But some myths still persist about MTSS and children with disabilities. If a child has an IEP, does that mean they can’t participate in MTSS? Should children with disabilities only receive Tier 2 and 3 interventions? Read on for five myths and truths about MTSS, excerpted and adapted from the book Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Young Children. 

MYTH: Children with disabilities and IEPs cannot participate in MTSS.

TRUTH: While children with identified disabilities should receive special education and related services related to their annual goals as documented on their IEPs, these services should not prevent them from participating in MTSS. Some of a child’s needs may be addressed through the IEP; however, other needs may not be identified for intensive special education services.

For example, a child with disabilities and an IEP may have delays in expressive communication and receive special education services to address IEP goals in language and communication. However, universal screening that is part of MTSS may also identify that child as at risk in early math skills. The child might then receive Tier 2 services to address early math skills, even though the child’s math skills did not warrant inclusion of annual goals on the IEP. The child also may have strengths in social interaction, self-care skills, and motor skills and continue receiving Tier 1 core support as long as they demonstrate growth rates in these areas that fall within the expected range for typically developing children.

MYTH: MTSS is intended to replace early childhood special education. 

TRUTH: Some may think that if a school district has adopted MTSS, then children cannot be referred for or receive early childhood special education (ECSE). But this isn’t the case.

Children who meet IDEA, state, and local education agency criteria for a disability and are determined eligible for special education and related services must have individualized goals and receive ECSE services as documented on their IEP. The two systems work together to provide appropriate and required services and supports to all children in a program.

MYTH: A child must experience MTSS and fail supports at each tier before they’re referred for an evaluation. 

TRUTH: A child doesn’t have to “fail” the three tiers of MTSS before they’re able to have an evaluation to determine eligibility for special education and related services. The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has been very clear that MTSS may not be used to delay referral, evaluation, or the provision of special education and related services. Although it is possible to use information and data on progress for a child who participated in MTSS and was subsequently referred for special education evaluation, participation in MTSS may not replace or delay the comprehensive CSE.

MYTH: Children with disabilities should only be served in the most intensive tier.

TRUTH: Many people assume that children who have disabilities and receive special education services, who are then identified as at-risk through universal screening, will automatically receive instruction at the most intensive level (Tier 3). However, it is the assessment of the child’s performance, team- based problem-solving, and progress-monitoring data that determines whether a child would benefit from more intensive instruction at Tiers 2 or 3.

Disability alone does not determine the intensity of instruction. MTSS is designed to be a fluid process with movement into and out of specific levels of tiered instruction over time. Children with disabilities may begin to receive more intensive services at Tier 2 or 3, and movement between the tiers will be based on their response to intervention within a tier.

MYTH: MTSS cannot be used in a self-contained special education class.

TRUTH: MTSS is not restricted to blended or inclusive classroom settings. It can be a very effective process for providing services in self-contained classrooms as well. Just as in blended classrooms, children in self-contained classrooms present a range of strengths and needs that can be addressed through tiered instruction.

For example, some children may benefit from small-group or individualized instruction in early writing skills whereas others may make sufficient progress by participation in the core curriculum, Tier 1. Also, the self-contained class may include children who can participate successfully in a core physical development curriculum (e.g., physical education, motor time activities) or a core social-emotional curriculum. Likewise, universal assessment can help teachers understand the range of skills in identified areas or domains, or it may pinpoint areas to change within the core curriculum.

MTSS can benefit all learners across a variety of settings. It gives you a framework for identifying kids who need more instructional support, implementing those supports, and quickly determining whether the strategies are working. If you teach in an early childhood setting and want an evidence-based planning guide to making MTSS work for you, check out the book:

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Young Children
Driving Change in Early Education
Edited by Judith J. Carta, Ph.D., & Robin Miller Young, Ed.D.

Discover how to design, implement, and monitor successful MTSS for children ages 3–5 across environments, including classrooms, programs, districts, and at the state level. Includes 6 online videos to enhance your application of concepts covered in the book!

The post 5 Myths and Truths about MTSS and Young Children with Disabilities appeared first on Brookes Blog.

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

Dialogic reading—engaging young children in intentional conversation about a book as you read it out loud—is a powerful tool for fostering language development and early literacy skills. Children are active in this process, asking how and why questions and using books to jumpstart their thinking and learning.

Benefits Of Dialogic Reading

There are many benefits to encouraging young children to think critically about the stories you read and express their own ideas. Engaging in interactive conversations about books:

• Exposes children to new vocabulary, sentence structures, and storytelling techniques
• Helps children develop a deeper understanding of the text and enhances their comprehension skills
• Promotes critical thinking, problem solving, and imagination
• Nurtures chil­dren’s cognitive development and fosters a lifelong love of learning

Robust research supports dialogic reading as a powerful strategy. Studies going back decades (e.g., Dickinson & Smith, 1994) found that certain interactions in preschool classrooms link to improved vocabulary: those occurring while the story was read, those involving both children and teachers, and those that were analytic in nature, asking for reflection.

How Does Dialogic Reading Work?

Dialogic reading involves a series of open-ended questions that encourage chil­dren to think about the story and express their own ideas. These questions can focus on the illustrations, characters, plot, or overall theme of the book. The goal is to create a conversation between the reader and the child, where the child is actively engaged and participates in the storytelling process.

