TITLE OF PRESENTATION
Building Blocks for Teaching Young Children of All Abilities: Dealing with Challenging Behaviors in the Classroom
Embedded Learning Opportunities in Early Childhood Classrooms
Julie Ashmun, MEd, BCBA [email protected] (206) 221-4482
Agenda and Objectives
• Identify child learning targets for embedded instruction
• Select appropriate times and activities for embedded instruction
• Develop instructional plans for child learning targets
Resources & Materials for Training Today (University of Washington, College of Education)
• Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs, 2nd Ed. (2008) by Susan Sandall, Ilene Schwartz, Gail Joseph and others
• National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (NCQTL)
– ncqtl.org
• Childcare Quality and Early Learning (CQEL)
– cqel.org
• Head Start Center for Inclusion
– headstartinclusion.org
Social and
Emotional Support
Well-Organized
Classrooms
Instructional
Interactions Quality Early Childhood Program
Curriculum Modifications & Adaptations
Embedded Learning Opportunities
Child-focused Instructional
Strategies
BUILDING BLOCKS
Social and
Emotional Support
Well-Organized
Classrooms
Instructional
Interactions
Curriculum Modifications & Adaptations
Embedded Learning Opportunities
Child-focused Instructional
Strategies
BUILDING BLOCKS
BLOCKS OF THE FOUNDATION
Social and Emotional Support
Well-Organized Classrooms
Instructional Interactions
• The first major block of this foundation:
• Be intentional in interactions with children and
in setting up the classroom environment.
Plan engaging activities for children and think ahead about
how you will engage with children during those activities to
foster learning and development.
• Make the most out of every moment. See every moment in the classroom as an opportunity to support children’s learning and development.
HOW TO BUILD A SOLID FOUNDATION
BUILDING BLOCKS
Quality Early Childhood Program
Curriculum Modifications & Adaptations
Embedded Learning Opportunities
Child-focused Instructional
Strategies
EMBEDDED LEARNING
Foundation
How will progress will be monitored?
When/where instruction will occur?
How will we teach the skills?
EMBEDDED LEARNING: WHAT IS IT?
Short teaching episodes WITHIN activities and routines that already exist
MORE OPPORTUNITIES
MORE FREQUENT
HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT?
High Quality Instructional Interaction
Highly Individualized
Learning Targets scope/sequence for all children
driven by child’s learning objective
Teacher/child interaction
Learning is reciprocal and at least partially guided by child
Ensuring instruction occurs with an obligatory response from child
Strategies individualized but widely used with all children
Specialized instructional strategies used and are isolated to this learning episode
Progress monitoring
Often by portfolio Systematic and often trial by trial
QUALITY OF FEEDBACK--SCAFFOLDING
High Quality Instructional Interaction
• Hints
• Assistance
• Prompting thought
process
Highly Individualized
• You know they don’t
know the concept
• Provide these cues or
assistance before the
child is incorrect
• More systematic about
the feedback
EMBEDDED LEARNING: BENEFITS
Minimal changes to classroom activities
Skills are used with a variety of people and materials
Skills are used in natural contexts
Motivation to participate and learn should be enhanced
PLANNING FOR EMBEDDED LEARNING
OPPORTUNITIES
Identify what skill to teach
Develop teaching plan
• Break skill down if necessary
• ELO-At-A- Glance
Plan when to teach
• Activity matrix
Evaluate Effectiveness
EMBEDDED LEARNING:
WHAT TO TEACH?
When a child is struggling to participate, they are
either missing the skill or motivation to do so.
Can’t do vs. Won’t do
How do we determine if the child has not learned the skill or is not motivated to
demonstrate skill acquisition?
BREAK IT DOWN-WHY?
• All staff understand the skill they are
teaching.
• Each broken-down step can be
accomplished within a few weeks.
• Progress on objectives means progress
toward the goal!
BREAK DOWN GOALS
Determine
the child’s
progress on
the goal.
Break down
the goal
into smaller
parts.
Order the
parts for
teaching,
starting at
the current
level of
progress.
1
2
3
Breaking it Down
You have a child that is struggling with conflicts. The child often says things like, “That’s mine,” “I had it first,”), and there is a lot grabbing which escalates.
