PowerPoint presentation from Reach for the Stars, 03-31-12

1. Reach for the Stars

2. Individual-small group activity…
• On a sticky, jot down the challenging
behavior that pushes your “HOT
BUTTON”.
• Think about a child who exhibits this
behavior
• How do you feel when around this child?
• We have trouble separating the child from
the behavior. We see the child as the
challenge.

3. Large group activity…
• Reframe it! When we reframe our thoughts,
we feel differently about the child.
• Instead of: “This child is a monster! I hope
he moves far away!”
• Tell yourself: “He is testing me to see where
the limits are. My job is to stay calm and help
him learn better ways to behave.”
• Instead of: “Wonder if Sheetz is hiring?”
• Tell yourself: “I feel undervalued right now. I
need to talk to my supervisor and get
support.”

4. Challenging behaviors
• Interfere with children‟s learning,
development and/or play
• Are harmful to the child or others around
them
• Put the child at risk for future social and
school challenges

5. Challenging behaviors
• Can be either direct or indirect
– Direct:
• Hitting, pushing, pinching, spitting, etc.
– Indirect:
• Bullying, teasing, ignoring rules, refusing to share,
excluding others, etc.

6. Sources of challenging behaviors:
• Pregnancy and birth complications
• Prenatal exposure to toxic substances
• Developmental delays
• Improper nourishment
• Attention issues
• Temperament
• Gender
• Poverty and social conditions surrounding it
• Exposure to violence
• Parenting style, family factors
• Low quality child care

7. Skills children need to succeed
• Confidence
• Ability to develop positive and healthy
relationships with peers and adults
• Concentration and persistence on
challenging tasks
• Ability to effectively communicate
emotions
• Ability to listen to instructions and be
attentive
• Ability to solve social problems

8. What we know…
• Challenging behavior usually has a
message (I am bored, I am sad, you hurt
my feelings, I need some attention)
• Children often use challenging behavior
when they don‟t have the social or
communication skills they need to engage
in more appropriate interactions
• Behavior that persists over time is usually
working for the child
• We need to focus on teaching children
what to do in place of the challenging
behavior

9. Promoting children’s success
• Create an environment where EVERY
child feels good about coming to school
• Design an environment that promotes
child engagement
• Focus on teaching children what to do!
– Teach expectations and routines
– Teach skills that children can use in place of
challenging behaviors

10. Center on the Social Emotional
Foundations of Early Learning
Only 3-10% of
children will have
Individualized persistent
Intensive
Interventions challenges
Intentional teaching
of social skills and Social Emotional
emotional regulation
Teaching Strategies
High quality ECE
Designing Supportive programs should
Environments naturally support
this!
Building Positive Relationships

11. Major Messages
• The 1st and most important thing we can do is
build positive relationships
• Focus on prevention and teaching
appropriate skills.
• Promoting social emotional development is
not easy. There are no quick fixes to
challenging behavior.
• It requires a comprehensive approach that
includes building relationships, evaluating our
own classrooms and behaviors, and
TEACHING.

12. Building Positive
Relationships

13. Building relationships
• Helps children feel accepted in the group
• Assists children and learning to
communicate get along with others
• Encourages feelings of empathy and
mutual respect among children and adults
• Provides a supportive environment in
which children can learn practice
appropriate and acceptable behaviors as
individuals and as a group

14. Food for thought…
“Every child needs one person
who is crazy about him.”
~Uri Bronfrenbrenner

15. First National Bank of Relationship

16. Ideas for making deposits
• Greet each child by name as they arrive
• Post children‟s work around the room
• Have a “star” of the week
• Allow children to bring in items from home
and share during circle time
• Call it the child‟s parent in front of them to say
what a great day they are having
• Call a child after a difficult day and say, “I‟m
sorry we had a tough day today. I know
tomorrow will be better”

