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

CSEFELmoderator
Greetings, CSEFEL Chat participants. Welcome to the fourth in the Online Live Chat series 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). Our chat this afternoon (or this morning, if you're on the West coast) is titled "Leadership Strategies for Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior." Let me begin by introducing our guest speaker, Dr. Barbara Smith, Professor in the School of Education, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.

Barbara Smith
Hello chat participants! I'm excited about our hour together today. The title of today's chat is: "Leadership Strategies for Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior." Our focus is on strategies that administrators and other program leaders can use to support the use of evidence-based practices by staff and families. While our topic is still challenging behavior and social emotional development, other chats in this series have addressed practices with children and families. Our chat today addresses practices with personnel and other professionals.

CSEFELmoderator
We'll begin with some instructions. The procedure for the live Chat session is as follows. Participants can send questions to the chat guest 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 composes 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 Guest and other participants of the earlier question (something like "In my earlier question about single-parent families…") 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 3 pm Eastern Time (2 pm Central Time, etc.), 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. Dr. Smith, here's a question that we received prior to today's chat session.

Why is challenging behavior in young children important?

Barbara Smith
Thank you for starting with that question. Research shows that social emotional problems early in a child's life can lead to school failure and lives characterized by violence, abuse, loneliness, and anxiety.

There is a compelling link between social, emotional, and behavioral development and academic success. Academic success in the early school years seems to be built upon a foundation of emotional and social skills. Young children can't learn to read if they have problems getting along with others and controlling emotions, and have other problems that interfere with relationships with peers, teachers, and parents. "Learning is a social process" [Zins, J., Bloodworth, M., Weissberg, R. & Walberg, H. (2004). The scientific base linking social and emotional learning to school success. In J. Zins, R. Weissberg, M. Wang, & H. J. Walberg (Eds.), Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? (pp. 1-22). New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University].

Social skills essential for academic success include:

getting along with others (parents, teachers, peers)
following directions
identifying and regulating one’s emotions and behavior
thinking of appropriate solutions to conflict
persisting on task
engaging in social conversation and cooperative play
correctly interpreting other’s behavior and emotions
feeling good about oneself and others

For a fact sheet on the link between social emotional development and school readiness, see "Linking Social Development and Behavior to School Readiness" (Smith, 2005) on the CEBP Web site soon.

CSEFELmoderator
Dr. Smith, here's our next question.

What training do you recommend that teacher's assistants and other paraprofessionals complete before working with children who have challenging behaviors?

Barbara Smith
That's a really good question! Children with challenging behavior are children first. The training and orientation that your program conducts to prepare paraprofessionals for all children needs to be where you embed special considerations related to behavior. That way, children with challenging behavior are not singled out.

So, for example, your program's staff orientation probably includes the philosophy of the program and how children and families are respected and partnered with, etc. For children with any special needs, that would include working with the family to find out what the child likes and dislikes and to plan individualized approaches together. Another example might be a topic in your ongoing orientation about how staff work together. For children with special needs, staff work as a team to ensure that they all are working on the same goals and using the same approaches to a particular child. Staff assist each other in ideas that work with a particular child.

Beyond the usual orientation information, all staff need to have at their disposal, before or soon after beginning to work with children, the strategies that prevent challenging behavior and the strategies that work to intervene and lessen challenging behavior. Those strategies can be found on our Web site: http://csefel.uiuc.edu and our sister center's Web site: http://www.challengingbehavior.org (Center for Evidence-based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior).

MelissaLoehr
As far as children using inappropriate language, do you have any ideas on how to involve parents with redirection?

Barbara Smith
Hi Melissa, I would use similar strategies for working with parents regardless of what we are working on for the child. For instance, teaming with parents in promoting social emotional development, preventing challenging behavior, and intervening with behaviors when they occur is an important part of an effective approach. Some ways of doing this are as follows.

sharing written fact sheets or other materials you have about the importance of social emotional development and later school success, like the kinds of resources on our CSEFEL Web site http://csefel.uiuc.edu and on our sister national center's Web site: http://www.challengingbehavior.org (Center on Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior).
conducting information sessions for parents on the topic of social development and challenging behavior. Provide child care and snacks and hold the sessions at times convenient for parents.
sending home tip sheets for things to do at home during play times or bathing or meals, etc.—regular routines that would promote social emotional development and prevent challenging behavior. In essence, be a resource to parents. Share the evidence-based practices you and your staff have learned.
and finally, building a relationship with parents so that when issues do occur, there is trust and good communication for planning an intervention together.

