There are several methods of testing a child’s Communication – anything that can be understood by another person that includes talking, gestures, facial expression, laughing, crying, use of pictures, etc.

• Language – a systematic means for expressing and understanding thoughts.
• Receptive Language – the ability to understand another person.
• Expressive Language – the ability to get one’s ideas across to another person.
• Cognition – the process or act of knowing. It involves perception, memory, conceptualization, and problem-solving.
• Concept – an expression of a rule that organizes information in one’s experiences. Verbal concepts enable individuals to classify and retrieve information. For example, knowing the concept of size allows children to classify anything in their environment as big or little.
• Auditory Discrimination – the ability to differentiate between and among various sounds and to hear likenesses and differences.
• Auditory Memory – the ability to recognize and/or recall information presented orally.
• Visual Discrimination – the ability to differentiate between and among various shapes, sizes, colours, numbers, and/or letters.
• Visual Memory – the ability to retain and recall information that has been presented visually.

Additional Resources:

Visit the Toronto Preschool Speech and Language Services at https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/children-parenting/pregnancy-and-parenting/parenting/speech-language-vision-hearing/speech-and-language/

Children with visual impairments often require physical and programming adaptations to be made to their educational setting. Children should be encouraged and provided with opportunities to be independent. Repetition and routines can help a child to understand their visual environment, and if changes are needed they should be made slowly to allow the child to adjust. In order for children to maximize their skills, they must feel comfortable, safe, and secure within their surroundings. Consistent arrangement of the environment can support children with a visual impairment.

Physical Space

• edges of steps should be highlighted with contrasting paint or plastic nosings (plastic protectors that fit on to corners of furniture)
• slanted floor surfaces should be highlighted in contrasting colours
• windows should have blinds that are effective in reducing glare
• sitting in areas of bright sunlight should be avoided
• furniture should be kept in the same place as a predictable environment is necessary

Accessibility

• equipment should be kept in one place for consistency and be clearly marked
• frequently used equipment should be at the child’s level

Visibility

• wall displays should be uncluttered, clearly presented, and positioned at the child’s eye level
• signs indicating different rooms (e.g., “washroom”, should be positioned at the child’s eye level)
• doors and walls should be painted in different colours to provide a contrast
• door knobs and light switches should be highlighted in different colours
• equipment pieces in the playground area should be different colours
• different floor finishes should be used to identify separate areas (e.g., carpet in classrooms or tiled flooring in corridors, mats at door entrances, and exits to buildings)
• corridors should be free of obstacles (e.g., chairs, tables)
• “diffused strip lighting” is preferred

Programming Recommendations

• children with visual impairments rely on auditory information for some part of their learning. Books on tape or CD, spoken output from the computer, and use of tape recorders provide a quick means of access that has the advantage of being meaningful to sighted peers.
• low vision optical and video aids enable many partially sighted, low vision, and blind children to participate in regular class activities.
• large print materials and Braille books are also available.
• provide contrast in colour between an object and its background.
• children with visual impairments need opportunities for direct experiences with materials and objects because they do not gain information from pictures. The opportunity to pat an animal, to stand in sand, or touch paint will be more valuable than only relying on verbal descriptions.
  Children with visual impairments vary in their learning abilities and needs. Educational support from a professional in visual impairment is beneficial to assist in the development of appropriate programming for the child.

As the child grows older, it is important for him to have contact with adults who are visually impaired and to have the opportunity to participate in regular work experiences. Not only must education provide information access, but it must also help him develop the skills needed to make decisions and experience the results of these decisions. Educators and families should resist the temptation to provide assistance where it is not needed; only through initiative and experience will a child understand his own capabilities and develop a realistic plan for his future.

