Children with Special
Needs: Putting
Together the Pieces
NYSAEYC Conference
Rochester, NY
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Where to get these slides…
http://www.udel.edu/cds/conferencematerials.html
Lunchtime Topics
Individually appropriate
Age appropriate
Culturally appropriate
Exceptionality appropriate
Inclusion
Standards and indicators of learning
Outcomes and measures
History of Early Childhood Special
Education
 1799-Wild boy of Aveyron
 1840s-Seguin and Schools for Students
with mental retardation
 Early 1900s-Settlement House Movement
 Skeels and Dye (1939)
 1950s-Isolated public school programs
 1958-1961-Samuel Kirk and James
McVicker Hunt publish seminal books on
mental retardation and intelligence
 1965-War on Poverty begins
 1965-First Head Start programs
Early Intervention Law
 Public Law 90-538 (1968)
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Handicapped Children’s Early
Education Assistance Act
Public Law 92-142 (1972) Head
Start Disabilities Requirement
Public Law 94-142 (1975) Education
for All Handicapped Act
Public Law 99-457 (1986)
Amendments to EHA and
Infant/Toddler/Family Program
Public Law 101-476 (1990), New
EHA Title: Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (I.D.E.A.)
Roots of Early Childhood Special
Education
Special Education
(Behavioral analysis)
Compensatory
Education (e.g., Head
Start)
Early Childhood
Education (DAP)
Early Care and Education Goals
to promote development in all domains
to build and support children’s social
competence
to promote child engagement, independence,
and mastery
to promote generalized use of skills
to support families as they support their
children
to prevent the emergence of future problems or
disabilities
An Early Childhood Special
Education Goal:
To improve children’s
acquisition and use of
important motor, social,
affective, communication,
and intellectual behaviors
that, in turn, are integrated
into response repertoires
that are generative,
functional, and adaptable.
Goals of families who have a
child with a disability
Normalcy
Friends
Stability--financial and
emotional
Long-term planning
Equality
Happiness
– (Turnbull & Turnbull,
1990)
Developmentally Appropriate
Practices
Individually
Appropriate
Programming
Age Appropriate
Programming
Culturally
Appropriate
Programming
DAP Goal:
To help children…
Develop positive selfconcept
Develop curiosity about
the world, confidence as
a learner, and creativity
Develop positive
relationships with adults
and peers
Know about the
community and social
roles
Communicate effectively
and facilitate thinking
and learning
Problem solve
Construct knowledge of the
physical world and
understand their
relationships to one another
Acquire knowledge of and
appreciation for fine arts,
humanities, and sciences
Become competent in the
care of their bodies and to
acquire basic physical skills
Maintain a desirable level of
health and fitness
Similarities between DAP and EI
Both use Piaget and Vygotsky as
philosophical/theoretical bases
Both are child initiated and child directed
Both use adults to support and expand
children’s choices
Both emphasize the whole child’s
development
Both use the environment to provide structure
to the learning environment
Both avoid external rewards and use intrinsic
and naturalistic motivation to shape and
Old Recommend Practices in Early Childhood
Programs Serving Children with Disabilities
Segregation
Traditional assessment
Academic orientation
Exclusive 1:1 instruction
focus on skills and products
Mass trial instruction
Highly structured
Adult initiated
Isolate therapy
Classroom teacher role
New Recommended Practices for
Inclusive Programs
Inclusion
Blending of EI and DAP principles
Naturalistic assessment
Play-based orientation
Individualized, small group
instruction
Focus on interactions and process
Activity-based instruction
Child initiated, adult supported
Integrated therapy
Collaborative/consultative roles
Regression to former practices
Increase in segregated preschool
classes in many states
Increase in teaching strategies that
emphasize repetition out of context
Increase in rote instruction
Increase in teacher-directed and
whole group instruction
Inclusion/Integration Benefits
For children with disabilities
– Increase in
language/communication
skills
– Increase in social skills
– Increase in families’
satisfaction with programming
– Increase in family contacts in
the community
Inclusion/Integration Benefits
For children without
disabilities
– Increase in language
skills and
communication
abilities
– Increase in social skills
– Increase in tolerance
of differences among
individuals
Barriers to Inclusion/Integration
Fear of losing services for children with
disabilities
Fear of inadequate services for children without
disabilities
Fear of physical harm
Fear of psychological/emotional harm
Lack of planning and teaching time
Lack of resources and equipment
Lack of training and knowledge
Lack of administrative support
Pressure from Three Points
Developmentally
Appropriate
Practice
Special
Education
Strategies
CHILD
&
Program
Standards
And
Indicators
The Study
A four year
longitudinal study of
kindergarteners who
entered school in the
1997-98 school year
Purpose: To
determine the impact
of pre-kindergarten
services for students
with disabilities and
students living in
poverty
The Sample
717 students who
entered kindergarten
during 1997-98
217 students with
active IEPs
250 students living in
poverty
250 students from the
general population
Sample Categories
Table 1. DeCLS Sample Categories
Category
Children Living in Poverty
Children with an active IEP
Children without a disability/not living in poverty
Total
Number
250
250
217
717
Percentage
34.9%
34.9%
30.2%
100%
Students Having Received PreK Services
Pre-k service records
were reviewed to
determine if students
had received pre-k
intervention in:
– Head Start
– Early Childhood
Assistance Programs
– Birth to Three services
(Part C of IDEA)
– Preschool special
education
Sample Students Receiving
Pre-K Services
Table 2. DeCLS Sample Receiving Early Intervention Services
Early Intervention Programming
Number
Birth to Three/Child Development Watch
5
Early Childhood Assistance Program/Head Start
49
Preschool Special Education programs
89
Percentage
0.7%
6.8%
12.4%
The 49 students receiving ECAP/HS services all were in
the Poverty group of the sample; the 89 students
receiving PSE Services were all in the IEP group of the
sample
Variables Tracked
Students’ family
backgrounds,
including:
– family form (number of
siblings, parents,
extended family
members in the
household)
– parents’/guardians’
education
– Parents’/guardians’
employment
Services students
received including:
– Special education
services
– Extended school day
– Extended school year
– K-3(4) early intervention
Students’ behavior
Students’ grades
Students’ 3rd grade
DSTP results
Comparison Groups
In order to determine the impact of prekindergarten services, comparison groups
needed to be created from the sample
Two groups were created:
– Students who were living in poverty who did
not receive ECAP or Head Start services
– Students who did not have their disabilities
identified until kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade
Comparison Groups
Table 3. DeCLS Sample Early Intervention and Comparative Groups
Original Intervention Groups
N Comparison Groups
Number of Students in 2001-02
Number of Students in 2001-02 who
who received Special Education 72 were identified as needing special
Preschool Services in 1995-97
education services in K, 1st or 2nd grade
Number of Students in 2001-02
Number of Students in 2001-02 who
who received ECAP services in
42 were living in poverty when they entered
1996-97
kindergarten but did not receive ECAP
or Head Start Services as four year olds
N
51
109
Analysis
The variables of the
groups receiving prekindergarten services
and the comparison
groups were analyzed
using comparison of
means procedures
such as t-tests and
analysis of variance
Students with Disabilities
Students receiving preschool special
education services had significantly higher
3rd grade DSTP scores than those
students not identified with disabilities until
K, 1, or 2
– 65.2% met or exceeded the reading standard
(vs. 33.3%)
– 55.6% met or exceeded the math standard
(vs. 33.4%)
Comparative 3rd Grade DSTP Results for
Students with Disabilities
Table 4. Percentage of Students with IEPs Meeting or Exceeding Third Grade Standards
for Reading and Mathematics--2001
% Meeting or
% Meeting or
Group of Students
Exceeding
Exceeding Math
Reading Standard
Standard
DeCLS Students Receiving PSE Services
(n=72)
65.2%
55.6%
DeCLS Students Identified for Special
Education in K, 1, or 2 (n=51)
33.3%
33.4%
All 3rd grade Students with an IEP Statewide
(n=446 reading, 568 math)
28.8%
28.3%
All 3rd Grade Students Statewide (n=8177
reading, 8303 math)
75.1%
73.4%
Students with Disabilities (cont.)
Significantly more students receiving preschool
special education services had satisfactory or
higher 3rd grade academic grades in language
arts, math, and listening skills than students not
identified with disabilities until K, 1, or 2 (73% vs.
59%)
Students receiving preschool special education
services had a grade retention rate of 5.56 per
100 students compared to 26.1 per 100 students
for students not identified with disabilities until K,
1, or2
Pressure from Three Points
Developmentally
Appropriate
Practice
Special
Education
Strategies
CHILD
&
Program
Standards
And
Indicators
How do we make it happen?
What are
the goals for
the child?
How is
the child
doing?
What are
the setting
demands?
What are
the child’s
strengths?
What are
the instructional
strategies needed?
We need to do three things…
Assess, assess, assess…
– Assess children’s strengths
– Assess environmental demands
– assess families’ preferences for skills
and behaviors
Instruct
– With reinforcers
– With specific instructional strategies
Document
Curriculum Adaptation
Process
Same Task, Same Materials--adaptations are
how the materials are arranged, displayed, the
type of directions provided, and how the directions
or teacher interactions are presented to the
children
Same Task, Easier Steps--students participate
in general curriculum activities with the adaptation
that the steps to the activities are simplified or
shortened. Often response modes are adapted
(e.g., listen rather than speak, point rather than
verbally label)
Adapted from Christine Salisbury, Ph.D.
Curriculum Adaptation
Process
Same Task, Different Materials--the materials
or equipment of the activity may be changed to
enable the student to participate in the activity (e.g.,
use a glue stick instead of a brush for a collage
activity)
Same Theme, Different Task--the activities that
the child with a disability participates in are different
but linked to the other activities by the theme or
topic being addressed (e.g., students in a
kindergarten are working with attribute blocks and
grouping according to characteristics while a child
with a lower cognitive ability is making block
patterns with the same materials)
Curriculum Adaptation
Process
Different Theme, Different Task--in very limited
circumstances where a child has a very severe
disability, a different task and theme might be
planned for him or her; this should only occur in
very rare instances and never related to any social
activity in the program (e.g., snack, circle time,
outside time)
The goal of this approach is to make adaptations as
simple as possible and to address each child’s
needs within the routines and activities of the
program day
Peer Adaptations
Make sure that you are using MANY materials
that promote social interactions
Create activities where children need to work
cooperatively and group children who have
disabilities and those who do not have
disabilities (e.g, mural painting)
Use routine times to group children with
complementary skills together (e.g., at snack
time have a child with good language
modeling skills sit with a child with lower level
language skills)
Characteristics of Materials that
Encourage Social Interactions
Accessible--children with all different levels of
abilities can use the materials (e.g., the glue stick vs.
a brush that needs to be dipped in a bowl of glue)
Adaptable--children of different skill levels can play
with the materials at different conceptual levels (e.g.,
block play materials often have this quality--cars can
be used for rolling or for complex role playing)
Cooperative--materials that either require or are
more efficiently used when two children use them
(e.g., many outside materials are like this---wagons,
swings)
Teaching Specific Objectives
Teaching is the process of manipulating
the environment so that learning will occur.
Characteristics that can be manipulated:
materials
equipment
routines
peer behavior
teacher and other staff behavior
Phases of Learning
Acquisition--learning the new skill or
behavior
Fluency--using the new skill at a
normal rate
Maintenance--using the skill without
support or external rewards
Generalization--using the skill in
situations outside of the
circumstances in which it was learned
Reinforcement for Learning
Start with natural reinforcers (play,
social interactions, objects, actions)
Identify specific reinforcers from
caregivers (parents, child care
providers, relatives)
Observe child to determine why he or
she does a behavior repeatedly
Test for reinforcer preferences
Using Reinforcers Effectively
CLEARLY identify the behavior you want to
reinforce
Ensure that the reinforcer occurs IMMEDIATELY
after the behavior or an approximation of the
behavior
Pair non-naturally occurring reinforcers with
social reinforcers
Once acquisition has occurred, mix reinforcers
Once acquisition and fluency has been achieved,
fade non-natural reinforcers and replace with
natural reinforcers
In generalization phase, move to intermittent
reinforcement
Teaching Strategies
Least intrusive
to most intrusive.
Arranging the environment
Providing models
Using children’s material and activity
preferences
Violation of expectancy
Time delay
Transition teaching
Structured play activities
Shaping behaviors with reinforcers
System of least prompts
Stimulus modifications
Teaching Strategies (Continued)
Violation of expectancy--the teacher or other staff
member incorrectly does a step in a familiar routine
Time delay--With holding a material or action from an
expected routine sequence
Transition teaching--presenting a learning opportunity
during transition times
Structured play activities--scripting children’s
interactions and play scheme
Shaping--reinforcing approximations of a skill or behavior
and withholding future reinforcements until the behavior is
more closely approximates the desired behavior
System of least prompts--providing the child with the
level of support needed to accomplish a specific skill
System of Least Prompts
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Hierarchy of prompts from least to most
intrusive
Present the stimulus (e.g. “What do you
want to eat?”
Wait for a response.
Use least prompt (usually a verbal or
partial verbal prompt).
Move to more intrusive prompts (toward
physical assistance).
Once desired behavior is acquired, move
backward in the sequence of prompts
until only the presented stimulus triggers
the behavior.
Example of System of Least
Prompts
Presentation of stimulus
Model
Visual cue
Visual cue, model, and minimal or partial
verbal prompt
Visual cue, model and full verbal prompt
Visual cue, model, verbal and partial physical
prompt
Model, verbal and full physical prompt
And, finally…
We need to document.
We need to collect data.
We need to compile data.
We need to report data.
And we need to share it with funders,
sponsors, boards, and directors,
superintendents and head masters—
everyone!
Where to get these slides…
http://www.udel.edu/cds/conferencematerials.html
Contemporary Early
Intervention Approaches
Incidental Teaching
– child selected
– child initiated
– adult responded
– use of graded
prompts
Milieu Teaching
– Arrangement of the
environment
– Assess the child’s
functioning
– Find methods for
the child to interact
with the
environment