CSEFELmoderator
Dr. Smith, here's our next question.

Jzemke
I am a Special Needs Coordinator for Head Start. A lot of the referrals I receive are related to behavior. We utilize a mental health specialist to observe, write a report, and recommend interventions. We then provide the report for the parent and the teacher. I would like to know how others are using a mental health specialist or suggestions for other ways to utilize the mental health specialist.

Barbara Smith
Hi, Jzemke. Mental health consultation is used in many programs. There is a national training center that has information and resources related to early childhood mental health consultation. It is the National TA Center for Children's Mental Health. Their Web site has information and resources:

National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health
(at Georgetown University)
http://gucchd.georgetown.edu/programs/ta_center/index.html

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://www.challengingbehavior.org. 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.

Tania
How do your suggestions fit with No Child Left Behind?

Barbara Smith
Good question. One of the NCLB initiatives encourages states to develop standards for children. Some states are developing standards for children in early childhood settings. As noted earlier, there is a clear link between social emotional development and children's success in learning. It’s important to make sure that states are including social emotional development in those standards.

As noted in an earlier question, the social skills children need for learning and success include:

getting along with others (parents, teachers, peers)
following directions
identifying and regulating one’s emotions and behavior
thinking of appropriate solutions to conflict
persisting on task
engaging in social conversation and cooperative play
correctly interpreting others' behavior and emotions
feeling good about oneself and others

CSEFELmoderator
As mentioned at the beginning of the chat, Dr. Smith is a Research Professor in the School of Education, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. Her areas of interest include early childhood special education policies and program development, leadership and collaboration, and research utilization. She received her master's degree in early childhood special education and doctorate in special education and public policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She has held early childhood and early childhood special education positions for the past 30 years including: early childhood teacher, Executive Director of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children; Policy Specialist, Council for Exceptional Children (CEC); and Program Specialist, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs. She has served as a consultant on state and national early childhood policy.

She has served as an expert witness in right-to-treatment litigation, prepared and delivered legislative testimony to the Congress as well as state legislatures, and worked with many parent and professional groups in their state policy efforts. She has worked with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and other early childhood leadership organizations to help shape quality-inclusive early childhood environments and the policies and guidelines that support them.

Dr. Smith has authored over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 books and chapters, and has been awarded nearly $6 million in grants and contracts. She is currently Principal Investigator for several federally funded, multi-year grants. In 1988 she was honored with the Division for Early Childhood's (DEC) Award for Service to the Division and the DEC award for Service to the Field. In 2002, DEC honored her again with its Service to the Division Award. She currently serves on several national Boards and Commissions.

ml
What can program administrators do to support teachers in dealing with children with challenging behavior?

Barbara Smith
Hi, ml. Some effective practices for supporting staff include the following.

ASK what their top priorities for staff development are (my guess is that "behavior" will be way up there!);
PROVIDE support for training and provide technical assistance to them on-site (of course making sure the training and TA is on "effective" practices);
INCLUDE this skill development in their staff development plans;
EVALUATE whether they are implementing the new practices/knowledge AND whether the new practices/knowledge is improving children's behavior;
... Which leads to taking DATA! Especially for challenging behavior, it is important to instill the value of data collection and a practical system for taking data on children's behavior. Don't rely on perception; there are resources on the Center's Web site related to data collection strategies. Why is it important? If a child is spitting in your face 8 times a day, and you implement an intervention and he is now spitting in your face 5 times a day, the behavior is such that if you aren’t keeping data, you may not notice the improvement! Right?
... and the best way to support staff, is to help them learn how to PREVENT challenging behavior through effective classroom environments, building positive relationships, and promoting and teaching positive social behavior!

criggins
What suggestions do you have for situations in which parents are very hesitant to follow through on recommended services for their child?

Barbara Smith
criggins, a key to teaming with parents is building a good working relationship. By the time you are suggesting new services for a child, it is best that the professionals and parents have collaborated closely on many strategies for the child. For instance, hopefully your staff and parents have agreed on what the issues are, have tried prevention and intervention strategies and have developed trust and shared understanding.

