1(ii)In developmental psychology and developmental biology, a critical period is a phase in the life span during which an organism

has heightened sensitivity to exogenous stimuli that are compulsory for the development of a particular skill. If the organism does not receive the appropriate stimulus during this "critical period", it may be difficult, ultimately less successful, or even impossible, to develop some functions later in life. 1! "he general idea is that failure to learn a particular skill allows the cortical areas normally allocated for that function to fall into disuse# as a result these unused brain areas will eventually adapt to perform a different function and therefore will no longer be available to perform other functions. "he concurrence of critical periods for the auditory, visual, and vestibular systems suggests that the time period may be universal for emergent sensory systems. $! "his is fundamentally different from the sensitive period, which is a more extended period of time during development when an individual is more receptive to specific types of environmental stimuli, usually because nervous system development is especially sensitive to certain sensory stimuli. "his makes the individual more predisposed to learning. %or example, the critical period for the development of a human child&s binocular vision is thought to be between three and eight months, with sensitivity to damage extending up to at least three years of age 1!. %urther critical periods have been identified for the development of hearing and the vestibular system. $! "here are critical periods during early postnatal development in which imprinting can occur, such as when a greylag goose becomes attached to a parent figure within the first '( hours after hatching. ) young chaffinch must hear an adult singing before it sexually matures, or it will never properly learn the highly intricate song. '! "hese observations have led some to hypothesise a critical period for certain areas of human learning, particularly language ac*uisition. +onfirming the existence of a critical period for a particular ability re*uires evidence that there is a point after which the associated behavior is no longer correlated with age and ability stays at the same level (in text citation). "hose who are exposed to the stimuli after the critical period should perform significantly worse than those who were exposed to the same stimuli at the appropriate time. ,ome experimental research into critical periods has involved depriving animals of stimuli at different stages of development while other studies have looked at children deprived of certain experiences due to illness (such as temporary blindness), or social isolation (such as feral children). -any of the studies investigating a critical period for language ac*uisition have focused on deaf children of hearing parents.

First language acquisition

"he +ritical .eriod /ypothesis states that the first few years of life constitute the time during which language develops readily and after which (sometime between age 0 and puberty) language ac*uisition is much more difficult and ultimately less successful. 1! "he critical period hypothesis was proposed by linguist 1ric 2enneberg in 13(4.

.enfield and 5oberts (1303) and 2enneberg (13(4) were the first to propose a critical period for first language ac*uisition. "his hypothesis was based on evidence from (1) feral children and victims of child abuse who were reared without exposure to human language and thus were unable to fully ac*uire the ability to produce it# ($) deaf children who were unable to develop spoken language after puberty# (') evidence that children with aphasia have a better chance at recovery than aphasiac adults. "he critical hypothesis, 2enneberg (13(4) states that the early6to6mid childhood (age 0 to puberty) constitutes the time during which language develops readily and after which language ac*uisition is much more difficult and ultimately less successful. "he +./ was developed further by .inker (1337), who proposed that language ac*uisition is guaranteed during childhood, progressively 8eopardi9ed until puberty ends, and is improbable thereafter. )ccording to .inker, physiological changes in the brain are conceivable causes of the terminus of the critical period for language ac*uisition. '! "he most famous cases of children who did not ac*uire language normally are :enie and ;ictor of )veyron. /owever, it is also possible that these children were retarded from infancy and abandoned because of this, or that inability to develop language came from the bi9arre and inhuman treatment they suffered. 1! <ther evidence comes from neuropsychology where it is known that adults, well beyond the critical period, are more likely to suffer permanent language impairment from brain damage than are children, believed to be due to youthful resiliency of neural reorgani9ation. 1! "he nature of this phenomenon, however, has been one of the most fiercely debated issues in psycholinguistics and cognitive science in general for decades.

