Geneva Woodruff, Ph.D.

1. Director, Project Mastery 25 Monmouth Court Brookline, MA 02446 617.232.0600 Email: genevawoodruff@cs.com Geneva Woodruff, Ph.D.

2. National Training Program for Early Childhood Administrators, Teachers/Service providers and Related Staff who Work with Children Ages 2-8 with Challenging Behaviors and Their Families Project Mastery

3. Mastery Replication Sites • Each year, Mastery chooses 5 school systems or agencies to serve as replication sites. Ongoing training and individual mentoring is provided for up to 25 teachers/service providers and their supervisors at each of these school systems.

4. Mastery Selection Process • Commitment: • Teachers/service providers participate in 5 days of training over the course of the school year • Teachers participate in individual support sessions with the Mastery Staff • Supervisors participate in 2 additional days of training • Each teacher/service provider, with supervisory support, designs and implements an individualized behavior plan for 2 children with challenging behaviors and their families. • Teachers submit pre and post child assessment findings • Costs: • Travel costs for the trainer(Ground and air transportation, hotel and meals)

5. Mastery Preliminary Findings • Over 90% of the children have demonstrated a reduction in their challenging behavior • Over 90% of the children have met their behavior goals at expected or greater than expected levels (exhibited positive behaviors)

6. Child Outcomes • For the first time the children: • are making friends. • are being invited to birthday parties, play dates, and sleepovers. • are reporting that they like school • Are being chosen to be on a team

7. Teacher Outcomes • Teachers report they feel more relaxed about teaching. • Teachers feel more competent in dealing with children with challenging behaviors. • Teachers feel they are more able to choose their battles, and lighten up.

8. Principals and Supervisors report: • They are more able to offer support that is helpful to their teachers. • A great pride in their teachers’ professional knowledge and skills. • Their pleasure in the gains made by children who for years had been sent to them for behavior problems.

9. Parents report: • They are so pleased and thankful for the gains their child has made socially, emotionally, and academically. • Their relief in no longer feeling a sense of dread when they hear the principal or teacher voice on the phone or receive a note from school.

10. Behavior Characteristics • Hyperactivity • Attention problems • Pervasive developmental delays • Atypicality • Aggression • Anxiety/Depression

11. Learning Problems • Listening • Completing tasks • Following directions • Trying a new activity • Complying with teacher requests • Starting an activity without waiting for instruction

12. Social Problems • Playing a game • Turn-taking / sharing • Touching other children inappropriately • Expressing feelings inappropriately • Initiating interactions inappropriately

13. Classroom Disruptions • Wandering/not staying on task • Making others wait • Annoying others/whining/pouting • Refusal / reluctance to move to another activity • Tantrums / throwing / hitting • Physical aggression

14. Strategies Teacher’s and Families Tried Unsuccessful • Sticker program • Catch the child doing something right • Set Clear rules • Followed through on statements • Called parents • Time-out, loss of privileges

15. Strategies Aren’t Effective If: • Classroom setup and procedures don’t support children’s positive behavior • They are not provided often and consistently • Strategies aren’t implemented for a long enough period • Misbehavior results in immediate punishment (Mastery Plan)

16. Changes in Behavior Require: • An intervention plan based upon: • an assessment of the behavior – what it is like, when does it occurs, how often • an analysis of the function of behavior (all behavior has meaning) • An individualized plan that addresses the child’s interests, strengths and needs (emotional, social and academic) • (Mastery Plan)

17. Changes in Behavior Require a Behavior Plan that: • Builds the Child’s Self Esteem • Provides Interventions to support the child’s Positive Behaviors • Provides Hands on Lessons that TEACHES the Child the Skills you want him or her to Demonstrate (Mastery Plan)

18. Development of a Mastery Classroom Plan

19. Preventive Strategies • Classroom rules • Placement/supervision • Schedule/Models/Directions • Activities related to child’s interests • Social skills/positive and negative words (page 3)

20. Development of a Plan to Build a Relationship

21. Building a Relationship How could you make the child feel special at the - • Beginning of the day • End of the day (page 4)

22. Building a Relationship • Child’s interests • Child’s skills • Child’s unique qualities • Special favors/rewards • Complements/making the child feel special • Child’s family, friends, pets

23. Building a Relationship • Putting yourself on the map • Offering information about yourself to the child: • Your hobbies interests outside of school • when you were a child what you did, your family and pet, your interests, your thoughts, • Asking for the child’s opinion, advice

24. Building a Relationship -Validation • Sending Notes home – Happy grams, awards, notes of a pleasant occurrence • Sending the child to the principal, secretary, neighbor, family member for acknowledgement for good behavior • Posting the child’s accomplishments in a public place • Winning a reward for the class