Jennifer
What are some ideas to encourage the teachers and parents to follow the written interventions consistently for children's behavior plans?

Barbara Smith
Jennifer, this brings me to a new approach to children's behavior we are calling "program-wide" models. Program wide models are built upon the idea of team decision making (teams being comprised of administrators, teachers, and parents) and focus on the whole program and all staff and parents.

These teams develop a shared vision about children's behavior. They make decisions about how the whole program can be structured to prevent challenging behavior and then, if challenging behavior occurs, how the whole program and teams—including parents—will respond to it. For more information about program-wide approaches, we will be including resources on the CSEFEL Web site in the near future.

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.

RUDD
At what point does a child with challenging behaviors need a behavioral plan without a diagnosed condition?

Barbara Smith
Hi, RUDD. A key to the model CSEFEL and our sister center, the Center for Evidence-based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior, uses is the promotion, prevention, and intervention pyramid.

This pyramid approach means that the program has tried promotional and prevention strategies before ever getting to intensive intervention. All of these decisions will have been made with the family. Therefore, a good foundation has been laid for making the decision to move to an intensive intervention. We believe such an intervention closely includes the family. See the CSEFEL Web site for a training module on using intensive interventions. Also see an article in Young Children, July 2003, by Fox et. al. that describes the teaching pyramid.

CSEFEL Editor
See the following CSEFEL Training Modules, in English and Spanish versions, which can be found on the CSEFEL Training Modules page at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/modules.html

Module 3a: Individualized Intensive Interventions: Determining the Meaning of Challenging Behavior
Módulo 3a: Intervenciones individualizadas intensivas: Discernir el significado del comportamiento problemático

Module 3b: Individualized Intensive Interventions: Developing a Behavior Support Plan
Módulo 3b: Intervenciones individualizadas intensivas: El desarrollo de un Plan para Apoyar el Comportamiento

The Young Children article that Dr. Smith refers to is the following:

Fox, Lise, Glen Dunlap, Mary Louise Hemmeter, Gail E. Joseph, and Phillip S. Strain. (2003). The Teaching Pyramid: A Model for Supporting Social Competence and Preventing Challenging Behavior in Young Children. Young Children 58 (4, July): 48-52.

CSEFELmoderator
We are about halfway through today's online chat.

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.

carolyn
Could you please comment on the difference or preference for child-focused early intervention vs. family-centered where family interventions are included on Individualized Family Service Plans.

Barbara Smith
carolyn, my belief is that these are not mutually exclusive approaches. An effective approach to young children—whether it is about behavior or not—is to be family-centered, including families in decisions, as well as using effective child-focused teaching strategies. In fact, many studies have shown that challenging behavior interventions were more effective if they combined both approaches.

mickio
Hi, Barbara! What ideas do you have for developing a shared vision or understanding of how to address challenging behavior across teams of teachers in a child care setting? How to accomplish this when teachers across (and within) teams have varying ways of responding to challenging behaviors ?

Barbara Smith
mickio, thanks for that question. I have worked with many programs over the years and we have developed a model of team collaboration that works at the program and community levels. The keys to developing shared vision and understanding include collaborative decision making (in this case among all the teachers, administrators, and hopefully parents) and developing a vision together. And associated with all this is sharing information about evidence-based strategies. This is all to say that shared understanding is about building trust and relationships—about making sure that we all have the same information about what works and that all our values are important.

It is also important to acknowledge and respect beliefs and values. If there are differences in approaches, they may be held very strongly. The evidence that a new approach works (evidence from research and data collected in the program) may help to change opinions.

teren
When thinking of challenging behaviors, the first thing that comes to mind for most teachers is aggressive or verbally disruptive behaviors. Currently in my kindergarten classroom I'm working with a few students who continually cry at every little thing. What are some suggestions you have for helping these children replace their crying with another, more appropriate behavior that will not single them out?

Barbara Smith
Hi, teren. Since our chat today is about administrative strategies let me suggest that administrators would want to make sure that staff have access to training and consultants that could help with child-related questions such as this. Also, let me refer you to the CSEFEL Web site. There are training modules and What Works Briefs that address this issue.

