Promoting the Social Emotional Competence of …csefel.vanderbilt.edu/modules/facilitators-guide.pdfRev. 5/06 Promoting the Social Emotional Competence of Young Children Facilitator’s

Rev. 5/06

Promoting the Social Emotional Competence of Young Children

Facilitator’s Guide

Child Care Bureau

Head Start Bureau

The Center on the Social and EmotionalFoundations for Early Learning

This material was developed by the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Healthand Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (Cooperative Agreement N. PHS 90YD0119). The contents of this publication do not necessarilyreflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial projects, or organizationsimply endorsement by the U.S. Government. You may reproduce this material for training and information purposes. The authors wish to acknowledge Larry S.Joireman for the illustrations.

Overview of Training Modules

As part of these activities, the Center has developedevidence-based, user-friendly training modules to helpearly childhood educators promote children’s socialemotional development and address the challengingbehavior and mental health needs of children in childcare and Head Start programs. These modules weredesigned based on input gathered during focusgroups with program administrators, T/TA providers,early educators, and family members about the typesand content of training that would be most useful inaddressing the social emotional needs of youngchildren. This is the third edition of the modules. Therevisions are based on feedback from trainers whohave used them in a variety of settings. In addition,the revisions reflect feedback from early childhoodprofessionals who have participated in trainingexperiences in which the materials have been used.The content of the modules is consistent withevidence-based practices identified through athorough review of the literature. Figure 1 provides agraphic representation of a model for promotingchildren’s social emotional development andpreventing challenging behavior.

The model depicted in Figure 1 provides a frameworkfor describing the four interrelated levels of practicethat address the social and emotional development ofall children. This framework, The Teaching Pyramid, ismore fully described in the accompanying article fromYoung Children that may be found in Module 4

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign csefel.uiuc.edu


Overview of the Center on the Social and EmotionalFoundations for Early Learning

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundationsfor Early Learning is a national center focused onstrengthening the capacity of child care and Head Startprograms to improve the social and emotionaloutcomes of young children. The Center is jointlyfunded by the Head Start and the Child Care Bureausin the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The following guiding principles related to promotingyoung children’s social and emotional development arethe foundation of the work of the Center:

• Supporting young children’s social and emotionaldevelopment to prevent challenging behaviors;

• Individualizing interventions to meet children’s andfamilies’ unique interests, strengths, and needs;

• Promoting skill building with enough intensity to affectchange;

• Implementing strategies in the context of naturallyoccurring routines and environments;

• Ensuring fidelity of use through a systematic changeprocess; and

• Modifying strategies to meet the cultural andlinguistic diversity of families and children.

Specifically, the work of the Center on the Social andEmotional Foundations for Early Learning is designed to:

• Focus on promoting the social and emotionaldevelopment of children as a means of preventingchallenging behaviors.

• Collaborate with existing training and technicalassistance (T/TA) providers for the purpose ofensuring the implementation and sustainability ofpractices at the local level.

• Engage in a comprehensive, culturally sensitiveapproach that is inclusive of and responsive to theneeds of programs, families, professionals, andcommunities.

• Identify and respond to the ongoing training needsand preferred delivery formats of local programs andT/TA providers.

• Disseminate evidence-based practices.

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Intensive IndividualizedInterventions

Social Emotional Teaching Strategies

Creating Supportive Environments

Positive Relationships with Children, Families, and Colleagues

Figure 1. The Teaching Pyramid: A model for promotingchildren’s social emotional development and preventingchallenging behavior.

