When you open the lines of communication with a family about developmental screening with ASQ, be sure to communicate three things up front: what screening is, why it’s important, and what the benefits are.

What Is Developmental Screening?

Help families understand what screening and developmental milestones are, so they know what to expect. Some key points to make are:

• Developmental milestones are abilities achieved by most children by a certain age.
• Developmental screening provides a quick check of your child’s development. It can be thought of as a snapshot of your child’s motor, cognitive, language, and social-emotional skills.
• Screening will help determine if your child is meeting the appropriate milestones for their age.

The post 3 Things Every Family Should Know About ASQ appeared first on Brookes Blog.

This blog post was adapted from Rich Talk With Young Children by Rebecca Rolland, the practical new guide to rich, intentional conversations that nurture all aspects of child development.

When children ask why and how questions, it is tempting to brush them off or answer with a one-word answer. But these questions are precisely the times when children are primed to learn best.

Answering these questions can:

• Stimulate curiosity: Asking why questions naturally sparks curiosity in children. It encourages them to wonder about the world around them and seek explana­tions for things they observe.
• Promote critical thinking: Answering causal questions requires children to ana­lyze information, evaluate evidence, and draw logical conclusions. This process helps develop their critical thinking skills, enabling them to make informed decisions and solve problems effectively.
• Encourage deeper understanding: When children ask why questions, they delve deeper into a topic and explore different perspectives. This can lead to a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.
• Fosters a growth mindset: Answering causal questions helps children develop a growth mindset. Their intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort and perseverance. When children explore and understand the why behind things, they see challenges as opportunities for growth.

To answer why and how questions well, try the following 10 top tips:

1. Own up to not knowing. Take a playful stance toward what you do not know.
2. Check in with what children know. For example, before teaching about dinosaurs, ask children when they think dinosaurs lived.
3. Support ideas in the right direction. Say, “It’s true, dinosaurs did live a long time ago.”
4. Take questions seriously. Say, “That is a good question. Does anyone have any idea?”
5. Leapfrog questions. Use one question to spark another. If a child asks, “Why does thunder come before lightning?” try wondering questions such as, “Have you ever seen it happen the other way?”
6. Track how questions evolve. Try out a wall or a poster that shows a sample of children’s questions over the course of a day or week. You can offer children sticky notes daily, or have a stack of them handy, and encourage each student to write or draw out a question. If needed, serve as the children’s scribe, writing down the questions they dictate. Adjust question complexity depending on children’s ages and stages. Consider a question tracker like this one:



7. Do research in the classroom and beyond. Can children find the answer by asking children in another classroom, other teachers, or the librarian?
8. Explain when there is more than one theory. You might say, “Not everyone agrees about that.” Ask what children think. Give an overview of what the common theories are, then ask if there are others. Which theory do children think is best? Why?
9. Talk about thinking! Ask children: “Did our talk answer your question? What new questions do you have? What else are you now thinking about?” Invite children to notice how their questions are changing.
10. Encourage more questions, not fewer. Remind children that scientists and other creative thinkers are always developing deeper questions.

For more guidance on having rich, intentional conversations that nurture all aspects of child development, invest in Rebecca Rolland’s new guide for early childhood professionals!

The post 10 Tips for Answering Children’s Questions Well appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Here are 10 great reasons to take advantage of this one-of-a-kind professional development opportunity:

Designed for Team Collaboration

This unique professional development opportunity isn’t just for paraprofessionals; it’s for teacher/para teams to take together. Learn new ways to dialogue and collaborate to create better outcomes for students!

Access to Unmatched Expertise

This highly engaging three-hour workshop is led by nationally recognized expert Dr. Paula Kluth (You’re Going to Love This Kid!), one of today’s most dynamic and in-demand authorities on autism and inclusive education.

Addresses Two PD Goals at Once

Every paraprofessional needs training on an ongoing basis, and every teaching team needs to figure out how to provide that support. Take both items off your to-do list with this single workshop for busy teaching teams.

Adds a Missing Piece

Paraprofessional training for learners on the spectrum is often focused on autism itself or on how to engage with individual learners. This PD opportunity adds a missing piece: We’ll cover those topics, but you’ll also go deeper into the rationale for inclusive education and strategies to create success in those environments.

One Affordable Fee for Your Team

With one cost-effective $69.00 registration, your team (a teacher and the paras they work with) can attend the workshop together on one device. Team participation in the workshop will support consistent practices, communication, and meaningful follow-through.

*Multiple devices will require separate registration for each device.

Filled with Practical Adaptation Ideas

You’ll discover 10+ on-the-spot adaptation ideas that can be taught, modeled, and used by teacher/paraprofessional teams.