CSEFELmoderator
As mentioned earlier, tonight's Chat session is the fourth 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, "Pasos a dar cuando los niños dicen ¡NO!," can also be found at http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat/fox-trans-sp.html.

The second online Chat in the CEBP / CSEFEL series was presented on November 18 by Micki Ostrosky and Tweety Yates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The topic was "Classroom Environments That Work: Preventing Problem Behavior." The transcript of this chat is available on the CSEFEL Web site at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat/ostrosky-yates-trans.html.

The Spanish version of this chat is also available. "Ambientes exitosos. La prevención de comportamientos problemáticos" can be viewed at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat/ostrosky-yates-trans-sp.html.

On January 26, 2005, Matt Timm of Tennessee Voices for Children was the guest for the third online Chat in the series. This chat addresses the topic of "Creating Home/Program Partnerships That Work: Supporting Children with Problem Behavior."

The English transcript of this chat is available at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat/timm-trans.html. Likewise, the Spanish version, "La creación de colaboraciones exitosas entre el hogar y la guardería. Apoyo para niños con comportamientos problemáticos," can be found at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat/timm-trans-sp.html.

There are no additional CEBP/CSEFEL online chats scheduled at this time. Please see the chat page on the CSEFEL Web site for additional information on chat schedules when it becomes available. That page is at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat.html.

RUDD
As a Mental Health Specialist in my Head Start Program what classes should I take to better help support my teaching staff working with Challenging Behaviors?

Barbara Smith
RUDD, I admire your interest in supporting the staff! A key to deciding what training or classes to take is to determine if the information is evidence-based. In other words, is it based on proven practice. One source is the CSEFEL Web site. The training modules on the Web site, and any training using these modules, are evidence-based; the workshops that CSEFEL staff provide for NAEYC, NACCRRA, DEC, NBCDI, NABE, and other national groups are also evidence-based.

Become familiar with researchers, trainers and Web sites that promote the use of evidence-based practices in this area such as the Web sites of CSEFEL and of the Center for Evidence-based Practices: Young Children with Challenging Behavior (CEBP), and the researchers affiliated with these Centers such as Mary Louise Hemmeter, Lise Fox, Glen Dunlap, Judy Carta, Matt Timm, Micki Ostrosky, and many others whose names and work are referenced on these sites. Use the resources on these Web sites such as the training modules on Classroom Preventive Practices, Social Emotional Teaching Strategies, Individualized Intensive Interventions: Determining the Meaning of Challenging Behavior and Developing Behavior Support Plans as well as the What Works Briefs and Recommended Practices fact sheets coming soon to the CEBP Web site. Many of these resources list references that can lead you to other sources of evidence-based information.

CSEFEL Editor
The CSEFEL Training Modules can be found at:
http://csefel.uiuc.edu/modules.html

The What Works Briefs can be found at:
http://csefel.uiuc.edu/whatworks.html

Dganit
What are some practical suggestions for teachers to encourage development of a buddy for a student with special needs?

Barbara Smith
Hi, Dganit. While we don't have time for specific strategies today, please go to the CSEFEL Web site and look at the training modules and the What Works Briefs for good ideas.

RUDD
What Behavior Screening tool do you recommend for preschool children age 3-5 years?

Barbara Smith
RUDD, this specific question is outside of my area of expertise.

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.

Module 1 deals with Classroom Preventive Practices. Module 2 discusses Social-Emotional Teaching Strategies. Modules 3A and 3B consider Individualized Intensive Interventions. Module 4 presents Leadership Strategies. These modules are available in full text, in both English and Spanish, on the CSEFEL Web site. See the Training Modules page at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/modules.html.

Of the Training Modules, Module 4 may be of particular interest to participants in tonight's chat. This Module is titled "Leadership Strategies for Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior."

All of the sections of this Module (that is, presenter's presentation, module script, handouts, and evaluation form) are available for free as Web pages (and in some cases, as PowerPoint slides and PDF files) on the CSEFEL Modules page: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/modules.html.

The Module is also available, on the same page, in Spanish as "Estrategias de liderazgo para apoyar el desarrollo social y emocional de los niños y hacer frente al comportamiento desafiante." Print copies are also available. Please see the note on the Modules page.

