1. Promoting Inclusive Practices
Laurie A. Dinnebeil, Ph.D.
William F. McInerney, Ph.D.
University of Toledo

2. Focus of the Morning
Characteristics and benefits of inclusive service delivery
Rationale for Consultative Itinerant Services

3. Focus of the Afternoon Where do we go from here?
Choosing a strategic direction and follow-up training
Designing action plans to move us forward

4. Schedule for the Day 9:00-10:30: Overview 10:30-10:45: Break
10:45-12:00: Presentation Continued
12:00-1:00: Lunch
1:00-3:30: Small Group/Strategic Plan

5. Position Statement on Inclusion
“Early childhood inclusion embodies the values, policies, and practices that support the right of every infant and young child and his or her family, regardless of ability to participate in a broad range of activities and contexts of full members of families, communities, and society” (DEC, 2009).

6. Why Inclusion?
Inclusive experiences give children with disabilities and their families:
a sense of belonging,
support positive social relationships and friendships, and
promote development and learning so children can reach their full potential.

7. Features of High Quality Inclusion
Access
Participation
Supports

8. Access
Young children with disabilities have access to a full range of activities and learning opportunities in diverse early care and education programs and other natural environments

9. Participation
Adults find ways to help young children with disabilities participate and engage fully in a variety of activities. They promote children’s meaningful ‘belonging’ in intentional ways.

10. Supports
Adults who promote early childhood inclusion have the supports they need to help young children with disabilities. These supports include ongoing training and professional development.

11. What is the Least Restrictive Environment?
To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities are educated with typical peers.
Separate schooling only when nature and severity of disability prevents satisfactory education in regular education (with use of supplementary aids and services).

12. LRE for Preschool
Natural environment includes child's home, or other ECE community-based programs in which children without disabilities participate.

13. Educational Environments, 3-5 source: ideadata.org
In the regular early childhood program at least 80 percent of the time.
In the regular early childhood program 40 to 79 percent of the time.
In the regular early childhood program less than 40 percent of the time.
Unduplicated total who attended an early childhood program and were in the early childhood program for _____ percent of the time
The Regular EC program is defined as a program that includes at least 50% nondisabled children
From: Calculating Time in Regular Early Childhood Programs, ideadata.org/docs/FAPEPtB.pdf 13

14. Educational Environ., ages 3-5, cont.
Separate Class. Unduplicated total who attended a special education program in a class with less than 50 percent nondisabled children.
Separate School. Unduplicated total who received education programs in public or private day schools designed specifically for children with disabilities
Home. Unduplicated total who received special education and related services in the principal residence of the child’s family or caregivers and who did not attend an early childhood program or a special education program provided in a separate class, separate school, or residential facility.

15. Total all children ages 3-5 in all environments = 23,137 children15

16. Percent of children = #in category / total number of children 3-5 yrs
Percent of children = #in category / total number of children 3-5 yrs. receiving Part B services (total = 23,137 children) 16

17. Educational Environments, ages 6-11 source: ideadata.org
In the regular class:
80 percent or more of the day. (previously “regular class”)
40 to 79 percent of the day (previously “resource room”)
less than 40 percent of the day. (previously “separate class”)
Separate School. Unduplicated total who received education programs in public or private separate day school facilities. 17

18. Educational Environ., ages 6-11, cont.
Residential Facility. Unduplicated total who received education programs and lived in public residential facilities during the school week.
Homebound/Hospital.
Parentally Placed in Private Schools. Unduplicated total who have been enrolled by parents or guardians in parochial/private schools and whose basic education is paid through private resources, and who receive special education and related services at public expense.

19. Total all children ages 6-11 in all environments = 102,46219

20. Percent of children = #in category / total number of children 6-11 yrs
Percent of children = #in category / total number of children 6-11 yrs. receiving Part B services (total = 102,462 children) 20

21. Supports
Adults who promote early childhood inclusion have the supports they need to help young children with disabilities. These supports include ongoing training and professional development.

