Promoting Childrens Positive Behavior: It begins with Prevention

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Promoting Childrens Positive Behavior It begins
with Prevention

• Diane Branson MaryAnn Demchak
• Department of Educational Specialties
• Presented at
• NevAEYC Annual 2009 Conference
• Reno, NV
• April 3, 2009

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Contact information

• Diane Branson
• 775-688-0398 or dbranson_at_health.nv.gov
• MaryAnn Demchak
• mad_at_unr.edu

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Purpose of this Presentation

• Report on study piloting use of the Teaching
  Pyramid Observation Tool for Preschool Classrooms
  draft (Hemmeter Fox, 2006) including
• Infant-toddler teachers use of preventative
  practices
• Relationship between quality of childcare center
  and teachers use of preventative practices
• Ideas for implementing preventative practices

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Your Current use of Preventative Practices
Pair/Share

• Turn to the person next to you and discuss
• What strategies do you use to try to prevent
  challenging behavior from happening either at
  work or at home?

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Background

• Estimates of prevalence rates for problem
  behavior of preschool-age children 10 to 20
  (Campbell, 1995Webster-Stratton Hammond, 1998)
• High probability of problem behaviors continuing
  through elementary school and into adolescence
  (Kazdin, 1985 Shaw et al., 2000)

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Background

• Preschool children who display aggressive
  behavior
• Often rejected by peers (Cole Dodge, 1998)
• Receive less positive teacher attention (Strain
  et al., 1983)
• Are less successful in kindergarten and at risk
  for later school failure (Tremblay, 2000)

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Background

• Estimated that only 10 of children receive
  appropriate services (Kazdin Kendall, 1998)
• There is a lack of empirical research on
  intervention strategies for infants and toddlers
  (Dunlap et al., 2006)

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Background

• Important to intervene early to prevent
  development of ongoing problem behaviors
  (Campbell, 1995 Shaw et al., 2000)
• Preventative practices
• Antecedent interventions designed to restructure
  the environment to prevent problem behaviors from
  occurring (Hemmeter Ostrosky, 2003Kern
  Clark, 2005)
• Strategies which help children understand
• Classroom rules
• Classroom routines
• Adult expectations

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Purpose of this Study

• Pilot use of Teaching Pyramid Observation tool
  (Hemmeter Fox, 2006)
• Investigate and compare four community
  infant-toddler classrooms on
• Staff and classroom demographics
• Quality of child care environment
• Current use of classroom preventative practices
• Teacher perception of social validity of using
  preventative practices
• Teacher-reported incidence of children displaying
  challenging behaviors

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Research Questions

• What is the current use of evidence-based
  preventative practices by infant-toddler
  teachers?
• Is there a relationship between
• overall childcare quality use of preventative
  practices?
• teacher use of practices and incidence of
  challenging behavior in the classroom?
• staff family demographics and incidence of
  challenging behavior in the classroom?

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Methods

• Design
• Collective case study
• Observations and in-depth interviews to aid
  understanding of preventative classroom practices

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Methods - contd.

• Participants
• Purposive sampling
• Four licensed infant-toddler classrooms
• Staff or director had contacted Part C EI agency
  for assistance in managing challenging behavior
• Lead teachers in classrooms for children aged 18-
  to 36-months
• Three Caucasian females one Latino female
• Ranged in age from 19 to 56 years
• All some college courses one with CDA degree
• Child care experience ranged from 3 to 20 years

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Data Collection Measures

• Classroom observations on 2 occasions (4 hours in
  each room)
• Evaluation of classroom quality using
  Infant-Toddler Environmental Rating Scale (Harms
  et al., 1990)
• Classroom preventative practices measured using
  draft Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool for
  Preschool Classrooms (Hemmeter Fox, 2006)
• Structured interviews with lead teachers
• Researcher-developed social validity measure
  (perceptions of importance, acceptability, and
  ease of implementing preventative practices)

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Infant/Toddler Environmental Rating Scale (ITERS
Harms, Cryer Clifford, 1990)

• 35 items used to assess the quality of
  center-based childcare for infants and toddlers.
• Items organized under 7 categories
• Furnishings and displays for Children
• Personal Care Routines
• Listening and Talking
• Learning Activities
• Interaction
• Program Structure
• Adult Needs

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ITERS Sample of Scoring Criteria
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Sample of ITERS Scoring
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Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool-Draft (Hemmeter
Fox, 2006)

