FD Title Slide
1
https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org/event/22036/
Up and Away: Building Child Language, Social
Interactions, and Preliteracy Skills in Early
Childhood Settings
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Connecting military family service providers
and Cooperative Extension professionals to research
and to each other through engaging online learning opportunities
MFLN Intro
https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org

FD Title Slide
3
https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org/event/22036/
Up and Away: Building Child Language, Social
Interactions, and Preliteracy Skills in Early
Childhood Settings

Today’s Presenters
Juliann Woods,
Ph.D., SLP-CCC
• SLP & EI trained
• Mom/Grandma
• Enjoys working
vacations…
• Autism and Caregiver
coaching
Mollie Romano,
Ph.D., SLP-CCC
• FSU – SCSD
• Mom of 2 girls
• Needs a vacation!
• Early
Communication
Development
4
Photos used with permission, J. Woods & M. Romano

• Strategies for preschoolers with language
impairments
• Importance of emergent literacy strategies
• Focus on children with ASD and ELL
• A little more on coaching
Topics for Today
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In the preschool years:
• Increasing complexity in language form
• Growing vocabulary
• Emerging preliteracy skills - phonological
awareness, narrative development, alphabetic
knowledge
• Widening array of communicative functions
and communication with peers
Communication Development
Review
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Strategies to Support More Complex
Language
Image from Pixabay.com, CC0
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• Models: Adult models the target multiple times in
an interaction with a child
• Recasts: Adult repeats child’s utterance containing
the target form (retaining meaning) and adds new
phonological, semantic, and/or syntactic info
• In each case, children aren’t prompted or
required to respond.
• Plan for opportunities to include models.
Supports for Children with Language
Delays
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• Let’s pretend that Amelia is working on
prepositions like under, over, and on top of.
Let’s Try It!
• How can we use the materials
here to create opportunities for
frequent modeling?
DSCN7662 by Daniel Hatton, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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• Adult describes their actions or the child’s
actions as it is happening
• “In the moment” talk is
• Easy to for the child to understand
• Meaningful to the child
• Built on her focus of attention
Parallel/Descriptive Talk
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Image from Pixabay.com, CC0

• Core language facilitation strategies work very
well for children who are ELLs
• Remember! The more growth in the native
language is supported, the stronger their
language skills in English will also be.
Focus on Communication
Intervention for Young ELL Children
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Books Build Language and
Preliteracy Skills
12African American Family by Penn State, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Use the PEER sequence during reading:
• Prompt the child to say something about the
book
• Evaluate the child's response
• Expand the child's response by rephrasing
and adding information
• Repeat the prompt to make sure the child
has learned from the expansion
Dialogic Reading
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• Ask about what happened in a book a child has
already read.
A: “Where did the mouse go in this story?"
• Can be used at the end of a book and before reading
a familiar book.
Recall Prompts
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Screen shot of Hickory Dickory Dock by Keith Baker

• Focus on the pictures in books.
• No single correct response.
A: "Tell me what's happening in this picture."
Open-Ended Prompts
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Zoey Reading by JennRene Owens, CC BY 2.0

• Questions that begin with what, where, when,
why, and how questions and relate to pictures in
the book.
A: “Why is the goat up there?”
A: “Where is he going?”
(while pointing to a picture in the book)
Wh- Prompts
16U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Zachary Hada/Released

• Ask children to relate the pictures or words in the
book they are reading to experiences outside
the book
While looking at a book with a picture of animals on a
farm, you might say, "Remember when we went to
the animal park last week. Which of these animals
did we see there?“
Distancing Prompts
17Screen shot of On the Farm by Alastair Smith

• Meta-cognitive skill for the sound structures of
language
• Phonological awareness skills serve as a foundation
for later reading
• Ability to attend to, discriminate, remember, and
manipulate sounds at the sentence, word, syllable, and
phoneme level
Phonological Awareness
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• Focus on early developing skills first -
• Identifying rhyming words
• Putting together words to form compounds (hot + dog
= hotdog)
• Skills such as initial sound identification and
blending sounds emerge later in preschool and
kindergarten.
• In a mixed age group, we can tailor our supports
to where children are with their PA skills.
Teaching Phonological Awareness
(PA) Skills
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• Any time can be a fun time to work on PA skills
• At snack, have students guess the snack based on
the first sound
• We are having something that starts with the /b/ sound!
Who can guess?
• During songs and music at circle time, have kids
identify rhyming words, and substitute funny
rhymes.
• Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the sock, rock, or
block!
• Using routines to build in first sound identification
(i.e., taking role in the morning, doing days of the
week)
PA Skills Don’t Have to be Drilled!
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• Multiple models have evidence that support
success of parent participation through
coaching to improved child outcomes
• Approaches are compatible with Part C early
intervention guidelines
• Social communication intervention is a core
component
• Coaching supports active engagement by the
child in everyday routines and activities
ASD Interventions
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• Communication and language skills in young
children with, or at risk for, ASD
• Include both atypical behaviors and behaviors that
are slow or not developing
Communication Intervention for
Young Children with ASD
22Image from Pixabay.com, CC0

Ways Autism Can Impact Learning
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All images from Pixabay.com, CC0

• Regulating self
• Connecting socially
• Productive roles
• Looking at faces of others
Components of Active Engagement
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• Responding to interaction
• Initiating communication
• Flexibility
• Using language
The charts mentioned can be found at
https://scgc.firstwordsproject.com.
Click on the appropriate age circle.
The information is available to print &
share with families at the bottom of
the page.