22. Itinerant ECSE Service
The Ohio Department of Education defines Itinerant ECSE services as…
….services provided by preschool special education teachers or related services personnel which occur in the setting where the child or the child and parent(s) is located as opposed to providing services at a centralized location.  
Notes to Trainers:
LEAs must provide:
(2) A continuum of service delivery options for preschool special education which at a minimum include the following choices: (a) Itinerant services [that] may be delivered (i) in the home or (ii) in a preschool or kindergarten administered by a public school or (iii) in a head start program, or (iv) in a community-based preschool or kindergarten program (Rule )

23. What is Effective PD?
Effective professional development (PD) occurs through individualized assistance and training.
Coaching and Consultation provides this individualized assistance that is critical to supporting early childhood inclusion.
In Ohio, a consultative itinerant model is recommended as “best practice”.

24. Rule Delivery of Services (Operating Standards for Ohio’s Schools Serving Children with Disabilities)
(3) The school district shall ensure early childhood intervention specialists
(b) Support regular education teachers in serving and/or consulting about children with and without disabilities so that the regular education personnel, in partnership with the special education service providers, can implement the child’s IEP in the least restrictive environment;
Notes to Trainers:
Ohio’s Operating Standards clearly sanction consultation as an activity of itinerant ECSE teachers who serve young children with disabilities. There is no mention that itinerant ECSE teachers MUST provide direct services instead of or in addition to consultative services.

25. Itinerant Service Delivery: Direct or Consultative (Indirect)?
Assist educators and primary caregivers to provide specialized instruction and plan ways to address IEP goals within the course of the child’s typical day and routine activities.
Direct
Tutor the child focused on IEP goals within the context of ongoing activities or outside of the child’s typical day. IEP-based instruction is limited to the Itinerant Teacher’s visit.
Notes to Trainers
Ask participants to share their experiences with the itinerant ECSE service delivery model. If they are itinerant teachers, what approach do they use? Direct service or consultative? What do they see as pros and cons of each approach (ask this question before showing slide).
Many itinerant teachers have strong feelings (either positive or negative) about a consultative approach. Give them opportunities to voice those concerns, however, make sure that the conversation is productive and focused on helping young children succeed in general education settings. 25

26. Consultation: Preferred Method of Itinerant Service Delivery
Project DIRECT focuses on consultation because we believe it is the BEST way to support successful early childhood inclusion. While there may be LIMITED times when a direct approach is preferred, in the overwhelming majority of cases, a consultative approach is most effective at helping children achieve positive outcomes. (ODE’s Policy Statement) 26

27. Definition of Consultation
Through a series of meetings and conversations, the consultant [itinerant ECSE teacher] helps the consultee [ECE teacher or primary caregiver] through:
• Systematic problem solving
• Appropriate use of social influence
• Professional support.
In turn, the consultee helps the ‘client(s)’ [child/children] with full support and assistance from the consultant.
Notes to Trainers:
Emphasize key components of the definition. These will be discussed later in the training.
Problem-solving
Social influence
Professional support
Make sure that participants understand who the consultant is (itinerant ECSE teacher), the consultee (ECE partner teacher) and client (child). 27

28. Definition continued…
The purpose of consultation is to address the immediate concern or goal as well as to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future (Buysse & Wesley, 2005). 28

29. Consultation & TRIADIC Intervention
“[A]n indirect, triadic service delivery model”
Indirect and triadic—the focus of the work is still on meeting the needs of the child. However, the person who directly addresses those needs is the partner teacher or parent, not the itinerant.
Notes to Trainers:
Make sure that participants understand the difference between “direct” and “indirect” as well as the term “triadic”. Triadic refers to three people who are involved in the intervention—in this case, the consultant, the consultee, and the client. (Dyad means two; triad means three).
Jeanette McCollum was one of the first individuals to use the term “triadic intervention” when referring to the role of early interventionists who help parents interact or work with their infants or toddlers (McCollum & Yates, no date). 29

30. Consultation & TRIADIC Intervention
In early childhood education, consultation is defined as an INDIRECT intervention model in which a consultant (Itinerant ECSE teacher) and a consultee (ECE teacher or parent) work together (in a triadic service delivery model) to address an area of concern or common goal for change. 30