• TPOT was developed to measure the extent to which
  the Teaching Pyramid practices were being
  implemented in classrooms.
• Can be used to identify professional development
  and support needs of teachers

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Format of TPOT

• Three types of items
• Environmental items (items 1-7) Based on
  classroom observation
• Ratings of preventative practices (items 8-22)
  Based on observation and/or teacher report
• Red Flags (items 23-38) Scored as yes/no based
  on observation
• (from Hemmeter Fox, 2008)

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Environmental Arrangement Items

• Clear boundaries
• Move easily around the room
• Lack of large open spaces
• Adequate number of centers
• Materials support play
• Preparation of centers
• Classroom rules

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Items based on observation and/or teacher report

• Schedules and Routines
• Transitions between activities
• Supportive conversations
• Promoting childrens engagement
• Teaching children behavior expectations
• Providing directions
• Effective strategies to respond to problem
  behavior
• Teaching social skills emotional competencies
• Teaching children to express emotions
• Teaching problem solving
• Supporting friendship skills

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Items scored based on provider report

• Supporting children with persistent problem
  behavior
• Communicating with families to promote
  involvement
• Involving families to support social-emotional
  development and addressing problem behaviors
• Using strategies to build collaborative teaching
  with other adults

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Red Flag Items 23-38

• Sixteen items focusing on practices such as
• Preponderance of teacher-directed interactions
• Inappropriate response to child problem behaviors
  and expression of emotions
• Poor communication with families
• Indicate areas requiring immediate training

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Sample TPOT Item
(from Hemmeter Fox, 2008)
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Sample Item with Scoring Notes
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Sample Interview Item
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Semi-structured Interview

• Interview questions addressed
• Demographic information for teacher and class
• Education and experience
• Follow-up questions to ITERS and TPOT

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Data Analysis

• Interview-themes
• Instruments scored per guidelines
• Comparison of results across tools and measures

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Results Childcare Quality

• Three classrooms excellent quality
• One good quality
• Caregiver-child interactions
• Fewer teacher-initiated interactions for social
  purposes or to recognize positive behaviors
• Classroom arrangement
• No clear boundaries between centers
• Poor arrangement (circle rug next to block area)

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ITERS Results
Legend Preschool 1 Preschool 2
Preschool 3 Preschool 4
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Research Question 1 - What are the classroom
preventative practices of Infant-toddler teachers?
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Comparison of our study data with Hemmeter Fox
(2008) preliminary data with preschool teachers

• Common areas needing improvement
• Schedules
• Teaching behavior expectations
• Teaching problem solving skills
• Area identified as needing improvement with
  preschool teachers and as a strength with
  infant-toddler teachers
• Involving families

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Research Question 2 - What is the relationship
between quality use of preventative practices?
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Question 3 - Is there a relationship between
teacher use of practices and incidence of
challenging behavior in the classroom?
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Question 4 Is there a relationship between
staff and family demographics and incidence of
challenging behavior?

• This study did not provide evidence that poverty
  and cultural diversity increased the incidence of
  challenging behavior.
• EHS classrooms most diverse
• Higher percentage of Latino than Caucasian
  children enrolled
• Only 1 behavior referral in both EHS classes

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What did we learn about preventative practices?

• Managing transitions
• Teaching behavior expectations
• Teaching social-emotional competence
• Teaching problem solving skills
• Supporting children with persistent problem
  behaviors

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Managing transitions

• Desired practices
• Use of zone staffing patterns
• Transition warnings given
• Transition directions linked to previous activity
  (e.g., Slither like a snake to line-up, Bear
  Hunt)
• Areas in need of improvement
• Too many transitions throughout the day
• No warning prior to transition
• Too much waiting for children who followed
  directions

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Teaching Behavior Expectations

• Desired practices
• Verbally stating expectations
• Use your words
• Use gentle hands
• Areas in need of improvement
• No explicit instruction
• Expectations are not posted
• How would you do that with toddlers who dont
  read?

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How do you teach behavior expectations?

• Identify behaviors expected of all children in
  all settings
• Limit to 2 or 3 expectations
• State the expectations in positive terms
• Be consistent across routines

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Expectations/Rule Matrix
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Teach and Acknowledge Expectations
Be a Good Friend
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How could you teach infants and toddlers about
expectations?

