Teacher Consultant Study Two-Classroom Countdown

 Now that I had a program for teachers that were too punitive, It was time to work with teachers who were too permissive.  I had used a "time timer" with multiple teachers successfully.  The teachers would decide how much time was needed for the didactic part of the lesson before a more laid back part of the lesson began.  They set a large clock like timer at the front of the room for the set "quiet listening and attending" time that must be followed. Each time the class is disruptive, the teacher moves the timer back a minute.  If the students have any time left at the end of the period, they are able to spend the remaining time as free time, get to do a class activity, or earn a small reward.  Teachers do not use this technique all day, just during the most important or most disrupted periods.  

I wanted to automate the system. I began to look online for a noise monitor with a timer that would stop and start with the level of noise.  It would run for a predetermined time and record what time was still available at the end of the period.  The timer would need to be adjustable for each classroom.  I spend much time digging but could not find just the right program.  Then I discovered the Zero Noise Classroom (ZNC).

The Zero Noise Classroom met most of my needs but not all. I contacted the developer (Manuel Llorens), a lovely high school teacher in Spain.  He reworked the app so that it was both a stopwatch and a noise monitor.  

I worked with a kindergarten teacher the winter before the pandemic to use the ZNC during her ELA period. Students were to be working independently on paper, pencil tasks. The teacher cued up ZNC on her smartboard for 15-20 minutes. As long as the students had at least 50% of the minutes left on the timer, they earned reward time (such as playing with slime) or a small reward (candy, stickers).  Immediately upon starting the intervention, it was possible for the teacher to work with individual students without yelling to be heard above the noise.  There were actually moments of quiet.  Unfortunately the pandemic recess began two weeks into the intervention, so there was not enough data for publication.  I would consider starting the intervention again this year, but I am teaching at a local university in addition to my day job, so I think my plate is full enough. I also doubt my principal would be excited about having an extra person in the building during COVID.  

Master catelogue of resources

 There are many resources available in this blog. This page contains resources or what posting they can be found under.

1. Intervention Ideas Generation Resources: a wealth of websites and books to peruse to gather ideas or instructional activities in all academic areas as well as behaviors. This resource is updated regularly so come back for new resources.    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F22zF6m9XGCdV5CUGy0JZGtY2vnM21qQ/view?usp=sharing

Teacher Consultant Study One- The Positive Plus Program

My most fun, even more fun than data teams, is teacher consultation. Teacher consultation is when I go into a room of chaos and help create order by helping the teacher to use new systems to manage their classrooms.  I do this using many systems, both by using published systems such as Tough Kids, but more often using systems of my own devising’s. Systems of my own devising are of course based on research-based theories such as the use of praise and positive reinforcement, or the use of self-management and visual supports. Because I am so passionate about consultation, I want to share my work with the world.  So, I have had one of my systems published in a peer-reviewed journal and am beginning my work on my next study.

My first study, The Positive Plus Program: Affirmative Classroom Management was published in 2018 in the journal Behavioral Interventions. It is available with open access on Research Gate. It describes the Positive Plus Program (3P), a system that dramatically increases the use of Behavior Specific Praise and positive reinforcement.  I love the program, but I admit it has drawbacks, it is labor-intensive and not for use in classrooms that are already heavily using praise and positive reinforcement to attempt to manage behavior.  It is more effective in classrooms where the teacher is more likely to reprimand than praise.  If you are interested in seeing the curriculum for the Positive Plus Program follow this link to my Teachers Pay Teachers site. Positive Partnerships NCSP.  Now that study one has been accomplished, it is time to initiate the study on my other most often used intervention Classroom Countdown.

Autism-Early Childhood (through adulthood) screening and identification resources

I  was asked to be part of a team that was developing a culturally responsive Autism screener to be used in Ethiopia a year or two back. The project fizzled with COVID-19, but I did find many resources that can be used to screen youngsters for Autism, with an eye on cultural responsiveness.  Below is a summary of what I found, along with the old standards in Autism Diagnostic assessment tools. Enjoy!