Second language acquisition

"he theory has often been extended to a critical period for second language ac*uisition, although this is much less widely accepted. +ertainly, older learners of a second language rarely achieve the native6like fluency that younger learners display, despite often progressing faster than children in the initial stages. "his is generally accepted as evidence supporting the +./. =avid ,ingleton (1330) states that in learning a second language, "younger > better in the long run," but points out that there are many exceptions, noting that five percent of adult bilinguals master a second language even though they begin learning it when they are well into adulthood ? long after any critical period has presumably come to a close. ""he critical period hypothesis holds that first language ac*uisition must occur before cerebral laterali9ation is complete, at about the age of puberty. <ne prediction of this hypothesis is that second language ac*uisition will be relatively fast, successful, and *ualitatively similar to first language only if it occurs before the age of puberty." 7! "he critical period for second language ac*uisition coincides approximately with the formal operational stage of @ean .iaget&s theory of cognitive development ()ge 11A).
citation needed!

iv)

oncepts provide an efficient way of organi9ing experience. If children were unable to categori9e, their experiences would be chaotic?filled with ob8ects, properties, sensations, and events too numerous to hold in memory. In contrast to this hypothesi9ed Bblooming, bu99ing confusionC (to use the words of Dilliam @ames), children from earliest infancy form categories that are remarkably similar to those of adults. Eefore they have even begun to speak, infants form categories of faces, speech sounds, emotional expressions, colors, ob8ects, animals, and mappings across modalities (see :elman 133( for review). Ey 1F months of age, most children have begun a vocabulary Bexplosion,C adding roughly nine new words each day to their vocabulary (+arey 134F). )ssuming that most new words encode concepts, this fact suggests that one6 and two6year6old children are adept at concept ac*uisition. /owever, concepts do more than organi9e information efficiently in memory. "hey also serve an important function for a range of cognitive tasks, including identifying ob8ects in the world, forming analogies, making inferences that extend knowledge beyond what is already known, and conveying core elements of a theory. -any of these tasks are central to school performance# thus, concepts can be thought of as the building blocks to these more complex skills. <ne of these cognitive functions, known as induction, is the focus of the following discussion. Induction involves how concepts foster inferences about the unknown. Eoth children and adults use categories to extend knowledge beyond what is obvious or already known (+arey 13F0# :elman and -arkman 13F(, 13F4). %or example, if four6 year6old children are told a new fact, such as that a particular dog has leukocytes inside it, they are likely to infer that other dogs also have leukocytes inside them. It is important to note that children form such inferences even when they are not supported by outward appearances. In one :elman and -arkman example items children saw a brontosaurus, a rhinoceros, and a triceratops, which were labeled as Bdinosaur,C Brhinoceros,C and Bdinosaur,C respectively. +ategory labels and outward appearances conflictedG "he brontosaurus and triceratops are members of the same category, whereas the rhinoceros and triceratops look more alike outwardly. "hen children learned a new property of the brontosaurus and the rhinoceros?that they had cold blood and warm blood, respectively. "hey were asked which property was true of the triceratops. Dhen children were informed that both the brontosaurus and the triceratops were dinosaurs, they inferred that the triceratops has cold blood like the brontosaurus, even though it more closely resembled the rhinoceros. "he results of this and other related experiments showed that by $61H$ years of age, children base inferences on category membership, despite conflicting surface appearances (:elman and +oley 133I). )lthough induction can be viewed as positive because it allows children to expand their knowledge base, it also poses some problems for young children when they draw inappropriately broad inferences. <ne problem that results is stereotyping. .reschoolers

often treat social categories as if they were biological categories, assuming, for example, that members of a social category (a category that is based on gender or race) will be alike with respect to ability or occupation (/irschfeld 133(# "aylor 133(). ) second problem is that young children at times ignore relevant information about statistical variation within a category (2ope9 et al. 133$# :utheil and :elman 1334). %or example, four6year6olds do not seem to reali9e that a property known to be true of five birds provides a firmer basis of induction than a property known to be true of only one bird. "hey also do not seem to reali9e that variability in a category is relevant to the kinds of inductions that are plausible. In sum, this theme illustrates four important pointsG