A hearing loss ranges from mild (hard of hearing) to profound (deaf). Specialists (audiologist, speech and language pathologist) can assist Early Childhood Educators in understanding the degree to which development of communication skills will be affected by the child’s hearing impairment. Parents should be consulted to determine how much hearing capacity the child does have and which teaching methods and communication system is best suited for the child. Early developmental milestones will be similar to those of the hearing child. The impact of a hearing impairment is most obvious in language development. Actual cognitive ability is hindered only to the extent that performance depends on language comprehension and use.

Strategies:

1. Seat the child up close for good visibility of teacher, activity, or other children.
2. Experiment to find out or ask parents how close a speaker must be in order for the child to hear.
3. Provide the child with experiences that make residual hearing (auditory acuity of a child after an impairment without amplification).
4. Speak at normal speed and volume without exaggerating lip movements.
5. Avoid speaking with your back to the child or with a bright light behind you. Don’t inadvertently cover your mouth when speaking. Lipstick may enhance visibility.
6. Use normal vocabulary and sentence structure. Be prepared to repeat, rephrase, point out, or demonstrate if the child does not understand.
7. When seeking the child’s attention, be certain to use his or her name. Teach the child to attend to your face and do not give any directions until the child is obviously attending.
8. When teaching the child, use visual and tactile aids. Model the desired behaviour whenever possible.

“Children with special needs and their families have access to child care and appropriate supports in the neighbourhood where they live.”

Inclusion:
Children with special needs have the same opportunity to attend and actively participate in child care programs as their peers.

Quality:
Child care programs and Special Needs Resourcing Agencies strive for responsive, timely evidence based best practices in the area of inclusion.

Partnerships:
A successful partnership between parents, childcare staff, and specialized services is essential in order to meet the individual needs of each child within a group setting. Participation of Parents/Guardians is recognized as integral to the successful inclusion of children with special needs in child care.

Accessibility:
Children with special needs and child care staff have access to supports which facilitate high quality inclusive early childhood experiences.

Integration:
The delivery of specialized supports in child care is embedded within a broader strategy for a system of childcare where all children can maximize their potential.

Equity:
Specialized supports are assigned based on the general population base and the rate of prevalence for special needs.

Flexibility:
Specialized supports are delivered in a way that allows service providers to adjust services based on current needs and agency’s expertise.

Capacity Building:
Inclusion is a process not a product, and there are issues of capacity that will take time for the community to respond to appropriately. Training is valued as an important contributor to quality and inclusion and will be available and coordinated by the child care and special needs resourcing communities to meet staff needs and build capacity.

Accountability:
Funded services are governed, delivered and accounted for, in a way that is transparent to the user and local taxpayer.

Michael is a four-year old boy in the preschool classroom. During outdoor playtime, Michael usually plays with a ball or goes on the slide. The teachers have noticed that he frequently pushes and hits other children who are engaged in play. The other children often get upset and move off to play in another area or tell the teacher what happened.

Does the story about Michael at the playground sound familiar to you – perhaps you have a child like Michael in your classroom?

If so, then you’ve actually taken the first step of identifying a problem behaviour that may be putting a child at risk. In this case, Michael’s problem behaviour is also interfering with his social, emotional and intellectual development.

Deciding what to do next may be difficult. Here’s the 3-step approach we followed in Understanding and Changing Behaviour.

Step 1: Decide Where to Start

We’ve identified a problem behaviour. Let’s take a moment to describe what we see or hear. Describing the behaviour will help us to be consistent when gathering information a bit later.

Michael pushes and hits other children with an open hand or clenched fist.

Michael moved into our preschool classroom just two weeks ago. In order to better understand his behaviour, we’re going to use the Functional Assessment Interview by O’Neill. This functional assessment tool will help us to record our observations of Michael’s behaviour, and gather information from his parents and previous teachers.

Now let’s move on to the next step.

Step 2: Gather and Analyze

Here is some information we gathered from the Functional Assessment Interview which includes: what happens before the behaviour; the setting and time when the behaviour occurs; and what happens afterwards.