CSEFELmoderator
There are about 10 minutes remaining in this afternoon's chat session.

carolyn
Dr. Smith, can you name and describe any particular program-wide models for team decision making that encourage family involvement—any one you would recommend and where could we obtain more information about this?

Barbara Smith
Carolyn, the model for team collaboration I have used which includes families is not specific to behavior but is a model that can be used for any topic. It is described in a book published by Sopris West (http://sopriswest.com) and is called A Road Map for Facilitating Collaborative Teams. Also, CSEFEL staff are working with several programs on program-wide approaches. These will be described on the Web site in the future, and will be described in a session at the National Training Institute in May.

CSEFELmoderator
The Institute that Dr. Smith refers to is a conference to be held May 4-7 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. This "National Institute on Effective Practices: Supporting Young Children's Social/Emotional Development" conference is sponsored by the Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior. For more detailed information on this event, visit the conference Web page at: http://www.addressingchallengingbehavior.org/.

Mary Arre
Does anyone have any good resources for tracking forms/devices to record social competency development for an individual child or for an entire classroom?

Barbara Smith
Hi, Mary. This is out of my area of expertise but you may find some helpful strategies on the CSEFEL website in the training modules and the What Works Briefs.

CSEFELmoderator
Chat participants may also be interested in the series of sixteen 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.

Concerning the What Works Briefs, number 13 may be of special interest to tonight's chat participants. This Brief, "Inclusion: The Role of the Program Administrator," was prepared by our guest speaker tonight, Barbara Smith, along with her colleagues Phillip Strain (also at the University of Colorado-Denver) and Michaelene Ostrosky at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This Brief and its related handout can be found, along with the other 15 examples, on the What Works Briefs page: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/whatworks.html.

teren
Consistency is extremely important when working within an early childhood setting. If using social stories with a specific child, how critical is the consistency of presenting and reading the social story across the multiple teachers in the room? Knowing that every teacher has a different threshold for challenging behaviors, what strategies does the team need to take in order to provide this consistency?

Barbara Smith
Teren, this question builds on some of the other discussion. You're very right about consistency, especially for children at risk for or who have challenging behavior. This is why collaboration and teaming and shared understanding are key. If all the adults involved with the child can work together to craft goals and interventions, then likely they will be consistent in their approaches.

mickio
Hi, Barbara. Do you have ideas for how universities and colleges can better prepare future teacher leaders in the area of social emotional development and challenging behavior?

CSEFELmoderator
We'll continue a few minutes past our original deadline for this afternoon's chat. After Dr. Smith responds to mickio's question, we'll have one more question from Mary P, then we'll bring the chat session to a close.

Barbara Smith
Yes, Mickio, great question! The first thing programs need to do is to recognize the importance of social emotional development in young children as we have described above. Programs will need to address the competencies needed for promoting social emotional development, and for preventing and addressing challenging behavior.

The competencies, as noted above, need to be based on research about what works for children. These competencies need to include the full range of strategies from promotion to intervention as well as teaming and program-wide approaches. The CSEFEL Web site and the Center for Evidence-based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior (CEBP) Web site have a lot of resources that programs can use. For instance, the training modules on the CSEFEL Web site can be used by colleges and universities. The CEBP Web site has research syntheses of evidence-based practices and other resources.

CSEFELmoderator
Dr. Smith, here's our final question, from Mary P.

mary p
Related to your earlier comment: Do you have suggested activities for helping staff and families develop shared values and vision?

Barbara Smith
Hi, Mary, thanks for this question. As discussed earlier, the first step is to provide the leadership around a vision that includes respecting children and building relationships with staff and parents. Here are some strategies we have used:

provide the leadership
use collaborative and team decision making; establish a leadership team of administration, staff, and parents
have that team write a vision and values statement (this may take a few meetings and some specific activities; see the book mentioned before for ideas for this: A Road Map for Facilitating Collaborative Teams)

Team decision making and having the team develop the vision helps to ensure that you have had: (1) a lot of good ideas from a variety of people; and (2) a buy-in from the stakeholders, that is, from staff and families.