+oncepts are used by children and adults to extend known information to previously unknown cases through a process called inductive inference. ,uch inferences are not based on perceptual similarity alone. Jaming is an important vehicle for conveying category membership and thus guiding induction. Jaming leads children to search for similarities among category members. "hus, this function is a highly useful tool available to children by at least preschool age. =espite childrenKs ability to use categories for induction, even in the preschool years, they do not always appropriately constrain these inferences.

;) Babbling (also called twaddling) is a stage in child development and a state in language ac*uisition, during which an infant appears to be experimenting with uttering sounds of language, but not yet producing any recogni9able words. Eabbling begins shortly after birth and progresses through several stages as the infant&s repertoire expands and vocali9ations become more speech6like. 1! Infants begin to produce recogni9able words usually around 1$ months, though babbling may continue for some time afterward. $!

In humans
Eabbling is the first sign of human language. '! "hese vocali9ations do not generally contain meaning or refer to anything specific. /uman infants are not excited or upset when babbling, but instead they will babble spontaneously and incessantly only when emotionally calm. "he sounds and expressions of babbling are produced before an infant begins to construct recogni9able words. 7! "his is mainly due to the immaturity of the vocal tract and neuromusculature at this age in life. 0! Infants first begin vocali9ing by crying, followed by cooing and then vocal play. "hese first forms of sound production are the easiest for children to use.

Dhen reaching an age of ( months, infants are finally able to control the opening and closing of the vocal tract, and upon obtaining this ability, infants begin to distinguish between the different sounds of vowels and consonants. "his period is known as the beginning of the canonical stage. =uring the canonical stage, the babbling involves reduplicated sounds containing alternations of vowels and consonants (e.g.# baba or bobo). Ey the time an infant reaches FL3 months, they display productions of more advanced sounds known as variegated babbling. ;ariegated babbling differs greatly from reduplicated babbling. "his stage includes more complex combinations of consonant and vowel syllables (e.g.# babadoobe). 0! Ey 3L1I months of age, infant babbling begins to resemble the native language of a child. "he final stage is known as conversational babbling, or the "8argon stage" (usually occurring by about ten months of age). "he 8argon stage is defined as "pre6linguistic vocali9ations in which infants use adult6like stress and intonation". (! "he general structure of the syllables that they are producing is very closely related to the sounds of their native language and this form of babbling significantly predicts the form of early words. 4! Infants continue to use intonation patterns and timing that matches the characteristics of their language. 0! -ost babbling consists of a small number of sounds, which suggests the child is preparing the basic sounds necessary to speak the language to which he is exposed. If babbling occurs during the first year of life, it can typically be concluded that the child is developing speech normally. )s the baby grows and changes, hisHher vocali9ations change as well. Eabies use these vocali9ations to communicate. "hey commence vocal development by crying, progress to loud yelling noises, and finally make speech.

Types
"here are two types of babbling. 5eduplicated babbling consists of repeated syllables consisting of a consonant and a vowel, such as "da da da da" or "ma ma ma ma", F! whereas variegated, or non6reduplicated babbling consists of a mix of syllables, such as "ka6da6bu6ba6mi6doy6doy6doy". 3! "he consonants that babbling infants produce tend to be any of the following G Hp, b, t, m, d, n, k, , s, h, w, 8H. "he following consonants tend to be infre*uently produced during phonological development G Hf, v, M, N, , t, d, l, r, OH. "he complex nature of sounds that developing children produce make them difficult to categori9e, but the above rules tend to hold true regardless of the language to which children are exposed. 1I!