Supports for a common agenda
• Positioning
• Follow child’s attentional focus
• Motivating activity with clear
roles & turns
Teaching Strategies & Supports to
Promote Active Engagement
For Young Children with ASD
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Be sure to access the handouts at
https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org
/event/22036/

Supports for social reciprocity
• Natural reinforcers
• Waiting for initiation and balance
of turns
• Clear message to ensure
comprehension
Supports for better skills
• Model and expand language and
play skills
• Extend activity, child’s roles, &
transitions
• Balance demands & supports
Julius & Dad Getting Dressed
Dad’s Intervention Supports
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Used with permission, J. Woods

An adult learning strategy in which the coach promotes the learner’s
(coachee’s) ability to reflect on his or her actions as a means to
determine the effectiveness of an action or practice and develop a
plan for refinement and use of the action in immediate and future
situations.
(Rush & Shelden, 2011, p. 175)
Definition of Coaching in EI
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Image from Pixabay.com, CC0

Coaching in everyday routines:
•Begins with observation and
reflection on what practice(s) is
working
•Builds on the family’s
strengths and existing
opportunities to practice
•Guides practice of new or
different strategies by parent
•Encourages additional
problem solving and reflection
for best fit
Using the Teaching and Learning
Cycle in EI Coaching
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• SS - Setting the Stage
• OO - Observation and Opportunities to Embed
• PP - Problem solving and Planning
• RR - Reflection and Review
Be a SSOOPPRR Coach!
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U.S. Air Force photo by Olenda Peña Perez

Setting the Stage (SS)
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Gathering updates & sharing
information
•
Encouraging family priorities
for session plan
Woods, J., Wilcox, M. J., Friedman, M. & Murch, T. (2011). Collaborative consultation in natural environments: Strategies to enhance family centered supports and
services. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
Used with permission, J. Woods

What you need Strategies to use in Setting the Stage
• Relationship
• Bidirectional information sharing
• Family priorities
• Opportunities for decision making
• Clear plan with observable actions
• Genuine interest
• Listen and integrate what you
learn
• Review and reflect with family,
connect to IFSP
• Problem solve and reflect
• Jointly develop a plan for the visit
What is Needed for Family Capacity
Building
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Observation and Opportunities to
Practice (OO)
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Observe caregiver child
interaction in routines
•
Use coaching strategies
matched to caregiver-child
•
Provide general and specific
feedback
Woods, J., Wilcox, M. J., Friedman, M. & Murch, T. (2011). Collaborative consultation in natural environments: Strategies to enhance family centered supports and
services. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
Used with permission, J. Woods

• Secure relationships provide a safe and supportive
environment
• Individualize
• Be specific with concrete examples
• Review key points of your observations and then verify
caregiver’s perceptions
• Encourage caregiver reflection
• Use a variety of formats
• Be positive but don’t be afraid to be honest
Feedback That Builds Caregiver
Capacity
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Problem Solving and Planning (PP)
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Problem solve intervention
strategies
•
Expand
opportunities and contexts to
practice
Woods, J., Wilcox, M. J., Friedman, M. & Murch, T. (2011). Collaborative consultation in natural environments: Strategies to enhance family centered supports and
services. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
Used with permission, J. Woods

Reflection and Review (RR)
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Promote caregiver reflection
on what occurred and how it is
working
•
Review session and plans for
next steps
Woods, J., Wilcox, M. J., Friedman, M. & Murch, T. (2011). Collaborative consultation in natural environments: Strategies to enhance family centered supports and
services. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
Used with permission, J. Woods

Encourages others to share their ideas, insights,
successes, and impressions
• Intentional
• Purposeful
• Systematic
• Integrated
Feedback - Reflection
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Image from Pixabay.com, CC0

• Start with a joint reference
• Comment on strengths
• Take turns leading
• Share perceptions
• Compare perspectives
• Clarify points of agreement and topics for further
observation or discussion
Reflecting Collaboratively
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• Active participation in the information sharing and decision
making process increases participation, ownership and
independence (SS)
• Systematic reciprocal teaching and learning with repetition in a
variety of contexts promotes competence and generalization
(OO)
• Learning is sequential and situational supported by theoretical
&/or personal frameworks (PP)
• Clear, measurable and value driven indicators increase
consistency of performance when reviewed and discussed (RR)
Big Messages for Caregivers and EI
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Connect with MFLN Family Development Online!
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Through the Early Intervention Training Program at the University of Illinois, providers in
Illinois can receive 1.5 hours of Early Intervention credit.
Several states other than Illinois have already agreed to recognize CE units from this
webinar. They are: Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas,
Virginia, and service coordinators in Washington.
Additionally, providers in Utah can receive PD hours towards credential renewal and
Michigan is offering 1 SCECH for this webinar.
All participants may receive a certificate of completion from this webinar after completing
an evaluation and post-test. This certificate can sometimes be used to apply for CE
credits with your credentialing body if you are not an Illinois provider.
Links and further information will be available at the end of today’s presentation
Evaluation and CE Credit
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Webinar participants who want to receive a certificate of continuing
education (or just want proof of participation in the training) need to take
this post-test AND evaluation:
https://vte.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8k00Ds1LmRcfAix
CE certificates of completion will be automatically emailed to participants
upon completion of the post-test & evaluation.
§Questions/concerns surrounding CE credit certificates can be
emailed to this address: MFLNFDEarlyIntervention@gmail.com
§Sometimes state/professional licensure boards recognize CE credits
from other states. However, it is necessary to check with your state
and/or professional boards if you need CE credits for your field.
CE Credit Information
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For more information on MFLN FD Early Intervention go to:
https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org/family-development/
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militaryfamilies.extension.org/webinars
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