The developmental behavioral approach - chapter 12
1. The Developmental-
Behavioral Approach
Chapter 12 from The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood
Education; Allen, K. Eileen and Cowdery, Glynnis E.; 2015
2. Review: 3 Core Considerations of
Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP)
• Knowledge and understanding of child development and learning
• Predictable
• Sequential
• Knowledge and understanding of what is individually appropriate
• Child’s individual strengths, needs, areas of interest and growth
• Child’s individual development as compared to typical development
• Knowledge and understanding of what is culturally important
• Expectations, values, and wishes of child’s family
• Knowledge and understanding of community culture
(NAEYC, 2009)
3. High Quality, Developmentally Appropriate
Environments
• Work for all children, including those with special needs
• Is dependent on teacher effectiveness
• Developmental growth is the result of several factors, including growth and
maturation (predictable and sequential), experiences and interactions, and
practice of skills
• Positive social and emotional guidance is highly preferable (research-based)
over a punitive approach to discipline (culture aside!)
Note: Here is one of those places where it may be difficult for us to set aside
what we have always done and are in the habit of doing. We must consider
research-based, best practice and replace our own inappropriate behaviors
with more appropriate behaviors if we are to provide the most supportive
environment for children to learn appropriate behaviors.
4. Developmental and
Behavioral Principles
• Choose behavioral objectives for children based on what you know
about how children learn in general (DAP Core Consideration #1) and
the individual needs of each child (DAP Core Consideration #2)
• Arrange and prepare the environment to support each child in
learning the new skills
• The best approach considers both nature and nurture
• Gesell – maturationist (remember milestones?)
• Hunt (as influenced by Piaget) – children develop naturally, but are influenced
by environment and experiences; a good match between a child’s
developmental level and appropriate experiences maximize learning
5. Problem of Match
• Do the materials interest the children?
• Is there enough flexibility and novelty that supports growth, while
remaining motivating?
• Do the children learn from successes?
• Is the teacher able to break skills into smaller steps as needed?
• Is the learning environment conducive to the needs, interests, and
development of each child?
Note the bulleted points on p. 308 in your text.
6. Behavioral Principles and Practices
• Learning occurs when children are engaged, interested, and
interacting in their environments
• For children with developmental delays, it is especially
important to ensure that the environment is arranged and
teaching plans are developed to maximize each child’s
learning
• All children can learn!
• If a child is not learning, changes need to happen in the
learning environment.
7. ABCs of Behavior
• A = Antecedent; what happens before the behavior; triggers the
behavior
• B = Behavior; response to the antecedent; must be identified in
objective terms
• C = Consequence; otherwise known as “maintaining consequence”;
what follows the behavior that either influences the behavior to recur
or decrease.
• Note: adults often inadvertently reinforce a behavior that they do not
want to recur. Careful observation of the ABCs of a behavior can help
adults adjust responses to reinforce desired behaviors. (Remember
EDU 146?)
9. Pitfalls to Avoid!
• If choosing to withdraw or withhold reinforcers (i.e. ignore), be
prepared for a child’s behavior to get worse before it gets better.
• Consider the Case Study at the bottom of p. 314 in your text.
• More concepts to know
• Incompatible behaviors
• “Catch to child being good”
• Preventive discipline
• Punishment – Again, look at the research (p. 316) and consider how our
culture often attempts to dispute the research. How many of you have said,
“I was spanked and turned out just fine”?
10. Discipline vs. Punishment
• Preventive discipline sets the stage for children to learn and practice
appropriate behaviors in a motivating environment.
• All children need reminders, redirection, and reprimands on occasion.
Knowledge of child development keeps the expectations for behavior
age and developmentally appropriate.
• “Sit and watch” and “time out” are additional consequences that
should be used more rarely. If a child is in “time out” regularly, the
teacher must rethink the environment and learning experiences for
the child.
• All consequences must be paired with opportunities to learn and
practice expectations
11. Task Analysis
• Step-by-step learning
• Should be developed through careful observation and analysis of an
expected task
• More vocabulary
• Prompting
• Fading
• Cueing
• Praise
• Shaping
• Observational learning (modeling)
12. Review
• Teachers must understand child development and the interaction of
the environment and experiences on learning
• Teachers must review the environment and expectations if a child is
not learning. No longer is it considered a problem with the child and
his/her abilities
• Understanding of the principles of guidance make classroom
environments more pleasant and more conducive to learning.
• The ability of a teacher to task analyze promotes individualized
learning opportunities for children with developmental delays.