Finally, ensure that everyone is on the same page as to what works, for example, that everyone (professionals, paraprofessionals, and parents) knows about and uses evidence-based strategies. Another important strategy is the program-wide model mentioned earlier as well as adopting the teaching pyramid. These approaches help to build a vision of promoting social emotional development, preventing challenging behavior and then using effective interventions when problem behavior occurs.

CSEFEL Editor:
See the earlier description of program-wide models.
See the earlier description of the promotion, prevention, and intervention pyramid.

CSEFELmoderator
The staffs of 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) would like to thank all of the participants in this afternoon's online Chat. Thank you for sending your interesting questions to our guest, Dr. Barbara Smith. Thanks also for your patience in waiting for responses.

Please check the chat page on the CSEFEL Web site for scheduling of future events in the CEBP / CSEFEL online Chat series. Once again, that page is available at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/chat.html.

And of course, thank you very much, Dr. Barbara Smith, for responding to our questions and sharing your expertise with us this afternoon.

Barbara Smith
Thank you for your time and energy today! This was a stimulating discussion and I think the transcript and Q & A that we develop from it and post on the Web site will be useful to others. Please remember to check the Web site frequently for resources to support you and your colleagues and families in the important work of promoting young children's social emotional development and addressing challenging behavior. Currently there is a training module for administrators and leaders that has handouts and other resources, as well as What Works Briefs, and the announcement about the National Institute on Effective Practices: Supporting Young Children's Social/Emotional Development, May 4-7, 2005 at the Sheraton Sands Key Resort: Clearwater Beach, FL. Hope to see you there!

CSEFELmoderator
Thanks again, Chat Participants. Now shut down your computers and go outside to experience the blossoming spring, whether you're in the wavy prairies of Illinois, the aspen-clad mountains of Colorado, or wherever else. Enjoy!

Guest
Thanks -- Good Chat!!

Guest
Thank you!

Additional Questions

Question
How do administrators ensure that all of their teachers and staff are competent in using techniques to eliminate challenging behaviors?

Barbara Smith
Administrators and other program leaders can help to ensure that staff are using effective strategies by:

establishing a program philosophy and atmosphere that promotes the use of evidence-based or research-based practices, for example, those that have evidence that they work,
identifying training and technical assistance that is evidence-based,
providing support to staff to attend such training and then having follow-up TA (technical assistance), and
building those evidence-based practices into staff development plans and coaching/mentoring and supervision activities.

Then the administrator can monitor the effects of the training and TA through supervision activities and monitoring whether challenging behaviors decrease within the classroom. I think that if the practices are working, the administrator will also see a decrease in staff stress and an increase in staff satisfaction!

Question
How do therapists, psychologists, and social workers supplement the knowledge that teachers have in dealing with challenging behaviors?

Barbara Smith
Teaming with other professionals is also an important way to promote social development, prevent challenging behavior, and intervene when it occurs. However, a common problem is that different professionals use very different approaches to social emotional development and challenging behavior. This can be counterproductive and confusing for all involved, including children and families. Second, sometimes these different approaches are not necessarily evidence-based or effective.

So, the first step is to ensure that everyone is on the same page, for example, that everyone (professionals, paraprofessionals, and parents) knows about and uses evidence-based strategies. Then decide, from among those practices that seem to work when the teacher alone uses them, which ones need to be used at home also and which ones need some added support from another professional.

Working as a team and mapping out a plan for the class and, when needed, for a particular child, can be a very effective way of doing this. Often, when a program starts using effective practices such as those found on the CSEFEL Web site, problem behaviors decrease to such a degree that specialized professionals are freed up to work on very specific issues.

Question
What is the best way to explain what a challenging behavior is to a parent or staff?

Barbara Smith
This is a good reason for taking a “program-wide” approach to challenging behavior. A key component of the “program-wide” approach is to have a collaborative team of staff and families develop a vision statement about behavior for the program.

Second, the program might offer orientation for staff and families about this program-wide definition of positive behavior and have a definition of behavior that is unacceptable. The Center for Evidence-based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior uses the following definition.

Definition of Challenging Behavior. For the purpose of the Center, “challenging behavior” shall be defined as any repeated pattern of behavior, or perception of behavior, that interferes with or is at risk of interfering with optimal learning or engagement in pro-social interactions with peers and adults.

