CSEFEL: Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

CSEFELmoderator
Greetings, CSEFEL Chat participants. Welcome to the second in a series of Online Live Chats sponsored by the Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior (CEBP) and the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL). Tonight's Chat is titled "Classroom Environments That Work: Preventing Problem Behavior." Tonight we have two guest speakers. Let me begin by introducing them—Micki Ostrosky and Tweety Yates, both professors in special education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Good evening. Welcome to the Chat! We just want to make you aware that our names really are Micki and Tweety, no relation to Mickey Mouse and Tweety Bird!

CSEFELmoderator
Delightful. But now—Let's start with some instructions. The procedure for the live Chat session is as follows. Participants can send questions to the Chat guests at any time. When you send your question, please note that it will not be visible to all Chat participants. The CSEFEL Moderator receives the question first and will post it to the whole Chat group. If there's a long queue of questions, the Moderator will notify the questioner that the question was received. Then, at the next break in the discussion, the question will be posted for all to see and for our guest to answer.

Note that there will be a pause after a question is posted while the Chat guest speakers compose a response to the question. So please be patient! During these pauses, the Moderator will post occasional information about the CSEFEL Web site or about other relevant topics. Because some Chat participants enter the Chat in the middle of the session, some of these messages may be posted more than once.

Questions will be posted in the order they're received, unless there's some obvious reason to group similar questions together. Participants may send follow-up questions. If you do send a follow-up question, please remind the guests and other participants of the earlier question (something like "In my earlier question about the third-grader's reading difficulty…") because it's easy to forget earlier questions in the long list of questions that occur during the Chat session.

If your question is not answered by the time the Chat session ends at 9 pm Eastern Time / 8 pm Central Time, the question and its answer will be included in the Chat transcript that will be made available online approximately 3 weeks from today.

If, at any time during the Chat, you want to review the instructions for participating in the Chat, please visit this page: http://ecap.crc.uiuc.edu/info/ecapchat-csefel.html#participating.

Or for instructions on sending messages during the Chat, see this additional section of that page: http://ecap.crc.uiuc.edu/info/ecapchat-csefel.html#procedure.

CSEFELmoderator
Now let's begin our Chat. Professors Ostrosky and Yates, we have a question that we received in advance of the session.

To what extent, if at all, do picture schedules provide better structure for class routine?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
For many young children, picture schedules are extremely helpful so that children can see what will happen next and anticipate the activity that is to follow. Picture schedules have been found to be especially helpful for children who struggle with changes in the routine or transitions between activities. Teachers can show them the schedule ahead of time to help prepare them for the change in routine or movement to the next activity.

CSEFELmoderator
Here's our next question.

How does rapport building factor into establishing expectations for student behavior?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Criteria for high-quality early childhood programs emphasize the importance of teacher:child interactions as the foundation for children's learning and development. Additionally, partnerships and collaboration with families are highlighted. Within early childhood contexts such as home, school, and the community, every moment that adults and children interact provides an opportunity to build positive adult:child relationships that are the basis for developing important skills, including behavioral skills.

CSEFELmoderator
Professors Ostrosky and Yates, here's another question we received in advance of the Chat.

When working with students who have different developmental rates, how can you assure you are meeting all of their social and emotional needs without hindering the progress of more developmentally advanced students?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Observation and assessment are key. We need to continually assess the children in our class (across domains) to be sure that we are meeting the needs of ALL our students. Having a good handle on the needs or goals for all students and then connecting our assessments (e.g., informal observations as well as curriculum-based assessments) to our intervention will help insure that we truly know children's strengths and needs, and that we are providing instruction that builds upon these needs.

CSEFELmoderator
At the beginning of this Chat session, an explanation was provided about participating in the Chat and about the procedure for posting messages during the Chat. If you want to review that information, it is available at http://ecap.crc.uiuc.edu/info/ecapchat-csefel.html#participating and at http://ecap.crc.uiuc.edu/info/ecapchat-csefel.html#procedure.

Blanche
How common is it for PBS training to be part of a 4-year degree in child development or even elementary education curriculums?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Blanche, that's a great a question! In fact, we are conducting some research on 2- and 4-year colleges and how they prepare graduates in the area of social-emotional development and challenging behavior. So far, our preliminary data show that this is not an extensive part of most graduate training. So PBS does not appear to be a part of the training in most colleges.

