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PLAYING TOGETHER— INCLUSIVE SOCIAL INTERACTIONS Issue 4 • Season 3: Inclusion2 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social Interactions Creator: Gail Joseph Managing Editor: Jessica Egbert Authors: Angela Notari- Syverson, Gail Joseph, May-Ling Joa Contributing Author: Susan Sandall Designer: Ceci Skolrud Circle Time Magazine Season 3 - Issue 4, 2020 For questions or comments contact ctmag@uw.edu This document was prepared with support from the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF). For more resources on this topic, and to watch the Circle Time Magazine professional development talk show series, visit: Notes to Educators Highlights and Key Ideas What to Know Equity Matters Partnering with Families Let’s Modify It! Try It Out Playing Together—Inclusive Social Interactions It’s All About You 3 4 5 8 10 11 13 15 16 Contents 3 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social Interactions Welcome to Season 3, Issue 4 of Circle Time Magazine. In this issue, you’ll delve into more about social inclusion in early care and education. Social inclusion refers to access to, and participation in, environments and interactions that foster children’s prosocial skills, positive relationships with others—particularly with peers—and development of friendships. The skills and behaviors that are needed to form positive relationships with peers and establish friendships are numerous. These skills are also somewhat subtle. All of us have mis-read social cues or stumbled in a social situation. Young children tend to learn social skills by trial and error, by watching others, and, for most children, through their own motivation to be social. But, there are plenty of stumbles along the way. And, children with disabilities and other special needs are likely to be delayed in their social skills and to have extra challenges in learning the nuances of successful social interactions. At the same time, prosocial skills and peer relationships are predictive of better school and life outcomes. We have to live in and negotiate a social world— even in preschool. Notes to Educators Our early care and education settings are organized around a variety of social experiences, such as circle time, small groups, free choice time. Being in a group and being around others offer lots of opportunities for learning across curricular domains. These learning opportunities are readily available to children who already have the social skills for group participation. Other children will need to learn the skills to participate in a group. What are these social skills? As a young and relatively inexperienced early childhood education teacher, I remember being challenged by free choice time and playground time. This was play time. Why did some children have so much difficulty with play? Well, children have to learn to play. They have to learn to take turns and share. They have to learn to solve social problems. And, there are even more skills, such as entering into play situations, organizing play, offering assistance, using each other’s names, sustaining play by taking several turns, showing affection, giving compliments, and just being friendly. Such social skills can be complex. For example, just getting someone to play with you requires lots of steps: getting the person’s attention, inviting the By Susan R. Sandall person to play, acknowledging their choice, getting started with play, taking turns, and ending the play. You can probably think of other steps. Social skills are complex and need to be adapted to a variety of social situations and with a variety of social partners. Since my early days as a preschool teacher, much research has focused on social inclusion and what it takes to help children learn these important skills. We need to create lots of opportunities for learning. We also should individualize and provide the right amount of support and assistance an individual child needs to gain and master important social skills. For children with disabilities, this may mean breaking down complex skills and situations (such as participation during free choice time) into all its component skills, teaching the component skills and then providing useful feedback, as well as practice opportunities. While you read this issue, think about what you already do to promote children’s acquisition of social skills and peer relationships. And discover some new ideas for teaching children who struggle in social situations—so that you can help them flourish! “...Prosocial skills and peer relationships are predictive of better school and life outcomes. We have to live in and negotiate a social world—even in preschool.”4 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social Interactions Playing Together—Inclusive Social Interactions Friendships between children of different abilities have many benefits. They increase a child’s acceptance of human diversity and help children develop empathy and compassion. Putting children together in the same room is not enough for all children to learn how to interact with each other and develop friendships. In high-quality learning environments, educators model and teach children prosocial skills and positive social interactions. Social inclusion or engagement in play and daily activities takes planning and intentional use of teaching practices. Educators can use a variety of educational practices to provide additional support when a child needs help to interact with a peer. • Educators can modify activities and materials to make it easier for a child to work or play collaboratively with a peer, or provide visual reminders of ways to initiate interaction with a peer. • Educators can also use a friendly and willing peer to help a child participate in a social interaction. • Educators can embed frequent opportunities to teach a specific communication or social interaction skill within daily activities and routines. • Educators can plan lessons to teach specific prosocial skills. They can use puppets to demonstrate empathy, comforting and offering help. They can have children role play and practice inviting a peer to play, asking for a toy or communicating using alternative means such as signs or picture boards. It’s important to plan ahead. An activity matrix can be a useful tool for educators to think about the specific skills to teach a child, the best time during the day to teach, and which teaching practices they might use. Highlights and Key IdeasA caring community of learners refers to learning environments in which children and educators engage in warm, positive relationships, treat each other with respect, and learn from— and with—each other. Here, every child is viewed as a valued member of the