What would you do with a 4 year old who spits. He spits on the teacher, other students and on the floor. We have tried to document when it happens to try to prevent it but we have not discovered a pattern yet.
Time out Notify parents...suggest they talk to pediatrician Lots of hand washing/ antibacterial gel...ick
Ugh. I would so rather deal with a tantrum than spitting. Last year I had a little one who spit and we had a behavioral consultant for our district come observe her. She suggested we do 2 things: First, i printed a picture from board maker that said "no spitting" and had a picture of spitting with an "X" through it. Second, every time the student would start spitting, we would silently take her hand and take her to a "time out" area, point to the picture and say "you spit on ________ so you get 3 minutes". We set a kitchen timer to 3 minutes and walked away. I typically do not use time out, and this was a student that nothing at all worked for, but I swear, this was like magic. The key is consistency. You have to do it EVERY time he spits. Even if its just a little. You also don't need to follow up after the time out is over with any discussion. Teachers tend to want to have a big long discussion after time out, but the less attention you give it, the better. In my case, when the timer went off, I would simply go over and say "your time is up, you can go" and walk away. I would say that after about 2 weeks, the spitting had reduced by about 90%.
I was a sub for a PS and had a child spit on me. I marched her to the bathroom. I told her that since she liked to spit, she could spit into the sink until I told her to stop. I had her spit for about 2 minutes. I told her that if she needed to spit she needed to come into the bathroom and spit into the sink. She never spit on me again.
NoI don't think it's not crossing the line at all. It works and is appropriate for the little spitters! I don't make a big deal out of it, just calmly say something like this..."Oh! You feel like spitting today so let's go spit in the sink." (or wherever is appropriate) They usually start hollering NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" That's when I "might" give them the choice (depending how long it's been going on) the choice being..."You have two choices. You can stop spitting or you can spit in the garbage. What's it gonna be?" Works every time.
Thank you for your help. I knew my spec ed teacher friends would have some ideas. He is low functioning but we need to make it safe for everyone in the class. I will try your suggestions this week.
I would avoid having the child spit in a sink or the garbage. In my opinion, that does cross a line into physical punishment. Yes, it works, but you could get in trouble for it.
If you're worried about getting in trouble for having him spit in the sink, then try something else. However, there is a right and wrong way to go about it. If you physically drag the child over to the sink in a huff, then that is wrong. If you tell the child there is a place he is allowed to do that spitting and show him that place, that is not physical punishment in any way. We have an obligation to ourselves and the other children who do not deserve to be spit on. In my experiences with spitting children, finding out why they are spitting is rather obvious. They don't like being told what to do. Well that's just too bad little boy. Teaching a child right from wrong is my job and I am going to do it come hell or high water.
I have one that spits when he throws his tantrums. I dont think he is even aware that he is spitting that's how bad his tantrums are. Luckily when he spits its usually on himself or the ground. He has only spit on me one time and I think it was just because I was trying to move him away from others and I got in the way.
I don't think a child should be taught that spitting in a sink is appropriate either. I think that there are much more effective and educated ways to deal with it. Spitting does not always have an obvious cause. The op stated this child is low functioning, making it even more critical to address this behavior in a structured way. Teaching a child right from wrong is definitely our responsibility, but shouldn't we look at things like functional behavior analysis, social stories, picture cues, etc...so that we are teaching good behaviors, rather than punishing for bad? I couldn't imagine sitting in an IEP meeting and a parent asking how I got a child to stop spitting and saying "I made him spit in the sink for 2 minutes".
I have to say being marched to the sink and told, "Since you like to spit so much, you can spit in the sink for 2 minutes" does have a different feeling to it than "if you want to spit, you need to spit in the sink because this is the appropriate place." The first feels like punishment, the second feels like redirection. So perhaps all who employ this just need to think about how they're phrasing it to the children. Would the child go home and say "Ms X told me that the only place I'm allowed to spit is the sink" or would he say "Ms X made me stand and spit for 2 minutes because I spit on Jake"?