Jessica
What is PBS training?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Jessica, PBS stands for Positive Behavior Support. PBS is a comprehensive approach to addressing children's challenging behavior that includes assessment and intervention conducted by teams that include the family. Modules 3A and 3B have more in-depth information on PBS.

CSEFELmoderator
Concerning modules 3A and 3B, these resources can be found on the CSEFEL Web site at this page: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/modules.html.

Module 3a is "Individualized Intensive Interventions: Determining the Meaning of Challenging Behavior."

Module 3b is "Individualized Intensive Interventions: Developing a Behavior Support Plan."

marvin
How can a teacher employ developmentally appropriate strategies of guidance (problem solving with children) when children with delays may not be intellectually capable of mutual problem solving?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
marvin, you may need to use other strategies, such as role play, puppets, and pictures, with lots of opportunities to practice, when teaching skills such as problem solving to children with developmental delays. Don't give up!

hether
How common do you find specific course work, at 2- or 4-year prep programs, on emotional-social development?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
hether, it appears that these topics of social-emotional development are often embedded across multiple courses rather than being a single course.

CSEFELmoderator
Chat participants, as you've all arrived safely in the CSEFEL Chat room, on your way here you have undoubtedly passed through the CSEFEL Web site: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/.

We encourage you to also visit CSEFEL's sister project, the Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior, at the University of South Florida. That Center's Web site can be found at http://challengingbehavior.fmhi.usf.edu/index.html. The Center's mission is to promote the use of evidence-based practice to meet the needs of young children who have, or are at risk for, problem behavior.

CSEFELmoderator
Here's our next question.

How can teachers have some control over setting events that may influence a child's challenging behavior?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Setting events are defined as events that occur earlier in time (often much earlier) that either have ended or are ongoing and that predispose children to behave in particular ways. For example, after a poor night's sleep, a child may hit his teacher the next morning in preschool when she instructs him to put his backpack in his cubby, even though most mornings he readily complies. To understand setting events, it is important for early educators and family members to maintain open lines of communication so that they keep one another abreast of changes in a child's routines (e.g., sleeping and eating patterns, changes in custodial care, etc.) that may impact behavior.

CSEFELmoderator
Professors Ostrosky and Yates, here's our next question.

What process should a teacher use to create activities that are meaningful, and how can the "meaningfulness" be evaluated by the teacher?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Creating meaningful activities necessitates being aware of what is both developmentally and individually appropriate. Early educators need to have a strong background in child development and know what types of materials and activities are appropriate for infants, toddlers, and young children at what ages. Additionally, we need to know what interests the individual children within our care.

Just as our motivation changes (e.g., I like ice cream but not every single day!), we need to realize that children's motivation wanes, so while particular children might really like trains or blocks or clay, they most likely do not want to play with these every single day. Careful and frequent observation to see what activities and materials "draw children in" or keep them engaged is a way to monitor whether you are providing meaningful activities to the children in your care.

julio
Do you have any suggestion of ways to increase our resources to help children stay engaged? We have so few toys in our child care center.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Julio, have you tried garage sales, homemade materials, or switching with teachers (sharing toys with another class gives you more variety, and by periodically putting away and bringing out toys, they seem novel/new)? Also, common disposable items, such as large cardboard boxes, styrofoam peanuts, and paper towel rolls, can be enjoyed by children as they use their imagination to create art projects, engage in dramatic play, etc.

CSEFELmoderator
As mentioned earlier, both Micki Ostrosky and Tweety Yates are professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Micki Ostrosky received her Ph.D. in early childhood special education from Vanderbilt University in 1991. Her past research has focused on social and communication interventions for preschoolers with disabilities and issues surrounding young children's transitions between settings. She was a collaborator on the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Early Childhood Research Institute. (You can visit the CLAS Web site at http://clas.uiuc.edu/.)

Currently, she is an associate professor of special education in the College of Education in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is collecting data on children who are dually enrolled, during transition times (morning arrival and departure as well as afternoon arrival and departure).

Tweety Yates received her Ph.D. in special education from the University of Illinois in 1993, and she is currently an assistant professor of special education in the College of Education in the University. Her research interests include parent-child interaction and personnel development issues in early childhood.

She is currently evaluating the validity and feasibility of a parent-child relationship-based model of early intervention in culturally and geographically diverse settings. She is also involved in training, outreach, and evaluation of a story-based creative arts curriculum derived from a variety of cultural and ethnic traditions designed to promote child learning and early literacy skills.

