SUPPORTED
INCLUSION
CITY OF TORONTO | EARLY CHILDHOOD SERVICES TEAM: COMMUNITY LIVING TORONTO | SURREY PLACE CENTRE
CONTEXT STORY
Hamzah at Play Time
Hamzah is a three-year old boy in the preschool room. He usually speaks
in one word phrases. At the end of circle time each child is asked to choose
where he wants to play. When it is Hamzah’s turn he often does not respond
and remains seated.
Does this story about Hamzah at play time sound
familiar to you – perhaps you have a child like
Hamzah in your classroom?
If so, then you’ve actually taken the first step of
identifying a problem behaviour that may be putting a child at risk. In this case, Hamzah’s prob
Supported Inclusion - Context Story
lem behaviour is also interfering with his social,
emotional and intellectual development.
Deciding what to do next may be difficult. Here’s
the 3-step approach we followed in Understanding
and Changing Behaviour.
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Hamzah at Play Time, continued
Step 1:
Decide Where to Start
Let’s take a moment to describe what we see or
hear. Describing the behaviour will help us to be
consistent when gathering information a bit later.
When Hamzah is asked to select an activity or play
area, he does not respond with words or gestures.
If seated or standing he remains in position and
does not move.
We have agreed to directly observe Hamzah’s behaviour and record our results using the ABC Functional Assessment Card. We’ll chart at least six
times before reviewing the information. We will
also use the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS)
by Durand and Crimmins to learn more about the
possible reasons for the behaviour.
We’ll talk with Hamzah’s parents to find out if he
has any difficulty playing, making choices or following directions at home.
Now let’s move on to the next step.
Step 2:
Gather and Analyze
After speaking with Hamzah’s parents, we learned
that he is an only child, and often plays on his own
at home, or with his father. He follows instructions easily and enjoys listening to the radio, and
children’s music.
Hamzah’s parents are very concerned about his language development as Hamzah uses mostly single
words to speak and some gestures. A hearing test
has been scheduled for Hamzah, and he is also on
the waitlist for a speech and language assessment.
We completed the MAS and recorded our observations throughout the week using the ABC Functional Assessment Cards. After analyzing all the
information we collected, here’s what we noticed
about Hamzah’s behaviour:
Supported Inclusion - Context Story
• We see the behaviour each day after circle time,
and rarely at other times during the day.
• Hamzah seems to enjoy circle time as he actively
participates by singing along and doing the actions.
• The activity that follows circle time is free play
time where children get to choose a centre (e.g.,
blocks, dramatic, sand table) to play in.
• We looked at the circle time routine and noticed
that it was not very consistent. It was sometimes
unclear when the routine ended.
• The behaviour follows a verbal request to select
an activity or someone to play with (e.g., teacher
says, “Who do you want to play with?”, or
“Where do you want to play?”)
• The behaviour does not occur when Hamzah is
told to specifically carry out a task or activity.
He is very compliant with following simple one
step directions.
• The consequence to Hamzah’s behaviour was
very consistent and we noticed this pattern:
- A teacher repeats the question 2 to 4 times;
the behaviour continues. When she takes
Hamzah’s hand and leads him to an activity or play area the behaviour stops.
According to our analysis of the information, the
suggested function of Hamzah’s behaviour is to escape the choice making activity that follows circle
time. This is possibly because he does not know
how to respond to it.
Step 3:
Plan for Change
Now it’s time to move onto the next step and plan
for change. Planning for change involves making
the behaviour irrelevant, inefficient and finally ineffective.
Making the Behaviour Irrelevant
We can make the behaviour irrelevant by preventing or controlling the things in the environment that
happen before the behaviour.
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Hamzah at Play Time, continued
Let’s take a look at some ways to prevent the
behaviour from happening by adapting routines,
using visuals, making changes to the environment,
and modifying teaching methods.
Routines
We can make a few changes to the circle time
routine to help Hamzah understand when to
transition to the next activity. Just like we
have a “welcome “song at the beginning of
circle time, we’ll also use a “goodbye” song
to let everyone, including Hamzah, know that
this activity is over.
Using Visuals
We can also make a visual schedule with
pictures that shows the activities happening
that day, the sequence of events, and when it is
time to stop one activity and start another.
Environment
Since Hamzah is very interested in music, we
are going to add objects that have a musical
element to some of the learning centres around
the room. For example, we’ll place a toy
radio/tape recorder to the dramatic area, and
collect some audio books to create a listening
centre.
Modify Teaching Methods
After reviewing our observations, we realized
that we can change the way we give instructions or directions. We can get down to the
child’s level, make eye contact, and simplify
our speech. Instead of saying “where do you
want to play?” we can say “want blocks or
tape recorder?” Using pictures of these objects
will also help Hamzah understand what we are
saying. To start, we’ll present Hamzah with a
choice between real objects.
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Making the Behaviour Inefficient
To make behaviour inefficient, we might choose
to teach specific adaptive, educational and social
behaviours. By teaching these types of behaviours,
we eliminate the need for the problem behaviour.
At other times, we may teach an alternative behaviour. An alternative behaviour serves the same
function as the behaviour being replaced but is seen
to be more appropriate by other children, adults
and the general public. To be successful, it requires
equal or less physical effort and complexity but
results in the same type of pay-off for the child.
Remember how we observed that Hamzah engaged
in problem behaviour following circle time. We’re
going to teach Hamzah how to make a choice by
using concrete objects and eventually with picture
symbols. This will also help to expand Hamzah’s
play skills, and build on his expressive language
skills.
For specific details on the strategies and other
teaching techniques we used to teach Hamzah to
“make a choice” visit our “Teaching New Skills”
section.
Making the Behaviour Ineffective
The last step is to make problem behaviour ineffective, meaning that it no longer works for the child.
We know that problem behaviour often increases
before it decreases when implementing changes.
The key is to be consistent with our plan.
Everyone on the teaching team will be sure to use
the objects that represent the various learning centres to help Hamzah select an area to play in (e.g.,
blocks, playdough container, crayon, book). We
will also be sure to help Hamzah follow through
with the choice by walking him to the selected
learning centre and praise him for choosing an
activity.
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Hamzah at Play Time, continued
Next we need to look at changing the behaviour in
every environment in which Hamzah finds himself.
We will talk with Hamzah’s parents about using
the same strategies at home. Our partnership with
parents is the key to success!
If the problem behaviour persists then we will have
to re-assess but it is important for us to give our
plan time to work. Be patient! Some behaviours
can take a couple of weeks to change.
For more information:
•Visit our two-part series workshop on Understanding and Changing Behaviour - Why does he do that? and
Planning for Change.
•Learn more about the assessment tools we used like the ABC Functional Assessment Card and the Motivation
Assessment Scale.
•Find out we taught Hamzah to Make a Choice.
•Take a look at the Creating a Behaviour Support Plan Tip Sheet to help you develop and keep track of your
plan for dealing with problem behaviour.
•Read more about Using Visuals in your classroom or make your own choice boards, daily schedules, and classroom labels by visiting the VisuaLS ENGINE.
•Take a look at the Communication Posters for tips on modifying the way you talk to a child to help
him better understand and respond
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