Fox, L., Dunlap, G., Hemmeter, M. L., Joseph, G. & Strain, P. (2003). Theteaching pyramid: A model supporting social competence and preventingchallenging behavior in young children. Young Children, 58(4), 48-52

other professionals (Module 1). These relationshipsare essential to implementing effective practices tosupport children’s social emotional development. Thenext level of the model reflects the importance ofdesigning environments that support children’ssuccess by engaging them in meaningful activities,teaching them about the expectations of theenvironment, and implementing a schedule that ispredictable and engaging to each child (Module 1).Classroom preventive practices include designingphysical environments in ways that support thedevelopment and use of appropriate behavior andsocial skills, providing developmentally appropriatematerials that promote children’s engagement,teaching children about rules and expectations, andusing positive attention and encouragement to supportprosocial behavior. The two levels of practices,presented in Module 1, ensure that the majority ofchildren will engage in appropriate social behavior andflourish in their emotional development. It is importantto note that research indicates that the first two levelsof the Teaching Pyramid are absolutely essential for allchildren but that some children will need additionalfocused and systematic strategies to support theirsocial and emotional development. The third level ofthe teaching pyramid addresses the need forsystematic ways to support children in developingcompetence in emotional literacy, problem solving,impulse control, and friendship skills. In many groupcare situations, you can expect that as many as 30%of the children will need this level of intervention (i.e.,social and emotional teaching strategies) to developthese critical skills. In situations where adisproportionate number of children are from high riskenvironments, a greater percentage of children willneed focused instruction to develop socialcompetence. Module 2 provides information on theimplementation of effective social emotional teachingstrategies (the third level of the Teaching Pyramid).These strategies are used to teach important skills,such as expressing emotions appropriately, solvingproblems, and building friendships.

The final level of the model is designed for thosechildren who continue to exhibit significant challengingbehaviors or other social emotional needs when theother levels of the model are in place (Modules 3a and3b). When the Teaching Pyramid is implemented,there will be a small number of children who havechallenging behavior that is unresponsive to thefoundational levels of the pyramid. These children mayhave developmental delays, be exposed to multiplerisk factors (e.g., poverty, single parent homes,inadequate health care), or may have been exposed toother events or influences that have impacted theirsocial development. The children who persist in



(Handout H4.7). The Teaching Pyramid is designed toguide the practitioner in understanding the importanceof children’s social emotional competence in terms ofschool readiness and the prevention of challengingbehavior. A major focus of the training content is onthe strategies that early educators can use to promotechildren’s development. In addition to a focus onprevention and promotion, we provide a team basedapproach to developing individualized plans forchildren with ongoing challenging behavior. We definechallenging behavior as any repeated pattern ofbehavior that interferes with or is at risk of interferingwith optimal learning or engagement in prosocialinteractions with peers and adults. While somechildren's challenging behaviors are developmentallynormative and effectively addressed through adultvigilance and the use of appropriate guidanceprocedures, the materials in the modules are focusedon identifying evidence-based practices foraddressing challenging behaviors that are persistentor unresponsive to those approaches. Commontopographies of those behaviors include prolongedtantrums, physical and verbal aggression, disruptivevocal and motor responding (e.g., screaming,stereotypy), property destruction, self-injury,noncompliance, and withdrawal.

For infants and toddlers, challenging behavior mustbe considered within the context of the relationship ofthe child to caregivers. Behavior that is challengingmay manifest as attachment difficulties, sleeping andeating difficulties, excessive crying, and difficulty insoothing. Challenging behaviors may be defined asbehaviors that interfere with the development andmaintenance of reciprocal, positive, and nurturingrelationships with the parent or caregiver. Challengingbehavior, as a pattern of behavior, is noted byconsidering the relationship of the child and adult andthe difficulties that are manifested in the dyadicexchange. These behaviors may be the result ofbiological or environmental factors that affect infantdevelopment and, as a consequence, the infant'srelationship with a caregiver or they may be related tochallenges (i.e., neglectful care giving, parentalmental health, etc.) that affect the ability of thecaregiver in establishing a nurturing and responsiverelationship. The practices that one would use foraddressing the needs of infants and young toddlersare not addressed in these training materials. Thesematerials are focused on practices you would useprimarily with children who are two through five yearsof age.

The foundation of this model is grounded in thecontext of positive, supportive relationships betweenteachers and children, as well as with families and

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Module Overview and Key Topic



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This module addresses strategies for preventing challenging behavior. Themodule is based on the following principles:

a) Positive relationships with children serve as the foundation for addressingsocial emotional needs.

b) When children understand routines and the expectations for theirbehavior, and when they are engaged in activities that are meaningful,they are less likely to engage in challenging behavior.

c) Expectations and routines have to be taught to children using a range ofteaching strategies.