community. Caring refers to a set of prosocial skills that include behaviors such as being helpful, respectful, kind, thoughtful, understanding, and comforting—as well as more complex behaviors such as cooperation, generosity, and empathy. Children learn caring behaviors gradually over time from adults who model and encourage these behaviors. These prosocial skills can be complex and becoming socially skilled requires foundational Social Emotional Learning (SEL) like emotional literacy and regulation. Viewing the child through this SEL lens can help you know what a child might need to work on in order to better develop prosocial skills. Children need prosocial skills in order to fully participate in the many group activities that take place daily in early learning environments. Many children with disabilities may struggle in social situations and require individualized support from adults to learn the skills they need to interact positively with others. Educators can teach children important social skills such as: • How to ask a peer for a toy using polite language. • Inviting a child to play by saying, “Let’s play!” or suggesting something specific to do. • Offering help to a peer who is struggling with a task. • Consoling a peer in distress by asking if the peer is OK or offering a hug or cuddly toy. In this issue you’ll find ideas of ways to promote SEL in young children. We will focus specifically on applying curriculum modifications and individualized supports to help a child communicate and interact positively with peers. Social Inclusion: A Tiered Approach In successful inclusive environments, educators are able to provide every child with the amount of support the child needs to fully participate and learn. To help educators provide just the right amount of support for a child, we use a tiered approach with four levels, or tiers, of support. Educators can use a variety of educational practices to help children who need additional support for interacting positively with their peers—such as simple modifications of materials and activities; using peers to help a child learn a skill; embedding frequent teaching opportunities within activities and routines; and more specially designed, child-focused instruction. 5 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social Interactions What to Know A Caring, Inclusive CommunityCurriculum Modifications Social inclusion in a caring community means that educators watch children carefully throughout the day to ensure that every child engages in positive interactions with peers. If a child needs more help to approach, join, and engage in back- and-forth interactions with a peer, educators can provide adult support or make simple modifications to activities and materials. Here are some modifications educators can make to increase social interactions with peers. • Have “small group learning” times throughout the day and keep the same children assigned to the same tables over several weeks. This allows a child with special needs to only have to get to know five other children at their table vs. a random assortment each day. This creates more community and increases the likelihood that the children will play with each other during less structured times. • Provide social-use toys that require more than one child to operate. • Plan special activities that require collaboration, such as collective art projects, large floor puzzles, or a big block construction. Assign roles so that children must interact in order to request and share materials. For example, a child can be in charge of handing out crayons or scissors during an art project. • Use visual supports of prosocial behaviors to remind a child of ways to begin a conversation, ask to join a group play activity, show empathy, or give comfort. • Work with socially competent and willing children to teach skills that support participation and inclusion of other peers. Embedded Learning Opportunities (ELOs) Embedded learning opportunities (ELOs) are short teaching episodes within ongoing daily activities and routines. These short teaching episodes offer additional support for a few children who may need more structured and frequent opportunities to practice a skill. This approach is well-suited for facilitating social interaction and communication skills, as opportunities for interaction and communication occur often and naturally throughout the day. Small group is an ideal time to encourage children to interact with each other on collaborative art projects, large puzzles, or board games. During transitions, children can clean up in pairs and move from one area to another, holding hands with a peer. Outdoor equipment and toys, such as swings, wagons, rocking boats, and games with balls, invite children to get close and interact. Planning ELOs: What, When, and How Educators plan the implementation of ELOs using the following steps: What. Identify what specific social interaction or communication skill a child needs to learn. Break down broader skills into smaller steps that are easier to teach. When. Plan when to teach. Use an activity matrix to examine your daily schedule of activities and routines. Look for activities and routines that best match a child’s learning objective—such as snack for requesting an item, circle time for responding to a request, or dramatic play for initiating an interaction with a peer. How. Develop a plan for the teaching episode. A teaching episode includes: • What the educator says or does to encourage the child to practice the targeted learning goal. • What the child says or does. • How the educator responds. Educators can use a variety of strategies, including curriculum modifications, to encourage a child to interact and communicate with an adult or a peer. Here are some examples of ways to create situations that “nudge” a child to ask for help, or to provide a response. • Place favorite materials in sight but out of reach. • Provide materials that require help. • Act in a novel or unexpected way (e.g., start circle time sitting backwards). • Offer choices of activities or materials and wait for a child to respond. • Pause during an interaction or activity and use an expectant look to invite a child to initiate an action or communication. What When How What are you going to teach? When is the best time to teach? How will you teach and what strategies will you use? Plan 6 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social InteractionsTip: How do you know when a child needs additional support? Use the Head Start Center for Inclusion Child Assessment Worksheet: http://headstartinclusion.org/pins to identify how well a child is participating and meeting expectations for activities and routines throughout the day. Teach-Assess-Adjust Remember to use