Gives You Ready-to-Use Tools

You’ll be introduced to tools (e.g., paraprofessional support assessment, paraprofessional meeting menu) that you can use immediately in the classroom to enhance collaboration and student support.

Introduces Fresh New Ideas

Discover helpful support ideas that may be new to your whole team! Dr. Kluth will cover the why and how of special topics like honoring indirect communication, supporting learners with echolalia, using student fascinations as a tool for teaching, and more.

Benefits Every Member of the School Team

This workshop offers opportunities to consider how all team members—including OTs, PTs, and speech therapists—can work together to provide powerful guidance to staff members who directly support learners with disabilities.

Flexible Options for Participation

Can’t attend the live workshop? Register anyway—your team will still have exclusive access to the recording for four weeks after the training. You can watch the recorded workshop together whenever your busy schedule allows.

Sign your team up for this unique PD experience today, and get ready to strengthen your partnership and support success for every learner!

Save Your Seat Now!

The post 10 Reasons to Attend This Virtual Workshop for Teacher/Para Teams appeared first on Brookes Blog.

This post is an updated version of an article I originally wrote in 2011. Unfortunately, since that time, the literacy skills of adolescent students have not improved. This is evident in the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading results, which show that only 31% of Grade 4 students and 30% of Grade 8 students are performing at or above the proficient level.

Literacy skills are more essential than ever for success in college and the workplace, as well as for managing the everyday demands of an increasingly complex society and global economy.

Older Students Need More Support

An increasing number of middle and high schools are beginning to acknowledge the need for a school-wide approach to literacy instruction that includes multiple tiers of instruction. Tier 1 instruction consists of content-area literacy instruction for all students and is delivered within subject area classes such as history, science, math, and English. Tiers 2 and 3 provide supplemental and intervention instruction for struggling readers and writers, delivered partly in regular content classes and partly in intervention settings, including extended English/language arts blocks and individual or small-group instruction.

My new Brookes book, The Essentials of Adolescent Literacy: Integrating Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Instruction in Grades 5-12, was recently published alongside Keys to Literacy’s companion Keys to Adolescent Literacy professional development course.

Together, the book and course help secondary educators:

• Understand the unique aspects of adolescent literacy
• Offer practical instructional suggestions for teaching reading, writing and discussion skills across all subjects
• Address the needs of adolescents with learning difficulties
• Present a secondary literacy assessment model that supports individualized, data-driven reading interventions

A school-wide approach to adolescent literacy that incorporates the instructional and assessment suggestions described in the book and course requires committed literacy leadership. Effective leaders understand adolescent literacy and can develop and guide a comprehensive school-wide literacy plan that includes the structures and processes needed to meet the diverse needs of middle and high school learners.

Six Steps to Effective Literacy Planning

An effective middle and high school literacy plan should address the following six components:

1. Establishment of a literacy planning team
2. A screening, diagnostic, and progress-monitoring assessment plan to identify students’ needs and guide instructional decisions
3. A content-area literacy curriculum that addresses reading, writing, speaking, and listening in all subjects
4. Interventions for struggling students that address all components of reading and writing based on individual student needs
5. Flexible scheduling that allows for grouping based on instructional needs
6. Professional development planning

Putting the Plan Into Action

A key first step is assembling a literacy planning team that represents the major stakeholders responsible for implementing the literacy plan. Team members should include teachers from all subject areas, intervention educators, literacy coaches and specialists, administrators, and parents. Remember that literacy planning is a process, not a single event. As with most school-wide initiatives, developing and executing a literacy plan requires time and sustained effort. Planning teams should expect to spend a year developing the plan, followed by another year or two for full implementation.

Once the planning team is assembled, the next task is to take stock of what is already in place in relation to the six components. This includes gathering information to answer questions such as:

• What assessments are currently used to identify proficient and struggling readers and writers?
• How is assessment data used to inform instructional decisions across multiple tiers of instruction?
• What effective literacy practices are already occurring in content-area classrooms, and what gaps exist?
• What interventions and supplemental literacy programs are currently available for struggling students, and what is missing?
• What additional professional development do content-area teachers need to address all components of reading and writing effectively?
• What additional professional development do intervention educators need to deliver effective intervention instruction?
• Is the school schedule flexible enough to support a variety of grouping patterns for intervention instruction?

After gathering this information, the planning team can set and prioritize goals and action steps for each of the six components. Some action steps may be easy to accomplish quickly and with minimal cost, while others will require more time and resources. A concrete plan for addressing these action steps over the next one to two years is essential for sustaining progress.

