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SPIES
Strategies for Preschool
Intervention in Everyday Settings
The Center for Persons with Disabilities
1998
Modules
Module I: Table of Contents & Introduction
Module II: Table of Contents & Introduction
Module III: Table of Contents & Introduction
Module IV: Table of Contents & Introduction
Module V: Table of Contents & Introduction
Module VI: Table of Contents & Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the SPIES Curriculum
The purpose of the SPIES curriculum is to introduce adults to intervention strategies that can be used with preschool children who have disabilities, special health needs, or are at risk for the development of a disability.
Today, many who provide services designed to promote the development of children share the belief that services should be conducted within the context of everyday settings. In the SPIES curriculum, everyday settings are defined as the daily routines and activities that are part of a child's life.
In the home, these routines and activities may include dressing, eating, brushing teeth, and playing with family members and friends. At school, they may include center time, snack time, story time, and free play. In the community, they may include shopping or attending entertainment.
For most children, interacting with people and things in everyday settings is all that is needed to promote their optimal development. However, children with disabilities, special health needs, or those who are at risk for the development of a disability often need intervention to help them learn what seems to "come naturally" for others. In these instances, SPIES teaches adults to provide intervention to help children learn and develop in areas where they may need special help and encouragement.
Goals and Objectives for Children
When adults determine that a child's development is not optimal and that intervention might be helpful, they begin by developing an individualized educational plan or IEP for the child. For young children, this plan addresses the whole family and is called an individualized family service plan or IFSP. This plan includes specific goals and objectives. These goals and objectives state the intended outcome of intervention and address areas of development such as communication, social interaction, or movement.
In most service programs, a team of adults including family members, teachers, paraeducators, therapists and administrators develop a child's goals and objectives. The team bases their decisions on family priorities. They consider what the child needs to be able to do in order to participate in the family's lifestyle. They also take into account what children of similar ages typically do.
In developing an individualized educational plan, there is a strong emphasis on functional goals and objectives. Objectives are functional when they address skills that serve a purpose for the child. A skill serves a purpose for the child if it is something that her peers do, something she needs to do to accomplish daily routines, or something that someone else will have to do for her if she does not do it for herself.
A specific individualized educational plan may include a six month goal for a child to learn to feed himself with a spoon. This goal would be divided into specific objectives. One objective may be to hold onto a spoon. Another objective may be to scoop with a spoon. Over the next six months, adults would provide intervention to help the child master these objectives.
Intervention Strategies
The intervention strategies introduced in SPIES are designed to help children master their goals and objectives. Using everyday settings as the context for intervention, we will show how adults can plan and carry out intervention and how they can determine if intervention was successful.
We do not mean to suggest that the intervention strategies introduced in SPIES are the only ones available, nor do we mean to suggest that all intervention can occur in everyday settings. We do want to show adults ways to take advantage of everyday settings to provide intervention that can help children master a variety of goals and objectives.
Naturalistic Methods of Instruction
The intervention strategies introduced in SPIES are based on methods of instruction that may be called naturalistic. Naturalistic methods of instruction have the following characteristics:
They are used in everyday settings, incorporate developmentally and individually appropriate activities, and are based on a child's interest.
Let's look briefly at each of these characteristics.
The first characteristic of naturalistic methods is that they are used in everyday settings. There are several advantages to embedding instruction in everyday settings. One advantage is that it allows for dispersed practice and children can practice skills throughout the day in a variety of settings. For example, a child can practice a language goal, such as labeling objects during story time, snack time, or free play. This encourages the generalization of skills across settings.
Another advantage is that children integrate different skills as they learn during ordinary activities. For example, during a finger painting activity, a child may be improving fine motor skills, learning a color name, and talking to an adult during a single interaction. The child is integrating fine motor, social and cognitive skills.
The second characteristic of naturalistic methods is that they incorporate developmentally and individually appropriate activities. Developmentally and individually appropriate activities support the notion that all young children should have equal opportunities to experience their surroundings, make choices, develop independence and move beyond their current skills and concepts. Developmentally appropriate activities are those that other children of the same age choose to do and that promote learning and development by keeping children actively engaged. Individually appropriate activities are those that may be adapted so that a child with a disability can participate, even though he may not participate in the same way as other children.