') Cognition is the process by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. 1! In science, cognition is the mental processing that includes the attention of working memory, comprehending and producing language, calculating, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. ;arious disciplines, such as psychology, philosophy and linguistics all study cognition. /owever, the term&s usage varies across disciplines# for example, in psychology and cognitive science, "cognition" usually refers to an information processing view of an individual&s psychological functions. It is also used in a branch of social psychology called social cognition to explain attitudes, attribution, and groups dynamics. $! In cognitive psychology and cognitive engineering, cognition is typically assumed to be information processing in a participantKs or operatorKs mind or brain. '! +ognition is a faculty for the processing of information, applying knowledge, and changing preferences. +ognition, or cognitive processes, can be natural or artificial, conscious or unconscious. 7! "hese processes are analy9ed from different perspectives within different contexts, notably in the fields of linguistics, anesthesia, neurology and psychiatry, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, systemics, and computer science. 0! page needed! Dithin psychology or philosophy, the concept of cognition is closely related to abstract concepts such as mind, intelligence. It encompasses the mental functions, mental processes (thoughts), and states of intelligent entities (humans, collaborative groups, human organi9ations, highly autonomous machines, and artificial intelligences). '!

Etymology
"he word cognition comes from the 2atin verb cognosco (con &with& A gnsc &know&), itself a cognate of the )ncient :reek verb gnsko "PQRSTU" meaning &I know& (nounG gnsis "PQRSVW" > knowledge), so broadly, &to conceptuali9e& or &to recogni9e&. (!

Origins of Cognition
"+ognition" is a word that dates back to the 10th century when it meant "thinking and awareness. 4!")ttention to the cognitive process came about more than twenty6three centuries ago, beginning with )ristotle and his interest in the inner6workings of the mind and how they affect the human experience. )ristotle focused on cognitive areas pertaining to memory, perception, and mental imagery. "he :reek philosopher found great importance in ensuring that his studies were based on empirical evidence# scientific information that is gathered through thorough observation and conscientious experimentation. F! +enturies later, as psychology became a blooming study in 1urope and then gaining a following in )merica, other scientists like Dilhelm Dundt, /erman 1bbinghaus, -ary Dhiton +alkins, and Dilliam @ames, to name a few, would offer their contributions to the study of cognition. Dilhelm Dundt (1F'$613$I) heavily emphasi9ed the notion of what he called introspection# examining the inner feelings of an individual. Dith introspection, the

sub8ect had to be careful to describe their feelings in the most ob8ective manner possible in order for Dundt to find the information scientific. 3! 1I! "hough Dundt&s contributions are by no means minimal, modern psychologists find his methods to be *uite sub8ective, and choose to rely on more ob8ective procedures of experimentations to make conclusions about the human cognitive process.
Developmental change evolves more slowly in early childhood, the period from 2 to 6 years of age, than in infancy. During this time, children lose their baby fat, their legs grow longer and thinner, and they move around the world with increasing dexterity. They present a bewildering patchwork of vulnerability and ability, logic and magic, insight and ignorance. Children at this age can talk in endless sentences but are keen listeners when an interesting story is being told. Their present desires can be curtailed with promises of later rewards, but they may not necessarily accept the offered terms, negotiating for an instant as well as a delayed reward. They develop theories about everything, and these are constantly measured against the world around them. owever, despite their developing independence, !" year"olds need assistance from adults and siblings. They cannot hold a pencil properly or string a loom or tie a knot. They do not have the ability to concentrate for long periods of time without a great deal of support, and they wander on tangents in their games and conversations. #reschool children$s thought processes are characteri%ed by great awareness& yet these islands of sophistication exist in a sea of uncertainty. Children during this period still understand relatively little about the world in which they live and have little or no control over it. They are prone to fears and they combat their growing self" awareness of being small by wishful, magical thinking. Traditionally, scientists have sorted these changes into separate categories" cognitive, language, physical and social development. Development in each of these areas, however, affects and interacts with every other type. 'or example, cognitive development creates the need for more sophisticated speech in order to express new knowledge. (anguage development leads children to master new words that capture new ideas. #hysical development allows them to perform more complicated tasks than they could earlier, bringing them into greater social contact with others. The information presented in the following sections discusses some of the ma)or achievements in each of these areas of development.