Topics included in this module: • Building positive relationships with children, families, and colleagues • Designing environments, schedules, and routines • Establishing rules • Implementing activities that promote child engagement • Modifying and adapting materials and activities to meet the individual

needs of all children, including those with disabilities • Providing encouragement and positive feedback to children

Module 1: Promoting Children’sSuccess: BuildingRelationships andCreating SupportiveEnvironments

The following table provides an overview of each module along with the key topic areas covered:

displaying challenging behavior are best supportedthrough intensive and individualized approaches thatare focused on identifying the environmental factorsthat are related to challenging behavior, the use ofindividually determined prevention strategies tosupport the child in engaging in appropriate behavior,and the instruction of new skills to replace challengingbehavior. Modules 3a and 3b provide instruction onthe use of the process of Positive Behavior Support toaddress the needs of children who have intensive andpersistent challenging behavior.

Module 4 provides training on the administrativesupports and processes that are necessary to adoptand sustain the practices described in the first threetraining modules. The modules reflect a commitmentto promoting social emotional development in allchildren. In addition, the modules include informationabout more intensive interventions that are neededwhen children have significant social emotional needsand challenging behavior. The importance of workingwith families and building teams is woven throughoutthe four primary content areas related to supportingchildren’s social emotional development andpreventing challenging behavior.

Each module has been designed to be used during afull day of inservice training to practicing earlyeducators, related service professionals, and programadministrators. The training content in the modules willprovide early childhood programs with information onhow to implement a full continuum of evidence-basedpractices that are essential to supporting young

children’s social and emotional development. A notablefeature of the modules is the inclusion of the Inventoryof Practices for Promoting Social Competence. Theinventory provides program staff with a self-evaluationtool to guide self-reflection and the identification ofprogram needs. The inventory includes an action planthat may be used to target areas for programimprovement and identify the resources and supportsneeded to ensure that the identified practices areimplemented.

The Inventory of Practices and Action Plan forPromoting Social and Emotional Competence will beused throughout the modules; therefore, it will beimportant to give participants an overview of it. Thefollowing points should be made when handing thistool out. • This tool is designed to be used by individuals

and/or teams that include a teacher, a coach,and/or other administrative or support personnel.

• The purpose of the tool is to help identify trainingneeds related to each of the topics addressed in themodules and to plan a course of action foraddressing those needs.

• The tool is best utilized in a way that encouragesreflection and discussion.

• The tool provides a space for writing descriptivecomments that will be helpful in training as well ascompleting a rating to demonstrate progress.

• The action plan portion of the tool allows teams toidentify strategies for addressing targeted trainingneeds and identify the supports and resourcesnecessary to address those needs.

An important role for the early childhood teacher is to facilitate children’ssocial emotional development such that children have the skills andfoundation they need to be successful in school. This foundation includesthe ability to solve problems, communicate emotions appropriately andeffectively, and build friendships. This module focuses on effectivestrategies for teaching these skills to children.

Topics included in this module: • Identifying teachable moments • Facilitating the development of friendship skills • Teaching problem solving • Teaching children to recognize and express emotions • Teaching anger management

Children’s challenging behaviors most often serve to express some feeling,need, or meaning that they are unable to communicate in a moreappropriate manner. This suggests the need for identifying the meaning andthe skills that the child needs to communicate that meaning moreeffectively. This module focuses on effective strategies for observingchildren and identifying the meaning of their behavior as a means ofidentifying skills that could be targeted for instruction.

Topics included in this module: • Identifying the function of challenging behavior • Identifying behaviors and social skills to target for intervention

After determining the meaning of children’s challenging behavior and theskills the child needs to learn to communicate that meaning moreeffectively, a plan is developed to support the child’s use of the new skillsand to decrease the likelihood that the child will need to use challengingbehavior. This module addresses:

a) strategies for teaching new skills and arranging the environment tosupport appropriate behaviors and prevent challenging behavior, and

b) building teams (professionals and family members) to effectively supportthe child’s behavior across settings.