The six planning components are interrelated. Action steps for one component should align with action steps for others. For example, decisions about all tiers of instruction should be based on assessment data, as should decisions about how to group students and schedule supplemental instruction. Plans for professional development should reflect the needs of teachers who will embed literacy into content instruction and the intervention goals addressed by specialists.

A literacy assessment plan is central to successfully implementing a school-wide adolescent literacy initiative. Screening assessments identify which students are struggling, diagnostic assessments determine why they struggle, and progress-monitoring assessments measure whether instruction is effective in both Tier 1 content classrooms and Tier 2 and 3 supplemental instruction. (Read my blog post Reading Assessment Model, Grades 5-12 for recommendations.)

The Critical Role of Literacy Leadership

Middle and high school administrators must play a key role in improving adolescent literacy outcomes. They must prioritize the development of literacy skills and allocate instructional time for reading and writing within the school schedule. Administrators must also support flexible scheduling and grouping practices that enable a multi-tiered model of literacy instruction across both content classrooms and intervention settings. Ongoing professional development for both content-area teachers and literacy specialists is essential to support these efforts.

Although the time, effort, and expertise required to develop a school-wide literacy plan can be challenging for many middle and high schools, there is an urgent and ongoing need to strengthen the literacy skills of adolescent learners. The investment you make now will be well worth the effort!

Ready to learn more? Contact Keys to Literacy to learn about literacy leadership support services and consulting, and invest in Joan Sedita’s new book!

The post Building Your Schoolwide Literacy Plan for Middle & High School appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Respect Family Values, Beliefs, and Practices

Each family has a unique set of routines and rituals that characterize their style of living. The family’s culture, history, ancestry, spiritual beliefs, socioeconomic status, opportunities, and place of residence all reflect and influence family practices.

In the course of service delivery, you’ll encounter families whose values, practices, and styles differ—sometimes even radically—from your own. While some practices may feel strange or at odds with your beliefs, only when providers truly respect different families’ perspectives can they effectively enter into a working relationship and overcome differences or conflicts.

Trust That the Family Knows Best

Families know best about what is needed for their child and their family. Clearly, in the case of families in which neglectful or abusive practices occur, you must intervene on behalf of the child—but in most cases, families are doing their best. You are in their lives for what may seem only a flash in time, while the family must adapt to the many facets and circumstances encountered by all family members and across all the events of their lives over time.

Be Sensitive to Diverse Backgrounds

Be sensitive to and supportive of the needs of families from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Review your daily routine, but this time, pretend that you’re transported to another country where you’re less familiar with the customs, services, and regulations. In addition, imagine you do not speak the language fluently. Alternatively, imagine as best you can what it would be like to be homeless and not have access to even the most basic survival needs, such as food and warm clothing.

These are the situations in which many families find themselves as they try to thrive and procure services. The jargon and policies associated with IEPs, IFSPs, and medical services are foreign to most people, but they’re likely to be even more perplexing to someone who is a recent immigrant to this country and speaks a language other than English or who has no concept of what these services entail. For some families, the service options may even violate cultural preferences or practices, such as engaging in interactions with strangers in places outside the home. And families struggling to survive day to day may have more critical priorities than providing education or related services for their children.

Acknowledge Family Members as Decision-Makers

Regardless of the situation and your judgments about what families need, family members are the ultimate decision-makers regarding their priorities and life choices. You can support family members by ensuring that they have access to resources and information, are full partners and participants in service decisions, and are provided the supports they need to make informed choices. Acknowledging families as decision-makers also means that you must respect the decisions they make, even when these choices are difficult for you to understand or accept.

Treat the Family Members as People First

Practitioners from the helping professions are trained to focus on a particular dimension of the individual or family. It may be the child’s motor, speech, or cognitive development or the social support services needed by the family. Regardless, the child and family members are people first. They are not cases, nor are they defined by their service needs, their disabilities or health conditions, or their living circumstances. They are not problems waiting to be fixed.

Recognize That You Are a Guest in the Family’s Home and Life

Family members are involved with each other for the long haul. You will participate for only a short time in their lives, and you are a guest for that period. It is a privilege not to be taken lightly. Whether the service is needed for an extended period or a short time, you may come into a family’s home on a regular basis and will sometimes be privy to individual family members’ intimate feelings and routines. This invitation into families’ lives carries heavy responsibility for maintaining confidentiality and a respectful presence.

Maintain Appropriate Boundaries

When building partnerships with families, most people would agree that a warm and positive relationship is valued. But it’s also important to maintain professional boundaries. A breach of conduct may interfere with the family’s ability to develop a natural support system or make their own decisions. For example, a family may come to rely on you to find needed services such as housing, food stamps, or health care. Some families may even expect you to be on call to drive them to appointments or care for the children.

