Witnessing a tantrum in a classroom is tough on everyone: the student who’s having the outburst, their classmates, and the teacher who may feel helpless knowing there’s little anyone can do to stop the behavior in that moment. After it passes, questions persist: Why did the outburst happen? How can teachers prevent a repeat? And aren’t tantrums supposed to be for toddlers?
It’s true that toddlers are prone to tantrums when things don’t go their way, especially during transitions they deem undesirable—like going from the playground to home, from dinner time to bath time, or from screen time to errands. But tantrums are becoming a common phenomenon into kindergarten, according to early educators.
The EdWeek Research Center in January surveyed 1,163 early educators and administrators (who work with students in pre-K through 3rd grade) about students’ behavior and skills. The majority said students’ behavior has gotten worse in the past two years. Nearly half reported that student misbehavior disrupts instruction multiple times a day.
“There’s a significant decrease in … [the] ability to follow directions, and willingness to accept redirection,” commented one survey respondent.
An unwillingness to accept redirection speaks directly to a lack of flexibility, one of three key executive functioning skills (along with working memory and impulse control) that research tells us are critical for academic success. Flexibility—the ability to switch tasks or focus, and to adapt to revised plans—is a work in progress for students of all ages, especially the youngest learners. Here’s why flexibility matters, and how teachers can use strategies that involve visual cues and reminders to help support the growth of this skill in young learners.
Flexibility: where it fits into the learning process, and what to expect from students
Like other executive functioning skills, flexibility helps students plan and execute goals—whether that’s a preschooler figuring out if she wants to play in the building block center or the dramatic play center, or a 4th grader pushing through a long division math problem. A lack of flexibility is likely to derail these plans in either scenario.
Underdeveloped flexibility is completely normal in young children, say experts, who generally agree that children don’t start developing “cognitive” flexibility until age 3. There’s less consistency around how long this skill takes to mature, with estimates ranging from ages 12 to 29.
Knowing that flexibility acquisition is a long process that has only barely begun when children reach preschool may make early elementary teachers feel better about their own students’ flexibility, or lack thereof.
“When kids are in the classroom, and they’re asked to be more flexible than they’re able to be, sometimes the only way they know how to describe it is through an emotional reaction,” said Emily Bartz, a learning specialist at Friends School of Baltimore, a private Quaker school serving grades pre-K through 12, and an independent education consultant.
So, how flexible can early educators expect their young charges to be? Bartz, who works with students on improving executive functioning skills, says that kids in pre-K and kindergarten with developmentally appropriate levels of flexibility should be able to do the following about 75% of the time: accept substitutes for preferred items, transition between activities with adult support, and try new games without major protest. But according to many teachers, fewer children are meeting these milestones today.
Why students seem to struggle more with flexibility now
Teachers should not be surprised when a 4-year-old student has a tantrum, says Kizzy Albritton, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin College of Education.
“You most definitely should have a tantrum at 4, because that’s typically what worked for you in the past,” said Albritton, a member of the National Association of School Psychologists’ early childhood education task force. “When you had a tantrum, you usually got what you wanted.”
As children bring this learned behavior from their past to preschool, they’re often confronting new and—some would argue—unrealistic expectations.
An increasing number of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds are attending formal preschool programs whose focus is kindergarten readiness, notes Albritton. And when a school program consistently emphasizes the skills necessary for the next grade, it may lose sight of where children are developmentally at the moment.
“When we have to make sure they’re ready for the next grade, we start expecting them to act like that age group,” she said.
Then there’s the structural piece—literally.
As a growing number of states and districts add pre-K to their K-12 school systems, the youngest students may be expected to navigate campuses that were created for older children. This can mean more transitions than a 3- or 4-year-old is developmentally ready for, explains Dale Farran, an emerita professor at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College who has studied early education for a half-century.
Farran recommends against settings that require preschoolers to walk long hallways to reach the playground, restrooms, or the cafeteria. Such settings require young students to make multiple transitions throughout the school day; in her opinion, too many.
“The amount of transition time is unbelievable, and the amount of negative behavior management is high,” she said. “Teachers end up saying: Don’t touch the wall. Don’t touch your neighbor. Stop at the crosswalk.”
Use these strategies to help your students be more flexible at school
Flexibility is one of the most challenging executive functioning skills for very young children to learn. School programs that demand young children stretch beyond their developmental capabilities make it even harder. But providing students with visual and verbal cues at critical times throughout the school day can help—especially when students get to choose the cues. Try these:
Let students choose their own “transition plan”
Some students struggle with transitions or unexpected changes to the school day’s routine. Get ahead of it with these downloadable cards containing fun, quick-to-apply strategies that provide clues on flexibility. Give students agency by letting them pick their own card.
Source: Emily Bartz, a Baltimore-based learning specialist and consultant, developed these executive function strategies based on the teachings of psychologists Peg Dawson and Richard Guare. She creates visual cue cards based on these strategies to share with teachers and students.
