Transcript Slide 1

The Pyramid Framework
v
within Early Intervention
Programs:
Promoting the Social
Development of Infants and
Toddlers
What we hope to accomplish in
this webinar
Provide rationale for Teaching Pyramid
 Explain why the Teaching Pyramid is a useful
model for thinking about social emotional
development of infants and toddlers.
 Examine some of the key features of model as
applied to very young children and their families.
 Talk about some of the promise and the
challenges of such an approach.

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The Teaching Pyramid:
Promoting Social and Emotional Competence
and Addressing Challenging Behavior
Intensive
Interventions
Treatment/Focused Intervention
Individualized Intervention
Focus on Caregiver-Child
Interaction
High Quality Supportive
Environments
Prevention
Universal Promotion
Nurturing and Responsive Relationships
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Key Ideas Underlying MultiTiered Models
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Pyramid provides a tiered intervention framework of
evidence-based intervention for promoting the social,
emotional and behavioral development of young
children.
Model describes 3 tiers of intervention practice:
Universal promotion for all children.
Secondary prevention to address the needs of
children at risk for social-emotional challenges.
Intensive or tertiary intervention for children with
persistent challenges.
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Strong foundation is important in all multi-tiered
systems of support.
 Foundation:
If this is in place, most
children won’t need more intensive
interventions.
 In Teaching Pyramid, Foundation is:
Nurturing and Responsive Relationships
High quality Environments
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CSEFEL Pyramid Model:
Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children
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The Teaching Pyramid – Key Ingredients for
Supporting Social Emotional Development
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Focus on promotion and prevention rather then reactive
procedures
Positive interactions
Consistency and predictability in the classroom routine
Clearly defined expectations
Engaging activities
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Focus on intentional teaching of social skills and emotional
competencies
Acknowledging the relationship between social skills and challenging behavior
Understanding the function of children’s behavior and matching our strategies to
the function of behavior
Teaching across the day rather then in response to challenging behavior
Giving children strategies that they can use in a variety of situations
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Program Perspective
BENEFITS OF THE PYRAMID
APPROACH
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Benefits: Stronger Relationships
Teacher/child interactions are more intentional &
meaningful.
 Teaching staff understand what “trips their
trigger” and how their reactions can escalate
challenging behavior.
 There is a real partnership between the family
and the teaching staff. They build a relationship.
 Families have said that they have learned to like
their child again!
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Benefits: Improvements in Staff
Morale, Confidence, and Teamwork
Staff satisfaction has increased.
 Staff turnover has decreased.
 Staff feel confident in their consistent use of PBS
strategies.
 Staff have more time to teach because they are
better prepared for the children.
 Staff work better as a team.
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Benefits: Staff Empowerment
Staff are implementing the Teaching Pyramid
with fidelity.
 Staff are better able to track children’s
challenging behavior and respond proactively.
 Staff have hope!
 The focus is on prevention instead of
intervention.
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Benefits: Child Outcomes
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There are fewer referrals to external experts, we know
what to do.
Children are improving in their social emotional
competence over the program year.
Children are having fewer problems across the year.
Children are improving when they receive intensive
behavioral interventions.
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Tier One
THE FOUNDATION OF THE
PYRAMID
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Tier 1 in Infant-Toddler
Classrooms
Primary caregiving
 Routines are individualized based on the needs
of each child
 Adults use routines to interact socially with
infants and toddlers
 Adults interact verbally with children mapping
their activities and emotions
 Adults respond to children’s signs of distress
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Tier 1 in Infant Toddler
Classrooms
 Adults
support interactions between
toddlers
 Adults redirect children who are engaging
in challenging behaviors
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The Pyramid Infant Toddler
Observation System (TPITOS)
 Importance
of translating theory to practice
 Measuring implementation
 Using information for professional
development
 Structure of the TPITOS
Classroom Design/Key Adult Variables
Red Flags
 Current
status of TPITOS
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Finding children needing more than the foundation
THE IMPORTANCE OF
UNIVERSAL SCREENING
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Infant/Toddler S-E Screening
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Child social-emotional development and functioning
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Environmental support for child social-emotional
behavior and development (center/classroom and home)
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Key adult-child interaction behaviors that predict important
child social-emotional outcomes
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Social-Emotional Development & Functioning
Ages and Stages Questionnaire- Social-Emotional
(ASQ-SE; Bricker et al.)
