly site is well organized. It has facts about all aspects involved in working with children who have challenging behavior. Links to information on assessment and special education are provided. The information is also available in Spanish, at:
  http://www.pbs.org/parents/inclusivecommunities/challenging_behavior_sp.html
  
  
• More on teaching kids self-control skills.
  http://www.nasponline.org/resources/handouts/behavior%20template.pdf  
  Learn strategies to teaching kids the techniques for self control. Written by the National Association of School Psychologists, this 4-page document gives ways to help children identify their feelings and learn to recognize the connection between feelings and behaviors. It also offers specific techniques to teach your child how to handle anger.
  
  
• Yet more on teaching children to manage their own behavior.
  http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/briefs/wwb7.pdf
  What Works briefs from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning summarize effective practices for supporting children's social-emotional development and preventing challenging behaviors. This 4-pager describes practical strategies for helping children learn to manage their own behavior and provides references to more information. A Spanish version is available at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/briefs/wwb7-sp.pdf
• Reinforcing positive behavior at home.
  http://www.healthyplace.com/parenting/parenting-skills/reinforcing-positive-behavior-at-home/menu-id-61/
  Positive reinforcement is the most powerful and useful method of changing or developing behaviors. Use it to improve your child's behavior. 
  
  
• What's the relationship between types of toys and children's social behavior with peers?
  http://www.evidencebasedpractices.org/bridges/bridges_vol1_no5.pdf
  This research synthesis from the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Early Childhood Development will tell you what types of toys and play materials are most associated with young children's social play.
  
  
• About-face for stormy preschoolers.
  www.evidencebasedpractices.org/bottomlines/bottomlines_vol1_no4.pdf
  This research-based, easy-to-read summary from the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Early Childhood Development will tell you about Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and its positive effects on childhood behavior.
  
  
• Alternatives to spanking.
  http://tinyurl.com/ycbkpmn
  Available on the Web site of the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), this article discusses the difference between discipline and punishment, the negative consequences of physical discipline, and a range of positive alternatives.
  
  
• Reinforcing small changes in behavior.
  http://www.greatschools.org/LD/managing/reinforcing-small-changes-in-your-childs-behavior.gs?content=814
  Written by a psychologist who works extensively with children and teens with AD/HD and explosive and defiant behaviors, this article talks about how children and adolescents learn, about misbehavior, and small steps that parents can use to help their child toward better behavior.
  
  
• Get behavior in shape at home.
  www.pbis.org/spanish/files/behaviorshape.doc
  How do you create a Positive Behavioral Support system in your home? This Web site gives easy-to-implement suggestions. Learn the reasoning behind different techniques and how to use them to achieve your behavior goals. Specific examples include: eating dinner, asking for things while grocery shopping, and budgeting to teach children the value of money. (Also available in Spanish, at: http://www.pbis.org/common/pbisresources/publications/behshapespanish.doc)
  
  
• Learn practical solutions to common behavior problems.
  http://cecp.air.org/familybriefs
  This web page links to 12 different publications on various topics, including promoting resilience in children, encouraging good behavior, and how to get your children involved in addressing their own challenging behaviors.

• Your parent-friendly guide to functional assessment and support.
  www.uoregon.edu/~ttobin/parent.pdf
  This 21-page guide describes what a functional assessment is, and what it can do to help your child. You can use this information to help your child at home, and also work with school staff to put a plan into place at school.
  
  
• Top 7 behavior management tips.
  http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/publicschoolprograms/tp/redrctnrsponse.htm
  Many behaviors can be minimized by controlling your response to them. With these tips, you can decrease behavior problems using redirection. The goal of redirection is to teach the student to monitor and correct his own behavior.
• Managing bad behavior at home.
  This article takes a look at the question of "why kids are horrors at home."
  http://www.supernanny.com/Advice/-/Your-child/-/Child-care/Managing-bad-behavior-at-home.aspx
  
  
• Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and positive interventions: What parents need to know.
  http://www.taalliance.org/publications/pdfs/all12.pdf
  This publication will help you find out what is causing your child's problem behaviors. After you find the cause, you can create a game plan to support and encourage the behaviors you do want, and get rid of the behaviors you don't want. Also available in Spanish and Hmong.
  

• How to get help for your child.
  www.uoregon.edu/~ttobin/Finding.htm
  Having trouble getting what your child needs? This reader-friendly site offers communication tips to use when seeking help. You'll learn techniques for keeping things in perspective, focusing on the problem at hand, and what info you should be prepared to provide when you are asking for help. Plus, you can print out a handy checklist to help keep track of the information you gather.

• How to get help for yourself.
  www.conductdisorders.com/
  The link above will lead you to a group of parents who are raising challenging children. They invite you in and offer their site as a "soft place to land for the battle-weary parent."
  
  
• Fact sheets! Get your fact sheets here! 
  http://www.nmha.org/go/information/get-info
  This site is a fact sheet treasure chest. You'll find information on an wide range of topics such as anxiety disorders, bullying, ADHD, and autism. 
• Mental health fact sheets.
  http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/facts_for_families
  This web site has 87 fact sheets on various issues, including ADHD, depression, conduct disorders, oppositional defiance disorder, and violent behavior. These up-to-date, well-written pubs are available in English, español, Deutsch, Français, Polish and Icelandic.
  
  
• Learn what really works.
  http://cecp.air.org/familybriefs/
  This web page links to 12 different research-based publications on various topics, including promoting resilience in children, encouraging good behavior, and how to get your children involved in addressing their own challenging behaviors.
  
  
• About temperament and its effect on behavior.
  http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/health-nutrition/temperament-traits.gs?content=788
  Let Great Schools introduce you to nine temperament traits: activity level, sensitivity, regularity, approach/withdrawal, adaptability, mood, intensity, persistence, and distractibility. Find out to pinpoint your child's traits and how they can affect behavior.
  
  
• Working with your child's temperament.
  http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/behavior-discipline/tips-for-handling-problematic-temperament-traits.gs?content=787
  Get ideas on helping children in ways that match their natural tendencies. This site offers suggestions for managing extreme behaviors. Click on the link to the Parent to Parent message board to read tips from other parents.