0)

"his is our "ideal" school day. .lease keep in mind that our children are preschoolers, so it will be *uite different from an older child&s schedule. De start our school time after breakfast. -om prepares the lesson plans on ,unday for the upcoming week. De cover the following areas dailyG "Eible", ",ign 2anguage", "5eading" (-om reads storybooks from the library at this time. De read all kinds. De especially en8oy books with rhymes, as well as stories.), ".honics", "Driting", ")rithmetic", and "5eadiness ,kills". De do the following sub8ects some time during the week, ",cienceH/ealth", ",ocial ,tudies", "-usic", ")rtsH+rafts", and ".1".

De usually do school in twenty to thirty minute intervals and then stop for a while and do something fun or work on household chores together. <ur two year old&s activities are much more "hands on" than our four year olds. <ur daughter is learning to read, so we do her 5eading time when the baby and two year old are laying down for their naps in the afternoon. "his takes about twenty minutes and then she also lays down. De usually are finished with all of our school time by naptime. <ccasionally we will finish up some activities after naptime if we have had morning errands. %or us, it is better to do things that re*uire more concentration first thing in the morning because the children are fresher and can pick up information much easier at this time.
() Jo matter how much time and effort parents put in to finding a child care service, it is almost inevitable that problems will arise at some stage. =ealing with these concerns as soon as they come to hand is the best way of ensuring a satisfactory outcome for you, your child and the care provider. Managing Complaints In )ustralia child care services are re*uired to develop and follow grievance andHor complaints handling procedures, however, many parents are unaware of this and are unsure about the most effective way of dealing with their concerns. -ake a point of asking your service about its complaints handling procedures before you enrol your child. Dhere possible you should follow the established procedures when you have a concern. "he issues parents have in relation to their service can usually be divided into two categories. "he first group of concerns are personal and relate to individual worries about the care given to a particular child, or differences in belief about the best ways to care for a child. ,ome common examples of these kinds of complaints are carers letting children get dirty during the day or not giving children enough to eat. "hese concerns are best dealt with through direct communication with your care provider or the director of the service your child attends and can often be dealt with through a simple chat when the matter first comes to hand. "he second category of issues regularly identified by parents are to do with child care services which break the rules and regulations governing how they are supposed to operate.

,ome examples of rule violations are child care services which care for more children than they are licensed for, the use of inappropriate discipline and leaving children unattended. "he )ustralian +hildren&s 1ducation and +are Xuality )uthority ()+1+X)) is the new national body working to ensure that child care services stick to the established rules and provide high *uality early childhood education under the new Jational Xuality %ramework. /owever, the ,tate and "erritory :overnments are responsible for dealing with concerns and complaints about individual services so if you have spoken to your service about your concerns and feel they are not responding or following the complaintsHgrievance procedure you can contact the relevant regulatory authority in your ,tate or "erritory to complain. +lick here to identify who you should contact. The Importance o Communication :ood communication is a key part of avoiding or reducing complaints and ideally should begin before your child enters the care service. )n easy6to6read written agreement outlining how the care arrangement will operate will serve as a reminder of each party&s obligations. "his agreement should be reviewed regularly to take in to account any changes in the relationship. Eoth parents and carers have an obligation to stick to the guidelines set out in this agreement and should work on changing rules which aren&t working. ,uccessful compromises can often be worked out when the parents and carers like and trust each other and ultimately this will be in the best interests of your child. !ealing "ith #roblems "alking with your care provider as soon as a problem emerges will help you resolve your concerns *uickly and effectively, consider the following points before you have the conversationG

+learly identify your concerns and know how you would like to resolve them L adopt a problem solving approach to the conversation. Ee very clear about where you stand on the issue and think about what you would be willing to compromise on and what, in your opinion, is non6negotiable in the development of a solution. Ee sure to choose an appropriate time and location to explain your concerns. It may not be constructive to hold the discussion in front of your child or other parents. )dopt a tactful non6accusatory manner and be sure to cover positives as well as negatives. "his will help to reassure the carer that the concern isn&t personal. "ake time to listen to the carer&s point of view and make sure you clarify facts and feelings until you arrive at a common understanding of the problem.

