Strategies for Promoting Child Engagement in Inclusive Preschool Classrooms (Vital Statistics) - Softcover

McWilliam, R.A.; Casey, Amy M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557668574 ISBN 13: 9781557668578

Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co, 2008

Synopsis

This book is a highly practical guide for early childhood teachers using five research-based strategies for improving class-wide engagement.This practical manual for early childhood teachers introduces five strategies for improving class-wide engagement. The amount of time that children spend involved with adults, peers, or materials is critical to real learning in the classroom, and children's levels of active engagement have been found to be highly related to success and positive outcomes.The first classroom engagement or engagement strategy, Zone Defense Scheduling, is a way of organizing classroom staff so that child engagement is promoted rather than lost during routines and transitions between activities. The second strategy, Incidental Teaching, is a method for helping children to expand their engagement over time or their level of sophistication toward a developmental goal. The third strategy, Data Collection, helps teachers to focus on engagement during each routine of the day while tracking what is happening. The last two strategies are Writing Functional Classroom Goals, and Integrating Therapy into Classroom Routines. The book provides explanations of each strategy, as well as instructions for implementation, practical examples, and performance checklists.This book developed out of a federally funded research project called Improving Engagements in Preschoolers with Disabilities and has been used extensively in early childhood classrooms.

About this title

About the Author

Robin McWilliam is the originator of the Routines‐Based Model, implemented in 10 countries and many states in the U.S. He is a professor of special education at The University of Alabama, where he founded and directs the Evidence‐based International Early Intervention Office (EIEIO). He is also the founder and leader of the RAM Group, an international community of practice fostering the Routines‐Based Model. He has formerly been a professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, and a professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. McWilliam's research centers on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with and without disabilities, with a specific focus on child engagement, service delivery models, and collaboration with families. He has provided consultation, training, and technical assistance across the United States and in some countries overseas on providing early intervention in natural environments and on the Engagement Classroom Model. His Routines-Based Interview (RBI) is a widely used method of assessing families' needs and developing individualized family service plan (IFSP) outcomes and individualized education program (IEP) goals.

Ms. Casey is the Project Coordinator for two engagement grants, Improving Engagement in Preschoolers With Disabilities and The Engagement Classroom: Developing a Model for Inclusion, at the Vanderbilt Center for Child Development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She trains preschool teachers on developing classroom schedules, using incidental teaching, and rating children's engagement.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1557668574
• ISBN 13: 9781557668578
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192