Preschool children today are exhibiting more and more challenging behaviors that many early childhood teachers feel ill equipped to handle. Utilizing proven practices, current research and practical strategies this workshop is essential for all that work in early childhood. To meet the needs of teachers and care providers of preschoolers, this workshop offers a unique staff development opportunity in a one-day interactive, solution-focused workshop that systematically deals with solving challenging behaviors in preschool children.

Objectives
Upon successful completion of the workshop, the participants will:

• Be skilled at solving 85% of minor misbehaviors by using proactive response styles and proven interventions.
• Have a plan to intervene with the other 15% of problem behaviors
• Have an understanding of the continuum of normal preschool behavior
• Be able to recognize and identify potential problem behaviors.
• Have a formula for sorting out  short-term developmental delays, immaturity, and more serious mental health issues.
• Be skilled at determining whether  concerns are fundamentally behavioral, social, or emotional in nature.
• Be prepared to diagnose the impact of the family situation, the children developmental progress, and the domain that is being affected by the behavior.
• Write and implement an effect behavior management plan that addresses prevention, teaching and monitoring.
• Be able to implement hundreds of proven interventions and strategies for working with the challenging behaviors of pre-schoolers.

Outline

• Introduction
  • Workshop format
    • Goals and Objectives
    • Materials
    • Audience Needs Survey
      • Current issues
      • Presenting problems
• Solving Minor Misbehaviors
  • Basic Behavior Management
    • Teacher reactive styles
    • Being Proactive
      • Role Play
      • Roadblocks
• The continuum of childhood development
  • Normal Development of Preschool Children
    • Word pictures of pre-schoolers
    • From Normal to Deviant
  • Problematic behaviors
    • Distinguishing between developmental delays and mental health issues
    • Telltale signs of potential issues
      • Intensity, Duration, Frequency
• Practice Activity
  • Think of a child
    • Write a description
    • Placement on the continuum
    • Other factors
      • Medical conditions
      • Family issues
• Investigating the Questions
  • The Five W’s
  • Case Studies
    • Small group activity
    • Gathering the information
    • Developing a hypothesis
• Developing a Plan
  • Who
    • Advocates and adversaries
    • Selecting a team
  • What
    • Antecedents
    • Behavior
    • Consequences
    • The purpose of behavior
      • How you feel
      • What to do
  • Where
  • When
• Implementing the Plan
  • Strategies for Prevention
    • Environment
    • Routines
    • Communication
  • Teaching new skills
    • Prerequisites
    • Replacement Behaviors
    • Instruction, model, coach
  • Monitoring
    • Data collection
    • When to revisit
    • When to refer
• Practice Activity
  • Rethinking your student
    • Developing a plan
    • Implementation
    • Question
• Closing
  • Question and Answer
  • Learning Log
  • Evaluations

Trainer’s Profile
Kathryn is an internationally recognized presenter, consultant and author with more than 30 years of experience in education.  Her background includes teaching at all levels – preschool through university, behavioural and academic consultation, staff development and strategic planning for schools in working with special needs students.

Kathryn is a published author, consults with more than 100 school districts throughout North America each year as well as the ministry of education in the US. She speaks to more than 150 audiences a year and has trained over 14,000 educators in the last five years.   She has published nine books school professionals, including Successful Strategies for Working with Challenging Elementary School Children, A Smooth Ride: Management for Bus Drivers and Ideas that Work for Students with Sensory Processing Disorders. She is also the commentator on a full length DVD produced by the United States Bureau of Education and Research. She has made several radio and television appearances throughout the United States regarding a variety of current issues in education.

Kathryn has been providing workshops on learning issues for special needs students for over 30 years.  Her expertise of the content area is interwoven with videos, group activities, story telling, humour, and a plethora of practical strategies with hands-on examples.  A skillful educator, Kathryn recognizes that adult learners require a multi-modality approach with real life experiences, opportunities to practice and timely topic

Methodology
Multi-media including videos, role plays, small group work, lecture, slide presentations, individual reflection, case studies, and activity-based instruction.  Humor, reflection, and question-answer are formatted to the unique needs of adult learners.

Target Audience
Preschool teachers, ancillary personnel, administrators, educational assistants, mental health consultants, behavioral and education specialists, coordinators, support staff and parents.

Duration: 1 day, 7 hours

Venue: 51 Cuppage Road #03-00 StarHub Centre Singapore 229469

Closing Date:  27 Aug 04