FLIP IT

FLIPT IT is a strategy designed to help us deal with and "transform" challenging behaviors in young kids (up to 8 yrs old). It was introduced to me by the staff at Head Start. I think it is amazing and works wonders with little preschool guys and gals. It really helps them learn replacement behaviors rather than just get rid of behaviors we don't want to see. I think the Devereux Early Childhood Initiative owns the rights to this strategy and even conducts trainings on how to use it, so of course I want to give them credit for it. Click here if you would like more information.

And here is a basic breakdown of the FLIP IT strategy with an example of how to use it.

Feelings
Limits
Inquiries
Prompts

Here is an example of how to use FLIP IT: Say that two preschool children are playing together. One child, Johnny, is excited to play with a truck. Ben decides he wants the same truck and grabs it before Johnny has a chance and begins playing with it. Johnny pushes Ben and steals the truck away from him. An adult could intervene using FLIP IT by first identifying Johnny's FEELING: "Looks like you felt disappointed when Ben took the truck you wanted to play with." Then, the adult could state the LIMITS for Johnny. "But we don't hurt others." Then, the adult could make INQUIRIES into what other options Johnny has for dealing with his disappointment: "What else could you do instead of hurting Ben?" and then PROMPT Johnny with an option: "I'll bet if you asked Ben if you could have a turn after he's done, he would share that truck with you."