Blanche
From your experience, is there a curriculum that most easily fits into PBS practices—attending to environment/adult-child interaction, daily routine, assessment (which covers social-emotional in a comprehensive way)?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Blanche, great question, but we can't think of anything off the top of our heads that is specific to PBS practices. If we think of one, we will post it in the transcript.

[CSEFEL Editor: Additional information from Professors Ostrosky and Yates]:
Blanche, while this list is not exhaustive by any means, here are a few suggestions: (1) The Incredible Years: Parents, Teachers, and Children Training Program; (2) Al's Pals; (3) Second Step; (4) I Can Problem Solve; and (5) PATHS.

CSEFELmoderator
Professors Ostrosky and Yates, here's our next question.

Classroom environment includes the arrangement of the room. What "tips" should early childhood teachers consider when first creating their classroom arrangement?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Early educators should pay attention to large open spaces (which can create problems when children run through rooms), the location of noisy and quiet centers (it's not a good idea to place the book center near housekeeping), the location of supplies near the centers where they are needed (e.g., the sink near art, the cabinet with puzzles and board games near a table top area), and the placement of cubbies near the entranceway. Also, family information bulletin boards should be in a location where there is easy access.

CSEFELmoderator
Please note that many of the resources on the CSEFEL Web site are available not only in English but also in Spanish. For example, for English and Spanish versions of the CSEFEL Training Modules, see the page http://csefel.uiuc.edu/modules.html. For publications in the "What Works Briefs" series, see the page http://csefel.uiuc.edu/whatworks.html.

Candace
What form should consultation take when helping teachers to learn the meaning of challenging behavior (inservice education, direct consultation). Is there any research on this?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Candace, staff development and consultation are so important. Clearly sharing the reasons behind policies, as well as the procedures themselves, is the best way to "get people on board." By sharing not only the specific HOW TOs, but also the WHYs, we help others realize the logic behind what we are doing, rather than seeing our decisions as not being based on anything. We have also found that when we have to explain things to others (or are questioned about why we do certain things), it challenges us to really look deeply and broadly into WHY this is good for all of us to do!

CSEFELmoderator
Remember that you may send a question at any time to the CSEFEL staff. Just email your question to csefel@uiuc.edu. You can also phone in a question to 877-275-3227. CSEFEL staff are usually available between 8-12 and 1-5 (Central Time) on business days.

marvin
Wouldn't any curriculum work as long as it allows use of children's interests, everyday materials, and flexible scheduling?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
marvin, taking into account children's interests, engaging environments, natural routines, and activities will certainly help alleviate challenging behaviors. About the issues of flexible schedules, we find it very important to have a predictable schedule for children so they can anticipate what is to come next.

At the same time, flexibility based on children's engagement in activities would be very important. For some children, it is so important to prepare them for changes in the schedule because they might have a difficult time with these changes to the routine, and this may cause challenging behaviors.

Blanche
Marvin has a good point. I guess the kicker is for program assessment to examine whether teachers are skilled at implementation.

julio
How can we help children become more engaged when they seem to have a limited interest in anything (like many children with autism)?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
julio, observation and communication with family members (and other significant people) in the child's life are important when trying to determine activities and materials of interest for some children. For example, careful observation might help us realize that a particular child likes things that are musical, made of a certain texture or of a certain color, or around a certain theme. Also, family members might share what the child plays with at home or what activities he or she prefers most. This strategy might give us ideas for ways to broaden the scope of materials and activities available within our classroom.

CSEFELmoderator
As mentioned earlier, tonight's Chat session is the second event in the CEBP/CSEFEL Chat series for the 2004-2005 academic year. The first Chat was held on September 29. In that Chat, Lise Fox of the University of South Florida addressed the topic of "What to Do When Children Say 'NO!'"

The transcript of that Chat is available in English at http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat/fox-trans.html. The Spanish version of the transcript will be available in a few weeks. See the CSEFEL Chat Resources page for more information about this earlier Chat: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chatresources.html.

Jessica
How do others feel about using time-outs for children in classrooms?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Jessica, simply putting a child in "time-out" removes them from the group but does not teach them skills they may need. We strongly believe that we need to figure out WHY a child engages in challenging behavior. Then we can teach a child a better way to get that need met.