By asking questions that require more than a simple “yes” or “no” answer, teachers encourage young children to think critically and develop their language skills. Examples of open-ended ques­tions for different age groups include the following:

• Toddlers: “Which page was your favorite?”
• Preschoolers: “How does the bear feel when he hugs the rabbit?” “What do you think the fox is thinking?”
• Kindergarteners: “Why do you think the character made that choice?” “Can you tell me a story about a time when you felt like the character?”

When reading, try asking children questions such as:

• Tell me more about why that character seemed sad. (Expanding)
• What would it feel like to be that character? (Exploring)
• How would you have changed the ending? (Evaluating)

What To Avoid

The following is a list of things to avoid during dialogic reading:

• Overquestioning: Too many questions can interrupt the flow of the story and discourage the child from engaging.
• Correcting mistakes: Focus on overall understanding rather than correcting minor errors.
• Dominating the conversation: Allow the child to take the lead and express their own ideas.
• Rushing through the book: Take your time and enjoy the storytelling experience.
• Focusing solely on decoding: Although decoding is important, do not forget to emphasize comprehension and engagement.

Cultural Responsivity Is Key

Though dialogic reading has many clear benefits, it’s also critical to be culturally responsive. One size almost never fits all. Not all cultures and microcultures feel comfortable reading this way—and the important thing is that the practice feel warm, welcoming, and engaging for both adults and children. Moving forward, tailor your strategy to one that suits both you and your classroom’s needs.

The post How Dialogic Reading Helps Young Children Think and Learn appeared first on Brookes Blog.

When is it appropriate to recommend learning activities after developmental screening with ASQ? Here are four different scenarios in which you may want to follow a screening with age-appropriate ASQ-3 or ASQ:SE-2 Learning Activities.

Scenario #1: A child’s ASQ-3 or ASQ:SE-2 screening results indicate that development is on schedule, and you’d like to follow up with the family to ensure that development stays on track.

Example: You meet with Maria’s parents to review her 60-month ASQ:SE-2 results, which were below the cutoff (meaning that her social-emotional development is on track). To help ensure that Maria has a positive kindergarten experience that sets her up for long-term success, you equip her parents with the 54 to 72-month activity sheet and newsletter. You also provide age-appropriate tip sheets on healthy eating and sleeping, plus any special topic tip sheets Maria and her parents may benefit from (including Getting Ready for Kindergarten, Media and Technology, Stress and Your Child, and Positive Discipline). Use this handy chart to identify the appropriate ASQ:SE-2 Learning Activities handouts for a child’s age range.

Scenario #2: A child’s ASQ scores indicate the need for monitoring in one or more areas, and you’d like to give the family age-appropriate activities to encourage progress in those areas.

Example: George scores in the monitoring zone for Fine Motor on his 60-month ASQ-3 questionnaire. You meet with George’s father to share the results with him and discuss follow-up. During the meeting, you give George’s dad the Fine Motor activity sheet for 54 to 60 months and ask him to try the activities at home with George. These fun, low- to no-cost ideas include making a picture frame, creating a sculpture together, and collaborating on a map of the neighborhood. You also plan to have George’s father complete the 60-month ASQ-3 again in another 2 months to monitor his development.

Scenario #3: A family shares general concerns or questions during the screening process. Regardless of their child’s total scores, you’d like to follow up with tips and/or activities that address those specific concerns.

Example: After Isaiah’s mother completes his 60-month ASQ-3 and ASQ:SE-2 questionnaires, you review Isaiah’s results and see that his development seems to be on schedule. However, when you talk with his mother to share results, she expresses concerns about how stressful the transition to kindergarten has been for her son. You give Isaiah’s mom the Stress and Your Child tip sheet, found in the ASQ:SE-2 Learning Activities and More, and provide some suggestions for helping Isaiah through the challenges of a big change.

Scenario #4: A child has scores in the referral area (below the cutoff on ASQ-3 or above the cutoff on ASQ:SE-2), but is found not eligible for services. You’d like to help parents address the areas of concern at home.

Example: Samira scored below the cutoff in the Communication area on the 60-month ASQ-3, but after a full evaluation, she was not found eligible for services. When you meet with Samira’s parents, you provide them with the 54 to 60-month Communication activity sheet, along with the activity sheets for the other 4 developmental areas. You encourage them to work on the activities at home to help encourage their daughter’s development.

As with the entire ASQ system, the Learning Activities can be used flexibly to support families and meet their individual needs. You may want to clarify, reframe, or adapt some of the information to make it more accessible to a family or more compatible with their values or parenting practices. You can also use the activities to help guide conversations with parents about their child’s development and upcoming milestones.

By sharing these fun, age-appropriate activities with families of young children, you’re reinforcing parents’ efforts to support their child’s development—and encouraging them to enjoy happy times with their children at home.

The post When to Use the ASQ Learning Activities After Developmental Screening appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Read about the top 5 challenges ASQ Online helps programs solve, check out our free resources to learn more, and get a free demo!

Challenge 1: Difficulty engaging busy families in screening

Families are stressed, pressed for time, and may be wary of the screening process. ASQ Online makes questionnaire completion and family engagement easier than ever. With ASQ Family Access (part of ASQ Online), the families in your program can complete questionnaires electronically anytime and anywhere, on their phone, computer, or tablet. And the parent engagement materials and learning activities in ASQ Online make it easy to communicate and collaborate effectively with families throughout the whole process.