While families may have crucial needs for these services, you will not always be available or able to obtain services, nor are these appropriate activities for a professional in some cases. Rather than fostering long-term dependency, help families acquire the strategies and supports they can use to advocate for and obtain services. Assist family members in feeling competent about their own abilities and developing skills to effect change and advocate on behalf of the family. Reflective practice and consultation with other team members and supervisors can be useful in preventing blurred boundaries.

Be Flexible

Families are highly dynamic systems, with their needs and perspectives constantly shifting. Service delivery structures and approaches must be able to adapt to these changing demands.

For instance, one family may prefer to have intensive supports during a crisis, whereas another may prefer to be left alone to cope with the issue within the family. Some individuals may prefer frequent opportunities to speak with you, supplemented by written materials. Other family members may prefer less frequent or less structured approaches, or they may best acquire new strategies through listening to other parents or professionals tell stories or through observing others.

Enjoy the Children and Families

Service providers are fortunate that they are welcomed into the lives of a variety of families. It’s a wondrous education and an opportunity for your personal growth in understanding, knowledge, and skills.

For many family members, particularly when practitioners are involved in interventions in a child’s early years, the service provider will hold a special place of respect and honor in their hearts for years to come. Often, you will be in the position of offering special support or lending a helping hand at a particularly emotional or difficult transition in the family’s life. The opportunity to engage at this level and in this type of relationship can bring joy and fulfillment to you and the families you work with.

Get the book behind today’s blog post for more in-depth guidance on understanding and working effectively with families!

The post 9 Strategies That Promote Family-Centered Practices appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Dr. Stacey Alexander, Senior Manager of Services at Noah’s Ark Australia and author of the new book Attachment-Focused Early Childhood Intervention, is here to talk about the challenges of secure attachment for children with developmental concerns—and what you can do to help.

Read on for Dr. Alexander’s insights!

***

I’m a psychologist with a background in early childhood intervention, child protection, disability, and family therapy. Some years ago, I became very curious about the role of attachment security in the life trajectories of children accessing early childhood intervention or disability services. I began to explore the research—and the more I explored, the more curious I became.

I discovered that forming a secure attachment could be challenging for children with developmental concerns, and that there are many flow-on effects of that. Spurred on, I did a Ph.D. study on how early childhood intervention professionals could improve the attachment security of children with a disability or developmental delay.  My study included a survey of professionals, in-depth interviews with parents and professionals, and a systematic review of attachment patterns and interventions for children with a disability or delay.

I found compelling reasons for why professionals should take an attachment focus in their work.

Why Focus on Attachment Security?

Let’s start with four reasons why attachment security is worth your attention:

1. Boost overall development: Attachment security is positively associated with prosocial behavior, communication, executive function, learning, physical and mental health, self-regulation, and social skills. Attachment security is a variable you can impact to enhance overall learning and development.
2. Reduce risk: Conversely, insecure and disorganized attachment is associated with an increased risk of emotional, behavioral, and mental health problems, maltreatment, and neglect. Children with a disability have a heightened risk of maltreatment, and/or a diagnosis of a behavioral or mental health condition. Your attachment-focused actions can reduce these risks.
3. High rates of insecure and disorganised attachment: Children with a disability or developmental delay are significantly more likely to develop insecure attachment relationships than children in the general population and are almost twice as likely to develop a disorganized attachment. Your intervention can positively influence attachment formation.
4. If not you, now, then who, when? If you are working closely with children and their parents or caregivers, then you have an amazing (and vital) opportunity to make a positive impact on their outcomes through supporting the development of secure relationships. The earlier this is done, the better. I say seize the opportunity while change is easily supported. Don’t wait until problems become entrenched, requiring more intensive, specialist responses.

How Can You Help?

Okay, so there are plenty of reasons to take an attachment-focused approach in your work, but how do you do it? Regardless of your level of experience or your professional background, there are many ways you can help.

One of the most exciting things I found in my research is that there are probably a lot of things you are already doing that are helpful. You might just be doing them for other reasons. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the quality of the relationship you have with the family is the most important factor in how successful you are likely to be in this endeavor to support the parent-child relationship. The family-professional relationship can be supported by best practice approaches, including a key worker or lead practitioner model, strengths-based practice, coaching, and working within the child and family’s regular routines and environments.

Now, within the context of high-quality family-professional relationships and a best practice approach, here are my top four ways to improve attachment security in children with disabilities or delays:

Support parent-child communication.

Whether you are working with a child on speech and language goals or on any other aspect of their development, well-being or participation, communication is at the core. It also doesn’t matter if the child is able to communicate through speech—they will be communicating through their behavior, eye gaze, body language, and sounds. The more we can support parents to understand the importance of communication with their child, boost frequency and positivity, and support timing and mutual comprehension, the more we can support the building of secure parent-child relationships.