Interviews

The Routines-Based Interview (RBI) is a semi-structured clinical interview designed to help families decide on outcomes/goals for their individualized plans, to provide a rich and thick description of child and family functioning, and to establish an immediately positive relationship between the family and the professional. Ideally, interviewers are trained to conduct the RBI. On the other hand, with the use of this protocol, a professional who is knowledgeable about child development, knowledgeable about child and family functioning, and who has good interview skills should be able to conduct a successful RBI. Useful at all ages, but especially 0-5 years. (FREE) 

Uses domains of YCDD: Physical, Cognitive, Communication. Social/ Emotional,  Adaptive. Routine Based Interview form can be found at: https://blogs.illinois.edu/files/6150/364271/88801.pdf  Directions/ Routine Based Interview Protocol be found at: https://inclusioninstitute.fpg.unc.edu/sites/inclusioninstitute.fpg.unc.edu/files/handouts/McWilliam%20-%20Protocol%20for%20RBI.pdf

Screeners

Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT-R/F)  https://mchatscreen.com The M-CHAT-R can be administered and scored as part of a well-child care visit, and also can be used by specialists or other professionals to assess risk for ASD. The primary goal of the M-CHAT-R is to maximize sensitivity, meaning to detect as many cases of ASD as possible. Therefore, there is a high false-positive rate, meaning that not all children who score at risk will be diagnosed with ASD. To address this, we have developed the Follow-Up questions (M-CHAT-R/F). Users should be aware that even with the Follow-Up, a significant number of the children who screen positive on the M-CHAT-R will not be diagnosed with ASD; however, these children are at high risk for other developmental disorders or delays, and therefore, evaluation is warranted for any child who screens positive. The M-CHAT-R can be scored in less than two minutes. Scoring instructions can be downloaded from http://www.mchatscreen.com. Associated documents will be available for download as well.http://www.mchatscreen.com. Available in 46 languages. How cool is that! (Ages 16-30 months). (FREE) 

Ages and Stages Questionaire-3 (ASQ-3) https://agesandstages.com/about-asq/

ASQ-3 is not an autism screener. However, ASQ-3 reliably picks up delays associated with autism and identifies children who should receive further evaluation. Questions on behavior and communication in the Overall section also elicit parent concerns that may point to autism. Children with autism were included in the normative sample for ASQ-3. (Ages birth-6 years)

Pervasive Developmental Disorders Screening Test-II (PDDST-II)  https://www.med.uvm.edu/vtlend/pddstii. The PDDST-II is a parental-report Autism screening tool developed to serve as a practical piece of early childhood developmental screenings. There are three different varieties of forms, depending on the screening setting, which take less than 15 minutes to complete and less than 5 minutes to score. (Ages 12-48 mos)

Progress Monitoring

Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC)  https://www.autism.org/autism-treatment-evaluation-checklist/  The ATEC is a one-page form designed to be completed by parents, teachers, or caretakers. It consists of 4 subtests: I. Speech/Language Communication (14 items); II. Sociability (20 items); III. Sensory/ Cognitive Awareness (18 items); and IV. Health/Physical/Behavior (25 items).  The ATEC is not a diagnostic checklist. It basically provides several subscale scores as well as a total score to be used for comparison at a later date. Basically, the lower the score, the fewer the problems. Available in 26 languages! (Ages 2+)

Diagnostic Rating Scales

GARS (Ages 3- 22)  The Gilliam Autism Rating Scale, Third Edition (GARS-3) 

• clinicians identify autism, assess its severity, and determine the appropriate intervention. 
• Items in the third edition of this widely used test reflect criteria for diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) found in the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).

ASRS (Ages 2-18)  The Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS™) provides the first nationally standardized, norm-referenced ASD Rating Scale. This multi-informant measure helps identify symptoms, behaviors, and associated features of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in children and adolescents. 

Diagnostic Assessments

Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADIR) https://www.wpspublish.com/adi-r-autism-diagnostic-interviewrevised (Ages: mental age above 2.0 years) 

• Useful for diagnosing autism, planning treatment, and distinguishing autism from other developmental disorders. 
• Along with the ADOS-2 considered to be the "Gold Standard" in identifying Autism Spectrum Disorders. 
• Available in 17 languages!  including English, Danish, French,  Hungarian, Japanese, Russian & Spanish.
• Provides categorical results for three domains: Language/Communication, Reciprocal Social Interactions, and Repetitive Behaviors/Interests.  
• Standardized interview and response coding, Administration time: 90-150 minutes, including scoring

Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule- Second Edition (ADOS-2) https://www.wpspublish.com/ados-2-autism-diagnostic-observation-schedule-second-edition Age range: 1 year and up)   Administration time: 40 to 60 minutes.