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

• FREE DOWNLOAD: How to Engage Parents and Increase Accuracy Using ASQ Online

Challenge 2: Cumbersome, time-intensive paperwork

The paperwork around any kind of screening system can be a time-sucking headache. With ASQ Online, scoring and reporting are all automated. No photocopying, no reams of paper, no scanning in paper questionnaires or hand-calculating results. You get the data you need right at your fingertips, whenever you need it.

“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., in Illinois.

• FREE DOWNLOAD: ASQ Online Reports Guide

Challenge 3: Mistakes that lead to misleading or incomplete ASQ results

Human error happens: parents may accidentally skip an ASQ question or two, and hand-scoring the questionnaires always leaves room for mistakes. ASQ Online helps ensure that all your questionnaires are fully completed and accurately scored. The online questionnaire interface prevents parents from skipping questions by accident, and automated scoring gives you accurate results you can use to plan the most effective next steps.

The post 5 Big Challenges ASQ Online Helps Your Program Solve appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Today’s guest blog post is by the authors of the practical book Meaningful Mealtimes—Yev Veverka, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Susan A. Ramage, R.N., M.N., Christy Baker, OTR/L, CLE, Kelsey Milne, M.S., & Emilie Dupont, M.Ed.

Early childhood mealtimes are a great opportunity to foster social connections, teach new skills, and introduce children to a variety of foods. However, creating a positive mealtime experience isn’t always easy in early learning settings. Here are some strategies you can use to help enrich mealtimes and make them more meaningful, fulfilling, and enjoyable for everyone involved:

1. Self-Reflect

You bring your own mealtime history and values to your experiences with young children. Reflecting on your own history can help you understand how it influences the expectations or hopes you have for mealtimes in your setting. Ask yourself:

• “What do I remember about my own childhood mealtimes?”
• “What were the rules and expectations?”
• “How did we interact during meals?”
• “How did mealtimes make me feel?”

Maybe you’ll realize you prefer keeping mealtime neat and tidy because a mess feels overwhelming to you. Or maybe you’ll realize a noisy mealtime feels fun to you because you grew up with a big family gathering for mealtimes. When you become aware of your own mealtime expectations and values, you can more clearly evaluate how they match or don’t match the needs of children in your group. Compare notes with other adults in your setting to understand their unique histories and expectations, too. You can thoughtfully develop supportive, inclusive mealtime expectations that reflect the needs, values, and histories of your group.

2. Develop a Mealtime Vision that Reflects Providers, Families, and Children

To develop your vision, answer the question What defines a safe, positive, fulfilling mealtime?

You’ll have your own unique answers for this question, and other providers, family members, and children will, too. Talk with providers and families to learn how they define a positive mealtime. How do they want children to approach food, and what do they want them to learn? Observe the children in your group. What makes them feel safe during mealtime? What makes them feel interested and engaged in exploring foods?

For example, if caregivers express the importance of eating together as a family, your team might incorporate “eating together” into your mealtime vision. You might offer different seating options so all children feel comfortable and included, and begin meals by greeting each child to emphasize connection. For a few children who consistently leave the group, you might add individualized supports related to each child’s interests.

3. Create a Calm, Supportive Environment

Set up a mealtime environment that is calm and comfortable, well-organized, and with minimal distractions. Your eating area can help children feel calm and regulated, and support them in shifting their attention from other activities to the mealtime experience.

When setting up the space where you’ll eat meals, consider how to define the space so that children know it’s time to eat. You might use placemats made by the children to help them know where to sit, or put a plate at each child’s spot. Scan your setting for lights that can be dimmed or covered, noises that can be turned down, and distractions that can be removed.

4. Build Clear Structure and Routines

Establish consistent mealtime routines to provide structure and predictability. This helps children know what to expect, reducing anxiety and creating a more stable, enjoyable experience. When children know what to expect during the mealtime routine, they may also participate with more confidence and independence.

To establish a routine, think about starting and ending your meal in the same way each day. Your “beginning the meal” routine might include singing a song, washing hands, setting the table, and/or turning down the lights. At the end of the meal, children might clean up dishes, dispose of trash or compost, and wash hands before the next activity.

5. Reduce Pressure on Children

Avoid pressuring children to eat certain foods or specific amounts. Offer choices when possible and allow children to decide what and how much to eat. This approach helps children feel more comfortable and in control during mealtimes. It also helps them learn to pay attention and eat in response to their own bodies’ signals of hunger or thirst.

Instead of insisting that a child try a bite of a food, you may simply model different ways to interact with it, such as passing the bowl to a teacher or friend, helping to cut the food, or smelling it. Describing a food’s properties (shape, color, texture, smell, taste) may spark interest in exploring the food by looking, smelling, tasting, or touching with utensils or fingers.

6. Observe Carefully and Teach Children to Communicate Their Preferences

For children to feel safe and respected during mealtimes, they need to know that they can express preferences and needs, and that adults will notice and honor their communication. Children express mealtime preferences in many ways: through facial expressions, body language, gestures, or spoken words. During mealtimes, watch and listen carefully to understand what children are showing and telling you about their preferences and needs.