a cyclical teach-assess-adjust process to keep track of how well a child is learning. Watch carefully for how the child responds to a teaching strategy and adjust the level or type of individualized support you provide, as needed. Let’s look at some examples of educators helping children engage in social interactions with peers. Playing with a Friend “Oh, look, Elise! Santiago opened the box,” exclaimed teacher Cornelia. “Thank you, Santiago!” Twelve-month-old Elise squealed with delight and reached into the box for a rattle. A few weeks ago, Elise’s mother had expressed a concern that her daughter didn’t seem to show much interest in playing with other children. Cornelia had also noticed that Elise played mostly alone, unlike other infants who played happily alongside each other. Cornelia then made a point of joining Elise in her play, and inviting Santiago, a friendly 11-month-old, to come along. She began with talking about what each child was doing, to help them build awareness of each other. Then gradually Cornelia introduced toys that both children could use at the same time. Elise now was quite comfortable playing with Santiago and had also started watching other children, and even imitating their sounds. Responding to Peers Miles showed the notes he had made on 2-year-old Mateo’s social and emotional skills to itinerant, early-interventionist Lena. Mateo would not respond to other children’s requests. Miles and Lena both agreed that Mateo needed more frequent opportunities to practice his learning goal of responding to a peer. They strategized by consulting an activity matrix to find times of the day when Miles would focus on encouraging Mateo to respond to peer interactions. These included being the “circle time helper” by handing out the musical instruments and other props to the children while standing in front of them with a basket, waiting for them to ask please, and then giving them an instrument or a prop. Miles also included Mateo as a snack helper and followed the same steps. Because there were seven other toddlers at circle time, and three others sitting at the snack table, Mateo received over ten practice opportunities a day. Engineering Social Skills Alex loves trains. During preschool he loves to read about them, play with them, and watch them on videos. Alex’s teacher Kayla, however, noted that Alex almost never played with other children, or even in areas of the classroom where other children were. He had a learning goal to interact with peers, and so far this week, Kayla watched Alex and noted zero interactions with peers over three days during free choice time. Kayla decided to build on Alex’s love of trains, and turned the dramatic play area into a train station. Alex rushed over to the “ticket counter” and, with a little bit of modeling from other children, he started “selling tickets” to children in line. Each transaction required that Alex greet the peer, ask how many tickets they wanted, and to provide the tickets and say thank you. Kayla noted that Alex had interactions with six peers in one free choice time. She is continuing to think of ways to build on his strengths to embed social interaction opportunities. In these vignettes we saw examples of how educators use a variety of strategies to promote social skills. Cornelia provided adult support and selected materials to encourage Elise to interact with Santiago. Miles planned to embed frequent opportunities for Mateo to practice responding to a peer, and Kayla got Alex to interact with peers during dramatic play. Adjust Teach Assess Plan 7 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social InteractionsThe Individual with Disabiities Education Act (IDEA) is rooted in, and intended to provide, equal rights for children with disabilities. In education, equity means that each child receives the support and resources they need to be successful. In inclusive environments, educators value the full range of children’s abilities and minimize all barriers to children’s participation in play and learning activities with their peers. 8 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social Interactions Inclusion as an Equity Move Equity Move: Empowerment and advocacy—working collaboratively to increase access and participation As children learn to value and embrace difference and diversity, educators can teach children ways to help a peer feel fully included in their learning community. These can include teaching children simple, prosocial skills that promote friendships—such as offering a cuddly toy to comfort someone who is sad, inviting a child who seems lonely to play, or even speaking up if someone is being treated unfairly. Here are some ideas. Equity Matters Morning Circle: Sing children’s songs about caring, friendships, peace, and justice. Read books about friendships and caring. Use puppets to model friendship skills such as comforting, sharing, encouraging, helping, and defending peace and fairness. D isplay pictures of children interacting and playing together. Take your own photos of children interacting together during the day. Post examples of children’s work created during collaborative art or science projects. Create a “friendship wall” with visuals and reminders of ways children can interact with each other in positive ways.9 Season 3: InclusionPlaying Together—Inclusive Social Interactions Books! Select books that help children learn what it means to be part of an inclusive and caring community. Look for stories about friendships, especially between children with and without disabilities. Talk about how children enjoy doing many things together, sharing and helping each other out. Friends at School By Rochelle Bunnett In this photograph-illustrated book, children with diverse abilities are shown playing and working together in an inclusive classroom. Tip: Read a book with a small group of 2 or 3 children. Encourage children to interact with each other. Have them take turns “reading” a page to one another. Invite each child to make a comment to the group or ask another child a question about the pictures. Take pictures of children doing various things in your own early learning program and make your own version of the book “Friends at School” to read. Comments Ellie and Molly take turns to play with the puppets. There are many ways to tell stories. Nikko, Ellie, and Dash are reading a story in a book. Molly likes to make up her own story. These friends are helping each other make puzzles. Open-ended Questions These friends talk quietly together. What do you talk about with your friend? What do you see in the water tub? What’s your favorite thing to do with a friend? Novel Words Friends Tortoise Terrarium Whale Blubber Squeeze Splash Fast/slow Scoop Fence Talk About It Next >