PTR for young children.pdf

Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children

The Early Childhood Model of Individualized Positive Behavior Support

by

Glen Dunlap, Ph.D.
University of South Florida University of Nevada, Reno

Kelly Wilson
Bal Swan Children’s Center and Colorado Department of Education

Phillip Strain, Ph.D.
University of Colorado Denver

Janice K. Lee, M.Ed.
University of Nevada, Reno

Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children

This book describes a model for resolving serious challenging behaviors of toddlers and preschool-age children: Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children (PTR-YC). In writing this book, we had two goals: 1) to provide a complete description of the model and 2) to develop a user’s manual for implementing the model...

Introduction to PTR-YC 1

This book describes a model for resolving serious challenging behaviors of toddlers and preschool-age children: Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children (PTR-YC). In writing this book, we had two goals: 1) to provide a complete description of the model and 2) to develop a user’s manual for implementing the model. The first goal will be achieved by presenting the rationale, background, and procedural steps of PTR-YC. The second goal will be achieved by laying out in operational detail everything that is needed for early childhood professionals to implement each step of the model with the fidelity required to effectively resolve even the most intensive and persistent challenging behaviors. PTR-YC is a research-based strategy designed to reduce challenging behaviors of young children in preschool, early education, and child care settings. The model is intended to help young children whose behaviors are serious enough that they interfere with the child’s ability to engage in positive relationships, form friendships, play with others, and learn expected skills...

Guiding Beliefs and Principles

As a group, we (the authors of this book) have worked for dozens of years with young children in public and private preschool programs, Head Start centers, child care, and infant and toddler programs. We have worked as teachers, directors, behavior specialists, researchers, and consultants, and we have developed and implemented model programs in classroom and home settings. In all of these roles, we have been convinced of the importance of certain assumptions or beliefs about young children and social-emotional development in early childhood...

Healthy Social Development as an Essential Foundation

Learning of all sorts is fundamentally a social phenomenon, and the greatest pleasures, accomplishments, and satisfactions that people experience throughout their childhood and adult lives come from their relationships and their interactions with others. Therefore, it is vitally important for early care and education programs to place the greatest emphasis on children’s development of social interaction skills, friendships, and healthy emotional responses to complex social situations...

The Process of PTR-YC

The process of PTR-YC is similar to the well-documented, step-by-step process of individualized positive behavior support described in hundreds of articles, books, and websites. The difference is in how the steps are implemented. In PTR-YC, the procedures are tailored for use with young children in early childhood settings, and the descriptions of the implementation strategies at each step of the process are designed to be as practical as possible...

Steps in the PTR-YC Process

  1. Setting: The first step involves the establishment of a classroom-based team, an agreement on how the team will function, and the specification of initial, short-term goals. Teams vary in size, but they must include the individual who will be responsible for implementation of the intervention plan...

  2. Data Collection: The team must design a practical system of data collection for measuring the levels at which the challenging behavior and the desirable behavior are occurring. This measurement must start before intervention is begun because it is the way we determine whether our intervention is being successful or if it needs to be revised...

  3. PTR-YC Assessment (Functional Behavioral Assessment): This step involves obtaining and organizing the information needed to understand how the challenging behavior is influenced by the environment, which is the key to developing intervention plans that will be effective and efficient...

  4. PTR-YC Intervention: When the assessment is completed and the team has developed an understanding about how the challenging behavior is related to and influenced by the environment, then a team meeting is devoted to developing an intervention plan...

  5. Using Data and Next Steps: This step begins with (ongoing) examination of the progress monitoring data...

Research Foundations

The procedures of PTR-YC are derived from well-established principles of behavior as well as extensive, practical research on strategies of intervention for challenging behavior. Intervention research that is the foundation of PTR-YC emanates primarily from two closely related approaches: applied behavior analysis (ABA) and positive behavior support (PBS)....

Interventions for Young Children’s Challenging Behavior

The majority of research on challenging behaviors was conducted with children older than the age of 5. Since the 1990s, however, there has been an increase in research with younger children...

Summary

PTR-YC is a specific model of intervention planning and implementation for young children with serious challenging behaviors. It is applicable for preschool children from 30 months old to kindergarten entry and for children with a broad range of developmental and intellectual characteristics...

Appendix: Key Terms