Blanche
Please share how you feel about taking children on field trips. I know it is important to expand a young child's world and make connections in the community, but some say that the disruption in routine makes it very hard on children—and so there are classroom management issues—and not worth it.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Blanche, we think there is much to be gained from field trips and community experiences. Preparing children for these changes in the routine, as we stated earlier, is necessary.

CSEFELmoderator
The third and fourth Chats in the CSEFEL series are scheduled for January and March. On Wednesday, January 26, 2005, Matt Timm of Tennessee Voices for Children will present a Chat on "Creating Home/Program Partnerships That Work: Supporting Children with Problem Behavior." He will discuss strategies for working collaboratively with families to promote children's social-emotional development and address problem behavior. This Chat will also be held from 8-9 PM ET / 7-8 PM CT / 6-7 PM MT / 5-6 PM PT.

On Wednesday, March 30, 2005, the Chat topic will be "Leadership Strategies for Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior." In this Chat, Barbara Smith, Ph.D., of the University of Colorado at Denver, will discuss strategies, tools, and resources available for administrators to use in their efforts to help early care providers support children's social and emotional development and address challenging behavior. This Chat will be held from 2-3 PM ET / 1-2 PM CT / 12 noon-1 PM MT / 11 AM-12 noon PT.

Francine
What are some ways to form positive partnerships with parents who blame the school for what the teachers see as their child's challenging behavior (parents who say that their children are "just fine" at home)?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Francine, just as we, as adults, behave differently at a conference than we do at a restaurant with friends, we believe it is possible for children to behave very differently in different settings. The expectations, the rules, the routines, and the structure differences can all contribute to the child's differing behavior. This said, we need to work hard to find out what a parent sees a child doing at home, while sharing what we see happening at school. Developing partnerships with families to help us better support their children at school can evolve from these discussions.

Kuebler
You stated that time-out does not teach the child anything, but what about when the child harms another student. Is time-out warranted?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Kuebler, while we may need to remove the child from the situation for the safety of other children, we still need to teach skills. For example, if this child harms another child while attempting to grab toys from him or her, we need to teach this child how to request materials, share, take turns, etc.

Candace
There is an excellent resource on time-out (Positive Time-out) by Jane Nelsen.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Candace, for an additional resource, please see What Works Brief #14: The Role of Time-Out in a Comprehensive Approach for Addressing Challenging Behaviors of Preschool Children by G. Dunlap, L. Fox, M. L. Hemmeter, and P. Strain at http://csefel.uiuc.edu/briefs/wwb14.html.

CSEFELmoderator
Chat participants may be interested in the series of five Training Modules prepared by the CSEFEL staff. The modules were designed to help administrators, educators, and family members address the social-emotional needs of young children. The content of the modules is consistent with evidence-based practices identified through a thorough review of the literature.

Chat participants may also be interested in the series of What Works Briefs. The Briefs are summaries of effective practices for supporting children's social-emotional development and for preventing challenging behaviors. Most of the Briefs are available full text on the CSEFEL Web site. Some of them are also available in Spanish. See the What Works Briefs page at http://csefel.uiuc.edu/whatworks.html.

Candace
Positive time-out can teach the child (to calm self, to reflect on behavior). There needs to be discussion with the child as a way to build self-control.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Candace, discussion with the child means that there is more than just removing the child. You are teaching.

karen
Any ideas for a child who is biting, hitting, or yelling loudly for attention when removed from the group?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
karen, why is he removed from the group in the first place?

karen
Because of the biting and hitting—then he yells so he gets attention from the group.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
karen, it sounds like the child is hitting and biting to get attention. If this is true, we need to try to anticipate that this child needs attention and provide that attention prior to the challenging behavior.

CSEFELmoderator
Professors Ostrosky and Yates, here's our next question.

How often should the effectiveness of the arrangement be evaluated?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
A great question! We often evaluate the effectiveness of our classroom's arrangement soon after school starts, and then we assume it will be fine for the remainder of the year. Additionally, we may find an arrangement that works well for our given space and use it year after year, failing to notice that for a particular mix of students this arrangement does not work well. Oftentimes children's behavior lets us know that the room arrangement is not working. Attending to noise level, movement (e.g., children running across open spaces), accessibility, and independence are cues that the positioning of materials within our setting is or is not working well.

