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Recommended Practices Handouts 

The following handouts offer professionals and family members information on evidence-based recommendations for a variety of topics.  Copying and distribution of these documents is encouraged.

• Being an Evidence-Based Practitioner:  What does it take to be an evidence-based practitioner?
  This fact sheet describes what evidence-based practitioners do, notes some of the challenges that affect the implementation of evidence-based practices, and offers advice for addressing those challenges.
• Supporting Infants and Toddlers with Challenging Behavior
  This fact sheet provides guidance on program practices that may be used to support very young children with challenging behavior and their families.
• Linking Social Development and School Readiness to Behavior
  Social competence is critically important for a child's readiness for school. This fact sheet discusses the importance of school readiness and provides guidance on how to ensure that policy, programs, and educators can promote readiness.
• Program Practices for Promoting the Social Development of Young Children and Addressing Challenging Behavior
  Evidence-based program practices are provided in this fact sheet.  A comprehensive model of universal, secondary, and indicated prevention and intervention practices are described.
• Identifying and Monitoring Outcomes Related to Children's Social-Emotional Development
  Many young children engage in challenging behavior when they do not have the social or communicative skills to express their needs or feelings in appropriate ways. This fact sheet discusses how to prevent and address problem behavior by teaching children social skills they can use in place of problem behavior.
• Preventing Challenging Behavior in Young Children: Effective Practices
  The single best way to address challenging behaviors in young children today is to take steps to make sure that they never occur. While there is no universal panacea for preventing challenging behaviors, there are several broad-based early intervention strategies that researchers suggest to prevent challenging behaviors.
• Addressing Persistent Challenging Behaviors
  Assessment-based, individualized interventions are needed for young children with persistent challenging behavior. This fact sheet provides guidance on the implementation of Positive Behavior Support and the development of effective behavior support strategies.

Other Handouts

• Facts About Young Children with Challenging Behavior
  Young children with challenging behavior have a significant risk of continued problems, school failure, and social adjustment problems. This fact sheet provides a summary of the research on the significance of the issue, the social costs associated with young children who have challenging behavior, and the importance of early intervention.
• Pyramid Model Handout
  This handout illustrates the various levels of the Pyramid Model in a format that is easy to print and ideal for distribution.
• The Pyramid Model for Promoting the Social and Emotional Development of Infants and Young Children Fact Sheet
  This four-page fact sheet provides an overview of the Pyramid Model for Promoting the Social and Emotional Development of Infants and Young Children. Specifically, this fact sheet describes the three tiers of intervention practice: universal promotion for all children; secondary preventions to address the intervention needs for children at risk of social emotional delays, and tertiary interventions needed for children with persistent challenges. Additionally, six key assumptions that were made during the design process about how the Pyramid Model would be implemented are outlined.

Brochures and Booklets

• Program-Wide Positive Behavior Support
  This booklet provides a report on the program-wide implementation of the "Teaching Pyramid" within a Head Start Program. The Southeast Kansas Community Action Program (SEK-CAP) provides information on the implementation of the model and the outcomes for the children, families, teachers, and program.
• Positive Solutions for Families
  This four-page brochure provides parents with eight practical tips they can use when their young children exhibit challenging behavior. Each tip includes a brief explanation and an example to show parents how they might use the specific approach with their own family in everyday life. This product is also available in Spanish.

Papers

• Response to Intervention and the Pyramid Model
  Response to Intervention (RtI) offers a comprehensive model for the prevention of delays in learning and behavior. While this problem-solving framework was initially designed for application within Kindergarten to 12th grade programs, there is substantial research that supports the value of the model for application within early childhood programs. This paper provides an overview of RtI and discusses the Pyramid Model (Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003) and its application for promoting young children’s social competence and preventing behavior challenges (June 2009).

For a list of additional papers that have been written by TACSEI faculty, please visit our Center Faculty Publications page.

Podcasts

For the latest TACSEI Podcasts, please visit our Podcasts page.

Roadmap to Effective Intervention Practices

The Roadmap to Effective Intervention Practices series addresses a variety of issues that are important to the field. More syntheses will be added to this site as they become available. Copying and distribution of these documents is encouraged.

