Supporting Social Emotional Development in Inclusive Classrooms

1. Supporting Social Emotional Development in Inclusive Classrooms Gail E. Joseph, Ph.D. Educational Psychology University of Washington

5. Today • Identify the teachable moments in preventing challenging behavior supporting social emotional competence • Framework for supporting young children’s social emotional competence • Implementation resources

6. Helpful websites • www.headstartinclusion.org • www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel • www.challengingbehavior.org

7. Identifying the Teachable Moments

8. What are your behavior “hot buttons”?

9. How does it make you feel?

10. Managing Personal Stress: Thought Control Upsetting Thoughts “That child is a monster. This is getting ridiculous. He’ll never change.” “I’m sick of putting out fires!” “I wonder if Walmart is hiring?” Calming Thoughts “This child is testing to see where the limits are. My job is to stay calm and help him learn better ways to behave.” “I can handle this. I am in control. They have just learned some powerful ways to get control. I will teach them more appropriate ways to behave.” “I feel undervalued right now – I need to seek support from my peers and supervisor.”

11. Managing Personal Stress: Thought Control Upsetting Thoughts “He ruins everything! This is going to be the worst year of my career” Calming Thoughts “Having him in my class is going to be a wonderful Professional Development experience.”

12. Building positive relationships with children Happy Grams Home visits Share Play Time & Attention Positive Notes home Calling after a bad day Empathy

13. Child Behavior Problems at Home Age 2 Non- pervasive Ripple Effects For young children with challenging behavior in the absence of intervention (Webster-Stratton) Discipline Difficulties Behavior Problems at School Behavior Problems at Home Age 3-6 Parent Discouragement & Isolation from School Ineffective Teaching Practices Peer Rejection Antisocial Behavior & Academic Failure Age 7-8 Pervasive Negative Reputation at School Negative Reputation Of Child within Community of Parents Child Depression Parent Isolation & Depression School Expulsion Poor Home- School Connections Deviant Peer Group Substance abuse, fatal accidents, unemployment…

14. Positive Outcomes with a solid Social Emotional foundation • tolerate frustration better, • get into fewer fights, • engage in less self-destructive behavior, • are healthier, • less lonely, • less impulsive, • more focused, and • they have greater academic achievement.

15. Teaching Pyramid Intensive Individualized Interventions Social emotional curriculum and teaching strategies Creating Supportive Environments Positive Relationships with/between children, families and colleagues Adapted from Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003

16. Supportive Environments: The Big Picture • This is a place you can trust • Safe • Predictable • Helpful • Teach positive ways to be separate and powerful • This is a caring place • Respecting and relying on others • Recognizing and responding to emotions • You belong here, We belong here • Uniqueness, diversity, individuality • Community, caring working together • Membership

17. CLASS (Pianta, Hamre & LaParro, 2008) • Emotional Support Domain • Positive climate • Negative climate • Teacher Sensitivity • Regard for student perspectives • Classroom Organization • Behavior management • Productivity • Instructional Learning Formats

18. Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (Hemmeter, Fox & Snyder, 2008) • Universal • Responsive Interactions • Classroom Preventive Practices

19. Membership • Membership is a key feature and a goal of true inclusion. • Membership encompasses such terms as belonging, acceptance, and positive relationships with other members of the classroom community. • Being a member of the class is when the child is described as “just one of the kids

20. Teaching Pyramid Individualized Interventions Social emotional learning content & strategies Creating Supportive Environments Positive Relationships with/between children, families and colleagues The Teaching Pyramid, Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003

21. Social Emotional Learning ( for overview of evidence-based see curricula see Joseph & Strain, 2003a) • Identify feelings in self and others (Joseph & Strain, 2003b) • Control anger and handle disappointment (Joseph & Strain, 2003c) • Interpersonal Problem Solving (Joseph & Strain, 2010) • How to make friends and learn in a group setting (Strain & Joseph, 2006)

22. Identifying feelings in self and others • Increasing emotional vocabularies (feeling words) • Learning how to recognize feelings in self and others • Emotional regulation (i.e., “calm down”) • Empathy training

23. Feeling words • positively correlated with concurrent peer acceptance (Denham, Blair, DeMulder, Levitas, Sawyer, Auerbach-Major, et al., 2003,Cassidy, Parke, Butkovsky, & Braungart, 1992; Denham, McKinley, Couchoud, & Holt, 1990; Trentacosta & Izard, 2007). • linked to later academic competence (Izard, Fine, Schultz, Mostow, Ackerman, & Youngstrom, 2001; Trentacosta & Izard, 2007). • important mediator between individual characteristics (e.g., family background, verbal ability) and academic and social competence (Cassidy et al., 1992; Izard et al., 2001; Mostow et al., 2002).

34. Increasing Feeling Vocabularies • Direct teaching • Incidental teaching • Use children’s literature • Use songs and games • Play “How would you feel if?” • Checking in • Feeling dice and feeling wheels

39. Feeling Activities

40. Identifying feelings in Self and others • Increasing emotional vocabularies • Learning how to recognize feelings in self and others • Emotional regulation (i.e., “calm down”)

43. Relaxation thermometer Take 3 deep breaths…1..2..3 Adapted from Incredible Years Dinosaur School

44. Take a Deep Breath Blow out the candle Smell the flowers

45. Relaxation thermometer* *Source: Incredible Years Photo by Carolyn Webster-Stratton

46. Social Stories Feeling Frustrated My name is _______________ and I am ____ years old. I go to preschool at _______________________. Sometimes kids have a hard time with their projects or activities. Sometimes, when kids have a hard time with a project or an activity, they feel frustrated. Feeling frustrated is OK. I will try to learn to stay calm when I am frustrated. I can ask my teachers or other adults for help. Teachers can help kids who feel frustrated. I can take a deep breath and try again. For tons more see headstartinclusion.org

47. Controlling anger and handling disappointment • Recognizing that anger can interfere with thinking • Recognizing anger in oneself and others • Managing anger and controlling impulse (the turtle technique)

48. Feeling finger prints* *Source: Elias and Tobias Photo by Carolyn Webster-Stratton

49. The Turtle Technique • Original research in 1960s to help adults control their anger • Used in several social emotional curricula (Preschool PATHs, Incredible years, CSEFEL)