• Use visual cues
• Keep the instruction brief and concrete
• Embed instruction about expectations into daily
  activities and routines
• Use a variety of teaching strategies

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Ways to promote expectations

• Books
• Visual cues
• Songs
• Bulletin boards to acknowledge pro-social
  behaviors
• Classroom celebrations

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Visual cues to teach behavior expectations
Use Gentle Hands
Share Toys
Take Turns
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Teaching social skills and emotional competencies

• Desired practices
• Using books and songs
• Teacher-created curriculum units on feelings and
  how to be a friend
• Puppets and role-playing to teach sharing skills
• Using naturally occurring opportunities to teach
  turn-taking and sharing
• Areas needing improvement
• None noted in this study

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Feeling Hat Activity

• Each person draws a feeling face out of the hat
  (envelope)
• When it is your turn
• Label the feeling
• Show how you feel when you feel this way
• Talk about a time that you felt this way in the
  past

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Teaching problem-solving skills

• Desired practices
• Teachers helping children problem-solve social
  problems
• Areas needing improvement
• No explicit teaching of problem-solving skills

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Problem Solving Steps

• Four step process helps children
• Identify their problem
• Think of a solution
• Consider if their solution is safe, fair and
  would not result in someone feeling very sad
• Try the solution

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Supporting children with persistent problem
behavior

• Desired practices
• Teachers involved at some level in developing a
  behavior plan
• Anecdotal data provided
• Areas in need of improvement
• Teachers not fully participating team members
  external expert
• Expert recommendations not always implemented due
  to being viewed as inappropriate
• One preschool reported disenrolling children with
  problem behavior

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Teaching Pyramid

• Positive behavioral support model uses a
  three-tiered approach
• Universal
• Secondary
• Tertiary

From http//www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/
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Tier One- Universal strategies

• All classrooms -- universal strategies used
• Supportive conversations with children
• Responding appropriately to problem behavior
• Teaching emotions
• Supporting families
• Collaboration with other staff members

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Improvements needed at secondary tertiary levels

• Training in effective ways to use visual supports
• Rules, schedules, contingency maps
• Curricula for teaching social skills,
  problem-solving, emotional regulation
• Examples of curricula available at the Technical
  Assistance Center on Social Emotional
  Intervention for Young Children
  http//www.challengingbehavior.org/do/pyramid_mode
  l.htm and the Center on Social Emotional
  Foundations for Early Learning http//www.vanderbi
  lt.edu/csefel/modules.html
• Use of TPOT ITERS for self-evaluation and goal
  setting or program improvement

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Examples of visual supports
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Research related to discussion

• Visual supports reduce challenging behaviors
• Curricular approaches to social skills training
  and instructional approaches support social
  competence (Hemmeter et al., 2006
  Webster-Stratton, 1997 Joseph Strain, 2003)
• Strategies for implementation of behavioral
  training are more effective if adopted
  systematically (Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph,
  Strain, 2003)

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Questions
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References

• Campbell, S. (1995). Behavior problems in
  preschool children A review of recent research.
  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36,
  113-149.
• Cole, J., Dodge, K. (1998). Aggression and
  antisocial behavior. In W. Damon N. Eisenberg
  (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed.,
  Vol. 3, pp. 779-862). New York John Wiley
  Sons.
• Dunlap, G., Conroy, M., Kern, L., Dupaul, G.,
  VanBrakle, J., Strain, P., et al. (2003).
  Research synthesis on effective intervention
  procedures Executive summary. Tampa University
  if Florida, Center for Evidence-based practice
  Young children with challenging behavior.
• Dunlap, G., Strain, P., Fox, L., Carta, J.,
  Conroy, M., Smith, B., et al. (2006). Prevention
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• Fox, L., Dunlap, G., Hemmeter, M. L., Joseph, G.,
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  preventing challenging behavior in young
  children. Young Children, 58(4), 48-53.
• Harms, T., Cryer, D., Clifford, R. (1990).
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  York Teachers College Press.
• Hemmeter, M. Fox, L. (2008). Promoting
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• Hemmeter, M., Fox, L. (2006). Teaching Pyramid
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References

• Hemmeter, M., Ostrosky, M. (2003). Classroom
  preventative practices. Tampa, Florida
  University of South Florida, Center for
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  Challenging Behavior.
• Joseph, G., Strain, P. (2003). Comprehensive
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• Kazdin, A. (1985). Treatment of antisocial
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• Kern, L., Clarke, S. (2005). Antecedent and
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• Shaw, D., Gilliom, M., Giovannelli, J. (2000).
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