Inclusive Placement Opportunities
for Preschoolers:
A Systems Approach to Preschool
Inclusive Practices
VDOE TTAC 2005
A project of the
Virginia Department of Education
and the
Training and Technical Assistance
Centers of Virginia
VDOE TTAC 2005
Fostering social relationships
A classwide approach
VDOE TTAC 2005
Agenda
•
A few facts
•
Why it’s hard to teach social skills
•
What the research says
•
The teacher’s role
•
Teaching strategies
VDOE TTAC 2005
What skills do children learn
in school that are most
likely to lead to successful
adjustment in adult life?
VDOE TTAC 2005
A few facts
•
People who develop and maintain positive relationships
with others are generally happier than those who don’t
•
People who negotiate, problem solve, express their
opinions, take another’s perspective, change their
behavior and adapt succeed at work and move up
in their professions
VDOE TTAC 2005
Additional facts
•
Children who do not acquire social skills by grade 3 are
extremely likely to drop out of school, commit crimes
and eventually become incarcerated
•
If anti-social behavior is not changed by the end of grade
3, it should be treated as a chronic condition, much like
diabetes. That is, it cannot be cured but managed with
the appropriate supports and intervention (Walker, Colvin
& Ramsey, 1995).
VDOE TTAC 2005
Pro-social behavior
•
The ability to generate and coordinate flexible, adaptive
responses to demands and generate and capitalize on
opportunities in the environment (Waters and Sroufe,
1983)
VDOE TTAC 2005
Why it’s so hard
to teach social skills
•
You’re at a party and the only person you know just
walked away. You….
•
Someone you knew in high school, but haven’t seen
since is in the same line with you. You...
•
You see someone you don’t want to talk to you. She
waves and you’re not sure she knows you saw her.
You…
VDOE TTAC 2005
Ways we inadvertently teach
anti-social behavior
•
Greet the parent but not the child
•
Talk to the parent or another teacher about the child
in front of the child
•
Attribute needs to children
•
Label a child’s behavior
•
Refer to a child by a label
VDOE TTAC 2005
Ways we inadvertently teach
anti-social behavior (cont’d)
•
Nip it in the bud
•
Take one child’s side
•
Protect a child from emotional distress
•
Talk about other adults in front of children
•
Talk about other children in front of a child
•
Lose it in front of a child or with a child
VDOE TTAC 2005
What are the
“friendly” children doing?
•
Form groups of 3
•
Assign a recorder
•
Think of a “friendly” child in your class
•
List the specific skills that child uses with friends
VDOE TTAC 2005
What we know
•
Interaction is reciprocal
•
Interaction is ongoing
•
Children learn best when they are in control of their
learning
•
Interaction is learned through interaction with others
•
Interactions between two children can be negative or
positive. In either case, it becomes more so over time
•
Negative interaction changes when adults intervene
VDOE TTAC 2005
What does the research
say about friends?
Emotional regulation
+ Social knowledge and understanding
+
Social skills
Pro-social behavior
VDOE TTAC 2005
Emotional regulation
•
Control impulses
•
Delay gratification
•
Manage distress
VDOE TTAC 2005
Social knowledge
and understanding
•
Language
•
Take other’s perspective
•
Reach common ground
•
Experience
VDOE TTAC 2005
Social skills
•
Enter ongoing play
•
Negotiate
•
Imitate
•
Take turns
•
Ask for help
•
Express self
•
Help others
•
Persist
•
Compliment
•
Pretend
•
Show affection
•
Gather information
•
Organize
•
Cooperate
•
Construct
VDOE TTAC 2005
What’s the teacher’s role
in guiding pro-social behavior?