Model a variety of ways to communicate. For example, model simple words that seem to “match” the messages children communicate with their bodies (like “no thanks” as a child turns their head away from a food). You might hold two different foods in front of a child so they can choose one by looking, reaching, or pointing at it. You might introduce a system of gestures where children can provide a thumbs up, thumbs to the side, or thumbs down to share preferences about a food. Or try sketching drawings of different foods so a child can choose by pointing to the one they want.

7. Celebrate Diversity

Embrace and celebrate the diversity of food cultures and practices in your program. Talk with families and provide opportunities for them to share information about their special foods, experiences with food preparation, or mealtime traditions (if they wish). Introduce children to various foods from different environments and communities.

Be mindful that some families may have difficult food experiences, like food insecurity or health conditions that affect eating. Take care to create invitations for children and families to share their mealtime experience, without requiring it.

You can also include books or pictures in your classroom library that feature foods from many cultures. This helps children explore more about new foods and communicate what they’re feeling about those foods with openness and respect.

8. Provide Opportunities for Learning

Notice and take advantage of learning opportunities within mealtime. Expand your conversations around food. Discuss where different foods come from, how they grow, their nutritional benefits, who harvests them, and how they’re prepared and used by different cultures. Talk about how food makes its way through the body and different ways people get the nutrition they need, like eating by mouth or using a G-tube. Look at pictures of these concepts or act them out to make the ideas come alive.

9. Build Motivation Through Repeated Positive Experiences

Infuse mealtimes with fun and creativity. Engage children in food-related activities—storytelling, themed meals, cooking projects. For a child who isn’t comfortable sitting at the table for a meal, it can be helpful to include a favorite toy to make them more interested in being at mealtime (extrinsic motivation). After the child grows more comfortable at the table with their toy, gradually introduce foods the child likes. This can lead to the child beginning to try foods and enjoy peer interactions, and then to the child wanting to participate in mealtimes without the toy (intrinsic motivation).

Including these practices can transform early childhood mealtimes into enriching experiences that promote positive relationships with food, support social development, and enhance children’s well-being. By creating a supportive environment, respecting individual preferences, and using mealtimes as opportunities for learning, early learning providers can help children build a foundation of positive, comfortable associations with food and mealtime.

For much more practical guidance on making early childhood mealtimes fulfilling and meaningful experiences, get this planning guide, the first of its kind for early childhood educators and care providers!

The post 9 Practices for Enriching Early Childhood Mealtimes appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Aligned with ASQ^® and CDC developmental milestones, the new edition of this extensive, research-supported curriculum includes more than 350 photocopiable, easy-to-use activity sheets (called Experiences) that target eight developmental areas important to school readiness:

• Communication
• Gross Motor
• Fine Motor
• Intellectual
• Discovery
• Social-Emotional
• Self-Help
• Pretend

Beautiful Beginnings can enhance any infant-toddler program—whether the focus is home visiting, child care, or parenting more generally—in many ways. Here are 8 big things this curriculum can do for your program:

1. Beautiful Beginnings encourages parents and child-care providers to observe children’s development and encourages them to watch more carefully for new developments.
2. Beautiful Beginnings leads the parent, teacher, or home visitor who may not be familiar with all of the stages of child development through early development, providing the adult with hands-on opportunities. One longtime user of the first edition of Beautiful Beginnings said, “It was my child development teacher.”
3. Beautiful Beginnings provides a mechanism for infant-toddler child-care programs to focus on development rather than solely caregiving, which could lack an intentional developmental component.
4. Beautiful Beginnings provides a formalized way for parents, teachers, and home visitors to work together. Although it takes some planning and coordination for everyone to provide input in regular goal setting and follow through, the opportunities on behalf of the child are tremendous.
5. Beautiful Beginnings can provide a record of a child’s early development through the use of a portfolio or notebook where teachers, home visitors, and parents enter Experiences on a Goals Sheet and record the child’s responses. The portfolio can be personalized and embellished with photos, children’s artwork, and more, creating a beautiful memento of early development that families can keep.
6. Beautiful Beginnings provides a way to create a safety net for children who may need more support and stimulation in a particular area of development (e.g., children who may not be developing optimally in some areas).
7. Beautiful Beginnings can assist teachers in both individual and group planning of Experiences for individuals and activities for groups. If used in a group setting, Beautiful Beginnings can help create a well-equipped infant-toddler setting. Materials for nearly all of the Experi­ences included in Beautiful Beginnings for children 18 months and older can be organized into learning centers and made continuously available in a toddler child-care center.
8. Most importantly, Beautiful Beginnings can help teachers, home visitors, and parents provide children with Experiences that match their emerging developments, give them well-timed opportunities, and gently offer stimulation and engaging, fun activities in all areas of devel­opment. Successful matching by teachers, home visitors, and parents is further rewarded by children’s positive energy, focus, and motivation.

Invest in Beautiful Beginnings today! It’s one of the best ways to build on each child’s strengths and interests and encourage progress in the developmental areas that are key to school readiness.

The post 8 Ways Beautiful Beginnings Enhances Early Childhood Programs appeared first on Brookes Blog.

This guest post is by Joan Sedita, author of the Brookes books The Writing Rope and The Essentials of Adolescent Literacy. The post originally appeared on the Keys to Literacy blog.