"ry to finish the conversation with an understanding about how the situation will be progressed, even if you agree to disagree and decide to move your child to another service. 2et your care provider know if, in your opinion, the situation improves and if it doesn&t either contact your ,tate authority or explore the possibility of moving your child in to another service.

4 (a) *arly childhood education should address the moral development of the child, especially the
caring and compassionate aspects of morality. +hat could be more important than teaching our children a sense of caring and social responsibility, +e might teach them reading, writing, math, and computer skills. +e might teach them about business, history, and geography. -ut if we neglect to teach them to be caring and compassionate, have we really given them all they need for fulfilling their potential and achieving a sense of )oy and satisfaction in their lives,

Moral Development .ome people argue that moral development and a sense of caring are values to be fostered at home rather than at school. owever, the teaching of these values doesn/t seem to be happening, as evidenced by the behaviors and attitudes of many adults in our society. 0 recent book by David Callahan 1The Cheating Culture2 +hy 3ore 0mericans 0re Doing +rong to 4et 0head, 25567 presents a volume of research data on the selfish nature of our culture today and people/s willingness to 8do wrong9 to get ahead. 0s Callahan/s work indicates, our current culture reflects a serious lack of social responsibility and an unhealthy compulsion to succeed at any cost. 0ddressing this moral crisis will take more than the assumption : or wish : that children will )ust naturally evolve into caring adults who choose to make socially responsible decisions.

(E) <ne of the most challenging endeavors is getting a child with autism to be more independent and assertive. .rofessionals and parents agree that this goal is crucial, however many children with autism remain deficient in this area of independent functioning because of a lack of comprehensive understanding of each childKs sensory, social and cognitive challenges. ) complete functional profile is necessary to create effective approaches to treatment and education. :oal setting processes need to include incremental steps that can be understood by the child. <ver6focusing on the achievement of the goal can overshadow the importance of what is learned by the child in the steps leading towards goal achievement. "he steps should be 1) visually clear, $) at the appropriate cognitive level, and ') within the current physical and emotional profile of the child. "he mastery of the steps that lead towards goal fulfillment increases self6esteem and competence, which are essential components of becoming an initiating, more independent person.

<bstacles to =eveloping Independence in +hildren with )utism "he difficulty in developing self perpetuating skills of independence for autistic children can be explained by understanding how the core deficits of the disorder affect all necessary capacities to be independent. "he developmental areas most affected by autism are 1) language and communication, $) social functioning, and ') cognitive functioning. "hese reduced capacities limit or nullify the childKs ability to tell others what they want or need, inhibit feelings of empathy towards others, and limit independent problem solving skills. "hose limits, in turn, affect the childKs ability to develop a plan that leads to action. It is important, therefore, for teachers, therapists and parents to develop processes or systems that take the childKs deficit areas into consideration when setting goals for independent functioning. %or example, if the goal for a child who has motor planning and se*uencing problems is to be able to sit down at their desk and independently take out the appropriate supplies to start a task, the process should include incremental steps that lead to independence such asG

Ysing a series of pictures which show the child doing each step of the task have the child watch another child model the action, have the child read directions about what to do from a cue card, have the child take out one item at a time and build up to more steps /ave the child name the items he or she needs, have the child point to each item (with or without language) Yse signing to guide actions