Reduce parental stress.

Parental stress significantly challenges the formation of secure parent-child relationships. Parents may experience stress from socioeconomic factors, work pressures, relationships with others, competing demands on their time, and the experience of parenting itself. Parents of children with disability or developmental delay can face additional strains in accessing information, advice, and resources, and adjusting emotionally to their child’s diagnosis or additional needs. Statistics also tell us that families of children with a disability are more likely to be experiencing other contextual risks, such as poverty, mental or physical health problems, and family violence.

Keep a keen eye on parental stress in all that you do. Think about how you can help parents build their skills in identifying and addressing their stressors. Help them build their informal and formal support networks. Make referrals to family support services or counseling. Help parents understand the importance of looking after themselves so they can support their child. Finally, carefully consider the possibility that you may be inadvertently contributing to their stress and think about how you might be able to rectify that.

Talk about attachment.

One of the things I discovered in my research was how few professionals in early childhood intervention had learned about attachment at university. This made me think that very few parents in the general community would know much at all about attachment. You can make a difference by chatting with parents about:

• What attachment is
• The importance of attachment in their child’s development and well-being
• How to recognize their own child’s attachment behaviors
• How to support their child to feel secure

Support co-regulation.

The connection between the development of parent-child attachment is entwined with the process of co-regulation. Co-regulation is how infants and young children develop their ability to self-regulate. Self-regulation is a key factor in behavior and social interactions, thus playing a powerful role in overall development, well-being, and participation. Beginning with physically rocking and cooing a distressed infant to soothe them, co-regulation can become more complex as the child develops.

If a parent is stressed and/or was not well supported in co-regulation when they were an infant or child, you can support them to:

• Identify their own feelings, and those of their child
• Develop strategies to support a parent’s own regulation, such as mindfulness exercises or other calming techniques
• Co-regulate their child from a place of calm

An attachment-focused approach can make a positive and lasting impact on child and family outcomes. I hope this blog post has piqued your interest about supporting development of secure parent-child attachment relationships in the children you are working with. If you are currently working closely with children and families experiencing disability, developmental delay, or developmental risks, you have a pivotal opportunity. Embrace it!

***

The post 4 Ways to Improve Attachment Security in Children with Disabilities or Delays appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Adapted from some great Brookes resources on early childhood education, here are 10 simple, real-world ways to infuse your teaching with more support for children’s curiosity and scientific thinking.

Teach science vocabulary

Preschoolers are ready and able to expand their vocabularies to include words that scientists use. The best way to introduce those words is by using them yourself in the context of talking with children while they are engaged in an investigation, whether brief or involved. Try saying things like:

• What did you see when you looked at the bird carefully? Did you observe how its body moved?
• I saw you examining the bark on that tree. You were touching it and looking at it so closely.
• You’ve been asking a lot of questions about the snow outside. I wonder if you would like to investigate—find out the answers to your questions yourself. I can help you.
• You have been having fun sending the toy cars down the ramp you built all morning! Which one do you predict is the fastest one of all—which one do you think will beat all the other cars?

Ask open-ended questions

During play or storybook reading, pose open-ended questions that prompt children to explain their thinking or explore a new combination of ideas. For example, when children are building with blocks during free play, ask them questions like, “What are you building? What is that going to be? Why did you build it?” When reading a story, ask questions like, “What do think will happen? Why do you think the character did that? What would you do if that happened to you?” To keep a feedback loop going and help the child delve deeper into an idea, encourage many possible answers by asking, “What else could we do?”

Infuse your environment with novelty

Is there something new for children to learn or explore every day, even if it’s just a new song, story, or object? (Nature is rich with opportunities for exploration; consider bringing in seashells, pinecones, or various rocks for kids to examine.) Providing a rich curriculum with new experiences and new materials for children to investigate can stimulate curiosity, reduce boredom, and prevent negative behaviors that stem from a lack of stimulation.

Add photos of the real thing

Whatever the age of children, and whatever the topic they are exploring, adding photographs of the real thing can enhance and expand their investigation. Photos can prompt children to look more closely or differently at the actual objects they are exploring. Close-ups of flowers, insects, or eyeballs can show them new details. Photos of climates, wild animals, or rocks that are different from those they’ve been exploring can foster a whole new set of questions to investigate. Don’t forget to take photos of children’s investigations as well. When they can recollect and reflect on what they observed, how their experiments worked, and their explanations, they will often have new insights.

Give sustained time to engage in play

If your schedule requires too many transitions, children will not have enough time to think through the problems that arise in play, develop the themes for their play, or implement a creative new idea. Extended periods of free or loosely structured play, in which adults follow the children’s lead, will encourage kids to be curious and experiment with new things.

