CSEFEL: Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children

1. CSEFEL:Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children Linda Brault, MA & Laura Fish, LMFT Working Together for Inclusion & Belonging www.CAinclusion.org WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies

2. Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning • National Center • Vanderbilt University • University of Illinois • University of South Florida • University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center • Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development • ZERO TO THREE

3. National CSEFEL • National Center focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. • Jointly funded by the Office of Head Start and the Child Care Bureau, under the auspices of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

4. Partner Project: TACSEI • TACSEI (Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children) is a partner National Center focused on sharing practices that improve the social-emotional outcomes for young children with, or at risk for, delays or disabilities • Funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs

5. Material on Websites Center on the Social & Emotional Foundations for Early Learning www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/ Technical Assistance Center onSocial Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI) www.challengingbehavior.org

6. California CSEFEL • Working to build capacity within CA • Collaborative Leadership Team at the state level

7. California’s CSEFEL: Collaborative on Supporting Early Childhood Social-Emotional Foundations in Early Learning Map to Inclusive Child Care WestEd California Department of Education (CDE) Child Development Division Team Co-Leaders California Early Childhood Comprehensive System, Maternal, Child, Adolescent, Health CDE. Special Education Division, Assessment, Evaluation & Support Department of Developmental Services, Early Start State Services, Interagency Coordinating Council Center for Excellence in Child Development, The Center for Human Services UCD Extension First 5 California Sacramento Co. Office of Ed. SEEDS Project Team Members California Department of Mental Health WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies Children & Family Services Division, California Department of Social Services WestEd Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Child Care Licensing Division, California Department of Social Services CDE Head Start Collaboration Office California Child Care Resource & Referral Network Child Development & FKCE California Community Colleges Head Start State-Based Training & Technical Assistance Office for CA California Head Start Association

8. Promoting Social Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior: Program Wide Implementationof the CSEFEL Approach Working Together for Inclusion & Belongingwww.CAinclusion.org

9. Designed for Sustainability • Leadership Team • Administrators, teachers, those that support the development of behavior support plans • including mental health partners, school psychologists, disability specialists, educational coordinators, special education partners • Meet regularly to guide training, coaching and implementation • Training of three modules • Four full days of training, spread out over 6-8 months • Include entire classroom teams, administrators, specialists • Coaching/Technical Assistance • Classroom and site-based support following each training • Work with internal coaches and leadership team

10. Varied Settings Involved • Program-wide training happening across California • Settings include Head Start/Early Head Start, school district programs, private child care settings • All groups being trained include children who are learning English • Many staff in the programs are bilingual with English as their second language • Along with Spanish and Chinese, there are a wide number of other languages spoken • Inclusive Settings • Many programs enroll children with disabilities or other special needs • The settings include children who are involved in child welfare

11. Families are Central • Throughout the material, families are included • “Positive Solutions forFamilies” is a set of materials to use withfamilies of young children • There are six total sessionsthat can be done in twoseries of three • The materials are in Englishand Spanish

12. Three Levels of Need 1-10% Children w/Persistent Challenges Focused Interventions 5-15% Children at-Risk Group Intervention & Support All Children Universal Interventions

13. Teaching Pyramid Positive Behavior Support Intensive Individualized Interventions Children with persistent challenges Targeted Social Emotional Supports Social Skills Curricula Children at-risk High Quality Supportive Environments High quality Early Education All children Nurturing and Responsive Relationships Effective Work Force

14. CSEFEL Pyramid Model: Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants &Young Children Intensive Intervention  Systematic approaches have preventive and remedial effects on social emotional develop- ment. Targeted Social Emotional Supports  • Supportive, responsive relationships among adults and children are necessary for promoting social emotional development • High quality environments promote positive outcomes for all young children Nurturing and Responsive Relationships AND High Quality Environments

15. Module 1: Promoting Children’s Success: Building Relationships and Creating Supportive Environments Topics included in this module: • Building positive relationships with children and families • Designing environments, schedules, and routines • Establishing expectations • Implementing activities that promote child engagement • Modifying and adapting materials and activities to meet the individualneeds of all children, including those with disabilities • Providing encouragement, acknowledgement, and descriptive praise to children