17. Ideas for making deposits
• Give hugs, high-fives and thumbs up for
accomplishing tasks
• When they are absent, tell them how much
you missed them
• Write on a T-shirt all the special things about
a given child and let them wear it
• Find out a child‟s favorite book and read it to
the whole class
• Play with children, following their lead
• Have children create an “All About Me” book
and share them at circle time

18. The bank deposit…
• Child level
• Taps into interests
• Knows about their „world‟
• Facial expressions, excitement
• Shares personal experiences
• Engaged in play
• Joke and laugh

19. Designing Supportive
Environments

20. Classroom arrangement and design
Traffic patterns:
• Minimize large open spaces
• Minimize obstacles and other hazards
• Consider the needs of children with
physical and sensory disabilities
Question… how does the following picture
address physical and sensory issues?

22. Classroom arrangement and design
Learning Centers: Physical Design
• Clear boundaries
• Visibility
• Visual prompts when centers are not an option
• Adequate number of centers
• Size and location of centers
• Number of children in centers
• Organization of materials
• Preparation of centers

23. Classroom arrangement and design
Learning Centers:
• Create meaningful and engaging learning
centers that:
– Are relevant to children‟s needs, interests and
lives
– Are highly engaging and interesting
– Provide a variety of materials in each center
– Are changed and rotated on a regular basis

24. Stand in the center of the room…
• Is there a clear entry to each center?
• Is each center inviting?
• Are there enough materials? (3 units of play per
child in center)
• Is there a system for entering and exiting centers?
• Are centers and materials/shelves labeled?
• Is there a rotation of materials?
• Are materials highly engaging?
• Are the activities relevant to children‟s needs,
interests and lives?

25. Activity…
With a group of 3-4,
discuss these two
writing centers.
What strengths do
they have? What
are your concerns?

26. Activity… This is your
circle time area. Put
your class in it. What
would happen?
Now… Redesign it!

27. Schedules and routines
Develop a schedule that promotes child
engagement and success. To do this:
• Balance activities
– Active and quiet
– Small group and large group
– Teacher directed and child directed
• Teach children the schedule
• Establish a routine and follow it consistently
– When changes are necessary, prepare children ahead of time

28. Visual schedules

29. Visual schedules
Change Diaper Wash Breakfast Music
Use real objects.

30. Visual schedules

31. Visual schedules

33. 1. Turn on water. 2. Wet hands.
3. Get soap. 4. Rinse hands.

34. 5. Turn off water. 6. Dry hands.
7. Throw away towel. 8. Go play.

36. Activity Turn-Taking Cue

37. Large group activity…
• You scheduled water play outside for
today. Everyone is excited. Now there is
a tornado warning and it‟s raining.
– What do you do?

38. Transitions
Plan for transitions
• Minimize the number of transitions that children have
during the day.
• Minimize the length of time children spend waiting with
nothing to do.
• Prepare children for transitions by providing a warning.
• Structure the transitions so that children have something
to do while they wait.
• Teach children the expectations related to transitions.
• Individualize supports and cues.

39. The transition train…
• What did you see happen?

40. The transition train…
• What did you see happen?

41. Transitions
• Timer transition

42. Transitions
• With a visual

43. Transitions
• With a choice

44. Individual Schedule
First Then

45. Giving directions
• Make sure you have the children‟s
attention before you give the direction
• Minimize the number directions given
• Individualize the way directions are given
• Give clear directions

46. Giving directions
• Give directions that are positive
• Give children the opportunity to respond to
a direction
• When appropriate, give the child choices
and options for following directions
• Follow through with positive
acknowledgment of children‟s behavior

47. General guidelines for rules
• Few and simple
• Involve the children in developing
• Post visually
• Teach them systematically
• They generally address:
– Noise level
– Movement inside
– Interactions with property
– Interactions with adults
– Interactions with peers