• There are no medical concerns or changes in medication.
• Michael’s eating and sleeping patterns have not changed.
• The behaviour happens more often in the playground and indoors less frequently.
• The time of day was usually in the morning during outdoor play. Michael does not attend child care in the afternoon.
• The behaviour occurs with peers, and happens at home with children of extended family members.
• The behaviour does not happen with adults, siblings, or while he was in his previous classroom.
• The behaviour is most likely to happen when other children are engaged in gross motor activities or in the block/transportation area.
• When Michael hits or pushes a child he stays very close to them and does not run or move away.
• We also noticed that Michael is removed from the situation after the behaviour occurs which leads to him screaming “no”. He often approaches the same child again even after being removed.
• Sometimes children run away from Michael after he hits or pushes them.

We also considered Michael’s communication skills and noted that he speaks in two to three word sentences and uses gestures to make requests.

The results from the Functional Assessment Interview suggest that the function of the problem behaviour is to obtain attention. The problem behaviour serves a communicative function: Michael is using the behaviour to express his desire to join other children in play.

Now it’s time to move onto the next step and plan for change.

Step 3: Plan for Change

Planning for change involves making the behaviour irrelevant, inefficient and finally ineffective.

Making the Behaviour Irrelevant

We can make the behaviour irrelevant by preventing or controlling the things in the environment that happen before the behaviour.

Let’s take a look at some ways to prevent the behaviour from happening by promoting social interaction through group activities, and setting clear rules.

Activity
During outdoor play time, we will lead group activities and games like, “Duck, duck goose”, “Mr. Wolf” and “Red light, green light”. We will encourage Michael to participate and become acquainted with the other children in the class.

We will facilitate play between Michael and another child with games or toys that he is most interested in. For example, playing “catch” with the large bouncing ball in the playground or playing with the car ramp but using only one car.

Setting clear rules
We will also create a rules board that emphasizes positive ways to interact with others including all the “good” things we can do with our hands (e.g., pat on the back, shake hands). We can discuss these rules at circle time every day and reward children when we see them following the rules. Keeping class rules very clear and simple will assist Michael to understand what is expected of him.

Making the Behaviour Inefficient

To make behaviour inefficient, we might choose to teach specific adaptive, educational and social behaviours. By teaching these types of behaviours, we eliminate the need for the problem behaviour.

At other times, we may teach an alternative behaviour. An alternative behaviour serves the same function as the behaviour being replaced but is seen to be more appropriate by other children, adults and the general public. To be successful, it requires equal or less physical effort and complexity but results in the same type of pay-off for the child.

In this case, we are going to teach Michael how to “ask a friend to play”. We will create a social script that describes what Michael can do to ask a friend to play.

For more details on the strategies and teaching techniques we used to help Michael learn how to “ask a friend to play” visit our “Teaching New Skills” section.

Making the Behaviour Ineffective

The last step is to make problem behaviour ineffective, meaning that it no longer works for the child. Keeping in mind that the behaviour may not change right away – we are aware that it is very common for problem behaviour to increase before it decreases when implementing changes. The key is to be consistent with our plan.

Since this behaviour is really a request for peer attention, we have decided that when Michael hits or punches another child, all teachers will physically redirect him to a new activity without paying any attention to the behaviour.

Another important factor in making the behaviour ineffective in our environment means changing a behaviour in all the places a child finds himself including at home. Our partnership with parents is the key to success.

Throughout this process we spoke to Michael’s parents about our concerns, and shared our strategies. Michael also had some difficulty with social interaction at home, so we provided the family with the same strategies we are using and created a social script to use at home. Changing a problem behaviour that continues to be rewarded in other settings is confusing to the child and frustrating for everyone.

If the problem behaviour persists then we will have to re-assess but it is important for us to give our plan time to work. Be patient! Some behaviours can take a couple of weeks to change.

Hamzah is a three-year old boy in the preschool room. He usually speaks in one word phrases. At the end of circle time each child is asked to choose where he wants to play. When it is Hamzah’s turn he often does not respond and remains seated.