Let’s figure out how to teach skills that will reduce these behaviors. What first?
BREAKING-IT-DOWN
Current Skill Level: Says that’s mine, grabs toys.
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3: Resolves conflicts by sharing & taking turns.
Building Blocks
Quality Early Childhood Program
Curriculum Modifications & Adaptations
Embedded Learning Opportunities
Child-focused Instructional
Strategies
When to Use CFIS:
The child is making very slow progress
The child must learn a critical skill
The child must learn independent living skills
The child’s objective is unique
Child Focused Instructional Strategy (CFIS)
• Short teaching interactions used to teach a skill, often called a Planned Instructional Sequence (PInS), teaching loop or discrete trial
• Occurs more frequently than an ELO
• Does not always occur in the context of an activity; may be 1:1 (pull-aside)
When to Use CFIS….
“Everyday we talk about shapes at circle and we
frequently do art projects with shapes, but Naomi still
doesn’t know any”
“When it is time to move from one activity to another,
Aiden often screams and hits. We have tried giving him a warning, but it isn’t
working”
“Nevaeh’s family wants her talk more. Right now she
usually uses 1 word to ask for things”
THE TEACHING LOOP OR PLANNED
INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE
Step 1: Provide the child
with a cue.
(Antecedent)
Step 2: Give assistance.
Step 3: Observe the
child’s response.
Step 4: Give immediate
feedback.
(Consequence)
STEP 1: PROVIDING THE CUE
Given when you have
the child’s attention
• Given only one time
• Given clearly and
concisely
EXAMPLES OF CUES
“Show me
how you
jump down with two
feet!”
“What do
you think will
happen
next?”
Insufficient materials are
intentionally set out to elicit
a request from the child.”
A teacher points to the
closed door to the
playground, to cue the child
to say the word “open.”
“What
color is the
top
block?”
A teacher shows a child a
picture of a clean-up bucket
to cue the child to clean up.
STEP 2: GIVING ASSISTANCE
• Assistance is given
before the child
responds.
• Assistance is given
with a calm and kind
demeanor.
• The correct amount
of assistance is
planned in advance.
STEP 4: GIVING IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK
• Feedback is given
immediately after the
child responds.
• Feedback is clear.
• Feedback is behavior
specific—the feedback
matches exactly what the
child has just accomplished.
CORRECTING ERRORS
• Errors are corrected immediately
after a child responds.
• Errors are corrected with
encouragement and reassurance.
• Errors are corrected without
interrupting the flow of learning.
Planning Instruction Identify the target behavior:
• Across at least 3 different activities
throughout the day, Mia will verbally name
at least 3 different colors of regular
preschool classroom objects (e.g. color of
cup, ball, marker, and block) for 9/10 trials
for 3 consecutive days
36
Identifying the Behavior
Antecedent Behavior Consequence
What do you say
or do?
What, if any,
assistance, do you
provide?
What does the
child do?
verbally name at
least 3 different
colors of regular
preschool
classroom objects
How do you
respond?
Selecting the Antecedents
• What are the natural antecedents for this behavior?
– A direction
– Materials
– A situation
– A previous behavior in a chain
• How much help does this child need?
39
Developing the Plan
Antecedent Behavior Consequence
What do you say or do?
Ask Mia what color an
object is. “Mia, what
color is this ball?”
What, if any, assistance,
do you provide?
Model correct response
(e.g., “it’s red”)
What does the
child do?
Verbally name at
least 3 different
colors of regular
preschool
classroom objects
How do you
respond?
Selecting the Consequences
• What are the natural consequences for
this behavior?
– Gets access to toy, material, activity
– Continues the interaction
– Receives acknowledgement
– Understands learning or mastering
• How much additional feedback does
this child need?
Developing the Plan Antecedent Behavior Consequence
What do you say or
do?
Ask Mia what color
an object is. “Mia,
what color is this
ball?”
What, if any,
assistance, do you
provide?
Model correct
response (e.g., “it’s
red”)
What does the
child do?
verbally name at
least 3 different
colors of regular
preschool
classroom
objects
How do you respond?
Provide Mia with praise and
encouragement. “Wow, you
are right, that is a red ball!”