25. Collection of Information on the Child’s Strengths and Needs

26. Assessment Tools • Teacher BASC (Assessment of children’s social strengths and issues) • Parent BASC • Family Interview • Functional Assessment of function of the Child’s Challenging Behavior

27. Assessment Tools • BASC – Provides a system for the classification of a variety of emotional and behavioral disorders of children and for designing a treatment plan – hyperactivity, aggression, anxiety, depression, somatization, atypicality, withdrawal, attention problems • Social adaptation and social skills

28. Assessment Tools- Continued • Parent Interview – Provides information about the child out of a school/clinical environment (interests, temperament) • Functional Assessment – Data to help understand the function of the child’s behavior – i.e. to avoid peers, teachers or a task, or to get something – i.e: attention of peers, teachers or obtain object.

29. Analyze Clinical Assessment Information (1)

30. Accommodations for High BASC scores • Hyperactive • Aggression • Anxiety • Depression • Atypicality • Withdrawal • Attention Problems

31. Accommodations • All BASC Scores in the at risk or significant level require that accommodations must be made in the classroom.

32. Accommodations for Hyperactivity • Set guideline – if the child’s movement is not preventing me from teaching, the other children from learning and the child from not learning, IGNOR. • Allow for movement within a space, something to hold and manipulate etc.

33. Analyze Functional Assessment • Functional assessment provides information about the behavior when it occurs – time of day, what happens before and after the behavior occurs - circumstances, how often the behavior occurs and the intensity of the behavior. (Page 2) • Realistic goal may not be extinction but rather a reduction in the behavior.

34. Purpose of the Behavior • What are some of the reasons a child might scream out in class?

35. Responding to the Behavior • Physically Hurt – • Scared – • Frustrated – • Tourettes – • Avoiding a task – • Attention – • Getting something -

36. All Behavior is not Equal • Children use a behavior as a means to communicate, cope and release stress. • It is the underlying cause for the behavior rather than the behavior that should shape the intervention • In order for an intervention to be effective it must address the underlying reason for the behavior

37. Behavior • Get something – object, attention of an adult or a peer • Avoid something or someone – a task or an adult or a peer

38. Response to an Inappropriate Behavior • Get Something – Teach the child how to get an object or the attention of an adult or a peer appropriately • Avoid Something – find out why the child is avoiding the task or the adult or the peer and then make some accommodations. Teach the child how to express his displeasure appropriately.

39. Development of Goals

40. Selection of Goals • Choose goals which if attained would allow the child to have the greatest social and academic success

41. Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) • The goal states what the behavior will look like at the end of 3 months of intervention • A goal is a vision of what you want to happen/is stated in positive terms • A goal needs a number for the demonstration of the behavior and frequency of the behavior (competency) – John will cooperate for 5 minutes 3 times a day.

42. Goals in GAS Format • John will be able to cooperate with peers, for 10 minutes, in a group setting (share, take turns, ask permission, speak quietly) 4 times a day. (page 2) • When instructed, John will be able to start on a two step direction within 2 seconds, 3 times a day.

43. Strategies to teach a child to: • Present skill to be taught and definition (page 3) • Discuss why skill is important • Demonstrate skill with the children (teach) • Practice session for the skill • Review skill • Monitor use of skill

44. Negotiating an Incentive Plan • If you do this ------- then you get this --- (page 4) • When you do this ------ then you get --

45. Incentive Plan for Goals • John if you play nicely with the other children in the group for 5 minutes then you will get to stay on the computer for 5 extra minutes. • What is it that I want you to do? What will you get? I know you can play nicely. Let’s shake on it.

46. Praising Goal Behaviors • Statements related to the specific behavior • I like the way that you are sharing……. • You are really working on keeping your voice down ….. • Look how nicely you asked ….

47. Discipline Hierarchy • State goal clearly – Reward • Praise the behavior • Redirect, distract, reengage, complement • Praise the behavior • Reminders, warning of consequence • Praise the behavior If you – continue to push you will lose your computer time – there’s only a few more minutes you are almost there • Consequences – you have chosen to lose your extra time on the computer • New learning trial

48. Review Plan with Family

49. Reviewing Plan • Discuss child’s strengths and what you like about the child • Listen to whatever the parent has to say about the child • Discuss the child’s feelings about school • Discuss Basc findings and similarities and differences between school and home • Discuss what the child likes to do at home, who he has to play with, family interests etc

50. Reviewing the plan • Discuss functional assessment • Discuss hypothesis for cause of behavior • Discuss preventive strategies • Discuss relationship building • Discuss goals and strategies teaching, incentive program, rewards, public validation