The third characteristic of naturalistic methods is that they are based on a child's interest. If a teaching opportunity is based on a child's interest, the adult can be reasonably sure the skills and concepts taught are relevant to the child and have a clear purpose.
SPIES Modules
The SPIES curriculum is divided into six modules. Following is a brief description of each.
Module 1: Creating Teaching Opportunities
An important element of intervention in everyday settings is the teaching opportunity. A teaching opportunity is an interaction or event that provides an occasion for an adult to teach a child skills and concepts that promote his learning and development. This module introduces eight techniques adults can use to create teaching opportunities based on a child's interest.
Module 2: Providing Help
Some children have difficulty responding to cues in their environment. A cue is a prompt that directs a child's attention to a particular task or activity. When a child has difficulty recognizing and responding to cues, it is a signal she needs help. Help includes verbal, nonverbal, and physical prompts given to assist a child to learn and develop the skills described by her objectives. Help enables the child to learn a concept or to perform a skill more correctly, completely, or independently. This module introduces four forms of help and three help strategies that can be used to assist children.
Module 3: Incidental Teaching
Incidental teaching is a strategy for systematic intervention in everyday settings. Incidental teaching focuses on interactions between children and adults. During these interactions adults can use incidental teaching to provide teaching opportunities. Five steps are included in incidental teaching: the child's initiation, adult request for elaboration, child's response, adult help and natural consequences. This module introduces these steps and describes how to incorporate incidental teaching into activities.
Module 4: Tracking Progress
Tracking progress is the process of collecting data regarding a child's behavior as it relates to her objectives. Data are used to make comparisons about changes in a child's behavior over time. Comparisons are made between what the child does now and what she did in the past. This helps adults determine if the child is making progress in mastering her goals and objectives. This module introduces how to implement a data collection system.
Module 5: Prior to Preschool
The first three years of childhood can be characterized as a time of rapid change and growth. In fact, changes take place in this period of life far more rapidly than in any other period of life. This module provides information on working with young children and how to meet their needs by adapting the intervention strategies for preschoolers.
Module 6: Planning Intervention Across the Day
When providing intervention in everyday settings, it is important to plan ahead. Planning helps ensure children have enough opportunities to learn and develop the skills described by their objectives. This module presents a seven step process to create a written plan for providing intervention and discusses how to evaluate if the plan is useful.
©1998 Utah State University, Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings
Creating Teaching Opportunities
MODULE I
Purpose
The purpose of this module is to discuss how to create teaching opportunities as a strategy for intervention in everyday settings.
Objective
Describe how to use each of the eight techniques in this module to create a teaching opportunity.
Contents
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INTRODUCTION
Teaching Opportunities
When working with children with special needs, an important element of intervention is theteaching opportunity. Teaching opportunities are interactions or events that provide an occasion for an adult to teach a child skills and concepts that promote the child's learning and development. A teaching opportunity begins with a child's observable interest in an object, person or event. This may lead to an initiation as the child attempts to communicate with the adult through words, gestures or eye contact.
Example 1: Teaching opportunity
Alex's objective:
Label objects with TouchTalker TM.
The child's initiation or focus of interest:
Alex touched his teacher's arm and then pointed to his orange.
The adult's response:
His teacher mislabeled the object as an apple.
The result:
Alex labeled the object correctly with his TouchTalker TM.
Example 2: Teaching opportunity
Merlin's objective:
Label objects.
The child's initiation or focus of interest:
He handed his teacher a bowl of pretend food.
The adult's response:
His teacher said, "I will need a_____."
The result:
Merlin said, "Fork".
Although many teaching opportunities arise naturally as a child interacts with his environment, these instances usually do not provide enough opportunities to help a child with special needs learn and develop all the specific skills he needs. As a result, the adult must create additional teaching opportunities.
In this module, eight techniques are presented that adults can use to create teaching opportunities. In presenting these techniques, emphasis is placed on a child's interest and initiation as part of the teaching opportunity. Teaching may be more effective when based on a child's interest and when a child takes the lead.
