Program-wide PBS in Early Childhood Settings: Working Across Systems

Amy Foster Wolferman & Marcy OttenInstitute for Educational

Research and ServiceThe University of Montana

Tim LewisUniversity of Missouri

Big Ideas

• Program-wide vs. school-wide• Primary focus at classroom level• Data collection challenges• Developmentally appropriate / need for direct instruction

of social behavior• Intensity match intensity of challenges across the

continuum• Apply basic logic of PBS across

– Data, practices, systems

Group Contingency for Appropriate Behavior (Beehive)

WE ARE:BEING SAFE, KINDAND RESPONSIBLE

WE FILLED OUR BEE HIVE TODAY!

Do You Like to Buzz?(sung to the tune of ‘Do Your Ears Hang Low?’)

Do you like to buzz?Are you covered in fuzz?

Do you call a hive a homeIn the garden where you roam?

Do you know how to make honey?Are your stripes a little funny?

Do you like to buzz?

Demonstrate the Labeling and Expression of Emotions

• Model the use of emotion language through real life scenarios: “How do you feel when…?”

• Publicly acknowledge your own mistakes and emotions.

• Expect, accept, and acknowledge all emotions. Express that the issue is how we manage those feelings.

• Teach facial expressions and body language: “When do people smile?”

Demonstrate the Labeling and Expression of Emotions

• Photos of people in various emotional states.

• Provide storybooks on feelings.• Place a mirror in the classroom.• Sing songs about emotions.• Make feelings collages.• Label a child’s feelings, tone, and body

language.

Mood Thermometer

MAD!!UpsetOkayHappy

Teach Friendship Building Skills• Target behaviors and role-play and practice during

area play.• Model phrases to initiate and encourage

interactions.• Peer modeling, peer buddies • Create opportunities for working together (e.g.,

plan by drawing play partners, assign clean-up buddies).

• Utilize activities that require turn-taking and sharing.

• Provide cooperative toys: puppets, 2 phones, board games).

• Provide storybooks on friends.

Implementing Program-wide Positive Behavioral Supports in

MontanaEarly Childhood Montana

Behavioral Initiative (EC MBI)

History of EC MBI

• MBI began 1995• MBI Summer Institute included early

childhood strand 19__• Full EC MBI added 2005– 6 pilot sites– 19 current sites (new and returning)

EC MBI Planning Team

• Core members• What we do– Plan– Address sustainability– Recruit– Develop/contribute to training materials

EC MBI Team Trainings

• Training content and format• How often• Who provides training

EC MBI Site Consultation

• What do EC MBI Consultants provide?– Meet with teams– Provide training– Provide assessment (Pre-SET)– Provide resources– How often?

Sample Resources

• Matrices• Lesson Plans• Effective Teaching Plans• Crisis Behavior Plans• Reward Systems• Social Stories• Visual Prompts• Etc…..

Assessment Tools

EC MBI• Pre-SET• Customized SSARB• SAS• BOQ• TIC• Inventory of Practices• TPOT

MBI• SET• SSARB• SAS• BOQ• TIC• Other…..

Favorite Resources (in no particular order )

• Rebecca Beckner, Ph.D.• Tim Lewis, Ph.D.• CSEFEL• TACSEI• Zero to Three

Early Childhood Organization Membership

• Early Childhood Partnership for Professional Development (ECPPD)

• Division for Early Childhood (DEC)• National Association for the Education of

Young Child (NAEYC)

Challenges• Recruitment • Too few EC MBI Consultants• Keeping EC strand of summer institute fresh

and new• High turnover in early childhood settings• Meeting needs of settings with

infants/toddlers