Offer nonfiction books

Be sure to include non-fiction, age-appropriate factual books in your learning environment. Offer books on a variety of topics that children can access on their own, along with storybooks, to nurture curiosity and spark new investigations. And when children begin a more in-depth exploration of a topic, head to your local library and ask the children’s librarian for help in locating books that may be helpful.

Incorporate scientific thinking into mealtimes

Scientific concepts can be worked into any routine, and mealtime is full of opportunities. Here are a few ideas for integrating science talk into mealtimes:

• Observe and investigate the different foods you eat. Classify them and identify their different parts.
• Discuss how the foods you are eating came to be there. How were they grown or manufactured?
• Talk about the digestive system as children chew, swallow, and eat.
• Discuss the effects that the foods you eat have on the body. For example, you might talk about how our bodies use energy/fuel, or which nutrients are present in food and how they impact the body.

Document children’s predictions

Making predictions is a way of expressing curious thinking. One way to model and promote prediction-making is to take a survey of children’s answers to a question you pose. During storytime, for example, you could ask a question like, “Will a wall solve the gardener’s problem by keeping the bunnies from eating his vegetables?” Draw a simple chart with one column for “Yes” and the other column for “No,” have each child give their prediction, and record each prediction with an X in the appropriate column. Help the children count the number of “Xs” in each column and record the total number of “yes” and “no” predictions.

Wonder out loud with children

Start your activities with a prompt like: “I wonder what would happen if…?” and encourage children to speculate with you. While reading a book at storytime, model curiosity out loud: “I wonder how that bird can fly.” When adults share the things they wonder about, it encourages the curious behavior they want to see children engage in.

Model curiosity and discovery

Admitting when you don’t know the answer to a question—and demonstrating your interest in finding out—teaches children to enjoy the process of learning and discovery. For example, you can admit, “I don’t know why the sky looks blue; that’s a great question. Let’s look it up.” Acknowledge an unexpected question or answer by saying something like, “Wow, I hadn’t thought of that! We can find that out. Thanks for sharing that idea.”

Promoting curiosity and scientific thinking doesn’t have to be a complicated task! Use the ideas in this post to get started, and then invest in the helpful resources behind this article for more guidance you’ll use all year long.

• Tips 1, 4, 6 adapted from Kathy Reschke’s Quick Reference Guide on Curiosity & Scientific Thinking
• Tips 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, and 10 adapted from Engaging Young Engineers by Angela Stone-MacDonald, Kristen B. Wendell, Anne Douglass, and Mary Lu Love
• Tip 7 adapted from Meaningful Mealtimes by Yev Veverka, Susan A. Ramage, Christy Baker, Kelsey Milne, & Emilie Dupont

The post 10 Ways to Promote Curiosity and Scientific Thinking in Young Children appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Adapted from The Teacher’s Guide for Effective Classroom Management, here’s some helpful guidance on when and how to use redirection techniques with your students.

Distinguish Between a Nuisance and a Problem

First, it’s important to differentiate between nuisance-level behavior and problem-level behavior in a classroom. Each warrants a different type of response.

Nuisance-level behaviors are the things kids do that (although bothersome) are inconsequential. This type of behavior is best addressed through indirect intervention: ignore the student’s nuisance behavior while using reinforcement to promote de­sired behavior. There are two types of situations in which you may need to systematically ignore nuisance behavior:

• One-to-one situation. You could simply not respond to the nuisance behavior as if you did not see it. This is often referred to as planned ignoring. Rather, focus on things the child is doing correctly and avoid providing visible attention toward fidgeting or brief moments of off-task behavior.
• Group instructional situation. When a child engages in nuisance-level behavior in a group, find other students who are engaged in desired behaviors and reinforce those students one at a time for appropriate behavior (while not re­sponding to the other child’s nuisance behavior). Next, capitalize on the opportunity to “catch the child being good” by explicitly reinforcing them for appropriate behavior once they ceas­e the nuisance behavior.

Important note: Apply a compassionate eye when identifying nui­sance-level behavior! Some behavior is simply not within the student’s ability to fully self-regulate (such as motor tics associated with Tourette syndrome).

Problem-level behaviors are those that are truly disruptive or potentially harmful. Examples include 1) a student being off task for a time that is longer than reasonable despite your efforts to intervene indirect­ly, 2) behavior that pulls other kids off task or creates a physi­cally or emotionally unsafe situation, and 3) behavior that places a student or others in harm’s way. Problem-level behavior will require redirection.

