Shana J. Haines

Foundations for Self-Determination in Early Childhood: An Inclusive Model for Children With Disabilities

This article introduces the Early Childhood Foundations Model for Self-Determination and provides a rationale for the need to consider the foundations of self-determination behavior that begin early in life. This model is based on the premise that young children with disabilities benefit from a collaborative partnership between important adults in the lives of children to provide a supportive, stimulating, and coordinated environment between inclusive classrooms and home settings. Within partnership, the Foundations Model establishes the proposition that the basic foundational skills for developing self-determination in later life require young children with disabilities to gain skills in (a) choice-making and problem solving, (b) self-regulation, and (c) engagement. In this position paper, the authors review literature related to these three foundational constructs and present a rationale for use of the Foundations Model as a guide to developing systematic interventions to start young students with disabilities on the road to building a foundation for self-determination.

Improving Preservice Teachers' Knowledge and Application of Functional Behavioral Assessments Using Multimedia

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is an empirically supported intervention associated with decreasing problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior. To date, few studies have examined multimedia approaches to FBA training. This paper provides the outcomes of a randomized controlled trial across three university sites and evaluates whether preservice teachers can learn the core features of the FBA process through short multimedia vignettes compared to a traditional method (i.e., in-person lecture with PowerPoint). Based on our previous research, we hypothesized that the multimedia group (n = 97) would outperform the traditional method group (n = 102). Results indicated statistically significant differences in FBA knowledge favoring the students who participated in the multimedia condition, F(1, 198) = 9.61, p = .002, d = 0.45. Findings are discussed along with implications for practice and subsequent research.

Fostering Family–School and Community–School Partnerships in Inclusive Schools: Using Practice as a Guide

Partnerships between school staff, families, and community members are vital for ensuring the success of all students in inclusive schools. This article reports the results of a synthesis of two original studies: one study that examined the perspectives of family members and another study that examined the perspectives of community partners in developing partnerships with school staff at six inclusive knowledge development sites located in five geographic regions within the United States. The current synthesis study analyzes the original studies’ overlapping themes to inform concentrated efforts aimed at strengthening family and community partnerships in inclusive schools. Themes of this synthesis study include positive, inviting, and inclusive school culture; strong administrative leadership driven by a clear vision of inclusion; attributes of trusting partnerships; and opportunities for reciprocal partnerships and involvement. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Services and Supports, Partnership, and Family Quality of Life Focus on Deaf-Blindness

In this, study, the authors examined the moderating effects of partnership on the relationship between services and supports adequacy and family quality of life (FQOL) for families of children with deaf-blindness ages birth to 21. A social-ecological approach enabled examining the impact of disability on the family system. A survey, consisting of four measures, was completed by 227 parents of children with deaf-blindness. Results suggest that FQOL for families of children with deaf-blindness is explained, in part, by satisfaction with the adequacy of friend and family supports and child-care services. Satisfaction with partnership also significantly predicted FQOL for these families. Significant interaction effects indicated that the relationships (a) between education services adequacy and FQOL and (b) between related services adequacy and FQOL are dependent on satisfaction with partnership. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Fostering Habib’s Engagement and Self-Regulation A Case Study of a Child From a Refugee Family at Home and Preschool

Developing children’s self-regulation and engagement skills are primary goals of early childhood education. These skills are fostered in both home and preschool environments and can lead to improved educational outcomes. This qualitative case study investigated how a refugee family and Head Start teachers fostered the self-regulation and engagement skills of a 4-year-old boy at risk for disability. It found that adult expectations and practices related to protection, intervention, and affective response in his home environment differed greatly from those in his Head Start environment. His skills steadily improved in both settings during the 4-month study’s duration. Implications include using a framework of the three domains—protection, intervention, and affective response—to guide future research.

A Never Ending Journey Inclusive Education Is a Principle of Practice, Not an End Game

A team from Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT), a federally funded technical assistance project focused on creating cascading, aligned systems for inclusive education, conducted a series of focus groups and interviews with school administrators, general and special educators, and related service providers in six schools across the United States. Six themes merged from the study that highlighted the importance of defining inclusive education as well as building the capacity of people to understand and implement the components of a system of inclusive education. These themes suggest that leadership for inclusive education requires attention to the structures and processes used to signal that inclusive education is an undergirding principle of practice. Equally important is the development of relationships among students, teachers, and families that cement the structures. Networking, planning and organizing, using time and space strategically, and connecting schools with their communities were all aspects of capacity building. In addition, data revealed the importance of paying attention to the context of inclusive education within schools and in their surrounding communities. Further, enthusiastic support from and communication with families emerged as an important theme.

Increasing the Social Skills of a Student With Autism Through a Literacy-Based Behavioral Intervention:

Social skills instruction is as important for many students with disabilities as instruction in core academic subjects. Frequently, students with autism require individualized social skills instruction to experience success in general education settings. Literacy-based behavioral Interventions (LBBIs) are an effective intervention that instructors may use to increase positive social skills among students. This article describes LBBIs, provides step-by-step instructions for creating an LBBI, and describes the benefits of LBBIs.

Performance: A Strategy for Professional Development in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation

The purpose of this article is to propose performance as a creative instructional strategy to convey complex competencies related to understanding and working effectively with families in early childhood education. Performance derives from performance ethnography, which is a qualitative research methodology. Its application to professional development enables students and in-service participants not only to hear the voices of families, but to experience them through performance. This article describes the advantages and disadvantages of performance as an approach to professional development and illustrates the development and application of an example performance. Authors discuss how faculty, researchers, and those responsible for professional development can use performance to bridge the gap between research and practice and to move early childhood educators towards greater family-centered competencies when serving diverse families and children.

Partnership Bound: Using MAPS with Transitioning Students and Families from All Backgrounds.

The McGill Action Planning System (also referred to as Making Action Plans or MAPS) is a supportive, strengths-based process that enables teams to understand each other and work together to support students in achieving their dreams. This process can work very well with all transitioning students with disabilities and their families, including those who are culturally and linguistically diverse (including refugees and immigrants), as it brings together school personnel, community members, and family members who support the student, and each participant can learn from the others. This article explains nine steps required to implement MAPS with families whose children have disabilities.

Picturing Words: Using Photographs and Fiction to Enliven Writing for ELL Students.

This article describes a teacher-research project in which a class of fifth-grade English language learners demonstrated that learning about photography and using it as inspiration for their creative writing authenticated their writing task, helped them bring their outside-school worlds inside school, increased their enthusiasm for writing, and provided opportunities for creative communication. This project was created as an alternative to the school curriculum’s narrow focus on personal narratives and aimed to enliven and increase students’ connections to their writing. Students showed a favorable response and the teacher gained insight into students’ worlds.