If incorrect:
Provide verbal corrective
feedback to Mia giving her
the correct answer. “This is
a red ball”. Then ask her
the question again, “What
color is this ball?”. She
should then give the correct
response.
EMBEDDED LEARNING: WHEN TO
TEACH?
• Has anyone used an activity matrix?
• How have you used activity matrices?
ACTIVITY MATRIX
Mia Addie Carlos
Arrival
Free Play
Circle
Outside
Meal
Class Activity
Departure
Transitions
Labels an emotion
Labels an emotion
Labels an emotion
AN ACTIVITY MATRIX
1. Is an effective way to organize
teaching and learning opportunities.
2. Maximizes learning time by planning
for teaching to occur throughout all
activities, routines, and transitions.
3. Helps all staff be aware of individual
child learning objectives.
4. Matches the child’s learning
objective to the activity.
5. Can be implemented for any child,
but is especially useful for those who
need extra support.
CREATING AN ACTIVITY MATRIX
Mia Addie
Arrival
Free Play
Circle
Outside
Meal
Class
Activity
Departure
Transitions
Step 2: List children in the top row. Step 1: List the activities and times of day in the left-hand column of the chart. • Talks about people or objects in
view
• Responds when another child initiates an interaction
• Talks about people or objects in view
• Invites another child to play • Identifies the problem in a
conflict with another child
• Labels an emotion
TIPS FOR IMPLEMENTING: START SMALL
Mia
Arrival
Free Play Talks about people or
objects in view
Circle
Outside Responds when
another child initiates
an interaction
Meal
Class Activity Sorts a collection by
color
Departure Responds when
another child initiates
an interaction
Transitions Talks about people or
objects in view
Addie
Invites another child to
play
Identifies the problem
in a conflict with
another child
Labels an emotion
Invites another child to
play
Identifies the problem
in a conflict with
another child
Labels an emotion
Labels an emotion
Carlos
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
TIPS FOR IMPLEMENTING: START SMALL
Mia Addie Carlos
Arrival
Free Play Talks about people or
objects in view
Invites another child to
play
Identifies the problem
in a conflict with
another child
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Circle Labels an emotion
Outside Responds when
another child initiates
an interaction
Invites another child to
play
Identifies the problem
in a conflict with
another child
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Meal Labels an emotion
Class Activity Sorts a collection by
color
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Departure Responds when
another child initiates
an interaction
Transitions Talks about people or
objects in view
Labels an emotion
TIPS FOR IMPLEMENTING:
MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU!
Mia Addie Carlos
Arrival
Free Play Talks about people or
objects in view
Invites another child to
play
Identifies the problem
in a conflict with
another child
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Circle Labels an emotion
Outside Responds when
another child initiates
an interaction
Invites another child to
play
Identifies the problem
in a conflict with
another child
Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Meal Labels an emotion
Class Activity Writes using pictures,
squiggles or letterlike
forms
Departure Responds when
another child initiates
an interaction
Transitions Talks about people or
objects in view
Labels an emotion
• Sorts a collection by color
• Sorts a collection by color
TIPS FOR IMPLEMENTING:
PROVIDE THE RIGHT MATERIALS
Mia Addie Carlos
Arrival
Free Play Talks about people
or objects in view
Invites another
child to play
Identifies the
problem in a
conflict with
another child
Writes using
pictures, squiggles
or letterlike forms
Circle Labels an emotion
Outside Responds when
another child
initiates an
interaction
Invites another
child to play
Identifies the
problem in a
conflict with
another child
Writes using
pictures, squiggles
or letterlike forms
Meal Labels an emotion
Class
Activity
Sorts a collection
by color
Writes using
pictures, squiggles
or letterlike forms
Departure Responds when
another child
initiates an
interaction
Transitions Talks about people
or objects in view
Labels an emotion
EMBEDDED LEARNING: EVALUATE
• Has the child learned the skill?
– Yes: Identify next skill (if appropriate)
– Not yet: Continue teaching
– No: Change teaching plan, consider
increasing support
REVIEW
• Maximize learning time by organizing
opportunities for learning.
• All staff are able to participate in
teaching.
• Format can be made in various ways to
better work for your classroom.
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