© 1998 Utah State University, Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings
Providing Help
MODULE 2
Purpose
The purpose of this module is to discuss ways adults can provide help during intervention in everyday settings to assist children in learning to function independently.
Objectives
1. Describe four forms of help.
2. Discuss three help strategies and how they can be used.
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INTRODUCTION TO PROVIDING HELP
NOTE Also, they learn to do certain things at certain times and in certain places, and not to do certain things in certain times and places. For example, most young children learn to talk, walk and, eventually, run. Over time, many learn that it is fine to run outside but not in the house, the grocery store or in the preschool classroom. They learn that it is fun to yell at a ball game and on the playground but it isn't a good idea to yell when they want something ftom someone else or when they are in places like church or a shopping center They learn to do things and also to recognize cues about when to do those things. These cues, which we shall call natural cues, may be feelings--like being thirsty-that signal the child to do something like get a drink or ask an adult to give her a drink. They may be places--like a movie theater--that signal that certain behaviors are acceptable and others aren't. They may be materials--like toys on a shelf-that serve as reminders to seek access in order to use them. They may be other people and what they are doing. Seeing other children atplay may become a cue to join in. Finally, cues may be embedded in common routines. For example, for many children, there is a routine associated with leaving a fast food restaurant. A signal to leave becomes the cue to dump any remains on the tray into the trash and stack the tray on top of the trash bin. |
Sometimes children have difficulty responding to cues. They may not recognize the cue or have the skills to do what others do in the presence of those cues. These children may become frustrated, passive or develop habits that aren't adaptive. When children have difficulty responding to cues, it is a signal they need help.
Help is verbal, nonverbal and physical assistance given to promote learning andskill development. These forms of help are often called prompts. Help enables achild to perform a skill more correctly, completely or independently. Help is atemporary measure. As the child learns a skill, the adult gradually decreases the help until the child functions without it.
| NOTE Typically, four combinations of behaviors and circumstances remind adults that children need help. The first is when a child isn't able to do something that others her age do. When Abby tries again and again without success to cut with scissors, she may need help. The second is when a child can do something but does it at the wrong times or in the wrong places. At the child care center, when Josh wanders outdoors while others are choosing indoor center activities, he may need help in learning to follow the teacher's instructions and to ask when he wants to do something. The third combination is when a child can do something but doesn't do it in the circumstances that others do. When other children in preschool play during free time but Dennis, who plays with his brothers at home, only watches or talks to the teacher, he may need help joining in. The fourth is when a child often does something that seems bizarre or inappropriate. When Diana, who has no language, throws herself on the floor and screams both at home and in public places, she may need help learning to communicate her needs to others.
Adults give help to support the child in learning something more efficiently than he would by trial and error They give help so that he isn't fiwstrated when trying to learn something, so that he will learn to do things in the right times andplaces, thus avoiding embarrassment, and so that he doesn't learn patterns or habits that isolate him or interfere with further learning. Help is a temporary measure. Adults give it to support children in becoming independent-that is, in recognizing what they want or need to do and doing it on their own. Adults mustplan to gradually decrease the help they give until children can do what they need to do without it. |
Forms of Help
There are four basic forms of help: physical help, modeled help, verbal help and nonverbal help.
© 1998 Utah State University, Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings
Incidental Teaching
MODULE 3
Purpose
The purpose of this module is to introduce incidental teaching as a strategy for systematic
intervention in every day settings.
Objectives
1. Identify the components of incidental teaching.
2. Describe how to implement incidental teaching and evaluate its usefulness.
Table of Contents
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INTRODUCTION TO INCIDENTAL TEACHING I
Incidental Teaching
Module I described the intervention strategy of creating teaching opportunities based on a child's interest. Module 2 described the intervention strategy providing help. Module 3 will discuss the intervention strategy, incidental teaching, and will incorporate the information presented in both Module I and Module 2.
Incidental teaching focuses on interactions between children and adults. Duringthese interactions adults can use incidental teaching to provide opportunities for children to learn and develop the skills described by their objectives.