31. Itinerant ECSE Teacher
The TRIADIC Model
The triadic service delivery model is an INDIRECT intervention model in which the Itinerant ECSE teacher supports children’s development by working primarily with another teacher or parent rather than directly with the child.
Child
ECE Teacher or Parent
Itinerant ECSE Teacher 31

32. What’s so special about a triadic approach?
Other adults spend more time with children then an itinerant teacher does.
Through a triadic approach, an itinerant ECSE teacher can help a parent or another teacher do what she does best—better help the child learn and reach his or her IEP goals.
Many effective early childhood programs have used this model to provide high quality services to young children. For example, Head Start and Early Head Start have a rich history of incorporating a triadic model through the use of home visitors who work with parents to help them learn ways of supporting their children’s development. The Parents as Teachers program has demonstrated considerable success in supporting children’s development by teaching parents how to work with their children.
Stress to participants that the quality of the adult’s interaction is critical to children’s developmental success. 32

33. What’s so special about a triadic approach?
A triadic model helps improve the FREQUENCY and QUALITY of IEP-based instruction that occurs between the visits of the itinerant ECSE teacher.
A recent federal study indicated that very little specialized services are provided to preschoolers with disabilities by general early childhood teachers (PEELS, 2008)
Notes to Trainers:
Ask participants to think about a specific child with special needs with whom they work. After they’ve done that, ask them to identify specialized information or skills that teachers must have to work with that child and the degree to which the information or skills is appropriate to share with ECE partner teachers. 33

34. What about challenges?
A consultative approach to itinerant service delivery isn’t easy (but many things that are worthwhile aren’t easy!)
What are some of the challenges in adopting CONSULTATION practices that you can think of ?
How might these challenges be addressed?

35. Consultation vs. One-to-One and Small Group Instruction in Itinerant ECSE Services: Which is More Efficient ?
• The adoption of a consultation model as the primary mode of intervention in IECSE services must be based on the the effectiveness of instruction vs. traditional patterns of practice 35

36. Rationale for Consultation / Coaching in IECSE Services
If periodic or episodic intervention (usually minutes per week in traditional IECSE service delivery) is as efficient as distributed or spaced instruction (or practice), then there is no need to adopt a consultation model as the primary mode of intervention
• However….. if distributed or spaced instruction or practice is a more efficient model of learning, then adoption of a consultation approach to IECSE intervention is warranted 36

37. Rationale for Consultation / Coaching in IECSE Services
If consultation is to be considered as a preferred alternative to minute, one-to-one or teacher-directed small group instruction, then the research base related to efficiency of child learning must be examined 37

38. Research Base for Consultation in Itinerant ECSE Services
Empirical evidence is related to the use of behavioral consultation in the fields of EI/ECSE. Effectiveness of consultation, however, is well established in the fields of special education and school psychology (Gresham & Kendell, 1987; Noell, Witt, Gilbertson, Ranier, & Freeland, 1997; Sheridan, Welch, & Orme, 1996)
Notes to Trainers:
The term “empirical” refers to scientific evidence derived from experimental research. The use of a consultative model is emerging in the field of early childhood special education and can be viewed as a “promising practice”. Within in the field of behavioral consultation, it is viewed as “evidence-based practice”.

39. Consultation Supports Other Evidence-Based Practices
Consultation, as a service delivery model, is supported by several other principles of special education instruction that are relevant to early childhood special education, including:
Phases of Learning
Distributed vs. Massed Practice
Embedded Learning Opportunities
Naturalistic Intervention
Notes to Trainers:
Consultation is a model of delivering services—it’s a broad-based approach to support for inclusion.
Ask participants if they’ve heard of the four terms listed here and ask volunteers to explain.

40. Phases of Learning
The intensity of instruction changes as a function of the Phases of Learning. In the initial or acquisition phase of learning, errors are frequent. This is the phase of learning in which direct instruction or massed practice may be helpful establishing reliable behavior or skill levels……
Notes to Trainers:
Ask participants to describe how they’ve learned different skills. For example, how they learned to use the computer or learned to cook. The ways in which we learn different skills or information follows predictable patterns.