Executive functions are the mental processes that students and adults use to manage tasks and achieve goals. These include goal setting, organization, cognitive flexibility, working memory, self-monitoring, attention, and inhibition. Executive functions play an important role in supporting proficient reading and writing across all grades. By Grade 5, however, students’ success in reading and writing becomes increasing dependent on their ability to apply these executive function processes (Meltzer, 2010; Cartwright, 2015).

Each executive function is described below, along with examples of how it impacts reading and writing.

Goal Setting

What is it?

• Setting a goal or purpose for a task
• Determining which tasks are necessary to achieve a goal and identifying which are most critical to success
• Formulating an organized, strategic, and efficient approach
• Planning the sequence in which tasks should be completed

Impact on Reading:

• Identifying whether the reading purpose requires surface-level comprehension (e.g., for enjoyment) or deeper comprehension (e.g., for assessment)
• Establishing goals for before, during, and after reading
• Keeping the reading purpose and goals in mind while reading
• Choosing actions in an appropriate order to meet reading goals, such as:
• Deciding how much time to spend on each section of text
• Selecting comprehension strategies (e.g., highlighting, note-taking, summarizing)

Impact on Writing:

• Identifying the writing topic and gathering relevant ideas and information
• Determining how the task, audience, and purpose will influence the writing

Organizing

What is it?

• The ability to impose order on information and materials
• Creating systems to manage information or tasks
• Recognizing and using patterns or systems effectively
• Organization is foundational; without it, goal setting, planning, and other executive functions are more difficult to manage

Impact on Reading:

• Recognizing text organization and structure (narrative, informational, argumentative)
• Identifying patterns of organization (e.g., sequence, compare/contrast, cause/effect) and the transitions that signal them
• Building a schema to connect related topics and ideas
• Organizing information extracted from text

Impact on Writing:

• Using graphic organizers to plan written work
• Adhering to a writing plan
• Applying knowledge of text structures (e.g., introductions, body paragraphs, conclusions) and text features (e.g., headings, table of contents)
• Keeping track of notes and source citations

Cognitive Flexibility

What is it?

• The ability to consider multiple pieces of information or tasks simultaneously and shift focus when needed, when engaging in a task
• Requires attentional control to shift focus from one aspect of a task to another

Impact on Reading:

• Switching between decoding words and understanding their meaning
• Shifting focus from a character’s perspective to the author’s purpose
• Alternating between attention to text features and comprehension of the main text

Impact on Writing:

• Managing multiple ideas at once
• Shifting among sentence structure, paragraph development, spelling, and handwriting or keyboarding
• Exploring multiple ways to express ideas
• Focusing on multiple areas when revising and editing – spelling, grammar & punctuation, organization of ideas, and content

Working Memory

What is it?

• The ability to hold and manipulate information in the mind while performing a task, and storing information while processing it.

Impact on Reading:

• Remembering word meanings
• Storing information across sentences and paragraphs
• Retaining and comparing text segments to locate information
• Holding details in mind to build a coherent understanding of the text while continuing to add new details

Impact on Writing:

• Managing multiple pieces of information and processes during all stages of writing (thinking, planning, drafting, revising)

Self Monitoring

What is it?

• The ability to reflect on one’s own thoughts, behaviors, and strategies to assess their effectiveness
• A key aspect of metacognition—thinking about one’s thinking
• Involves editing and correcting one’s own work and behavior

Impact on Reading:

• Monitoring comprehension while reading
• Recognizing when understanding breaks down and applying “fix-it” strategies

Impact on Writing:

• Following all stages of the writing process
• Being aware of when and how to apply writing strategies
• Staying focused while revising and editing
• Using self-talk to remain on task and persevere through challenges

Attention and Inhibition

What is it?

• The ability to resist distractions and stay focused on a task
• Involves inhibiting habitual responses and ignoring irrelevant, distracting information
• Also referred to as impulse control

Impact on Reading and Writing:

• Sustaining focus during reading and writing tasks despite environmental distractions
• Avoiding unrelated thoughts and focusing on relevant text or ideas
• Ignoring irrelevant meanings or associations that could interfere with comprehension or writing

Instructional Interventions for Executive Functions

Reading comprehension is often affected by executive function deficits. Instruction should aim to strengthen the cognitive skills and strategies students need to regulate their thinking while reading. Effective supports include explicit instruction in comprehension strategies (Katzir et al., 2018; Meltzer, 2018; Cartwright, 2015).

Here are some suggestions for supporting reading:

• Metacognitive Awareness: Help students understand how they think and learn. Support self-awareness of learning profiles, strengths, and areas for growth. Increased metacognition improves motivation and strategy use.
• Reading Goals: Provide clear purposes and goals for reading tasks.
• Organizing Strategies: Teach strategies for organizing ideas, including the use of templates, thinking maps, and graphic organizers.
• Connecting to Prior Knowledge: Help students activate background knowledge before reading. Use graphic organizers to visually present key topics and concepts.
• Predicting: Pose questions before and during reading to help students make predictions about a text’s content based on clues from the text.
• Text Structure: Teach students to identify and use text structures in both narrative and informational texts. Preview structure before reading.
• Self-Questioning: Teach students how to generate questions before, during, and after reading to stay focused and engaged as they seek answers to the questions.
• Visualizing: Encourage students to create mental images to support memory and understanding.
• Summarizing: Teach students to retell and summarize key ideas to identify essential information.