Does this story about Hamzah at play time sound familiar to you – perhaps you have a child like Hamzah in your classroom?

If so, then you’ve actually taken the first step of identifying a problem behaviour that may be putting a child at risk. In this case, Hamzah’s problem behaviour is also interfering with his social, emotional and intellectual development.

Deciding what to do next may be difficult. Here’s the 3-step approach we followed in Understanding and Changing Behaviour.

Step 1: Decide Where to Start

Let’s take a moment to describe what we see or hear. Describing the behaviour will help us to be consistent when gathering information a bit later.

When Hamzah is asked to select an activity or play area, he does not respond with words or gestures. If seated or standing he remains in position and does not move.

We have agreed to directly observe Hamzah’s behaviour and record our results using the ABC Functional Assessment Card. We’ll chart at least six times before reviewing the information. We will also use the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS) by Durand and Crimmins to learn more about the possible reasons for the behaviour.

We’ll talk with Hamzah’s parents to find out if he has any difficulty playing, making choices or following directions at home.

Now let’s move on to the next step.

Step 2: Gather and Analyze

After speaking with Hamzah’s parents, we learned that he is an only child, and often plays on his own at home, or with his father. He follows instructions easily and enjoys listening to the radio, and children’s music.

Hamzah’s parents are very concerned about his language development as Hamzah uses mostly single words to speak and some gestures. A hearing test has been scheduled for Hamzah, and he is also on the waitlist for a speech and language assessment.

We completed the MAS and recorded our observations throughout the week using the ABC Functional Assessment Cards. After analyzing all the information we collected, here’s what we noticed about Hamzah’s behaviour:

• We see the behaviour each day after circle time, and rarely at other times during the day.
• Hamzah seems to enjoy circle time as he actively participates by singing along and doing the actions.
• The activity that follows circle time is free play time where children get to choose a centre (e.g., blocks, dramatic, sand table) to play in.
• We looked at the circle time routine and noticed that it was not very consistent. It was sometimes unclear when the routine ended.
• The behaviour follows a verbal request to select an activity or someone to play with (e.g., teacher says, “Who do you want to play with?”, or “Where do you want to play?”)
• The behaviour does not occur when Hamzah is told to specifically carry out a task or activity. He is very compliant with following simple one step directions.
• The consequence to Hamzah’s behaviour was very consistent and we noticed this pattern:
  • A teacher repeats the question 2 to 4 times; the behaviour continues. When she takes Hamzah’s hand and leads him to an activity or play area the behaviour stops.

According to our analysis of the information, the suggested function of Hamzah’s behaviour is to escape the choice making activity that follows circle time. This is possibly because he does not know how to respond to it.

Step 3: Plan for Change

Now it’s time to move onto the next step and plan for change. Planning for change involves making the behaviour irrelevant, inefficient and finally ineffective.

Making the Behaviour Irrelevant

We can make the behaviour irrelevant by preventing or controlling the things in the environment that happen before the behaviour.

Let’s take a look at some ways to prevent the behaviour from happening by adapting routines, using visuals, making changes to the environment, and modifying teaching methods.

Routines
We can make a few changes to the circle time routine to help Hamzah understand when to transition to the next activity. Just like we have a “welcome “song at the beginning of circle time, we’ll also use a “goodbye” song to let everyone, including Hamzah, know that this activity is over.

Using Visuals
We can also make a visual schedule with pictures that shows the activities happening that day, the sequence of events, and when it is time to stop one activity and start another.

Environment
Since Hamzah is very interested in music, we are going to add objects that have a musical element to some of the learning centres around the room. For example, we’ll place a toy radio/tape recorder to the dramatic area, and collect some audio books to create a listening centre.

Modify Teaching Methods
After reviewing our observations, we realized that we can change the way we give instructions or directions. We can get down to the child’s level, make eye contact, and simplify our speech. Instead of saying “where do you want to play?” we can say “want blocks or tape recorder?” Using pictures of these objects will also help Hamzah understand what we are saying. To start, we’ll present Hamzah with a choice between real objects.