Caregiver report
10-15 minutes to complete
Provides a cut-off score for social-emotional concerns
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General Environment Support of
Social-Emotional Behavior & Functioning
The Pyramid Infant Toddler Observation Scale
(TPITOS)
14 Red Flags
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Rated on a 4-point scale (exemplary practice to not observed)
Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment
(HOME IT; Caldwell & Bradley)
45 items completed during home interview
6 subscales related to the home environment (parent involvement
presence of appropriate materials and opportunities)
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Considerations for Selecting & Implementing
Repeatable
Brief
Easy to use and score
Inexpensive
Reliable and valid
Capable of telling programs:
When there is a concern
What intervention needs to zero in on
Whether intervention is making a difference
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Recognizing Infants & Toddlers
Needing more than Universal Intervention
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Externalizing Concerns
 Severe
tantrums
Hitting, kicking, biting
 Difficulty
accepting guidance
Screaming no, throwing toys and materials
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Internalizing Concerns
Withdrawn
 Unengaged with people or materials
 Sad, anxious, irritable
 Have a hard time being comforted
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Dysregulation Concerns
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Difficult to read signals
Hard to recognize when they are happy or upset
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Rapidly changing signals
Move quickly & with little warning to unconsolable
crying
Difficulty calming
 Difficulty with routines
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Falling asleep, staying asleep
Feeding
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Screening Identification
 Parent
or teacher report (ASQ-SE)
 HOME
 TPITOS
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Tier Two
GREATER FOCUS ON
INDIVIDUALIZATION
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Tier 2 Intervention
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Intervention becomes more individualized
Involves a closer look at teacher-child interaction in the
classroom
Focusing in on a child’s signals
Looking at adult behaviors that foster positive child behavior
Looking at adult behaviors that get in the way of supporting child
positive behavior
Identifying specific ways that teachers can respond to a child’s
individual signals to:
Support and build on positive signals
Reduce stress in response to negative signals
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Indicator of Parent-Child Interaction
IPCI (Baggett, Carta, & Horn, 2003)
Brief rating scale following observation of authentic
interaction activities at home/center
Adult behaviors that facilitate child social-emotional
development
Adult behaviors that interfere with child socialemotional development
Child engagement
Child distress
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IPCI Use
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Completed for children for whom Tier 1 concerns are
identified
ASQ-SE
HOME
Classroom Environment
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Teacher-child interaction
Classroom supervisor
Lead teacher while observing assistant teacher-child interaction
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Parent-child interaction in the center or home
Completed by a home visitor (teacher, family advocate, social
worker)
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Tier Three
INTENSIVE INTERVENTION
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Who might need intensive
intervention?
 Children
who are not showing progress in
response to Tier 2 intervention.
 Children whose development and behavior
is identified as extremely off-track and
teachers are unable to manage their
behavior or support them without intensive
supports.
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Purpose of Tier 3
No change as a result of your prevention
strategies and intervention strategies at the
lower levels of the pyramid.
 Behaviors escalate.
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Tier 3
Team based process
 Functional assessment
 Individualized behavior support plan
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Prevention strategies
 Replacement skills
 Adult responses to children’s behavior
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Implemented across environments
 Linked to services beyond the classroom as
needed
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CRITICAL ROLE OF
FAMILIES IN THE INFANTTODDLER PYRAMID
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Role of Families in the Pyramid
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Families are involved from the very beginning of the model.
If additional support is needed for a child, staff work directly with the
family. We will go to their home or they can come to the
center…family choice.
Training in Positive Behavior Support is available to families.
The family is considered the “expert” on the child. They play an
important role in any planning process.
Families are taught to take Behavior Incident Reports.. Their
observations are very valuable for planning.
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Partnerships
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Family support plans are an option.
Mental health partners are in the centers regularly to
work with parents and staff on prevention strategies.
Mental health partners are available for consultation in
the home, at the center or in their office…family choice.
The staff and the family are a team. We share results of
our observations and compare our data.
We use specific praise with parents as well as children
and each other.
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We make it a point to celebrate small
successes.
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Summary and Conclusions
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Some of the same features of the original Teaching Pyramid can be
applied to programs serving infants and toddlers.
Strong foundation equals prevention.
We need to ensure fidelity of implementation of the foundation.
Families are a central feature of Infant-Toddler Teaching Pyramid.
Measures are available for carrying out universal screening to
determine which children might need more intensive supports.
Measures for monitoring progress of children in their interaction with
caregivers.
Successful implementation of the model will depend on the strong
collaboration with community partners.
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