1. Co-Planning, Activity Based Instruction, and Embedded Intervention Simone DeVoreGiuliana Miolo Brooke WinchellLucy Heimer University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

2. Co-Planning Classroom Activities and Embedded Interventions  Write down the daily schedule (routines and activities) of a typical day  Think about skills that children are working on during each activity/routine  What about children who need individualization?

3. Co-Planning  Capture schedule of daily activities and routines  List skills that you want children to practice during activities (related to social relationships, engagement, and independence)

4. Co-Planning  Think of goals and skills you want to work on for individual children  Design activities that are differentiated for individual children (embedded intervention)

5. Uses of Embedded Intervention Embedded intervention is used to encourage  More engagement  Higher engagement  Skill development

6. Steps for Embedded Intervention 1. Arrange the environment 2. Catch the child engaged 3. Approach the child 4. Elicit engagement or work on skill development 5. Provide reinforcement

7. 1. Arrange the environment  Developmentally appropriate physical setting  Materials  Activities

8. Developmentally Appropriate  Individually appropriate/child-centered  Interactions meet unique needs of each child  Focus on child’s interests  Focus on naturally occurring learning opportunities  Naturally reinforcing  Age appropriate  Activities match child’s developmental level  Focus on emerging skills

9. Materials  Quantity  Enough toys for everyone  Matching toys to encourage parallel play  Quality  At or slightly above skill level  Make materials accessible  But use sabotage, when appropriate  Variety of Materials  Rotate materials on regular schedule

10. Activities  Focus on promoting  Independence  Social relationships  Engagement  FUN and appealing  Interesting things to do and talk about  Focus on process and skill development (not final product)

11. 2. Catch the child engaged  Monitor what children are doing  In all routines or activities  With peers or materials  Watch a child  What does the child  look at  listen to  play with (peers and materials)?  How is the child interacting with the materials or people?

12. 3. Approach the child  Consider the child’s learning style  Is it better to interact with the child?  Is it better to sit near him and engage in parallel play?  Is it better to encourage a peer to approach him?  Think about the child’s level of engagement  What are you aiming for?  More engagement?  A higher level of engagement? If so, which one?

13. 4. Elicit elaboration of engagement  To encourage more engagement  Continue the behavior for a longer amount of time  Provide the child with more opportunities to  Work on skills  Interact with others  Master a task  Increase the complexity of his or her play  To use higher levels of engagement - more sophisticated and complex behavior

14. 4. Work on skill development  Work towards a new skill  IEP outcome  Goal set by family and teacher  It is easier to find opportunities to work on goals when they are functional

15. Working Toward More or Higher Engagement or Skill Development  Adults can use  Prompting strategies (gestural, verbal, model, partial assistance, full physical assistance)  Help teach skills  Should be combined with reinforcement (natural and logical reinforcement are best)  Must be carefully chosen using least amount of assistance that is necessary for success  Should be removed as soon as possible

16. Working Toward Higher Engagement cont.  Adults can use  Time delay  Backward chaining  Differential reinforcement of other behavior  Getting other children involved See additional ideas in Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs: Authors Sandall & Schwartz (2010)

17. 5. Provide reinforcement NNatural reinforcement TThe activity or outcome appeals to the child’s interests and intrinsic motivation VVerbal reinforcement BBe specific

18. Don’t I Already Do This?  Activity-based or embedded instruction / intervention is somewhat intuitive to most teachers HOWEVER  Research shows that rates of intentional embedded instruction are low before awareness training  Before training – 36% of time  After training and awareness – 86% of time

19. Implications: Good News/Bad News  Bad News  Even though teachers may know about embedded instruction/intervention and its proper use, they are not sufficiently using it in the classroom  Good News  It is feasible for teachers to increase their use of functional embedded intervention and instruction  A need exists to raise teachers’ awareness of routines- based embedded intervention and encourage them to be conscientious of its daily use

20. Organizing Adults to Facilitate Embedded Intervention  One adult is in the set-up role to  Clean up previous activity and prepare the next activity  Complete extra classroom tasks (change diapers, answer phone calls, handle temper tantrums, etc.)  The other adult(s) focus on the scheduled activity and child engagement

21. Example 2-Person Scheduling TimePerson 1Person 2 8:00-8:15ArrivalSet Up 8:15-8:30Set UpStory 8:30-8:45Free PlaySet Up 8:45-9:00Set UpCircle 9:00-9:15Small ToysSet up 9:15-9:30Set UpCenters 9:30-9:45Set UpCenters 9:45-10:00SnackSet Up 10:00-10:45Set Up Bathroom and Outside/Hallway 10:45-11:00MusicSet Up 11:00-11:15Set UpArt

22. Two Adults Facilitate Transitions  During transitions between activities, one adult is in one designated area and one adult is at the new area where children are transitioning to  Children can transition at their own pace  Children can begin the new activity as soon as they arrive in the area

23. Planning and Monitoring Goals/Interventions  Plan when goals will be targeted  Higher priority goals should be planned to occur in more routines  Goals should be addressed in multiple routines  Functional goals naturally occur in multiple routines  Monitor intervention  General observations  Target observations

24. Questions?