41. Phases of Learning…continued
After learners have acquired a skills and demonstrate minimally acceptable performance, they transition through the phases of FLUENCY and MAINTENANCE to GENERALIZATION (the gold standard for learning).
This transition becomes easier if learners have multiple opportunities to ‘practice’ and expand their use of skill or behavior across materials, persons and environments……
Notes to Trainers:
Ask for examples of how a learner (either themselves or children with whom they work) improves their use of a skill or behavior through practice.

42. Phases of Learning…continued
Teachers can help learners use skills or behaviors in different ways (e.g., with different materials and different people) and in different situations (e.g., in different routines and activities) through the use of incidental instruction, embedded learning opportunities (ELO) and DISTRIBUTED practice.
Notes to Trainers:
Ask participants to describe how one skill can be used in different ways and in different situations. For example, initiating a conversation with someone is an important skill that children need to learn to use in different situations (e.g., at snack and during center-based learning) and with different people (e.g., their teacher and their peers).
The terms “incidental instruction”, “ELO Strategies”, and “distributed practice” will be explained later in this module.

43. Distributed vs. Massed Practice
Instruction is most effective when opportunities to acquire and practice skills occur across the day as opposed to single points during the day (Hemmeter, 2000; Sandall & Schwartz, 2002; Wolery, 2000; Wolery, Ault, & Doyle, 1992)
Notes to Trainers:
The reference citations included here provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of distributed practice. 43

44. Difference Between Massed and Distributed Practice
Massed Practice
Students are provided multiple opportunities to practice WITHIN a single learning session. These learning opportunities are provided continuously, without a break.
For example, the itinerant teacher provides 20 minutes of instruction targeting children’s vocabulary development in a single session, in one day.

45. Difference Between Massed and Distributed Practice…continued
Students are provided with many PLANNED learning opportunities across the day and throughout the week when the targeted skill is most likely to be required.
The child’s teacher or primary caregiver plans for and provides opportunities for children to learn new vocabulary or practice using vocabulary at different times across the day or week when those words are meaningful and opportunities to use these words are in CONTEXT

46. Importance of Distributed Practice
Since itinerant ECSE teachers have limited time with children, it is difficult to implement a distributed practice model. However,
Early childhood teachers are present all day and can provide opportunities for distributed practice across the day and during the week
But they cannot be effective, if they do not have the knowledge and skills to do so….. 46

47. Research Support: Adults Children - ages 3 months to 8 years old
DEC Conference - Albuquerque, N.M. October 2009
Research Support:
Adults
Ebbinghaus, 1885/1964
Donovan & Radosevich, 1999, meta-analysis
Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted & Rohrer, 2006, meta-analysis
Children - ages 3 months to 8 years old
Childers & Tomasello, 2002 (word learning)
Rea & Modigliani, 1985 (spelling, math)
Rovee-Collier, 1995 (visual recognition)
Seabrook, Brown, & Solity, 2005 (phonics)
Research dates back to Ebbinghaus in Since then have been MANY studies finding that distributed practice leads to better learning
A SAMPLING of studies
Donovan meta-analysis 63 studies reviewed – acquisition of skill/knowledge
Cepeda meta-anlalysis 317 studies reviewed – verbal memory tasks
McInerney, Dinnebeil, Hale & Spino 47

48. Massed vs. Distributed Practice
DEC Conference - Albuquerque, N.M. October 2009
Massed vs. Distributed Practice
Distributed Practice
Child practices with same or different materials, multiple times, with breaks between instruction/ practice
EXAMPLE: Practice identifying basic shapes for 10 mins. during sessions scheduled several times per week
Massed Practice
Child instructed with same materials, multiple times in single session, without a break
EXAMPLE: Identifying basic shapes for 20 minutes in one day
NEEDS TO BE PRACTICING the SAME concept/skill
Even if we keep the total amount of time the same (20 min.) what’s the difference between practicing one time for 20 min. AND practicing 2 times for 10 min. each?
Research on this …. +
McInerney, Dinnebeil, Hale & Spino 48

