SPE 3273 Assessing Children

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SPE 3273 Assessing Childrens Environments

• Behavior and development cannot be separated from
  the context in which they occur.
• Week 4

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Settings can be adjusted to increase childs
development

• What are the best approaches to parenting?
• How can we arrange a preschool environment to
  maximize learning?
• Can environments be adjusted to increase the
  level of independence for a four year old?
• How do we stimulate the thinking skills of three
  year olds through environmental arrangements?

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Key Ideas

• Settings influenced by environmental forces
  outside of that setting.
• Home and classroom environments are assessed to
  identify hazards and adult use of safe practices.

• Quality of environments influence learning and
  development.
• Environments can be assessed to identify goals
  for intervention and practice.
• Assessing environment can promote higher quality.

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Settings influenced by environmental forces
outside of that setting
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Why Assess Environments?

• Meet national and state licensing requirements
• Meet professional accreditation requirements
• Meet local, state, and federal mandates and
  accountability requirements
• Analyze curriculum content and teaching
  strategies and make needed adjustment to assure
  student success.
• Assess health and safety considerations
• Assess childrens actual experiences and
  interactions with adults and peers, their
  participation in activities and use of materials.
• Assess group size, adult-child ratios and
  caregiver education and specialized training.

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Support for assessing environments?

• Enormous body of research has demonstrated that
  the quality of child-care and early childhood
  programs is significantly associated with
  positive
• or negative outcomes
• for children.

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Licensing Accreditation

• Required
• Minimum standards
• Regulated at state or local level
• Consequences for noncompliance
• Inspections, investigations and technical
  assistance.

• Voluntary
• Highest standards/ exemplary requirements
• Promoted/ sponsored by professional groups
• Recognition/reputation for high quality
• Self-studies, validation and verification visits

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High Quality Programs

• Positive effects on childrens cognitive,
  language, and pre-academic skills development and
  is associated with later academic success in
  reading and math.
• Higher levels of formal education and
  specialized training of child caregivers are
  associated with
• more positive adult-child interactions,
• less authoritarian approaches,
• higher levels of encouragement
• higher scores on standardized measures of process
  quality

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Programs

• High quality child care is associated with
  positive emotional and social development
  outcomes, fewer behavior problems, and high
  levels of sociability, cooperation, social
  problem solving and engaged play behaviors
• Lower quality child care has been associated with
  poor emotional and social development outcomes,
  including increased anger, defiance and
  aggressive behaviors and delayed language
  development and reading and math skills.

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Characteristics of quality early care and
education?

• Well trained, knowledgeable adults
• Safe, sanitary, healthy, appealing child and
  family friendly physical environments
• Low teacher and adult to child ratios
• Health-promoting, appropriately configured daily
  routines that include both active and quiet
  periods, rest times, and nutritious meals, snacks
  and beverages
• Age, individually, and culturally appropriate
  expectations and interactions
• Cognitively and linguistically enriching,
  socially simulating, emotionally supportive
  interactions, curricula and instructional
  practices
• Sensitive, appropriate, anit-bias interactions,
  curricula, and teaching materials
• Daily balance of teacher-directed and
  child-initiated activities
• Parent involvement and participation
  opportunities
• Licensed and accredited

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Symptomatic Behavior Patterns

• Low levels of child engagement match between
  child preferences and available toys and
  activities
• Nature and extent of behavior problems is broad
  cause likely the environment rather than
  child-based
• Behavior problems poorly managed transition
  times that leave children waiting for extended
  periods of time
• Environment caused behavior problemsspecific to
  individual children

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Environmental Rating Scaleswww.fpg.unc.edu

• Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale -
  Revised (FCCRS-R) - Family day-care settings from
  infancy through kindergarten
• Infant Toddler Environmental Rating Scale
  Revised (ITERS-R) - quality of environment 2.5
  yrs or younger
• Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale
  Revised (ECERS-R) quality of classes age 2.5
  through 5 yrs

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FCCRS-R 37 items organized into seven subscales

• Space and Furnishings
• Personal Care Routines
• Listening and Talking
• Activities
• Interaction
• Program Structure
• Parents and Provider

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ITERS-R 39 items organized into 7 subscales

• Space and Furnishings
• Personal Care Routines
• Listening and Talking
• Activities
• Interaction
• Program Structure
• Parents and Staff

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ECERS-R 43 items organized into seven subscales

• Space and furnishings
• Personal Care Routines
• Language-Reasoning
• Activities
• Interaction
• Program Structure
• Parents and Staff

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Types of Programs -Home-Based

• Focus is usually on assisting families who need
  specific information on how to manage aspects of
  an infant's care in the home
• Arrangement and planning of the physical and
  social environment fosters positive interactions
  between children and their environment
• Caregivers may need knowledge and skills for
  making decisions about appropriate ways to help
  children develop pro-social behaviors
• Example Kayla is two years old and loves to
  push buttons on the VCR. Her mother gets
  frustrated and unhappy when Kayla doesn't listen
  to her and
• touches the machine. The B-K Specialist suggests
  
• moving it to a higher shelf until Kayla is older
  and
• can understand that the VCR is not a toy.

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Types of Programs - Center-Based

• Physical and social and programmatic variables
  that influence how a child behaves.
• Physical social-programmatic
• Example program with wide open spaces?

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Types of Programs - Inclusive

• Head Start
• Preschool special education combined with early
  child hood programs
• Itinerant support for children with IEPs

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Communicating Results of Environmental Assessments

• Set the tone
• Comment on positive aspects of home or preschool
  environments that foster physical and social
  independence
• Raise issues/concerns in sensitive manner
• Use reflective/active listening paraphrasing
  and perception checking

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Questions??

• It has been a pleasure getting to know each of
  you!