Reactions or “Bad” Behaviors In The Classroom
My Child Hates School or Misbehaves While At School!
A child in the classroom starts to yell and throw items, or runs around in circles yelling the same words over and over. The instinct of many parents and teachers is to assume that the child is exhibiting bad behavior. However, if the parent takes two steps back, they may be surprised to see that the behavior may actually be a reaction to the environment.
For example, one teacher often used the dry-erase markers from the white-board (or Sharpie markers) when they made marks on students’ papers. Unknowingly to the teacher, the markers give off an odor when used on paper. This odor would cause one child to experience chills and pain in their body, causing them to start crying for (what seemed as) no reason.
Case Study:
In first grade, the child was too young to comprehend or communicate what was happening to them. He just correlated the teacher with the markers to feeling sick and in pain. As these feelings of fear and anguish festered, the child started to develop a hatred toward the teacher and even school.
Symptoms of sensitive smell or sensory overload:
- Feeling overwhelmed, anxious
- Irritability, agitated, restlessness, anger
- Loss of focus
- Restlessness
- Crying
- Stress
- Trouble sleeping or poor sleep quality
- Closing the eyes
- Covering the face
- Hands over the ears
- Alternating times of difficulty communicating
- Avoiding specific places or situations
- Running away from specific places or situations
Scent and emotion are intertwined; hence a child that has a negative experience to a certain scent may react instantaneously when exposed to the scent again. This “scent memory” can create issues for the child as they mature. For example, the computer classroom is wiped down with scented wipes after every group of students. A sensitive child correlates feeling sick with using computers and learning programs. Hence, the child starts to develop an unconscious dislike toward computers.
Another example, a child refuses to read. The child can read complicated words on signs but gets agitated when presented with a book. As a parent or teacher, take two steps back and consider that the child may be sensitive to the actual book. Books can give off odors from the glue, the ink, and the pictures, especially the color images. “Aging” the books can help, but also focusing on books that are made on inexpensive paper and lack color images. For workbook substitutes, consider making black-and-white printouts or tearing pages out of the workbook to present one page at-a-time.
Having a powerful instantaneous response to a smell (obvious to others or not) is unconscious and can occur without the brain processing the reaction in an intellectual manner. The reaction can elicit all sorts of behaviors and emotions overwhelming the child.
When this happens consider supporting the child with hugs rather than reprimanding. Yes, the resulting behavior may be wrong, but the child is often scared, overwhelmed, and unaware what is happening to them. Some children may even lack conscious memory or what transpired but recognize that something “bad” happened by the looks on everyone’s face. Let the child know that they are not alone during this confusing time.
*Research Mama encourages all persons having trouble to seek professional help by a licensed professional.
References:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22286798/.
- https://nhahealth.com/adhd-hypersensitivity/#:~:text=It%20is%20an%20attribute%20common,overwhelmed%20by%20too%20much%20information.
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/sensory-overload#:~:text=Sensory%20overload%20happens%20when%20one,wearing%20a%20strongly%20scented%20perfume.
- https://www.understood.org/en/articles/7-ways-to-help-your-child-cope-with-taste-sensitivity
- https://handsonotrehab.com/the-scent-sory-child-sense-of-smell/
- https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/02/how-scent-emotion-and-memory-are-intertwined-and-exploited/#:~:text=Smells%20are%20handled%20by%20the,related%20to%20emotion%20and%20memory.