Making the Behaviour Inefficient

To make behaviour inefficient, we might choose to teach specific adaptive, educational and social behaviours. By teaching these types of behaviours, we eliminate the need for the problem behaviour.

At other times, we may teach an alternative behaviour. An alternative behaviour serves the same function as the behaviour being replaced but is seen to be more appropriate by other children, adults and the general public. To be successful, it requires equal or less physical effort and complexity but results in the same type of pay-off for the child.

Remember how we observed that Hamzah engaged in problem behaviour following circle time. We’re going to teach Hamzah how to make a choice by using concrete objects and eventually with picture symbols. This will also help to expand Hamzah’s play skills, and build on his expressive language skills.

For specific details on the strategies and other teaching techniques we used to teach Hamzah to “make a choice” visit our “Teaching New Skills” section.

Making the Behaviour Ineffective

The last step is to make problem behaviour ineffective, meaning that it no longer works for the child. We know that problem behaviour often increases before it decreases when implementing changes. The key is to be consistent with our plan.

Everyone on the teaching team will be sure to use the objects that represent the various learning centres to help Hamzah select an area to play in (e.g., blocks, playdough container, crayon, book). We will also be sure to help Hamzah follow through with the choice by walking him to the selected learning centre and praise him for choosing an activity.

Next we need to look at changing the behaviour in every environment in which Hamzah finds himself. We will talk with Hamzah’s parents about using the same strategies at home. Our partnership with parents is the key to success!

If the problem behaviour persists then we will have to re-assess but it is important for us to give our plan time to work. Be patient! Some behaviours can take a couple of weeks to change.

By Robert E. O’Neill

The Functional Assessment Interview (FAI) is an important part of a functional behaviour assessment. The FAI consists of a series of questions designed to gather information about a child’s behaviour. Unlike the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS), the FAI does not include scores that help to identify the function of the behaviour. The FAI, however, helps you gather information that you and a consultant would then use when problem solving around a problem behaviour.

The first set of questions guides you as you describe the behaviour. Then you are asked questions about the “ecological/setting events”, such as the child’s recent eating and sleeping habits. A description of the immediate antecedents (when, what, where and with whom the behaviour occurs) and consequences of the behaviour (what the child gets or avoids by engaging in the behaviour) are also required. You are also asked questions about the child’s abilities and difficulties, likes and dislikes, and method and level of communication.

As someone who works closely with the child, you might be able to answer many of these questions. It is important, however, to interview people who may have other information about the child – such as other staff members, the child’s parents and, where appropriate, the child himself – in order to gather as much information as possible.

By bringing your attention to the antecedents (things that happened before the behaviour) and the consequences (things that happen as a result of the behaviour) of the behaviour, the FAI helps you to identify not only the problem behaviour(s), but also the possible reasons for it. The FAI also brings your attention to the skills, interests, challenges and communication issues of the child.

We have attached a completed FAI form for you to read. As you can see, there is much more detailed information included in the FAI than in the MAS. We have also included a blank copy of the FAI that you might want to use.

The Elimination Record allows you to keep track of when a child is soiled or dry, and if he urinates or has a bowel movement in the toilet.

Pants Column

In the column marked pants you will record every hour either:

• D – if he is dry
• U – if he has urinated in pants
• BM – if he has a bowel movement

Of course, you don’t have to wait an entire hour. Anytime you think he is wet, check him, write in the time on the chart, and record the results.

Toilet Column

If you do put him on the toilet, record the results in the Toilet column in the same way. (However, you don’t need to start putting him on the toilet yet until you have discovered his elimination pattern from your hourly dry checks).

• N – if he didn’t eliminate in the toilet
• U – if he has urinated in the toilet
• BM – if he has a bowel movement

As you can see, record keeping will take you no more than a minute each hour, yet this is the most important part of your toilet training program.