48. Fun ways to reinforce rules
• Rules Bingo
• Make a big book about school rules
• Playing “rule charades”

49. Circle time rules

52. Rules…
• What did you see happen?

53. Rules…
• What did you see happen?

54. Ongoing monitoring and positive
attention
• Give children attention when they‟re
engaging inappropriate behaviors
• Monitor our behavior to ensure that we‟re
spending more time using positive,
productive language and less time giving
directions or correcting inappropriate
behavior

55. Positive Feedback and
Encouragement
1. Contingent on appropriate behavior
2. Descriptive
3. Conveyed with enthusiasm
4. Contingent on effort

56. Using positive feedback and
encouragement
• Use both verbal and nonverbal forms
• Individualized use based on child‟s needs
and preferences
• Encourage other adults and peers to use
positive feedback and encouragement

57. Large group activity…
• Count the number of positive comments
the teacher makes (and positive non-
verbals)
• What types of comments and nonverbal
behaviors did the teacher demonstrate?

58. Positive attention…
• What did you see happen?

59. Small group activity…
• Select one of the following scenarios and
brainstorm ways you could encourage that
child
– Gabe hangs his coat up in his cubby
– Cecilia sits down and draws a picture
– Nolan washes his hands before lunch
– Fatima keeps her hands to herself during
circle time
– Zoe says, “Teacher… Look at me!” after she
built the tower of blocks

60. Teaching Social Emotional Skills
• Why? • We don‟t ask why we
teach letters and
• When? numbers. They need
• What? these skills to be
successful in life
• Circle time, small group
time, teachable moments,
times of crisis
• How to be a good friend,
sharing, listening, helping
others, etc.

61. Identifying Teachable Moments

62. Stages of Learning
• Acquisition – new skill or concept
• Fluency – the ability to immediately use
the skill or concept without a prompt
• Maintenance – continuing to use the skill
or concept over time
• Generalization – applying the skill or
concept to new situations, people,
activities, ideas, and settings

63. Friendship Skills
• Think about children who are well liked
and friendly…
• What do you notice about their behavior
that makes it easier for them to make
friends?

64. Friendship Skills
• Gives suggestions (play organizers)
• Shares toys and other materials
• Takes turns (reciprocity)
• Is helpful
• Gives compliments
• Understands how and when to give an
apology
• Begins to empathize

66. Play Organizers
• Describe skill
– Get a friend‟s attention
– Give a friend a toy
– Offer suggestions of what to do with
toys/materials
• Demonstrate skill
• Practice
• Promote

68. Sharing
• Describe skill
– Child has materials
– Offers or responds to request from peer for
materials
• Demonstrate skill
• Practice
• Promote

70. Being Helpful – Team Player
• Describe skill
– Children might assist each other
– Tell or show a friend how to do something
– Assist a friend in distress
• Demonstrate skill
• Practice
• Promote

72. Taking Turns
• Describe skill
– “You take a turn, I take a turn”
– Might ask for a turn with a toy
– Might initiate turn taking games
• Demonstrate skill
• Practice
• Promote

73. Giving Compliments
• Describe skill
– Verbal – say things like: “Good job _____! or I
like the way you _____!”
– Physical – Do things like: Hug, pat on the
shoulder, high five
• Demonstrate skill
• Practice
• Promote

75. Knowing How & When to Apologize
• Describe skill
– Children might say, “I‟m sorry I hit you when
you took my ball.”
– “I didn‟t mean to push you.”
• Demonstrate skill
• Practice
• Promote

76. Setting the Stage for Friendship
• Inclusive setting
• Cooperative use toys
• Embed opportunities
• Social interaction goals and objectives
• Atmosphere of friendship

77. Strategies for Developing
Friendship Skills
• Modeling
• Preparing peer partners
• Buddy system
• Reinforcement

78. Activities to Support Friendship
Skill Development
• Friendship Can
• Planting Seeds of Friendship
• Friendship Tree/Compliment Tree
• Books about Friendships
• Friendship Quilt
• Friendship Journal
• Music/Songs