Topics included in this module: • Developing a plan for supporting social emotional development and

preventing challenging behavior • Using a team approach to addressing challenging behavior and social

emotional needs

The extent to which programs can implement the practices described in thefirst three modules will depend in large part on administrative support. Thismodule focuses on identifying barriers to the effective use of thesepractices and strategies for addressing those barriers. Collaborativeplanning is an essential feature of this module.

Topics included in this module: • Identifying challenges and barriers to implementing effective practices • Identifying strategies for addressing barriers and challenges • Developing program policies and staff development plans that promote

the use of effective practices • Identifying steps to collaborative planning for programs and systems that

support all young children’s social emotional development and addresschallenging behaviors as needed



Module 2: Social Emotional TeachingStrategies

Module 3a: Individualized IntensiveInterventions: Determiningthe Meaning of ChallengingBehavior

Module 3b:Individualized IntensiveInterventions: Developing aBehavior Support Plan

Module 4:Leadership Strategies

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Organization of the Modules

The modules were designed to be used with a rangeof early childhood audiences including child care,public schools and Head Start. In many cases, theterm “teacher” is used to describe those individualsworking directly with children. We believe strongly thatall individuals who work with children are “teaching.”We are not intending to exclude anyone when we usethat term.

While these modules were designed to be used with arange of audiences, it will be important to refine thetraining based on your specific audience. You mayfind that you can cover some modules in less timewith very experienced audiences or that you mightneed to spend more time for less experiencedaudiences. We encourage you to consider the needsof your audience and make revisions as necessary.

Across each of the training modules, you will find thefollowing sections:

Speaker's Notes: The presenters’ notes providedetailed descriptions of the content of each module.These notes walk presenters through each topiccovered within a module. The notes providedetailed descriptions of both the content and eachactivity. In addition, examples, vignettes, and ideasto generate discussion or respond to possibleparticipant comments and questions are included.

Icons: Icons cue the speaker when to engageparticipants in small- and large-group discussions,use overheads, show video clips, and beginactivities. Handouts and Video clips are numericallycoded.



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Learner Objectives: Each module begins with a listof key Learner Objectives that sessionparticipants are expected to have masteredfollowing the completion of each module. Theseobjectives should be reviewed with participants atthe beginning of each module.

Suggested Agenda: Each module also includes asuggested agenda that lists the order of topicswith the approximate time period each activity willtake. The time allotments are provided to helppresenters anticipate the amount of time neededto cover each topic, thus enabling presenters toplan accordingly. However, presenters areencouraged to adapt the agenda based on theneeds and skills of their respective sessionparticipants.

List of Materials Needed: This list details thespecific materials needed to implement theactivities described in each module. Manymaterials needed are included with this trainingpackage. However, presenters will need toprepare or gather other materials beforehand. Forexample, some modules require markers andchart paper. Presenters will want to carefully readthrough all activities within a module and makesure they have access to the needed materials.

Handouts: A master copy of each of the handoutsfor session participants is provided for eachmodule. A list of these handouts appears at thebeginning of each module. PowerPoint handoutsare included in each module and should bedistributed at the beginning of each session. Ingeneral, these handouts are a near replica of thepresenter overheads; however, some minordifferences exist between the ModulePresentation PowerPoint and the handout slideswhere the “answers” to a few activities wereremoved. PowerPoint handouts can be printedwith three or six slides per page.

Inventory of Practices and Action Plan forPromoting Social Emotional Competence: TheInventory and Action Plan are included as ahandout for Module 1; however, the Inventory andAction Plan are designed to be used across allmodules. Directions for using the Inventory areincluded. The Inventory and Action Plan aredesigned to be used by individual participants to

How to Use the Modules

Handout 3b.2: Tips and Ideas for Making VisualsModule 3b

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign csefel.uiuc.edu H 3b.2

Tips and Ideas for Making Visuals to Support Young Children with Challenging Behavior

Why Use Visual Strategies

1. Visual strategies can be used to prevent challenging behavior.

2. Visual strategies are helpful in supporting and increasing both receptive and expressive communication.

3. Just as adults use calendars, grocery lists, and Òto doÓ lists to enhance memory, children also benefit fromvisual reminders.

