Assessing odd behaviour in children as a teacher

You are a teacher in a 4-year-old classroom and begin each day with your daily health and wellness check. You notice that a child who is dropped off looks very tired and is uncommonly quiet as she walks into the classroom. She was dropped off by bus so you have no additional information.

Given the above scenario, choose one of the following possible causes for the change in the child. Please indicate the cause you selected in the subject line of your discussion post.

Sickness/Illness
Trauma
Abuse
Oral Health Issue: Tooth ache, poor oral health
Nutritional Concern: Inadequate nutritional intake, food allergy, food intolerance
Hearing Concern: Ear Infection, ear ache
Vision Concern: Eye infection
Social-Emotional Issue

Examples of some of these common situations are described further in Chapter 7. After you select one of these as a possible cause for the child’s change in demeanour, use your imagination to develop it further discussing what you may see when you conduct your observation of the child. Be mindful to detail what you might look for and how you will document your observations. Based on your fictitious observation, create a plan of action for how to proceed. This plan should include both immediate and long-term actions that you will take.

Address the following points in your discussion:
Fictitious elaboration of what you observe in the child including the possible cause. Include enough so that you can make a plan of action.
Short-term plan of action detailing the procedure of how you will address the issue immediately or by the end of the day
Long-term plan of action detailing the procedure of how you will follow-up your short-term plan of action
Specific discussion regarding how you will support the child during this time