COACHING
Coaching is an adult learning strategy in which the coach
promotes the learner’s ability to reflect on his or her actions
as a means to determine the effectiveness of an action or
practice and develop a plan for refinement and use of the
action in immediate and future situations (Rush and
Shelden,2004)
PURPOSE OF COACHING IN EARLY INTERVENTION
The purpose of coaching is to build the capacity of an
adult (family member, caregiver, early intervention
professional) to support the child’s participation and
learning in everyday life. Coaching can occur during
home and community visits with families and caregivers
and during team meetings with the intervention team.
COACHING VERSUS MORE TRADITIONAL INTERVENTION
Coaching encourages early intervention professionals (coaches) to work side
by side with a family member or caregiver to promote the child’s development
and learning within the context of their daily routines and activities versus
providing direct therapy to the child, with minimal to no family involvement
during visits. The coach (early intervention professional) and family/caregiver
work together to examine and reflect on what the family/caregiver is already
doing to target the identified outcome, discuss evidence-based practices, apply
new skills with feedback and problem solve challenging situations.
KEY ELEMENTS OF COACHING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
•
Consistent with adult learning principles
•
Capacity building: builds knowledge, skill and ability of the family/caregiver to function
without ongoing support; assists them in discovering what they already know; shares
knowledge, new information and ideas; helps develop new skills needed to achieve outcomes
and generalize reflections, resulting in actions to new and different situations; identify actions
to be taken and means for evaluating their effectiveness
•
Non-directive: not telling people what to do, giving them a chance to examine what they are
already doing in light of their own intentions
*Effective coaching is asking the right questions at the right time to promote thinking
(reflection) so the coachee (adult) becomes aware and analyzes what he/she wants to
happen, what he/she is doing that is supporting or inhibiting the outcome and what
alternatives or options there to achieve it
KEY ELEMENTS TO COACHING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
• Goal-oriented: interactive style used to achieve individual goals or outcomes identified
by coachee and that are related to a desired knowledge or skill; outcomes identified at
beginning of the relationship
• Solution-focused: focused on determining the present and creating future rather than
analyzing the past; purpose is related to a specific problem or problem area and
creating solutions that can be implemented immediately versus focusing on the
problem itself
• Performance-based: focus on coachee, application of knowledge gaining and
demonstration of skill resulting from coaching process – action oriented, not based on
actions or feelings
KEY ELEMENTS IN COACHING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
• Reflective: looking back in order to move forward, reach a deeper understanding of
what the coachee knows and is doing; what may need to be changed or what new
knowledge and skill might be necessary in future situations to obtain a desired
outcome; requires reflection, active participation and engagement of person being
coached
• Collaborative: coaching is a partnership and reciprocal process in which the coach
and coachee bring knowledge, experience and abilities to the relationship; coach
must learn what coachee knows, understands and is doing; what they know about
coaching and ideas for change; coach learns coachee’s process for developing
knowledge, solving problems, reflecting and generating ideas….not hierarchical
KEY ELEMENTS IN COACHING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
• Context-driven: relationship built on achievement of goals related to functional
activities, beginning with current situation experienced by coachee. Context of
coaching not separated from context in which targeted performance and/or jointly
identified solutions are used
• As hands on as it needs to be: primarily should be hands off, may be more hands
on when assisting in identifying possible solutions, options, external resources,
sharing information on a topic; as coachee builds competence and confidence, the
coach’s role becomes less focused on process than content; may prompt coachee
to reflect on and analyze ideas, consider alternatives and plan future actions;
overtime, feedback becomes less informational and more affirmative
RESEARCH BASED CHARACTERISTICS OF COACHING
Joint planning: At the beginning of a visit, the coach (early intervention professional) and adult
(family/caregiver) collaboratively determine what they will do during the visit
At the end of the visit, jointly decide on what will happen in between visits and identify opportunities
for family/caregiver to practice strategies/skills in between visits
Observation: examination of another person’s actions or practice to develop new skills, strategies or
ideas
Action/practice: spontaneous or planned events that occur with the context of a family’s everyday
routines and activities, that provides the family/caregiver (coachee) with opportunities to develop
practice, refine, or analyze new or existing skills with feedback; involves modeling by the coach using
a 7-step process
RESEARCH BASED CHARACTERISTICS OF COACHING
Reflection: analysis of existing strategies to determine how strategies are consistent with
evidence-based practices, how they need to could be implemented without change or modified
to obtain outcomes
Feedback: information provided by coach (early intervention professional) based on his/her
own observation of family/caregiver (coachee) or information shared by family/caregiver that is
designed to examine the coachee’s current level of understanding about a particular evidence
based practice or to affirm the coaches thoughts or actions
WHAT COACHING COULD LOOK LIKE …..
Lucy, a physical therapist in EarlySteps, just began working with the Charlie, a 10-month old boy with Down
Syndrome, and his family. Charlie lives with his Mom and Dad and older brother Linus. Lucy is an experienced
early interventionist, with specialized knowledge in motor development, motor learning and assistive technology.
Mom wants Charlie to sit in his high chair and feed himself during dinner time with the rest of the family. At the
beginning of today’s visit, they decide to work on this outcome during snack. Mom gathers everything she needs
for snack and places the food/drink on the kitchen table next to the highchair. Lucy asks Mom to show her how she
puts him in the highchair and what she has tried to help him sit and how her efforts have worked. Based on this
information, Lucy and Mom analyze the positioning and talk about other options to improve his sitting. Lucy talks
with Mom about evidence-based strategies and asks Mom if she could show her how to use one of these strategies
so that he sits more upright, with better trunk control to feed himself. Mom agrees and Lucy explains what she is
going to do, gives her something specific to look for, then Lucy models while Mom watches. They talk about what
happened (debriefed), and then Lucy invited Mom to try what she modeled. Mom practiced using the strategy
multiple times and together they talked about how the strategy worked. At the end of the visit, they developed a
plan for implementing the strategies in between visits during snacks and mealtimes and identified what outcomes
they wanted to target at the next home visit.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
Hanft, B.E., Rush, D.D., & Shelden, M.L. (2004). Coaching families and colleagues in early childhood. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing
Company.
Rush, D.D. & Shelden, M.L. (2011). The early childhood coaching handbook. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.
www.fipp.org The Family, Infant and Preschool Program (FIPP) Center for the Advanced Study of Excellence (CASE) in Early Childhood and Family
Support Practices
http://www.fipp.org/collateral/casetools/casetool_vol1_no2.pdf
The Framework for Reflective Questioning
http://www.fipp.org/collateral/casetools/casetool_vol4_no1.pdf
Tips and Techniques for Effective Coaching Interactions
http://www.fipp.org/collateral/casetools/casetool_vol2_no2.pdf
Coaching Practice Rating Scale
http://www.fipp.org/collateral/casetools/casetool_vol1_no1.pdf
Coaching Quick Reference Guide