Challenging behavior is thus defined on the basis of its effects. While some children's challenging behaviors are developmentally normative and effectively addressed by adult vigilance and the use of appropriate guidance procedures, the Center is focused on identifying evidence-based practices that prevent and/or address challenging behaviors that are persistent or unresponsive to those approaches.

Common topographies of those behaviors include prolonged tantrums, physical and verbal aggression, disruptive vocal and motor responding (e.g., screaming, stereotypy), property destruction, self-injury, noncompliance, and withdrawal.

If a program has a program-wide approach, and a program-wide definition, then the focus is not on an individual child, but on the learning environment. This may make it easier for parents.

The DEC position statement is also helpful to use in that it talks about how challenging behavior can be different for individuals, in other words, what’s challenging to me may not be to you! The first step suggested by DEC is to examine what we each consider “challenging” and whether it is really interfering with the child’s learning or is it just bothering us!

The DEC (Division of Early Childhood) Position Statement on Interventions for Challenging Behavior is available at:
http://www.dec-sped.org/pdf/positionpapers/
Position%20on%20Challenging%20Behavior.pdf
[CSEFEL Editor's note (October 10, 2006): this url is no longer active. See: http://www.dec-sped.org/positionpapers.html]

See also the related Concept Paper on Identification of and Intervention with Challenging Behavior:
http://www.dec-sped.org/pdf/positionpapers/
Concept%20Challenging%20Behavior.pdf
[CSEFEL Editor's note (October 10, 2006): this url is no longer active. See: http://www.dec-sped.org/positionpapers.html]

Related DEC Position Papers can be found at:
http://www.dec-sped.org/positionpapers.html

Question
Are there easy-to-read resources for parents and caregivers?

Barbara Smith
Yes, the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning’s Web site has 16 “What Works Briefs” on topics such as:

Helping Children Understand Routines and Classroom Schedules. Brief 3.
(also available in Spanish:
Cómo ayudar a niños a entender las rutinas y los horarios del aula)
Helping Children Make Transitions between Activities. Brief 4.
(also available in Spanish:
Cómo ayudar a niños a manejar las transiciones entre actividades)
Helping Children Learn to Manage Their Own Behavior. Brief 7.
(also available in Spanish:
Cómo ayudar a los niños a aprender a manejar su propio comportamiento)

For these and other titles, see the What Works Briefs Web page at: http://csefel.uiuc.edu/whatworks.html.

Question
What can an administrator do to help a teacher when PBS does not work?

Barbara Smith
If the teacher doesn’t think PBS (that is, Positive Behavior Support) worked, then it’s time to back up and start at the beginning. You and the teacher should check:

the teacher's skills (is the teacher able to assess the function of the behavior, plan an intervention, collect data on the intervention and the behavior?);
the teacher’s implementation of the intervention; and
the data on its effect.

Finally, if that was all done correctly, reassess the function of the behavior and design another intervention plan. When an intervention doesn't "work" it’s often because the original hypothesis of why the child engages in the behavior was incorrect and therefore the intervention was incorrect. Working on challenging behavior often requires several trials and errors.

CSEFEL Editor
PBS refers to Positive Behavior Support. On the Web site of the Center for Evidence-Based Practice (CEBP): Young Children with Challenging Behavior, the term Positive Behavior Support is defined as a process for understanding and resolving the problem behavior of children that is based on values and empirical research. For more detailed information, see the PBS page on the CEBP Web site:
http://challengingbehavior.fmhi.usf.edu/pbs.html.

Question
What are the most effective keys to success for addressing challenging behavior?

Barbara Smith
Effective keys to success for administrators are the following.

adopting the “pyramid” philosophy, e.g., at the base of the pyramid are all children who need their social emotional development promoted; the middle of the pyramid are those children needing some targeted prevention teaching strategies, and at the top of the pyramid are those 5-10% of children who need intensive interventions (see the Young Children article by Fox et al., July, 2003). This approach emphasizes teaching strategies that promote social development and prevent challenging behavior, resulting in pleasant classrooms and fewer intensive interventions;
using a program-wide approach to promoting positive behavior and addressing challenging behavior, rather than a hit or miss approach to each individual child;
using collaborative decision making so that teachers and families are a part of the solution, including program-wide vision statements about behavior and approaches to behavior.

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