Use This Three-Step Redirection Technique

When consequential problem-level behavior occurs, intervene directly by employing a basic three-step redirection process:

Tell the student to stop the problem behavior.

For example: When Cheyenne engages in problem behavior, directly intervene by getting in reasonable physical proximity—not too close but not too far away—and assertively stopping her from continuing the problem-level behavior. Be specific and label the behavior you want her to stop (e.g., “Cheyenne, stop grabbing Kai’s materials off his desk”).

Direct the student to perform a more desired behavior.

Once you have gained Cheyenne’s attention with your “stop” statement, redirect her to an alternative behavior that is in keeping with your established expectations. Be sure to state the alternative behavior clearly: for example, “Take a deep breath, let go of Kai’s book, and keep your hands on your own materials and start doing your work.” Provide corrective feedback (when needed) in as private a manner as possible to minimize the likelihood of public power struggles or embarrass­ment.

Reinforce the student once they comply with your redirection.

Once you have redirected Cheyenne, pause and wait for her to respond. If she does not comply, simply repeat your verbal redirection, adding additional prompts and cues if needed to enable compliance. When compliance occurs, provide reinforcement for following your redirection. Provide explicit verbal praise for compliance (e.g., “Thank you, Cheyenne, for using your own materials and doing your work”).

Remember: you are not reinforcing the student for the problem be­havior, you are reinforcing them for compliance with your redirection when they perform the alternative appropriate behavior. Be sure to be explicit about what you are reinforcing by providing behavior-specific praise.

4 More Tips to Remember

• Practice indirect and direct intervention techniques so they become ha­bitual within the ebb and flow of daily activities. The key is practice—ideally through simulated activities with your colleagues—followed by con­sistent application and professional reflection. You might lean into the effec­tive practice of video self-reflection to witness and reflect on your personal growth.
• Keep in mind that behavior is not random; it serves a purpose for the student. Don’t limit your perspective on a student’s undesired behavior to what it looks like or sounds like.
• Be observant for patterns that may emerge with particular students. Depending on your level of concern, it may be helpful to record the frequency, intensity, and duration of a student’s be­haviors of concern.
• Remember that redirection procedures are short-term solutions. By design, their intent is to “put out the fire” at that moment in time. When patterns of concerning behavior emerge, a stu­dent’s needs may require more investment in a trauma-informed preventive procedures and Tier 2 (targeted) strategies. See The Teacher’s Guide for Effective Classroom Management for a whole chapter on Tier 2 strategies for behavior support.

To learn more about preventive and interventive strategies for classroom behavior management, see the book behind today’s blog post!

The post Try This Redirection Strategy for Student Behavior Challenges appeared first on Brookes Blog.

*This article is adapted from the upcoming book An Educator’s Guide to AAC by Howard Shane and Leigh Anne White (available in April 2026).

Presuming potential is believing an individual can learn and has the ability to grow. Acknowl­edging that everyone can learn new skills and develop existing skills encourages the creation of an environment that fosters growth for non- and minimally speaking learners.

But while everyone has the potential to learn new skills, growth isn’t guaranteed without a conscious effort to modify the environment and provide supports. In the context of working with learners who are non- and minimally speaking, presuming potential encompasses four important points we’ll outline here.

Incorporate Dynamic Assessment to Develop Attainable Goals

A dynamic assessment approach—that is, informally assessing learners’ skills by comparing their performance with and without support—is an integral part of presuming potential. That’s because the strengths of learners who are non- and minimally speaking are generally not adequately captured by standardized assessment instruments. Dynamic assessment can offer you what standardized assessments can’t: specific guidance for supporting an individual student.

Dynamic assessment aligns with presuming potential because ongoing assessment acknowledges incremental gains significant to the individual and their communication and language pro­file. For example, while a student’s score on a standardized measure may remain stable or comparable over a 6-month period, a dynamic assessment may highlight critical small gains, such as their ability to consistently understand commands containing personally rel­evant nouns when paired with visual cues. Presuming potential requires dynamic assessment to inform the intervention steps that will support growth over time.

The post 4 Ways to Presume the Potential of Non- or Minimally Speaking Students appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Switching from paper questionnaires to the ASQ Online system can help solve some of your biggest screening challenges: endless paperwork, low parent engagement, human error, and data that gets collected but doesn’t help you improve outcomes.

If your program hasn’t made the switch to ASQ Online yet, check out what users have to say about the benefits of web-based data management and questionnaire completion.

ASQ Online users say the system helps them…

Save time and enhance efficiency

ASQ Online streamlines the entire screening workflow by automating everyday tasks like questionnaire selection, age adjustments, and even scoring. By transitioning from a paper-based system to ASQ Online, programs of all sizes have saved time and boosted the efficiency and accuracy of their screening efforts.