The ADOS-2 accurately assesses and diagnoses autism spectrum disorders across age, developmental level, and language skills.

The ADOS-2 is a semi-structured, standardized assessment of:

• Communication
• Social interaction
• Play
• Restricted and repetitive behaviors

The assessment presents various activities that elicit behaviors directly related to a diagnosis of ASD.  By observing and coding these behaviors, you can obtain information that informs diagnosis, treatment planning, and educational placement.

Childhood Autism Ratings Scale, Second Edition (CARS-2) https://www.wpspublish.com/cars-2-childhood-autism-rating-scale-second-edition (Ages 2 and up)

• Helps to identify children with autism and determine symptom severity through quantifiable ratings based on direct observation. Also available in Bulgarian and Italian
• Cutoff scores, standard scores, and percentiles
• Two 15-item rating scales completed by the clinician (each designed for a different population, based on level of cognitive functioning); and an unscored parent/caregiver questionnaire.
• Administration time: 10 minutes (after the information needed to make the ratings has been conducted [which can be lengthy])

Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS)  https://brookespublishing.com/product/csbs/  

• CSBS consists of 22 communication and symbolic rating scales grouped into seven “clusters”: communicative functions, gestural communicative means, vocal communicative means, verbal communicative means, reciprocity, social-affective signaling, and symbolic behavior. 
• AGE RANGE  CSBS is used with infants and toddlers whose functional communication age is between 6 and 24 months and for children up to 72 months who exhibit atypical development. 
• COMPLETED BY  Caregivers and professionals trained to assess young children (e.g., speech-language pathologists, early interventionists, or psychologists); professionals score.  
• TIME COMMITMENT  Approximately 50–75 minutes for child assessment; 60–75 minutes for in-depth scoring

Summative Glyphs- A picture is worth a thousand words

At the end of the year, it is time for our annual Summative Glyph. What is a Summative Glyph you may ask? A Summative Glyph is a visual manner of taking quantitative group data by having each member of a group color a picture according to a rubric. We always color a summer scene in anticipation of the break. 

For example, one question may give the following directions:

Progress Monitoring

Draw a pink bow on the sun if progress monitoring is a natural part of your week and you easily measure each student every week.

Draw a light blue hat on the sun if progress monitoring is can be hard to fit in some weeks but you almost always get it done in the end.

Draw an orange mustache on the sun if it is a challenge to find the time to progress monitor every week but you get it done most of the time.

Draw red dimples on the sun if progress monitoring is a hardship and you don't know how to fit it into your weekly schedule so that it gets done most weeks.

In the end, we add up how many items were colored under each instruction to gather the “group think”  then we use that information for planning for the next year.  

The full set of glyph questions and coloring sheet can be found below.  I encourage you to try it out and let me know what you think of this non-threatening form of data collection in all sorts of situations, not just data team.   Students love these activities as well!

Data team evaluation glyph

Progress Monitoring

Draw a pink bow on the sun if progress monitoring is a natural part of your week and you easily measure each student every week.

Draw a light blue hat on the sun if progress monitoring is can be hard to fit in some weeks but you almost always get it done in the end.

Draw an orange mustache on the sun if it is a challenge to find the time to progress monitor every week but you get it done most of the time.

Draw red dimples on the sun if progress monitoring is a hardship and you don't know how to fit it into your weekly schedule so that it gets done most weeks.

Literacy Interventions

Color the top ribbon of the rainbow red if you feel you have access to a wide variety of quality literacy interventions.

Color the top ribbon of the rainbow orange if you feel you have access to some quality literacy interventions.

Color the top ribbon of the rainbow green if you feel you have access to minimal quality literacy interventions.

Color the top ribbon of the rainbow blue if you feel you have access to no quality literacy interventions.

Math Interventions

Color the middle ribbon of the rainbow red if you feel you have access to a wide variety of quality math interventions.

Color the middle ribbon of the rainbow orange if you feel you have access to some quality math interventions.

Color the middle ribbon of the rainbow green if you feel you have access to minimal quality math interventions.

Color the middle ribbon of the rainbow blue if you feel you have access to no quality math interventions.

Reading Interventions

Color the bottom ribbon of the rainbow red if you feel you have access to a wide variety of quality behavior interventions.