Every stage of the writing process is also impacted by executive function deficits. Interventions should focus on helping students develop strategies to plan text structure, integrate multiple skills while writing a draft, revise for both content and conventions, and self-regulate throughout.

Here are some suggestions for supporting writing:

• Writing Process: Teach students to follow all stages: think, plan, write, revise.
• Writing Strategies: Explicitly teach strategies for each stage, such as annotation, note-taking, summarizing, and revising.
• Graphic Organizers: Provide graphic organizers and writing templates as scaffolds to support the planning and writing stages.
• Clear Product Goals: Be specific about writing expectations, including task, audience, purpose, length, content requirements, and grading criteria.
• Mentor Models: Provide mentor models of text for students to emulate.
• Lists: Offer lists of precise and engaging words, transition words and phrases, and question terms.
• Feedback: Use checklists and rubrics for both teacher and peer feedback, as well as for student self-assessment.

***

Learn more about evidence-based reading and writing instruction: Get Joan Sedita’s bestselling, widely acclaimed books, The Writing Rope and The Essentials of Adolescent Literacy, available from Brookes!

References
Cartwright, K. B. (2015). Executive skills and reading comprehension. The Guilford Press.
Katzir, T., Markovich, V., Tesler, E., & Shany, M. (2018). Self-regulation and reading comprehension: Self-perceptions, self-evaluations, and effective strategies for intervention. In L. Meltzer (Ed.), Executive function in education: From theory to practice (pp. 125–140). The Guilford Press.
Meltzer, L. (2010). Executive function in the classroom. The Guilford Press.
Meltzer, L. (2018). Creating strategic classrooms and schools: Embedding executive function strategies in the curriculum. In L. Meltzer (Ed.), Executive function in education: From theory to practice (pp. 193–206). The Guilford Press.

The post How 6 Executive Function Skills Affect Reading and Writing appeared first on Brookes Blog.

PICCOLO: Measuring developmental parenting for effective home visits

Monday, November 2-Monday, November 30  •  Starts at 11 AM EST

About PICCOLO:  

PICCOLO is a quick, reliable observational tool designed to help home visitors assess and monitor the quality of parent–child interactions. Developed for use with parents of children 10–47 months, the PICCOLO checklist measures 29 supportive developmental parenting behaviors in 4 domains: affection, responsiveness, encouragement, and teaching. Get it from Brookes Publishing>>

About the Training:

Put PICCOLO into practice with this series of two-hour webinars held on Thursdays over five consecutive weeks. Presented by experienced PICCOLO trainers and researchers Tasha Olson and Shannon Mitchell, this webinar series will teach you how to observe and use PICCOLO in your home visiting program to more effectively engage parents, build on their strengths to support their child’s development, improve visit quality, and increase positive parent-child interactions.

HOVRS: Measuring quality in home visit practices & engagement

Thursday, September 24-Thursday, October 22  •  Starts at 9:30 AM MDT

About HOVRS:

The Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS) is an observation tool with rating scales that allow practitioners and supervisors to assess the quality of home visits from direct observation. The tool includes seven rating scales, four for the actual home visit process and three for the engagement and interaction of parents and children during home visits. HOVRS is included in the book Developmental Parenting by Lori A. Roggman, Lisa K. Boyce, & Mark S. Innocenti, a practical guide to building a developmental parenting program that puts parents and caregivers confidently in charge of supporting their young children’s development. Get it from Brookes Publishing>>

About the Training:

Find out how to use HOVRS effectively in this in-depth 5-webinar workshop, starting on Thursday, September 24 and continuing weekly. Presented by experienced HOVRS trainers and researchers Tasha Olson, Meaghan Ursetta, and Cristina Gonzalez del Riego, this training will teach you how to observe and use HOVRS in your home visiting program to improve both visit quality and family engagement.

The post Virtual Training on Home Visiting Tools: PICCOLO and HOVRS appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Unstuck is an innovative program that’s been gaining lots of traction in schools since the first version came out in 2011. Through catchy scripts, visuals, role-plays, and positive reinforcement, the small-group Unstuck lessons keep students engaged as they learn important skills. Lessons and scripts build on each other, and students get lots of opportunities to practice and generalize their new skills to school, home, and community settings.

As we celebrate the recent release of the newest version of Unstuck (this one for teens and young adults ages 14-22), here are five great reasons your school or district should invest in this bestselling curriculum.

Unstuck dismantles obstacles to long-term success.

Problems with flexibility and goal-directed behavior can be a major obstacle to success in school and in life. Unstuck directly addresses executive functioning at school, so kids can be more flexible, well-regulated problem-solvers in the classroom and beyond. With Unstuck, your school can:

• Improve executive functioning skills such as cognitive flexibility, organization, and planning abilities, so that students can more easily shift from topic to topic and task to task, and consider new ideas or another person’s point of view.
• Address executive functioning problems, including trouble with transitioning and completing multiple-step tasks. Providing intervention for these common issues will allow teachers to spend more time focusing on teaching and less time on managing behavior.

There’s no doubt about it: Unstuck really works.

