A Programwide Model for Supporting Social Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood Settings

Abstract

(from the chapter) In this chapter, we describe a tiered model of prevention and promotion practices as a framework for the implementation of supports and interventions for young children within early childhood classrooms and programs (Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003). The model that we describe is used in a similar fashion to school-wide positive behavior support (SW-PBS) as a program-wide effort to create systems of support for all children, including those with the most challenging behavior, and contributes to recent efforts to adapt the SW-PBS adoption process for early education programs (Benedict, Homer, & Squires, 2007; Frey, Boyce, & Tarullo, chapter 6 (see record 2008-16074-006), this volume; Stormont, Lewis, & Beckner, 2005; Stormont, Smith, & Lewis, 2007). The chapter provides an overview of the model and the practices affiliated with each tier and then discusses the issues related to program-wide adoption with early childhood systems of care. The discussion of program-wide adoption includes information on the steps to program-wide adoption and illustrations of the process and outcomes in a range of early childhood programs. The chapter ends with a discussion of future directions for this promising model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)