Perhaps we should apologize for noticing the child spitting and give them a sticker instead. Or how about this...we'll stand on our heads and sing to the child about being good and give them a sticker for listening to the song. That's about how ridiculous some teaching strategies have become and that's why we have so many problems with teaching in the upper grades. In 23 years of teaching 4 and 5 year olds, I've come across it all. I know what works and experienced enough to know if a child is "so low" that he can't help himself.
I'm with you on the ridiculous coddling that goes on sometimes, but there's a vast middle ground between babying them and making them spit for two minutes.
This made me laugh...and for the record, I have made a child spit on a spot on the playground when he spit on a playmate. He was in 2nd grade and knew what he was doing--and done it more than once. It was not only effective, my principal told me to do it. But I also teach in a district that still uses corporal punishment. And we have very few discipline problems and wonderful support from the community.
Does sarcasm really contribute? Is a discussion worthless if it doesn't fall in lines with what you believe? Because attempting to make people feel inferior or silly for having different approaches or ideas is not very mature.
I think I read frustration in Grammy's post. We are taught to use all these strategies which work 95% of the time. But, we can't continue to use soft techniques for all children and all behaviors.
But I don't think that the technique I suggested is "soft" at all, just different. Just because I would use a structured time out system and have before with success does not mean that I am coddling. We are all different teachers with different philosophies and have found different things to be effective. Isn't the point to give the original poster more than 1 idea to try to help? I think it's offensive to take what I suggested and make fun or be sarcastic.
Understood. Frustration doesn't make it appropriate to mock and demean those who choose to use different strategies. Why can't a mature adult just say "I don't agree" and move on with their lives?
When I was in elementary school there was another student that hocked a great big loogie onto me. Our teacher made him spit onto a piece of construction paper until it was completely wet. Well, he never spit on me again. And honestly, he never bullied me again either!
Your sarcasm made me laugh! :lol: It ranks right up there with everyone makes the team. It my school, we have an Honors Ceremony after the end of each quarter. Each child, K-2, receives an award. Some are academic, some are citizenship and others, well let's just say some are creative. That spitter, the bully, let's say they are a C student, they will get an award of some type. Just can't hurt their feelings. Yes, I know we're talking about a preschooler here. But he grows up. We need Grammy to stop some of these behaviors before they become habits and major behavioral challenges.
Yea, I laugh a lot. What else can ya do?! :lol: There are children in my care who have had zero discipline or direction. It's my job to teach them how to behave properly.If they don't, they will never make it in school or society. I give them the foundation for learning and listening to their elders/teachers so that the learning can begin. If that involves spitting in the sink for 2 minutes or even more, so be it.
That's what I'm talking about! There is no way I will beat around the bush when a child does something so nasty to someone else. Nip it in the bud!
When I worked in preschool I also told the children that if they were going to spit the only appropriate place was in the garbage or the sink. Honestly we all have to spit sometimes, and those are the only places that we should. I would walk them over to the bathroom (no, I wasn't dragging anyone) and told them to spit in the sink - sometimes they would refuse and I would remind them that was the only place they could spit. Then we would move on.
Thank you so much for your help. The spitting has diminished but now he is into kicking....his aide, his teacher, the chairs and the principal.
My advice for the kicking: Make sure his shoes are tied & watch out for them to go flying! Does he give any signs that he is going to start kicking or having a melt down? I've had kickers before. They almost always had a signal that they were going to start kicking or having a melt down. Something that they did or a facial expression. When that would happen, If I caught it early enough, I could sometimes prevent it. Usually that meant a distraction of some sort or a walk.
Have they taught you restraints for children? Sorry if you've you have already answered this question.
We aren't trained either, but I work in a private daycare. The school system uses restraints. A boy in Montessori was recently put in a 2 minute hold and he was bruised up around his face and neck. He has a history of being violent. He was trying to attack the teacher. They ended up kicking him out of their school. The mother is very upset, but I won't say that he didn't deserve to be restrained. Teachers need to be able to protect themselves. What are you going to do with this boy you are dealing with?