The authors tested Unstuck in Title I elementary schools with racially, ethnically, and language diverse families and compared it to an empowering behavior management program (Contingency Behavior Management, or CBM). They found that:

• Students and parents liked Unstuck more than CBM.
• Unstuck worked well for students on the autism spectrum and for students with ADHD in improving classroom behaviors (social reciprocity, transitioning, rule abidance, participation, getting unstuck, and being less negative). These improvements were maintained one year later!
• Unstuck and CBM worked well for everyone, no matter how old they were, what race they were, the family’s income, or what language was spoken in the home. Also, any educational team member, regardless of their discipline or expertise, can lead the groups.

In interviews, students spoke highly about the changes Unstuck has helped them implement. One student cited the benefits of “being able to have multiple plans because if I don’t have multiple plans I get stuck. If I have multiple plans I can get a little of what I want, rather than not at all. In most situations that’s better.” Another student said this after learning the Unstuck approaches: “When I get really mad at a teacher or friend, I try to think about is it really necessary to get mad. I try to stay calm and be flexible and cope with what is going on.”

Busy teachers love how easy and flexible it is.

The Unstuck developers have worked hard to make this curriculum as flexible and easy to implement as possible. Unstuck and On Target!:

• Can be implemented in a variety of settings—in class, pull-out groups, or a lunch bunch. The frequency (one time a week, multiple times a week) is up to each teacher.
• Can be used with any class, by any teacher.Each lesson comes with clear and explicit instructions, materials lists, and helpful tips for teachers.
• Uses items you likely have in your classroom already (glue, scissors, etc.). Very few of the lessons require additional materials outside of what’s included in the manual.
• Gives you simple classroom and home practice guides to make each lesson easy to implement.
• Includes visual supports and posters to help students grasp abstract concepts.

The benefits are well worth the initial time investment.

“Stressed” and “overwhelmed” doesn’t even begin to cover what many teachers are feeling these days. Most teachers can’t imagine adding something else to their school day, unless it’s proven to help students and the benefits are really worth it.

The Unstuck developers point to the solid research base behind their intervention and its proven impact on students: “If we dedicate the time to teaching Unstuck, not only will our students learn valuable life skills that will positively impact their academics and social interactions, we will gain back a good portion of the time that was being dedicated to redirecting and managing behavior throughout the school day.”

The impact of Unstuck will also continue far beyond the brief lessons: “The power will come from not only the explicit lesson instruction, but also how you use the language and concepts to support instruction and interactions across the school day.” 

Unstuck gets parents more involved in strengthening their child’s skills.

Unstuck also makes it easy to keep the home-school connection strong. Every lesson has a “home extension” that summarizes what the student learned and gives ideas for how the parents can use the ideas at home. Parents love these handouts! They give families concrete ideas for how to use the strategies their children are learning in the Unstuck sessions, which leads to more positive interactions with their children—and better outcomes for the kids.

LEARN MORE about Unstuck and On Target!

• GET A FREE SAMPLE LESSON
  Fill out this quick form to get free access to a sample Unstuck lesson!
  DOWNLOAD NOW >>
• WATCH THE WEBINAR
  Get more details about Unstuck in this webinar presented by co-developers Lynn Cannon, M.Ed., Social Learning Specialist; and Lauren Kenworthy, Ph.D., Pediatric Neuropsychologist.
  VIEW RECORDING >>
• GET THE CURRICULUM
  Invest in Unstuck and start improving outcomes for your students!
  SHOP NOW>>
• CONTACT US
  Looking to adopt Unstuck across a whole state or district? Contact your sales rep and we’ll help you put a package together!
  FIND YOUR REP >>

The post 5 Reasons to Get Your Students Unstuck and On Target! appeared first on Brookes Blog.

Brookes author Jennifer Mahdavi is with us today to talk about progress monitoring and why it’s such a vital part of improving outcomes for all children. We asked Dr. Mahdavi some questions about her book, A Teacher’s Guide to Progress Monitoring; her advice for busy teachers concerned about the time investment; how to engage students in their own progress monitoring, and more.

Your book, A Teacher’s Guide to Progress Monitoring, is such a great introduction to a complex topic. Why, in your opinion, is this book urgently needed right now?

When I was an elementary school teacher, more than 25 years ago, I worked for a principal who urged us to use assessment to focus our instruction on the skills that students needed rather than to scatter our instruction and hope that something would work. That idea, which came with some rudimentary professional development, sparked my further exploration of aligning instruction with specific student needs. At the time, I did not have the tools to systematically monitor the progress of students and use those data to refine instruction.

The tools and knowledge that I did not have then are widely available now, they are evidence-based, and they are not terribly difficult to use. Children who are struggling to learn, whether academically, socially, behaviorally, or functionally, need and deserve to have their needs met by their teachers. Progress monitoring (PM) can empower the instructional strategies that teachers select, which will supercharge the growth that their students make. The small investment that teachers make in learning and using PM procedures will pay tremendous dividends in the growth and development of children with disabilities or those who struggle.

What feature (or features) sets your book apart from other books on progress monitoring?