49. Research with Children
Rea and Modigliani,1985
3rd graders (8.5 years) taught spelling words and math facts
Students ranked as Level 1 (top half of class) or Level 2 (bottom half of class)
Results:
Better on spelling and math tests when had spaced instruction rather than massed instructions
Spaced instruction was better for both Level 1 and 2 students (ability level didn’t matter)

50. Seabrook, Brown & Solity, 2005
Experiment
Task: 34 children (mean age 5 years.6 mos.) taught phonics over two weeks
Schedule:
Clustered = one, 6-minute session per day within a regular classroom setting.
Distributed = three, 2-minute sessions per day within a regular classroom setting
Results: Children in distributed condition had test scores 6 times greater than children in clustered condition

51. Childers and Tomasello, 2002
How many times (and how many days) does a 2-yr old need to hear a word to learn it?
In 2 experiments, 2 yr olds were taught ‘silly’ nouns and verbs (words they had never seen) over the course of a month in sessions lasting min

52. Childers and Tomasello, 2002
Results:
• Best learning occurred when teaching was distributed
• The more days that children heard the words, the better able they were to learn the words
Best = 4 days, 3 days
Worst = 1 day, 2 days
Children learned words better if they heard the words 1x/day for 4 days rather than 8x/day for I day

53. Major Findings
Spacing (distributing) instruction benefited children and adults whether the tasks were physical or cognitive.
Spacing instruction within the day (e.g., three 2-min sessions/day) or across days (e.g., 1x/day for 4 days) helped children learn.

54. Implications for Education Practice
Current laws state that educational practice needs to be research-based (NCLB; IDEIA, 2004)
How should we schedule instruction for young children?
Massed vs Spaced ? Research supports Spaced
How should we schedule the Itinerant ECSE teacher’s time?
Direct instruction vs. Consultation / Coaching ?
Research suggests Consultation/Coaching

55. Distributed Practice Research Results
DEC Conference - Albuquerque, N.M. October 2009
Distributed Practice Research Results
Better Learning with Distributed Practice
ALL studies find that distributed practice results in better learning than massed practice.
learned more words, more math facts, better phonics skills
in one study up to 6 times better in distributed than massed (Seabrook, Brown, & Solity, 2005 with phonics)
CRAMMING works BUT only if the test is almost immediately after the practice. Not what we want - we want long-term learning.
For long-term learning – ability to master and generalize – research indicates is better to distribute practice.
McInerney, Dinnebeil, Hale & Spino 55

56. Consultation & Distributed Practice
Itinerant teachers should spend their time helping their ECE ‘partner’, discussing and planning for learning opportunities that will be distributed across the day and will occur during the week between itinerant visits. 56

57. A Hierarchical Planning Model for Consultation
Step 1- What does student need to learn
Review IEP objectives
Step 2 - What environmental modifications will facilitate acquisition of skills/behaviors?
Conduct observation of learning environment
Complete Activity x IEP Objective Matrix
Step 3 - Which learning strategies will facilitate acquisition of these skills/behaviors?
Identify appropriate indirect/incidental and direct instruction options

58. A Hierarchical Planning Model for Consultation cont’d…
Step 4 - Which consultation strategies will be effective in transferring knowledge to partner?
Identify ‘partner-friendly’ consultation strategies / interpersonal communication
Step 5 - Which consultation strategies will be effective in transferring skills to partner?
Step 6 - How will efficacy of consultation be determined?
Strategies to monitor child progress
Strategies to monitor partner relationship

59. Next Steps related to: Facilitating the PRACTICE of INCLUSION
Form Letters re: IECSE Model
Allocation of time and effort models re: ‘weighting’ of students
MEPI Model for Analysis of IEP Objectives
MATRIX Planning (IEP Objectives/ODE Standards/Classroom Activities/Teaching Strategy)
Embedded Instruction
Distributed Instruction
DIRECT and INDIRECT Instruction Strategies
Consultation Planning Log
PIECES