4. Visuals are static, meaning that they remain present after words are spoken.Children can refer to them once the spoken words are no longer present.Visuals serve as a reminder of the verbal direction.

5. Visuals assist children in knowing exactly what is expected of them (e.g., washing hands independently,cleaning up toys).

6. Regular routines, when represented visually, can be taught to children at a very young age. Once taught,the adult can fade out of the routine and allow the child to self-monitor the routine to completion.

7. For many children, visual supports are most beneficial when used in conjunction with spoken languageand/or sign language.

8. Visuals can act as a cue to teach appropriate behavior or new skills for children who are having challengingbehavior.

4

PowerPoint(numerically coded) Handouts

(numerically coded)

Video Clips(numerically coded)

Activity usingchart paper

Group activity

identify and prioritize their training needs. TheInventory and Action Plan can be completed aheadof time or as part of the ongoing activities with eachmodule. Additional handouts specific to eachmodule, such as sample certificates, blank datacollection forms, and a list of strategies, are listedon the first page of each module.

Video Clips: The modules include video clips thatshow examples of topics covered. Videos are usedas part of activities, to stimulate discussions with thesession participants, or to demonstrate content. Allvideo clips are embedded within the PowerPointslides on the DVD or CDROM. They are alsoavailable on a VHS tape and are separated byModule in the order in which they appear in thetrainer scripts.

Tips for Trainers

In order to adequately address all components of themodel presented in Figure 1, the content of the modulesshould be presented sequentially across 5 days.Modules 1, 2, 3a, 3b, and 4 each require a full day oftraining. The Inventory of Practices for Promoting SocialEmotional Competence is included as a handout inModule 1 and used throughout all of the modules. ThisInventory could be used to prioritize training needs whena full 5-day period of time is not available to implementthe training as designed in the modules.

Participants should be encouraged to attend the trainingin teams in order to build support for participants bothduring the training and as they work towardimplementing these practices in their programs. The size of the audience should be considered whenplanning the training. The modules have severalactivities that require audience participation. The trainingmay need to be more or less structured relative to thesize of the group. In addition, many of the activitiesrequire small groups to work and then report back to thefull group. If the full group is so large that this reportingtime would exceed the allotted time, trainers shouldconsider either eliminating the reporting part of theactivity or having different small groups report back toeach other.



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A final consideration is the need to individualize thetraining to meet the unique and diverse needs of theaudience. This individualization can be done in severalways. First, trainers should consider the diversity of thegroup and ensure that the activities and examples areadapted to address the needs of the participants.Second, the Inventory described above could be usedto identify and prioritize specific training needs. Third,reflection activities could be added to have participantsreflect on how to apply the content with children andfamilies.

Acknowledgments

The development of these modules was truly acollaborative endeavor. We would like to acknowledgeand thank the individuals who contributed to thedevelopment, design, and production of the modules:

The development team included the authors of themodules as well as project staff who coordinated theoverall development process: Rob Corso, TweetyYates, Mary Louise Hemmeter, Michaelene Ostrosky,Amy Santos, and Dawn Thomas, University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign; Lise Fox, Glen Dunlap, andRochelle Lentini, University of South Florida; MattTimm and Dianne Dixon of Tennessee Voices forChildren; Barbara Smith and Phil Strain, University ofColorado at Denver, and Gail Joseph, University ofDenver.

The design and layout of the modules was done byPat Mayer, Champaign, Illinois.

Mark Landman, from PM Productions of Champaign,was responsible for the development of the video. Additional staff supported various aspects of thedevelopment of the modules: Deb Holderer, MarciaSiders, Amanda Quesenberry, Jill Thompkins, GregCheatham and Johnell Bentz, University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign and Jill Giacomini, University ofColorado at Denver.

Documents

Promoting the Social Emotional Competence of …csefel.vanderbilt.edu/modules/facilitators-guide.pdfRev. 5/06 Promoting the Social Emotional Competence of Young Children Facilitator’s