• Screening for Social Emotional Concerns: Considerations in the Selection of Instruments
  The purpose of this document is to provide a brief overview of the use of screening and to help administrators and teachers choose appropriate instruments for implementing a screening program (January, 2009).
• Evidence-Based Social-Emotional Curricula and Intervention Packages for Children 0-5 Years and Their Families
  The second publication in the TACSEI Roadmap series provides practical guidance to early childhood special education and early intervention personnel, early educators, families, and other professionals seeking interventions to promote healthy social emotional development in young children with and without disabilities. The information in this publication can also help individuals to intervene early with young children who may already be displaying problematic social emotional behaviors (June, 2009).
• Promoting Social Behavior of Young Children in Group Settings: A Summary of Research
  This brief synthesis provides a summary of intervention practices that are supported by empirical evidence for promoting adaptive social-emotional behavior of young children in group contexts (e.g., pre-K classrooms; child care settings). The focus of the synthesis is on toddlers and preschool children who are identified as having disabilities or who are at risk for disabilities, and who have identified problems with social-emotional behaviors (August, 2009).
• Technical Assistance to Promote Service and System Change
  The purpose of this TACSEI Roadmap document is to assist a range of stakeholders (e.g., early childhood service providers, parents, technical assistance providers) understand the types of TA that are most beneficial for achieving particular practice and systems outcomes. The paper explores and highlights TA strategies to initiate, implement, and sustain effective practice and systems change. The content of this Roadmap is based on a broad literature related to practice, service, and systems change, data and information related to TA across a number of domains (e.g., special education, general education, community prevention, aid for developing countries), and data and best practices related to implementation and scaling up of evidence-based practices (November, 2009).

Tools

• Creating Teaching Tools for Young Children with Challenging Behavior
  This product is made up of a variety of tools including handouts, worksheets, techniques, strategies, visuals and other materials that assist teachers in creating a plan to support young children who are having challenging behavior. Teaching Tools is available for download from this website as a "zip" file, which means that you can download the User's Manual, Routine Based Support Guide, and many handouts, visuals and other materials included in Teaching Tools in one convenient package.
• Complete Guide to Positive Behavior Support
  Created as a "take-away" tool to accompany the TACSEI Six Steps of PBS (Positive Behavior Support) learning modules, this Word document is a complete reference that outlines the entire PBS process. For your convenience, this comprehensive reference also includes links to all the forms, information sheets and worksheets described in the learning modules as well as websites and resources in easy-to-access sections at the end of the document.

Policy Briefs

• Policy Brief: Integrating Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation with the Pyramid Model
  A growing number of states and communities are implementing the Pyramid Model in early care and education settings, and in many of these places there are also early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) programs operating. This policy brief provides an overview of ECMHC, how it can support the implementation of the Pyramid Model and the policy issues that arise when administrators seek to integrate these two approaches at the state and local levels. Mental health consultants can: (1) serve as coaches for implementing the Pyramid practices; (2) serve as adjuncts to coaches, by working with children, families and teachers; and (3) use the Pyramid Model to inform and organize their own strategies for working with teachers and families. (November, 2009).
• Policy Brief: Administrator Strategies that Support High Fidelity Implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social-Emotional Competence & Addressing Challenging Behavior
  Implementing the Pyramid Model with fidelity and achieving positive outcomes for children and their families requires that administrators understand their roles in the implementation process. Every administrative decision impacts program quality and sustainability. This Policy Brief underscores the importance of facilitative administrative practices that provide sustained commitment, timely training, competent coaching, the use of process and outcome data for decision-making, and the development of policies and procedures that are aligned with high fidelity implementation (July, 2009).
• Policy Brief: Promoting Social, Emotional and Behavioral Outcomes of Young Children Served Under IDEA
  A growing body of evidence confirms that serious and persistent challenging behaviors in early childhood directly relate to later problems in school success, social relationships, educational and vocational success, and social adjustment. This brief addresses several important questions policy makers may have about challenging behavior and how these issues relate to young children served under IDEA (January, 2007).

Articles

• "You Got It!" Teaching Social and Emotional Skills
  Published in Young Children, November 2006
  In this article we look at the secondary level of the teaching pyramid, which emphasizes planned instruction on specific social and emotional skills for children at risk for developing more challenging behavior, such as severe aggression, property destruction, noncompliance, or withdrawal. Children who may be considered at risk for challenging behavior are persistently noncompliant, have difficulty regulating their emotions, do not easily form relationships with adults and other children, have difficulty engaging in learning activities, and are perceived by teachers as being likely to develop more intractable behavior problems.
• The Teaching Pyramid: A Model for Supporting Social Competence and Preventing Challenging Behavior in Young Children
  Published in Young Children, July 2003
  This article was written by Center faculty and describes a conceptual framework for change that guides the work of the Center. Specifically, this model maps out how to proceed in a systematic fashion and helps us decide where immediate attention is it most necessary regarding children’s social emotional issues and challenging behavior.
• Prevention and intervention with young children’s challenging behavior: A summary and perspective regarding current knowledge.
  Published in Behavioral Disorders (2006), 32, 29-45.
  This article written by Center faculty discusses the fact that challenging behavior exhibited by young children is becoming recognized as a serious impediment to social–emotional development and a harbinger of severe maladjustment in school and adult life. Consequently, professionals and advocates from many disciplines have been seeking to define, elaborate, and improve on existing knowledge related to the prevention and resolution of young children’s challenging behaviors. The discussion section of this article addresses directions and priorities for practice and future research.

For a list of additional articles that have been written by TACSEI faculty, please visit our Center Faculty Publications page.