)ny of the above steps begin to shape the behavior toward initiative and independence because they take into consideration physical, cognitive sensory and language strengths or weaknesses. 5ewarding the child with positive reinforcement for each step they are able to master encourages repetition of the action and more unprompted, spontaneous behavior. "he 5ole of 2anguage )c*uisition /ave you ever noticed how talking affects your behaviorZ "hink about a time when you found yourself taking action after telling someone how you felt about a situation. %or example, sometimes after we express hurt, we may decide to leave a situation or ask a person for an apology. "hese independent, assertive actions are motivated by the words we express, as if those words were a map showing us what to do in certain circumstances. Dhen we use words to clarify what we want or feel, we feel more empowered to take action. In that sense language is Bself6promptingC in that it serves as a catalyst for independent action. De are driven to take initiative as a way of getting understood or having our needs met. :oal plans developed for children with autism must include speech goals that teach assertive language as well as Bself talkC. "he ability to turn words into communication to ourselves also strengthens our ability to figure out what to do, or what to say further to others. ,elf talk becomes the precursor to expressive language and speech therapists

should include Bself directing and self reflectiveC self6talk goals in the treatment plan. %or example, when a child wants to ask another child to share something with them, that child would be more inclined to ask if they had thoughts such asG

B@ohnny is a nice boy.C BI will ask in a nice way.C BI will offer to share something with him.C BI will promise not to break it.C

"hese self6assertions lessen anxiety, which in turn promotes less resistance to taking a verbal or physical action. %or a child in the same situation with more limited cognitive and language abilities, the steps towards developing more independent communication and behavior might includeG

.ointing to the desired item and saying, BpleaseK# /aving an adult verbally or physically model the re*uest# "eaching the child to say B2etKs shareC# 1n8oying the desired item in 8oint play and saying B"hank you.C Driting the re*uest on paper or having the child write the re*uest

"he more words or other forms of communication a child has the ability to use, the easier it will be for them to take the initiative towards getting what they want or need. <nce that child begins to see that their words, signs or writings have an effect on getting what they want or need, he or she will become more motivated to use language for communication with others, and as a result will become more behaviorally assertive. [ a) -anage temper tantrums and aggressive behaviour of children )re you worried about aggressive behavior childrenZ =oes a child you know exhibit aggressive behaviors. =o you want to learn more about aggression in children and how to helpZ $ggressi%e children worry their parents and teachers& "hey disrupt lessons in school and hurt, intimidate and frighten other children. "hey may be argumentative and verbally aggressive. )ggressive behavior children may also have difficulty controlling their temper and are easily upset and annoyed by others. "hey are often defiant and may appear angry and resentful. 'nless we inter%ene to help these children( they are at risk o de%eloping serious beha%ior disorders like )ppositional !e iant !isorder or Conduct !isorder& )s their problems increase, their aggressive behaviors threaten the safety of other children. Dhen the problems of aggressive behavior children escalate to this level, some are expelled or suspended from school. "he protection of the other children and their teachers is the prime concern when this occurs.

)ther children e*hibit aggressi%e beha%iors that are less e*treme or problematic( but worrisome nonetheless& "hey may slap or poke other children or pinch them. ,ome children throw small ob8ects or bang and break things when they are angry and upset. <thers have temper tantrums and kick or scream. Some children are %erbally aggressi%e& "hey call other children names, they threaten and tease them or they use emotional control to victimi9e and push other children around. "hey might ostraci9e them and spread rumors about them. +egardless o the le%el o aggression( it is important to inter%ene early to help aggressi%e beha%ior children& )ggressive children need to learn how to control their behaviors and manage anger and conflict without resorting to aggression. De need to teach them alternative ways to solve problems. "hat Causes $ggression in Children,. Multiple actors interact to oster aggression in children& In some cases, for example, the interaction between the childKs temperament andHor a genetic predisposition and environmental influences (e.g. ineffective parenting or stress) increases a childKs reliance on aggression as a ma8or coping strategy. Some o the multiple actors that contribute to aggression in children include the ollowing-