Annette Hahn
Teaching Pyramid
Consultant/Coach,
Trainer vahahn1@yahoo.com

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Understand purposes for use of the
Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool
(TPOT)
Assess how well teachers are implementing the Teaching Pyramid model through use of the TPOT
Summarize and evaluate the results of the TPOT on the TPOT Summary

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Understand challenging behavior has meaning for the child.
Know children use behavior to access something or someone (obtain/request) or avoid something or someone
(escape/protest).
Use Behavior Incident Reports behavior.
to determine the function or purpose of challenging

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What is it?
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Used as a way to determine how well teachers are implementing the pyramid
Meant to be an ongoing tool, not a one time event
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Can be a pre/post measure
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Can supplement other tools (e.g., ECERS…)

Individualized
Intensive
Interventions
Social Emotional
Teaching Strategies
Designing Supportive Environments
Building Positive Relationships
CSEFEL

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Benchmarks of Quality
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Program-wide adoption of fidelity tool
Identifies strengths and areas for implementation
Captures growth in fidelity of implementation

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Observations
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Conducted for a minimum of 2 hours
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Must observe centers or free play and at least one teacher-directed activity
Focus on observation is lead teacher’s behavior
Interviews
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For those practices that cannot be observed in a 2-hour observation

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Three types of items
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Environmental items (items 1-7) – yes/no based on observation
Ratings of practices (items 8-22) – ratings based on observation and/or teacher report
Red Flags (items 23-38) – yes/no based on observation

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Clear boundaries
Move easily around room
Lack of large open spaces
Adequate number of centers
Materials support play
Preparation of centers
Classroom rules

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Schedules
Transitions
Conversations
Promoting Engagement
Behavior Expectations
Providing Directions
Social Skills
Expressing Emotions
Problem Solving
Friendship Skills
Persistent Problem Behavior
Communication with Families
Involving Families
Relationships with Adults

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Supporting children with persistent problem behavior
Communication with families to promote involvement
Involving families to support social emotional development and addressing problem behavior
Strategies to build collaborative teaching with other adults

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Represents issues related to teacher training, support, or program practices
Indicated areas for immediate training
Scored as yes/no

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Use Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool
(TPOT) Summary
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Strengths
Emerging Skills
Professional Development needs

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Challenging behavior usually has a message- I am bored, I am sad, you hurt my feelings, I need some attention.
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Children often use challenging behavior when they don’t have the social or communication skills they need to engage in more appropriate interactions.
Behavior that persists over time is usually working for the child.
We need to focus on teaching children what to do in place of the challenging behavior.

Tom Herner (NASDE President,
Counterpoint 1998, p.2)
“If a child doesn’t know how to read,
“If a child doesn’t know how to swim,
“If a child doesn’t know how to multiply,
“If a child doesn’t know how to drive,
“If a child doesn’t know how to behave,
……….teach? ………punish?” we teach .” we teach .” we teach .” we teach.” we…….....
“Why can’t we finish the last sentence as automatically as we do the others?”

Children who are identified as hard to manage at ages 3 and 4 have a high probability (50:50) of continuing to have difficulties into adolescence (Campbell &
Ewing, 1990; Egeland et al., 1990; Fischer,
Rolf, Hasazi, & Cummings, 1984).

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Take the problem away from the
child and ask:
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Why is this behavior happening?
What changes can I make to
prevent the problem from occurring and teach the child new skills?

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Form vs. Function
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Form
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What does the behavior look like?
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Function
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What is the purpose of the behavior from the child’s perspective?

Aggression Tantrum
Hitting
Scratching
Kicking
Biting
Throwing things
Pinching
Threatening
Screaming
Crying
Whining
Cussing
Noncompliance
Refuses to respond to a request
Passive when a request is made

Social
Withdrawal
Primarily plays alone
Doesn’t respond to peers attempts to play
Self Injury/
Repetitive
Scratching self
Biting self
Hitting self
Rocking back and forth
Spinning objects
Others?

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Children engage in challenging behavior because “it works” for them.
Challenging behavior results in the child gaining access to something or someone (i.e., obtain/request) or avoiding something or someone (i.e., escape/protest).

Obtain
Attention
Escape
Adult
Peer
Adult
Peer
Tangible/
Activity
Toys/Items
Food
Activity
Toys/Items
Food
Activity
Sensory
Stimulation
Sensory
Stimulation
Sensory
Stimulation

Trigger
Joey is asked to come to circle.
Teacher provides physical prompt to move him to group.
Behavior
Joey resists, cries, and hits teacher.
Maintaining
Consequence
Teacher moves away from Joey and allows Joey to select a different activity.

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Event that occurs at another time that increases the likelihood the child will have challenging behavior. Setting events serve to “set the child up” to have challenging behavior.

Setting
Event
Trigger Behavior Maintaining
Consequence
Quan approaches computer and sees child working on program.
Quan moves his picture to indicate that he is next.
Quan observes and waits for his turn.
Child leaves computer and
Quan sits down and begins working.

Setting
Event
Quan was up most the night with an asthma attack.
He arrives at school looking sleepy and with dark circles under his eyes.
Trigger
Quan approaches computer and sees child working on program.
Behavior
Quan hits child and pushes his body on the child’s chair.
Maintaining
Consequence
Child leaves computer and
Quan sits down and begins working.

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Sevon, a 3 year old hits the teacher and says
“no” when give a puzzle to complete. The teacher removes Sevon from the table and places him in a chair away from the group.
Franz, a preschooler with Downs Syndrome, cries when the teacher is passing out popcorn and accidentally skips him. The teacher quickly gives him some popcorn.

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Christina, who has autism, rocks back and forth when there is free play in the classroom. The class ignores her.
Mary, a 4 year old, “smarts off” to her teacher and the entire class laughs.
Kirby, who is 3 years old, runs to the play area when his teacher tells him it is time to sit at the table. The teacher says “no” and brings Kirby back to the table.

Setting
Event Trigger Behavior
Maintaining
Consequence
Function:

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Complete all areas of the form for each instance of problem behavior using the instructions provided for completing the
Behavior Incident Report
Behaviors that……
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Cause injury to self, or others
Cause damage to the physical environment
Interfere with learning new skills
Socially isolate a child

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The BIR is completed for any behavior that is perceived as challenging.
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Look at the situation in which the behavior occurs
Identify and describe the challenging behavior
Identify what events, people, activities, are associated with the behavior

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Use Bar Graph or other visual to display TPOT
Summary results
Tabulate BIR’s.
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Define the behavior
Identify factors related to the behavior
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When, where the behavior occurs
Persons the behavior occurs with
Activities and time related to the behavior
Identify the functions/outcomes for the behavior

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Next Steps for TPOT
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Develop a Professional Development Plan based on the TPOT Summary
Use the needs of the teaching team
Fidelity Checklist to determine the degree to which interventions are carried out as planned
Next Steps for BIR’s – Facilitating the
Development of a Positive Behavior Support
Plan
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Learn how to use a team work approach in conducting a functional behavioral assessment, developing a hypothesis, creating a behavior support plan and monitoring outcomes.