Five Components of Incidental Teaching:
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Child Initiation
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Adult Request for Child Elaboration
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Child Response
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Adult Help
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Natural Consequence
©1998 Utah State University, Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings
Tracking Progress
MODULE 4
Purpose
The purpose of this module is to discuss how to collect data to determine if children are making progress toward mastering their goals and objectives.
Objectives
1. Describe how to implement a data collection system for tracking progress and determine if a child is making progress.
2. Identify five measures used to track progress.
3. Discuss ways to make tracking progress more convenient and how to critique a data
collection system.
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Table of Contents
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INTRODUCTION TO TRACKING PROGRESS
Tracking Progress
Tracking progress is the process of collecting data regarding a child's behavior as it relates to her IEP or IFSP objectives. In this curriculum, data collection takes place during everyday routines and activities. The advantage of collecting data in these settings is that a child's behavior, observed over time, more accurately represents her skills and knowledge than what she does in a testing situation during a single observation.
Data are used to make comparisons about changes in a child's behavior over time. We compare what the child does now to what he did in the past, which helps us -determine if he is making progress in mastering his goals and objectives.
Data should be collected on a child's behavior before, during, and after intervention. Before intervention, data are collected to establish a baseline of the child's behavior. This baseline helps adults determine if intervention is necessary and gives a basis against which they can compare the behavior during and after intervention.
Implementing a System for Tracking Progress
There are five steps to consider when implementing a data collection system for tracking progress.
- Define the behavior
- Decide when to collect data
- Select a measure
- Collect the data
- Analyze the data
Purpose
The purpose of this module is to discuss how adults can adapt the intervention strategies
presented in this curriculum to meet the needs of young children birth to three years old.
Objectives
1. Identify seven goals common to many early intervention programs.
2. Identify how adults might adapt preschool intervention strategies for use with children
birth to three years old.
Table of Contents
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INTRODUCTION TO INTERVENTION
Intervention for Children Birth to Three Years
The first three years of childhood is a time of unparalleled physical and developmental change. Intervention for these children becomes important when there are differences between the expected acquisition of developmental skills and what the child actually does.
Intervention for children birth to three years old differs from intervention for preschoolers. First, the goals of intervention for younger children are often more broadly expressed than the goals for preschool children. For example, a young child may have a broad objective to improve fine motor skills while a preschooler may have a specific objective to cut with scissors.
Second, the intervention strategies used with young children must be adapted from those used with preschool children because of the cognitive, language, and physical skills of young children. An adult would use the techniques for creating teaching opportunities differently and use different forms of help for infants than for preschoolers. For example, parents would use commenting frequently with an infant but would not use direct verbal help, describing what the baby should do, and wait for her to do it.
Third, the timing of intervention must be matched to the child's physical, mental, and emotional states in order for intervention to be effective. The signs that an infant is alert, attentive, and ready for interaction with an adult are quite different from the signs that a preschooler is ready to interact.
© 1998 Utah State University, Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings
Planning Across the Day
MODULE 6
Purpose
The purpose of this module is to discuss how to plan intervention using the strategies discussed in the previous modules.
Objective
1. Create a written plan that provides opportunities for a child to learn and develop the skills
described by her objectives.
2. Describe how to evaluate the effectiveness of a written plan.
Table of Contents Introduction to Planning Intervention Steps for Creating a Written Plan
Example: Jerika Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Plan Suggested Activity Credits Appendix |
Introduction to Planning Intervention
Planning Intervention Across the Day
When providing intervention in everyday settings, it is important to plan ahead. Planning ahead involves deciding when and how to provide opportunities for a child to learn and develop the skills described by his objectives.
Creating a written plan involves seven steps:
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Identify daily routines
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Select an activity
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Identify child interests
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Choose a technique for creating teaching opportunities
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Choose a help strategy
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Identify natural consequences
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Develop a system for tracking progress
In presenting this seven step process, we will refer to a preschool child named Merlin. Planning specific intervention will help his teacher provide opportunities throughout the day for him to learn and develop the skills that will lead to mastery of his objectives.
©1998 Utah State University, Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign