Monday, November 22, 2010

On Changing Brains: Of babies and our own

 
At our meeting last Friday Ellen, who came all the way from Port Angeles, suggested this website, Changing Brains, be added to our sidebar.
 
An incredibly wonderful meeting, by the way. Best participation yet. And I do believe that people didn't leave until 6:10. Like it's fun to be together and share the passion we have for our work. -gw

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

On Is It "Birth TO Five" or "Birth THROUGH Five"? Help for kids at the upper end of early childhood

 
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When does early childhood end? Does it end when a child turns five or six? Does it go just through preschool, or through kindergarten, as in the following degree program description?
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Bachelor of Science in Education in Birth Through Five - The B.S.E. major in Birth Through Five (B-5) prepares teachers and other early care and education professionals to work in varied settings with young children and their families from infancy through Kindergarten age, including children who are typically developing and those with disabilities.
I have great interest in the upper end of early childhood, especially in children who still present with challenging behavior at the end of their time in preschool and are moving on to kindergarten. My impression is that there is more support for children with challenging behavior in preschool than there is for children with challenging behavior in kindergarten. How can that change?
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It seems to me that the "go to" websites for addressing challenging behavior in preschool can also be of enormous help to kindergarten staff, both in the classroom and supporting. What struggling kindergarten teachers can benefit from, it seems to me, is Positive Behavior Support. -gw
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The following six steps are essential to the process of PBS.

  • Building a Behavior Support Team-PBS begins by developing a team of the key stakeholders or individuals who are most involved in the child’s life. This team should include the family and early educator, but also may include friends, other family members, therapists, and other instructional or administrative personnel.
  • Person-Centered Planning-Person-centered planning provides a process for bringing the team together to discuss their vision and dreams for the child. Person-centered planning is a strength-based process that is a celebration of the child and a mechanism of establishing the commitment of the team members to supporting the child and family.
  • Functional Behavioral Assessment-Functional assessment is a process for determining the function of the child’s problem behavior. Functional Assessment or Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) involves the collection of data, observations, and information to develop a clear understanding of the relationship of events and circumstances that trigger and maintain problem behavior.
  • Hypothesis Development-The functional assessment process is completed with the development of a behavior hypothesis statement. The behavior hypothesis statements summarize what is known about triggers, behaviors, and maintaining consequences and offers an informed guess about the purpose of the problem behavior.
  • Behavior Support Plan Development-Once behavior hypotheses statements are developed to summarize the data gathered from the functional assessment process, the team can develop a behavior support plan. Essential components of the behavior support plan are prevention strategies, the instruction of replacement skills, new ways to respond to problem behavior, and lifestyle outcome goals.
  • Monitoring Outcomes-The effectiveness of the behavior support plan must be monitored. This monitoring includes measurement of changes in problem behavior and the achievement of new skills and lifestyle outcomes.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

On Head Start Looks to the U of W To Help It Improve : To the tune of $40 million

Big news for this region on Paul Nyhan's Thrive By Five blog.
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The University of Washington landed a key role in the national effort to revamp Head Start, winning a $40-million grant to lead work to improve teaching and learning within the federal program.
I note that Vanderbilt's Mary Louise Hemmeter is the national project's lead researcher, a name I recognize from several power points I have utilized regarding challenging behavior in young children. Here's a representative PPT to download by her from the Vanderbilt-based Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL). -gw

Using the DC 0-3 with Donna Weston: 2nd installment

Here is an even dozen additional 90-second video clips from Donna Weston's presentation on "Using the DC 0-3" for your study and reflection. Included are more presentation of cases and a discussion of an alternative way of viewing reactive attachment. Links to the previous posts on the conference are below. -gw

Friday, November 5, 2010

On More Video Clips from Our Case Consult: In HD (but not 3-D)

 
Two weeks from today is the next meeting of our Peninsulas Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Group. If you've never been to one, you may wonder, what's it like? There is no better way of showing than through video -- and, wonder of wonders, in HD (thankfully, not in 3-D). -gw
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On Keeping it Fresh: The complete set of "Babies, Brains & Relationships" photos & videos for periodic review

Link to this post for future reference. Here is a complete set of photos and videos, interpersed in order, from Sheri Hill's recent presentation in our area on "Babies, Brains & Relationships." Reviewing the set from time to time is a great way to reflect on the fundamental themes of infant mental health today. Keep the principles fresh in your mind! -gw
 

On Current Job Openings for Therapists: Experience in infant mental health preferred

 
Provides mental health services to children, adolescents, and families with serious developmental, emotional, and behavioral problems in a manner which results in improvements in the child and family's functioning in multiple life domains and is cost effective. Preference will go to Spanish speaking candidates as well as those with infant mental health experience.
 
 
This is from a current job opening posted by Seattle's Children's Hospital on Monster.com. Note that experience in infant mental health is preferred in an applicant. Infant mental health is coming of age. -gw

Monday, November 1, 2010

On Using the Internet to Keep Abreast: Staying alert and keeping up

As part of my effort to stay abreast of my chosen field, and with this blog in mind, I have set-up Google Alerts (email updates of the latest relevant Google results [web, news, etc.] based on a query or topic) for "infant mental health," "early childhood mental health consultation," and "parent child interation therapy." Believe it or not, every day something new shows up in my Gmail in one, two, or all three of these categories.
 
Here is my find of the day, Paul Nyhan's blog for Thrive By Five called Birth to Thrive. Paul was a reporter for the Seattle PI, before setting out on his blogging adventure. I like his Early Learning News Week in Review. There are so many ways to keep up. -gw
 
 
Speaking of blogs, a few days I passed word on to my colleagues here at Kitsap Mental Health, many of whom are now trained in Parent Child Interaction Therapy, about this from PCIT International: http://pcitinternational.wordpress.com/. -gw