Most books about progress monitoring maintain a focus on academic learning. These books are relevant for struggling readers or children who have trouble in math, as well as students who have mild disabilities that affect their academic performance. My book expands the notion of progress monitoring to non-academic skills, particularly functional life skills that contribute to independence. For students with more severe disabilities, areas of focus may include self-feeding, choice-making, using public transit, or even independent toileting. We can use task analysis to create methods of monitoring independence in each step of the process of any functional skill. As such, my book is relevant to teachers of students of a wide variety of ages and ability levels.

Further, the methods described in the book are illustrated with 5 case studies, written by special educators, describing PM procedures that were designed, implemented, and evaluated with students with disabilities in classrooms. These real-life examples candidly reveal how teachers approached progress monitoring, the obstacles they encountered, and the successes they realized. The case studies represent the broad notion of PM that I was mentioning above, from an elementary school English learner with a learning disability increasing reading fluency, to a 12-year-old girl learning to make appropriate choices, to a high school junior developing his executive functioning to organize how he completed schoolwork.

What are some of the practical applications of progress monitoring? What are the biggest classroom challenges it can help teachers solve?

Not every student needs to be the subject of a progress monitoring procedure. Those who are not learning at an expected pace are the ones on whom teachers need to focus. When a child’s oral reading fluency is not advancing, or their ability to solve long division problems is lagging, implementing PM for that individual is called for.

It’s the same for individuals with more significant disabilities; some will readily learn to perform functional activities such as making a sandwich or sorting items at a worksite. Those who do not will need to have the extra attention that comes with PM procedures. Progress monitoring is best implemented for individual students who present the most intractable learning needs.

For many teachers, working with a student over a period of time without seeing growth is a very frustrating experience. We work diligently to teach each student using evidence-based practices, yet some students do not respond to the interventions. PM helps us break through the obstacles to learning by showing us whether interventions are effective. Rather than teaching and teaching and hoping that students are learning, progress monitoring alerts us that the selected intervention is not of benefit to a student so we must choose another. This allows teachers to be nimbler in making changes to instruction in a timely fashion, which can accelerate progress.

You include a chapter in your book on engaging students in monitoring their own progress. What are the benefits of that approach, for both teachers and students?

There is no greater benefit of education to students than that of independence. Teachers’ major priority must be to increase each student’s future ability to live, think, and work without external supports. We want to create independent readers, to turn students into adults who can think critically, and to help individuals with disabilities develop the skills they need to have agency over their own lives and choices.

Inviting students to participate in monitoring their own progress, setting goals to pursue, and discussing how to achieve new benchmarks, allows students to practice independence with the guidance of teachers. We can think of this as training wheels when we learn to ride a bike: a bit of assistance that prepares us to ride off on our own. Even students with cognitive delays have demonstrated the ability to make choices and evaluate their progress, sometimes in simple ways.

Progress monitoring can be something that teachers do with students rather than to them. We can and should create a partnership with students to increase their motivation to work toward goals. The benefit to students is increasing levels of independence. For teachers, the benefits are less clear. Certainly, students who function with less support make the teacher’s work easier, but the satisfaction of helping a person prepare for autonomy is the real joy.

Many teachers may feel that progress monitoring is a time investment they can’t make right now. What would you say to teachers who are stretched thin and concerned about adding something else to their schedule? 

Time is always the enemy of change. Implementing new initiatives is difficult and we never have enough time to figure it out. Even so, the power of progress monitoring in aligning interventions with student needs allows teachers to be more effective and more efficient. We do not need to waste time providing interventions that do not yield benefits to students; instead, we can fine-tune our instruction so that students learn more quickly. Investing the time to develop progress monitoring systems will yield successful student outcomes that are far greater than the efforts we made to get started.

For educators who are taking a deep breath and preparing to give progress monitoring a try, I say: start small! Pick one or two students with similar needs and implement PM with them as a pilot project. There is no need to sweep through your entire class list or caseload. Instead, practice with a small group and scale up when you feel comfortable with what you have created.

A second tip for getting started is to find a buddy who will engage in PM with you. Having a colleague who can help you when you get stuck—or bounce around ideas with you—will be most useful and supportive. Create a community of practice. You might also talk with the school psychologist at your site who should have expertise in progress monitoring.

If you are stressed out about whether your students are learning, progress monitoring can alleviate your anxiety. It will show you whether your instruction is reaching the students and empower you to change your approach as you need to. You will feel confident that all the efforts you are making are beneficial to your students. That, too, will alleviate stress. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying PM out!

***

Thanks to Dr. Mahdavi for being here today and sharing her expertise. For more in-depth guidance on using PM to comply with federal mandates, refine your teaching, and help every learner succeed, add her book to your professional learning toolbox!

“Makes the process of ongoing assessment come alive . . . a must-have for teachers who want to ensure that all students make progress toward learning goals.”—Diane Haager, Professor Emeritus, California State University Los Angeles

“An excellent resource and training tool for special educators…provides sound reasoning and pragmatic suggestions.”—Melinda Susan, Director, South County Consortium, Adjunct Faculty, Sonoma State University

“The comprehensive case studies provide the real-world link that readers need to see progress monitoring in action!”—Elizabeth Potts, Missouri Western State University

“Aligns with today’s emphasis on designing inclusive learning environments that maximize learning for all learners.”—Patti Ralabate, Executive Director, PKR Professional Learning LLC

The post The Power of Progress Monitoring: Q&A with Jennifer Mahdavi appeared first on Brookes Blog.