16. Module 2: Social Emotional Teaching Strategies Topics included in this module: • Identifying teachable moments • Facilitating the development of friendship skills • Teaching problem solving • Teaching children to recognize and express emotions (emotional literacy) • Teaching children to understand and manage strong emotions such as anger

17. Module 3A & B: Individualized Intensive Intervention Topics included in this module: • Identifying the function of challenging behavior • Identifying behaviors and social skills to target for intervention • Developing a plan for supporting social-emotional development and preventing challenging behavior • Using a team approach to addressing challenging behavior and social-emotional needs

18. Expanding the Age Range • CSEFEL began for ages 2 years to 5 years • When the age group was extended to birth, Zero to Three and Georgetown were added as partners • Materials do include 2 year olds • The Infant/Toddler Modules are in their first iteration (Preschool is in its third) • Several examples include home visitors • Input recently gathered for the first revision of theInfant/Toddler modules • Revised modules will be posted on the National CSEFEL website

19. Infant/Toddler Modules • The Infant-Toddler Modules have a clear link to Infant-Family Mental Health practices • Much of the focus is on understanding and self-awareness using reflections, self-assessment, and dialogue about vignettes in small groups • Module 1 is only one level, relationships • Module 2 is about routines, environments, and strategies to support social emotional development • Module 3 looks at the meaning of behavior and appropriate responses • Module 3 addresses maternal depression as well

20. Module 4: Leadership Strategies for an Effective Work Force 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 promotethe use of effective practices • Identifying steps to collaborative planning for programs and systems that support all young children’s social-emotional development and addressing challenging behaviors as needed

21. Supporting Mental Health • Health and mental well-being are linked • Recognizing and experiencing emotions as part of typical development • Reducing stress in children through teaching of social-emotional skills • Reducing stress in teachers and parents • Promotes greater understanding of typical development and needs • Reframes approach to teaching instead of shame, blame, and punishing

22. Three Pronged Approach • The Pyramid Model provides a framework for delivery of mental health consultation services • Prevention • Promotion • Intervention 1-10% Children w/Persistent Challenges Focused Interventions 5-15% Children at-Risk Group Intervention & Support All Children Universal Interventions

23. The Parallel Process • Throughout the training, participants are reminded about the parallel process and encouraged to reflect on their own emotional experiences • In many instances, there are staff to staff issues that surface during the training and coaching process • It is helpful for the ECMH consultant to be a part of the approach throughout

24. Typical Outcomes • Improved staff satisfaction/ Decreased turnover • Increase in overall program quality • Clearly articulated and implemented policies and procedures • More intentional teaching and purposeful in supporting children’s emotional development • Elimination of “time-out” as primary strategy • Less reliance on “outside” experts • Stronger collaboration with mental health providers

25. Including ECMH Consultants • ECMH consultants are included in all components of the training, leadership team, and coaching • As they attend the training with staff this provides an opportunity to deepen their understanding of child care settings and issues that are impacting staff • Consultants can support children and staff during prevention & promotion, rather than focus on treatment alone

26. Shifting the Focus South East Kansas Community Action Project Head Start

27. Supporting ECMH Consultation • Materials and training tools give ECMH consultant evidenced-based strategies for use with programs • Classroom assessment tool for evaluation of implementation • Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) • Teaching Pyramid Infant Toddler Observation Scale (TPITOS) • Shared language and understanding

28. Articles for More Info • Southeast Kansas Community Action Program Program-Wide Positive Behavior Support (Kansas Data)http://www.challengingbehavior.org/do/resources/documents/sek_cap_booklet.pdf • California Articles National Initiative Collaborates with California inThe Special Edge, Winter/Spring 2010, Vol.23, No.2http://www.calstat.org/publications/pdfs/EDge_W_S10Eng_newsltr.pdf CA CSEFEL: California’s Collaborative on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning http://www.cainclusion.org/camap/csefel.html

29. Information Available • Map website: www.cainclusion.org/camap/csefel.html • California Materials • National Materials www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/ • National CSEFEL (Head Start/Child Care) www.challengingbehavior.org • TACSEI (OSEP Funded)

30. Thank You! For more information: Linda Brault ~ lbrault@wested.org Laura Fish ~ lfish@wested.org Working Together for Inclusion & Belonginghttp://www.CAinclusion.org