Should you have any question regarding this document, please contact Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak at Kristie.B2K@gmail.com.
Suggested citation for PPT: Pretti-Frontczak, K., Grisham-Brown, J., & Zeng, S. (2015). Resources for delivering professional development on blended practices. Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Target Audience
Professional development providers (e.g., faculty members, coaches, trainers, agency directors, graduate students, consultants, administrators, supervisors) and teacher leaders in early intervention, early childhood education, and early childhood special education.
Intended Use
This resource is designed to be incorporated into other PPT training files and/or as a stand alone training on blended practices. This document provides evidence-based information on blended practices and relevant resources. See final slide for terms of use.
Table of Contents (TOC)
Definitions of blended practices (slide 3)
Key principles of blended practices (slides 4-7)
Case Study (slide 8) plus additional handout (pdf)
Development of YEC’s Monograph #16 (slide 9)
“Blending” quotes (slides 10-17)
Resources (slides 17-18)
References (19-22)
Terms of Use (slide 23)
Blended practices can be defined as “the integration of practices that can be used to address the needs of all children in inclusive settings.” Grisham-Brown & Hemmeter, in preparation.
Blended Practices are designed to work for ALL children (i.e., children who are typically developing; children with developmental delays; children who live in poverty; children who are not part of the majority culture; children who speak another language). In other words, the word blended is "bigger" than inclusion that has previously been about children with and without disabilities.
Serving young children has become increasingly more diverse and so there is need to draw from different theories (i.e., Piaget, Vygotsky, Skinner), recommended practices (i.e., National Association of the Education of Young Children, Division of Early Childhood, Association of Childhood International), and disciplines (education, psychology, health, and rehabilitation sciences) to support diverse groups of children.
Moreover, in order to best support children in blended programs, funding from all sources (i.e., education, childcare, Head Start) should be integrated whenever possible to levy resources to best support young children.
Efforts to illustrate a blended approach have been depicted in what has been termed the curriculum framework. Beginning in early 2000, a collaborative writing project culminated in setting the foundation that resulted in elucidation of the basic premises and elements of a curriculum framework (DEC 2007).
Over time, we’ve refined how the curriculum framework “smooths” the boundaries between philosophies, approaches, and practices, culminating in a fully articulated approach to serving children with diverse abilities (Grisham-Brown & Pretti-Frontczak, 2013).
Specifically, we have described the curriculum framework to include four blended elements, including assessment, scope and sequence, activities and instruction, and progress monitoring (see Grisham-Brown, Hemmeter, & Pretti-Frontczak, 2005; Grisham-Brown & Pretti-Frontczak, 2011; Grisham-Brown & Pretti-Frontczak, 2013).
Each of these elements is blended in the sense that teams are encouraged to:
Gather, document, and summarize information about groups and individual children using a wide variety of techniques from pedagogical documentation, which ranges from Reggio Emilia inspired practices to functional behavioral assessments stemming from applied behavior analysis.
Recognize the developmental and learning trajectories that depict the interrelatedness of development, and recognize that all children have needs that can be viewed as tiered or varied (i.e., at any particular time a child may exhibit strengths, may struggle, and may have intensive needs).
Cull from the research, the recommended practices, and professional wisdom that has evolved for intervening and teaching both children with and without identified disabilities and delays.
Analyze and interpret different databases when answering questions about children’s performance in attaining universal or common outcomes, targeted outcomes with which they are struggling, and individual developmental outcomes that undermine their access, participation, and progress.
There are three key principles that underlie blended practices:
Ensure all children, regardless of label, funding, or ability have the opportunities and supports needed to thrive.
Variability of instruction needs to match the variability of early development.
Authentic assessment is the heart of designing and delivering quality early education.
The first principle aims to see the child as a whole, fully integrated, and blended being. Just as we aim to see the child as a whole being, funding streams that the child is eligible to receive need to be fully integrated so that all opportunities and supports are accessible.
The second principle recognizes the need to pull from a variety of traditions and theories when identifying the most effective and efficient way to address a concern and promote a child’s development and learning.
The third principle highlights the link or critical relationships between authentic assessment and the design and delivery of effective instruction.
Case Study: Alice and Miguel (separate handout)
Learn about Alice’s journey as an early interventions and her reflections of how she built her use of evidence based strategies to enhance Miguel’s functional communication skills. The results demonstrate the importance of selecting the appropriate instructional strategy and ensuring that a sufficient number of embedded learning opportunities are provided.
Additional resources in the handout include:
YouTube video where Alicia describes the strategies of ensuring clear and direct communication and identifying observable and measurable child outcomes. Both strategies require a relationship among providers/team members so instruction is delivered with fidelity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDmyKQpBn0E
Young Exceptional Children's Monograph #16 on Blended Practices http://bookstore.dec-sped.org/ in order to learn about additional success stories.
Note from the Editors of Monograph #16:
Blended practices came from our journey and desire to simplify the complexities of instruction. We kept bumping into "yes, but" and "what about" from amazing practitioners, who continued to point out that their world was not simple or linear. Their work frequently had collisions across disciplines and perspectives, which made little sense to us. It seemed so simple. Just do what is right for children…except they had 20 or 25 at a time.
We decided that acknowledging the complexities of meeting the needs of young learners in group settings actually simplified our work. Our work became more about creating logical paths to collaborative outcomes, while showing connections across perspectives.
Our journey then brought us to the development of Monograph 16, where we challenged the field to contribute their work in the area of blended practices - and then to translate their jargon-filled, discipline-specific text into reader-friendly and implementation-accessible articles.
Across the next seven slides, a defining quote, citation, and summary of each of the articles from Young Exceptional Children’s Monograph 16, is provided.