“ASQ Online has allowed me to stay on top of screenings by saving me time and giving me easier access to screening data.”—Emily Dolbeare, assistant director of child development for Scribbles Center for Learning, Inc., Illinois

“ASQ Online allows us to easily run a wide range of reports that would be cumbersome with paper forms.”—Kelly Friedland, a data specialist with Michigan’s Jackson County Intermediate School District

“The easy data entry, available aggregated reports, and scheduling of tasks and screenings make ASQ Online well worth the investment.”—Smokie Brawley, statewide project manager for North Carolina’s Healthy Social Behaviors Project

“I love the simplicity of ASQ Online. It enables us to easily track screening data in one central location.”—Mandy Zeschke, program coordinator for Davis Early Intervention in Utah

“Pediatricians have found that ASQ Online has enhanced office efficiency as provides excellent guidance with respect to underlying developmental concerns.”—Dr. Stephen Wainer, Section Chief of Community Paediatrics, Alberta Child and Family Services

“ASQ Online has streamlined our screening program’s record keeping. When screenings were completed on paper, they needed to be scanned or faxed from across our large coverage area to be uploaded to our database. Now, as soon as the screening is completed, it can be recorded and added to the child’s file.”—Patti Smith, special needs coordinator, Champlain Valley Head Start, Vermont

“The reminders ASQ Online provides help keep us up to date. And we can easily track the progress of children needing referrals.”—Mary Jane Borg, BSN, at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Illinois.

Partner with families

ASQ Online makes it easier to connect and communicate with families and involve them as partners. One major benefit is ASQ Online’s Family Access option, which enables programs to send out ASQ questionnaires for families to complete electronically. When busy families can answer questionnaires on their own schedule, screening rates go up. (See a walkthrough video of questionnaire completion with Family Access!)

“Most of our parents are digitally minded. Without the [ASQ Family Access] online screening option, we would have much fewer parents engaged in our program.”—Kali Ottesen, director of Help Me Grow Utah

“Parents frequently express that they enjoy completing the ASQ as it provides reassurance about their child’s development.”—Dr. Stephen Wainer, Section Chief of Community Paediatrics, Alberta Child and Family Services

“With ASQ Online, results are sent directly and confidentially to parents, where they can share with stakeholders in their child’s care electronically.”—Stephanie Babcock, Help Me Grow Care Coordinator for Wayne County, Michigan

“Ultimately, the convenience of ASQ Family Access means more families are getting the results from their trusted pediatricians and therefore more likely to get connected to resources.”—Courtney Gupta, Help Me Grow Care Coordinator, Oakland County, Michigan

Support better outcomes

ASQ Online helps you recognize larger trends in child development and ensure that every child gets the follow-through they deserve. The data you need to make critical decisions is just a few clicks away: you can easily run reports on screening status and analyze results by program, developmental area, interval, and more.

“Thanks to ASQ Online, we can better serve children who need extra developmental support, rather than spending our time screening out ineligible children. And due to the extensive training and having a point person in the agency who serves as the ‘ASQ master’, we are seen as a valuable resource to our partners.”—Jillian Lush, Executive Director, Sprout Family Services, Homer, Alaska

“For our developmental screening of all children coming into foster care, ASQ completion by the foster parent or case worker has significantly enhanced the quality of care provided and heightened case workers awareness of children’s needs.”—Dr. Stephen Wainer, Section Chief of Community Paediatrics, Alberta Child and Family Services

“ASQ Online has helped us more easily share results with families, and we’ve been able to provide more resources to parents to help them support their children’s development.”—Kathy Furse, preschool coordinator and coach in Utah’s Granite School District

“Every ASQ we sent also included ideas for free or low-cost developmental activities that caregivers could work on: ideas on how to play with their children, and in some cases, spend more time playing with little ones than they ever had before.” —Stephanie Babcock, Help Me Grow Care Coordinator for Wayne County, Michigan

Making the switch to ASQ Online will help you build a smooth and streamlined program that screens every child and supports every family. Learn more about ASQ Online at the links below, and contact us today for your customized quote!

TAKE THE NEXT STEPS:

• SIGN UP for a live product demo—ASQ experts will walk you through the system and answer any questions you might have.
• READ a success story about the ever-expanding Help Me Grow Michigan initiative, which has been using ASQ Online for more than 10 years.
• CONTACT a representative for an ASQ Online quote customized for your program.

Share your ASQ experience and help others: We’d love to highlight your program! Your successes and challenges will help other users problem-solve and master the ins and outs of screening. Complete this short form to get started.

The post Users Speak Out: ASQ Online Helps Us… appeared first on Brookes Blog.