Blanche
I know we can do a LOT to minimize challenging behaviors during the preschool day. One of the toughest is working through challenging behaviors that emerge as a child resists getting ready to go home each day (noncompliant, rebellious throughout dressing and getting on the bus). I see that it is even hard on the staff, as they have reason to question the quality of home care.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Blanche, we too have interacted with children who have struggled at the end of the day. One of the things we have found helpful is to really talk positively about the next environment (for example, "You are so lucky you get to go to Ms. Smith's child care center!"). This strategy seems to help children.

CSEFELmoderator
Here's our next question.

What are some ways in which teaching expectations for behavior can be done?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
This question is important because we often assume that children will just naturally learn our expectations for behavior. Some children may need many reminders to follow the classroom routines and behave in ways that we consider acceptable for our setting. Possible ways to teach expectations include:

Use large group time as an opportunity to discuss expectations.
Role play expectations (e.g., walking feet).
Take photos of children engaging in appropriate behavior (e.g., sitting on the classroom sofa versus jumping on it).
Play "Rules Bingo" as a classroom game with pictures showing the different classroom expectations.
Use puppets to teach the expectations.
Develop classroom stories (the children might even help draw the pictures) that talk about the expectations in Miss Tweety's class, etc.

CSEFELmoderator
Professors Ostrosky and Yates, here's our next question.

What can a classroom teacher do to make everyday activities (walking to the restroom, walking in the hallways) more engaging in order to reduce challenging behaviors that may be exhibited during times that are unstructured?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
We have seen some very skilled teachers use these transition times in creative ways that keep children engaged. For example, singing songs, doing finger plays, playing I SPY, doing guessing games ("What animal begins with an "S" and lives in the ocean?"), and even having children answer questions (e.g., as children exit the classroom for the gym, they each need to name a color, or each must say a word that begins with an "SH" sound).

Quickly children begin to anticipate the fun games that are being played at different times of the day, and learning takes place during these times when children are more highly engaged (and you will be less likely to spend your time addressing challenging behaviors).

CSEFELmoderator
Here's our next question, Professors Ostrosky and Yates.

How can information on classroom environments be shared and reviewed with teaching assistants?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
Having the entire classroom team "on the same page" is so very important. Having regular times to plan together and debrief one another is key to ensuring consistency within the classroom. The possibility for children getting mixed messages from adults (e.g., co-teachers, parents) is high if these important adults do not communicate with one another and talk about what they do as well as why they do it.

Sometimes adults, in any given setting, handle challenging behaviors differently simply because they have not had time to share their beliefs (and strategies) with one another. Adults learn best using many different formats, so knowing what methods (e.g., verbally, visually—handouts, role playing) work for your team will help you decide HOW to share information with teaching assistants or others on your team.

julio
Tweety & Micki, are there any kinds of assessment tools that I can use to evaluate my classroom?

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
julio, there are several commercially available tools that are widely used:

ECERS-R (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition): designed to assess group programs for preschool through kindergarten (ages 2-1/2 through 5);

ITERS (Infant-Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition): designed to assess group programs for birth to 2-1/2 years;

Family Day Care Rating Scale: designed to assess environments in a provider home;

SACERS (School Age Care Environment Rating Scale): designed to assess group programs for children from 5-12 years of age;

APEEC (Assessment of Practices in Early Elementary Classrooms): designed to evaluate the use of developmentally appropriate practices in kindergarten through third grade;

Head Start Program Quality Assessment: For more information, go to the Head Start Web site—http://www.acf.hhs.gov.

CSEFELmoderator
With that question, tonight's Chat session is coming to an end. The CEBP and CSEFEL staffs would like to thank all of tonight's Chat participants for joining tonight's event. Thanks for sending your questions to our distinguished Chat guests, and thanks for being patient in waiting for responses. Please join us again for the next Chat in the CEBP/CSEFEL Chat series. This Chat will take place on Wednesday, January 26, 2005, at 8 PM Eastern Time (7 PM Central, etc.). The topic is "Creating Home/Program Partnerships That Work: Supporting Children with Problem Behavior." The guest is Matt Timm of Tennessee Voices for Children. For additional information, you can visit the Chat page at http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat.html.

Micki Ostrosky & Tweety Yates
We've enjoyed chatting with you! Thank you for your questions.

CSEFELmoderator
Thanks again, Chat participants. Have a good evening.

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