TKW Consulting

Behavior modification helps preschoolers fit in
By KAREN UHLENHUTH
The Kansas City Star

Early intervention in the classroom and with families cut expulsions at preschool by half, a Yale researcher has found. At Our Lady of Presentation Early Childhood Center, teacher Tonya Carollo helps her 3- and 4-year-olds work together.

Some children get started on their rap sheets soon after they’re out of diapers: They hit, they bite, they fail to take turns. And in extreme cases, they eventually get kicked out of preschool.

But if their teachers get some pointers from a mental-health consultant on how to deal with defiance and aggression, many of these youngsters can learn the social and emotional skills it takes to stay where they are — and set a course for more success down the road.

The Foundation for Child Development, which in 2005 first reported high rates of expulsion in roughly 4,000 state-funded pre-kindergarten classrooms nationwide, has a new study offering some solutions.

The bottom line: Expulsion doesn’t serve anybody well and, with the right kind of assistance, teachers can modify difficult behaviors enough that children can stay in preschool and thrive.

“There’s one extremely positive finding,” said Walter Gilliam, an assistant professor at Yale who conducted the recent study and the earlier one, which found that almost seven of every 1,000 children in state-funded preschools had been expelled the previous year. He found that the numbers of expulsions were cut by half in classrooms that had access to a mental-health professional.

The not-so-good news, according to Gilliam: Only about 23 percent of preschool teachers have access to such expertise.

Some of those, however, are in the Kansas City area, thanks to The Family Conservancy.

In 2004, prompted by calls from desperate child-care providers, the agency launched an experiment to provide assistance to preschool directors and teachers.

The conservancy does essentially what is recommended by the Yale researcher. It sends a counselor or social worker to assess a child’s problems, then works with the teacher, and often parents, on strategies to manage the child’s behavior. Often, changes in classroom management or layout are also recommended.

The results so far are encouraging, said Shelley Mayse, who directs the conservancy’s program. Using a behavior-rating scale, between July 2006 and June 2007, Mayse said, scores decreased 29 percent for aggression, 17 percent for developmental concerns, 28 percent for peer-relationship problems and 28 percent for other concerns such as depression, withdrawal or attachment issues.

// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 4:12 PM