Color the bottom ribbon of the rainbow orange if you feel you have access to some quality behavior interventions.

Color the bottom ribbon of the rainbow green if you feel you have access to minimal quality behavior interventions.

Color the bottom ribbon of the rainbow blue if you feel you have access to no quality behavior interventions.

Data Discussion

Color the cloud purple if we spend enough time discussing student data during data team.

Color the cloud yellow if we do not spend enough time discussing student data during data team.

Color the cloud pink if we spend too munch time discussing student data during data team.

Student Outcome

Color the sunglasses black if you feel your students have benefited substantially from your participation in data team this year.

Color the sunglasses gray if you feel your students have benefited moderately from your participation in data team this year.

Color the sunglasses orange if you feel your students have benefited minimally from your participation in data team this year.

Color the sunglasses blue if you feel your students have not benefited from your participation in data team this year.

Teacher Outcome

Color the butterfly light green if you have benefited substantially from your participation in data team this year.

Color the butterfly yellow if you feel you have benefited moderately from your participation in data team this year

Color the butterfly pink if you feel you have benefited minimally from your participation in data team this year

Color the butterfly purple if you feel data team is not a productive use of your time. 

How I prepare for data team

I am posting this entry in real-time and will contribute every day.

It's Thursday, one week before Data Team.  I send out an email reminding the team that data will be held on Thursday (I have already sent out calendar invites with all of the data team meetings for the year, so they all have the meetings on their calendars). In the email, I outline the requirements for the various prizes (The google doc filled out=Bronze, at least 50% of student goals graphed or an intervention=Silver, at least 50% of student goals graphed and an intervention=Gold), and gently suggest that they spread out graphing.

Friday: One of my overachievers has already sent me graphs for 100% of goals. I sent out my first Shout out! "Woohoo! We have an overachiever and our first Silver medal winner!  M. has sent me her graphs!  I can't wait to see what the rest of the team can do!" 

Saturday: I post the folder for this month's data team on google drive and share it with the team. So far it contains the  Intervention Idea Generation Helper, Working Agreements, and Excel Helper documents. In addition to sharing the resources, I remind teachers that they can upload their graphs directly to google drive and that they should notify me when their AIMSweb graphs are ready so that I know when to review them.

Sunday: Picked up some extra apples and oranges for the team during my grocery shopping trip.  I have candy leftover from Halloween, so that saves me some money (Yea!).

Monday: I sent out an email with the Intervention Idea Generation Helper. That's right I have it in two places; redundancy is a good thing.  I also send out an email challenging teachers to send me their graphs. It's 9:00 pm and no one has taken me up on my offer.  Tomorrow is another day.  We have gift cards people!!

Tuesday: No one sends me any graphs, so I send out this message, "Hello Team,

Will no one accept my challenge to go for the Silver medal?  I know you can do it, ladies, send me your graphs!" 

Wednesday: Now we have some action. The graphs are pouring in.  We have Shout out 2! "Challenge met!! We have 2 more silver medal winners! B. and P.!  Way to go! Who will be next?"  Shout out 3! "All right! We have 2 more teammates who have risen to the challenge. We now have 5 out of 8 teachers with graphing complete.  The meeting is tomorrow; can we make it 8/8? T., M., and L. you can do it!! For our Silver medalists. Enter a student you need help with on the Data Team Summary tab under today's date (3 sets down).  Let's see some Gold Medalists!  We have gift cards."

Thursday: Today is the day! I send out my last few Shout outs. "Whoopie! L. has joined the ranks of the Silver medalists! That's 6/8! I know T. is in process and will have her graphs in soon! However, we have a PROBLEM. No one has entered any students that are in need of interventions. That means that no one has the opportunity to win a gold medal, and more importantly, the team has less of a chance of leaving the meeting with a comprehensive plan for their students.

So...Please enter your students in the Data Summary page under the section titled 11/16/20 (the 3rd section down)." and "We have 100% participation with graphing!!! You guys rock! See you soon, with your laptops!"  I fill my bowls with candy and fruit. I gather my Silver prizes (folders, notebooks, spinners, fidget toys); no gold medals today.  I have my agenda and CCI set up and I am ready to go.

4Ps of Assessment and the New Improved Google Doc

Progress Monitoring data. Each column has examples of the type of data that is intended. The Column for Progress Updates now reads Progress Updates/Performance Data.