How the article aligns with DEC Recommended Practices is also provided. Download the DEC Recommended Practices: http://www.dec-sped.org/recommendedpractices
The quotes are shared as a means of illustrating how blended practices differ based upon context, goals, and child/family characteristics. Further, the quotes can be used in professional development as part of a contemplative practice activity.
See http://eepurl.com/bo1jez or contact Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak (Kristie.B2K@gmail.com) for more on contemplative practices in early childhood professional development.
Ongoing information regarding Blended Practices (and Monograph #16 in particular) is housed in a number of places:
DEC’s website <http://www.dec-sped.org/monograph16>
B2K Solutions, Ltd.’s website <http://www.b2kcoach.com/books/dec2/>
Pinterest <https://www.pinterest.com/kprettif/blended-practices/
Monograph #16 can be purchased through DEC’s store <http://bookstore.dec-sped.org/product-p/16.htm>
Citation: Campbell, P. H., & Milbourne, S. A. (2014). Together is better: Environmental teaching practices to support all children's learning. Blending practices for all children (Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series No.16). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brief Description of Article: The authors suggest that environmental practices encompass both the structural and social environment. And they may be used alone or blended with instructional practices provided to groups or individual children to promote participation and learning.
Alignment to DEC Recommended Practices:
E2. Practitioners consider Universal Design for Learning principles to create accessible environments.
INS4. Practitioners plan for and provide the level of support, accommodations, and adaptations needed for the child to access, participate, and learn within and across activities and routines.
Citation: Dorsey, E., Danner, N., & Laumann, B. (2014). Adapting lesson plans for preschoolers: Addressing state early learning standards. Blending practices for all children (Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series No.16). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brief Description of Article: This article provides early childhood professionals working in inclusive early childhood environments with a process for adapting lesson plans to meet the individual needs and goals of children while addressing state early learning standards.
Alignment to DEC Recommended Practices:
INS4. Practitioners plan for and provide the level of support, accommodations, and adaptations needed for the child to access, participate, and learn within and across activities and routines.
INS5. Practitioners embed instruction within and across routines, activities, and environments to provide contextually relevant learning opportunities.
Citation: Dinnebeil, L. A., & Mclnerney, W. F. (2014). Blending Practices to support early childhood inclusion : A step-by-step process to guide itinerant early childhood special education services. Blending practices for all children (Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series No.16). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brief Description of the Article: The authors provide an overview of how itinerant early childhood special education teachers can use the 9 core steps to provide high-quality early childhood special education service. Alignment to DEC Recommended Practices:
INS13. Practitioners use coaching or consultation strategies with primary caregivers or other adults to facilitate positive adult-child interactions and instruction intentionally designed to promote child learning and development.
Citation: Barton, E. E., Bishop, C. C., & Snyder, P. (2014). Quality instruction through complete learning trials: blending intentional teaching with embedded instruction. Blending practices for all children (Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series No.16). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brief Description of the Article: The authors describe how to blend intentional teaching and embedded instruction approaches and to provide guidance for practitioners to plan for, implement, and evaluate CLTs during contextually relevant activities, routines, and transitions.
Alignment to DEC Recommended Practices:
INS5. Practitioners embed instruction within and across routines, activities, and environments to provide contextually relevant learning opportunities.
INS6. Practitioners use systematic instructional strategies with fidelity to teach skills and to promote child engagement and learning.
Citation: Grisham-Brown, J., Pretti-Frontczak, K., Bachman, A., Gannon, C., & Mitchell, D. (2014). Delivering individualized instruction during ongoing classroom activities and routines: Three success stories. Blending practices for all children (Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series No.16). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brief Description of the Article: The authors describe two key practices (i.e., identify multiple and varied outcomes and match those outcomes to a full continuum of instructional strategies) associated with a blended approach designed to meet the learning needs of children diverse abilities served in center-based programs.
Alignment to DEC Recommended Practices:
INS3. Practitioners gather and use data to inform decisions about individualized instruction.
INS5. Practitioners embed instruction within and across routines, activities, and environments to provide contextually relevant learning opportunities.
Citation: Catlett, C., Maude, S. P., Nollsch, M., & Simon, S. (2014). From all to each and every: Preparing professionals to support children of diverse abilities. Blending practices for all children (Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series No.16). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brief Description of the Article: The authors highlight how one early childhood associate degree program set out to more effectively prepare future early childhood educators to support young children of diverse abilities in inclusive settings.
Alignment to DEC Recommended Practices:
L9. Leaders develop and implement an evidence-based professional development system or approach that provides practitioners a variety of supports to ensure they have the knowledge and skills needed to implement the DEC Recommended Practices.
L12. Leaders collaborate with stakeholders to collect and use data for program management and continuous program improvement and to examine the effectiveness of services and supports in improving child and family outcomes.
Citation: Kennedy, A. S., & Lees, A. T. (2014). Infant/toddler professional preparation and development using blended practices and tiered supports. Blending practices for all children (Young Exceptional Children Monograph Series No.16). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brief Description of the Article: The authors provide an example of how field-based, birth-to-three teacher preparation can and should provide benefits for both practicing and future teachers.
Alignment to DEC Recommended Practices:
L6. Leaders establish partnerships across levels (state to local) and with their counterparts in other systems and agencies to create coordinated and inclusive systems of services and supports.
L9. Leaders develop and implement an evidence-based professional development system or approach that provides practitioners a variety of supports to ensure they have the knowledge and skills needed to implement the DEC Recommended Practices.
Should you have any question regarding this document, please contact Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak at Kristie.B2K@gmail.com.
Suggested citation for PPT: Pretti-Frontczak, K., Grisham-Brown, J., & Zeng, S. (2015). Resources for delivering professional development on blended practices. Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
