Fostering Teacher-Child Interactions in the Classroom Setting

Amanda E. Yoho & Kyle Bauer

College of Education, Health, and Human Services
Early Intervention Certificate Program

Introduction
Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a collaborative and values-based
approach for developing effective, individualized interventions for people
with problem behavior. (Duda, Dunlap, Fox, Lentini & Clarke, 2004)
The elements of PBS intervention plans typical include strategies for
teaching the child new skills through guidance, prompting and
reinforcements (Duda, Dunlap, Fox, Lentini & Clarke, 2004)
Elements of Milieu Teaching were used to provide the teachers strategies to
use with one individual child in the childcare center. Commenting and
labeling was one strategy used as a way to model words and expose the
child to new and existing language, especially during activities that are
desirable to the child. Engaging with the child in preferred activities
provides opportunities to model meaningful language in a context (Kaiser &
Hancock, 2003). Verbal praise was also a strategy taught to the teachers,
as a way to effectively reinforce the child for positive behaviors. On the
other hand it is important to decrease negative responses to a childs
problem behaviors, such as simply saying no or stop. Negative behavior
by parent models negative behavior for the child and creates negative affect
in the interaction (Kaiser & Hancock, 2003).
The purpose of this project is twofold: (a) to coach the teachers to embed
specific strategies into daily activities and (b) to increase the amount of
positive interaction time between the teachers and children, while enhancing
the amount of verbal commutation form the child.
Research Questions
PBS
Will the use of verbal and visual prompts assist a classroom in having
smoother transitions for one activity to another?
What effects will the childcare teachers use of different Milieu Teaching
strategies have on one childs language and behavior?

Methods
Participants
10 15 children

Independent Variables (PBS)

Child-Level
Verbal Modeling (commenting/labeling) - Narrating the childs actions,
words/gestures, activities, and surrounding environment; and commenting on them
using descriptive language (Aimed at the child individually, not at the group as a
whole).

ages 20 35months

Positive reinforcement - Responding to the childs positive behaviors,

engagements, and language use with verbal praise; responding to the childs gestural
requests for an object or activity with verbal praise and access to the object or activity.

Setting
Local child care center

Alternative choices to problem behaviors - After a problem behavior occurs,

negatively reinforcing the child by explaining to him what he did wrong, and verbally
presenting him with an appropriate target behavior that he can do instead.

Study Design
Multiple baseline A-B design

Classroom Level
Visual cues using a timer, clock or visual timer.
Verbal cues announcing when the current activity is ending and stating what is
going to happen next.
Dependent Variables
Child-Level
Gesture: any physical movements made by the body that were used to express
meaning or an idea
Utterance: Any vocal sound produced by the child.
Engagement: when the child appropriately followed the sequence of an activity
Problem Behavior: Any occurrence when the child turned away from the activity or
teacher; disrupted others and doing other activities then what the group is doing;
Classroom Level
Have the classroom stop an activity and smoothly transition to the next one in a
timely manner.

Two teachers

Coaching Interaction
Help giving strategy to build
parents capacity to promote
child learning and development
(Dunst & Trivette,1996)
Data collection procedures
10 minute video-recorded
sessions
Coded all video sessions

Research Synthesis Table

Authors
Thompson, McKerchar,
& Dancho. (2004).

Major Findings
Delayed physical prompting and
reinforcement were effective in producing
independent signing by all 3 participants.

Drasgow, Halle, J. W., & Differential reinforcement can alter the

Ostrosky, M. M. (1998). probability of the occurrence behavior in
class members across stimulus condition
Duda, M. A., Dunlap, G., Increase in engagement and a reduction
Fox, L., Lentini, R., &
in the challenging behaviors for two
Clarke, S. (2004).
young children with disabilities.
Voorhees, M. D., Walker, All three children exhibited a higher level
V. L., Snell, M. E., &
of appropriate behaviors and a lower
Smith, C. G. (2013).
level of problem behavior .

Results

Discussion
This study aligns with previous research that using
strategies such as verbal and visual prompting to
effectively deliver naturalistic transitions in between
activity's to a eliminate problematic behavior in a
classroom setting (Duda, Dunlap, Fox, Lentini & Clarke,
2004).
This research study has practical application in the field
of Early Intervention by adding to the reliability and
validity of Positive Behavior Support strategies.
Social Validity
Reflective Coaching was used to obtain feedback on
functionality and efficiency of striges.
Teacher reported that the striges were functional and
efficient when used consistently.
Limitations
Child illness may have influenced performance.
Research is in progress; limited intervention time to
demonstrate effect.

Future Directions
Being able to expand on strategies and generalize
information to other activities.
Increased teacher interest may lead to an higher
strategy use and greater effect child outcomes.

References
Drasgow, E., Halle, J. W., & Ostrosky, M. M. (1998). Effects of differential reinforcement
on the generalization of a replacement and in three children with sever language delays.
Journal of Applied Behavipr Analysis, 357-374.
Duda, M. A., Dunlap, G., Fox, L., Lentini, R., & Clarke, S. (2004). An experimental
evaluation of positive behavior support in a community preschool program. Topics In
Early Childhood Special Education, 24(3), 143-155.
Dunst, C.J. & Trivette, C.M. (1996). Empowerment, effective help giving practices and
family-centered care. Pediatric Nursing, 22, 334-337, 343.
Thomas, B. R., Lafasakis, M., & Sturmey, P. (2010). The effects of prompting, fading,
and differential reinforcement on vocal mands in non-verbal preschool children with
autism spectrum disorders. Behavioral Interventions, 157-168.
Voorhees, M. D., Walker, V. L., Snell, M. E., & Smith, C. G. (2013). A demonstration of
individualized positive behavior support interventions by head start staff to address
children's challenging behavior. Research And Practice For Persons With Severe
Disabilities, 38(3), 173-185.
For further information contact Amanda Yoho at agriff42@kent.edu or Kyle Bauer at
bauer9@kent.edu