VDOE TTAC 2005
Setting the stage
VDOE TTAC 2005
Setting the stage
for social relationships
•
Structure the environment
•
Teach social skills
•
Encourage classmates to interact
•
Use child-specific strategies to foster social relationships
VDOE TTAC 2005
Structure the environment
•
Thoughtful schedule
•
Planned environment
•
Physical inclusion
•
Pro-social class expectations
•
Positive statements
VDOE TTAC 2005
Thoughtful schedule
for pro-social behavior
•
Balanced (e.g., mainly child-initiated, some teacherguided and few large group activities)
•
Predictable routine
•
Visual schedule
•
Advance warning if changes occur
•
Alternative activities
•
Thoughtful sequencing of activities
•
Short clean up with active child involvement
VDOE TTAC 2005
Thoughtful schedule
for pro-social behavior
•
Pre-correction
•
Planned transitions
•
Materials set up in advance
•
Quick starts for activities
•
Defined teacher roles
VDOE TTAC 2005
Planned environments
for pro-social behavior
•
Maze layout
•
Quiet and loud zones
•
Varied response mode
•
Quiet spot
VDOE TTAC 2005
Planned environments
•
Ensure physical inclusion
•
Socio-dramatic materials in each center
o
Social toys
•
Plan groupings of children with and without disabilities
•
Plan teacher-structured activities
VDOE TTAC 2005
Physical inclusion
•
Children should:
o
o
o
Have access to all toys and materials and all parts
of the room
Be at the “same level” as other children
(e.g., sitting, standing)
Participate in all activities (adapt materials)
VDOE TTAC 2005
Strategy: social toys
•
With your teammates, list toys in your classroom that
encourage social interaction
VDOE TTAC 2005
Social vs. isolate toys
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dress-up clothes
Dramatic play materials
Puppets
Vehicles
Sand/water toys
Record player
Blocks
See saw
Kiddie car
Jungle gym
Puzzles
• Pegboards and pegs
• Art materials
• Parquetry
• Shape templates
• Toy animals
• Blackboard
• Dolls
• Beads
•
VDOE TTAC 2005
Strategy: planned groupings
•
Small groups include children with disabilities and
typically developing children
•
Avoid “shadowing”
VDOE TTAC 2005
Support children
to develop friendships
VDOE TTAC 2005
Teacher-structured activities
•
Modify songs and activities to include directions
for displaying affection
•
Inclusive setting
•
Cooperative use of materials
•
Embed opportunities
•
Social interaction goals and objectives
•
Ethos of friendship
VDOE TTAC 2005
Teacher-structured activities
(cont’d)
•
Modeling principles
•
Modeling with video and puppets
•
Preparing peer partner
•
Buddy system
•
Priming
•
Suggesting play ideas
•
Direct modeling
•
Reinforcement
VDOE TTAC 2005
Class expectations against
and for pro-social behavior
•
We keep our hands and
feet to ourselves
•
We are gentle with each
other
•
We listen to the teacher
•
We listen to each other
•
We ask the teacher for
help
•
We help each other
•
We tell others what we
want them to do
•
Everyone gets to play
•
We use our words
(if taught to say
prohibitive statements)
VDOE TTAC 2005
Praise: It’s all in how you say it!
•
Highlight the child’s accomplishment
•
Specify the behavior
•
Show spontaneity
•
Make children aware of their thinking and self-control
•
Connect to prior accomplishments
•
Verbally reward effort
•
Orient the child to his feeling
•
Connect to internal rewards
•
Offer praise in private
•
Be genuine
VDOE TTAC 2005
Teach social skills
Identifying teachable moments
VDOE TTAC 2005
Friendship skills
•
How to give suggestions (play organizers)
•
Sharing toys and other materials
•
Taking turns (reciprocity)
•
Being helpful
•
Giving compliments
•
Understanding how and when to give an apology
VDOE TTAC 2005
Play organizers
•
•
Describe
o
Get friend’s attention
o
Give friend a toy
o
Give idea what to do with toy or what to play
Demonstrate
o
Right way
o
Wrong way
•
Practice
•
Promote
CSEFEL
VDOE TTAC 2005
Sharing
•
•
Describe skill
o
Child has materials
o
Offers or responds to request from peer for materials
Demonstrate
o
Right way
o
Wrong way
•
Practice
•
Promote
CSEFEL
VDOE TTAC 2005
Taking turns
•
Describe skill
o Get friend’s attention by looking, tapping or calling
•
Hold out hand
o Ask for toy
Demonstrate
•
Right way
o Wrong way
Practice
•
Promote
o
o
CSEFEL
VDOE TTAC 2005
Being helpful/teamwork
•
•
Describe skill
o
How to help at home
o
How to help at school
Demonstrate
o
Right way
o
Wrong way
•
Practice
•
Promote
CSEFEL
VDOE TTAC 2005
Giving compliments
•
•
•
•
Describe
o Verbal – Say things like:
 “Good job _____!”
 “Great _____!”
 “You should be proud of how you_____!
o Physical – Do things like:
 Hug
 Pat on the shoulder
 High five
Demonstrate
o Right way
o Wrong way
Practice
Promote
VDOE TTAC 2005
Knowing when and how
to give apologies
Describe skill
o “I’m sorry that ___”
o “I didn’t mean to ___”
• Demonstrate
•
•
Right way
o Wrong way
Practice
•
Promote
o
VDOE TTAC 2005
Encourage classmates to interact
•
Teach classmates to:
o
Share toys (if developmentally appropriate)
o
Offer assistance
o
Give compliments
o
Ask questions
o
Be persistent
o
Wait
o
Use alternative communication
VDOE TTAC 2005
Use child-specific strategies
•
Incidental teaching
o
Geared toward what the child likes to do
o
Conducted in a natural setting
o
o
•
Child determines materials and activity; teacher
determines goals
Brief, positive interactions focused on child-selected
activities
Prompting and guiding
VDOE TTAC 2005
Teaching 2- and 3-year-olds
•
Be brief, use action
language
•
Label and validate
emotions
•
Model
•
•
Alert children to others’
emotional states
Teach peers to prompt
children
•
Prompt children
•
Give two brief ideas
to choose from
•
Redirect children when
they opt not to use social
skills
•
Reframe events
•
•
Connect others’
emotional states
to the child’s
Give alternative
interpretations of events
VDOE TTAC 2005
Teaching 4- and 5-year-olds
•
Observe
•
Model
•
Solicit children’s ideas:
o
o
o
o
Describe the situation
Ask open-ended
questions
Teach children to
expect to try again
•
Teach peers to prompt
children
•
Prompt children
•
Redirect children with
a brief, straightforward
explanation when nothing
else works
Encourage children to
describe their feelings
to each other
VDOE TTAC 2005
Put it all together…
•
Form groups of 3
•
Assign a recorder
•
Read “What could you do?”
•
Identify the social behaviors not
being used by the child(ren)
•
Identify how you would teach
the behaviors
VDOE TTAC 2005
What could you do?
•
A 2-year-old wants to dance with another 2-year-old. She
grabs his hands and starts dancing. The other child pulls
his hands away and screams.
VDOE TTAC 2005
What could you do?
•
Two 2-year-olds are pulling on a cowboy hat and
screaming, “It’s mine!”
•
Two 4-year-olds are pulling on a cowboy hat and
screaming, “It’s mine!”
VDOE TTAC 2005
What could you do?
•
During story time, you encourage children to offer their
opinions about the books you read. Damon almost
always makes off-topic comments. Usually he talks
about his dog, Zea, or dinosaurs. You are currently
avoiding asking him to contribute during story.
VDOE TTAC 2005
What could you do?
•
Three-year-old Anna is painting a picture. Four-year-old
Sadie trips and falls into the easel and knocks Anna’s
paints onto her picture. Anna clinches her fists and looks
like she is going to hit Sadie.
VDOE TTAC 2005
What could you do?
•
Two-year-old Truman is watching two other children
pretending to be at a pet store. One child is the pet store
owner and the other is a customer. The customer is
looking at stuffed animals in boxes as she tries to decide
which one to buy.
VDOE TTAC 2005
What could you do?
•
You and a mother are talking while she holds her child
in her arms. The mother’s 2-year-old tries to talk to her.
The mother keeps talking to you. The child gets louder
and turns the mother’s face toward him.
VDOE TTAC 2005
Why are these ineffective
ways to teach pro-social behavior?
•
Telling a child to say he is sorry
•
Telling a child she is rude for interrupting two people
talking
•
Telling a child who is hanging on tightly to his father
that he is “feeling shy”
•
Asking a child, “Why did you hit?”
•
Asking a child to sit for two minutes to calm down
VDOE TTAC 2005
Thoughts/Questions/Com
ments?
VDOE TTAC 2005