Tools for Effective Teaming: Coaching Families and Colleagues in Early Childhood

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Tools for Effective Teaming Coaching
Families and Colleagues in Early Childhood

• Barbara Hanft MA, OTR, FAOTA
• Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• July 2008

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Goals for today

• Illustrate how coaching families and colleagues
  promotes childrens participation in home and
  community life
• Discuss the key components of coaching-
  observation-action-reflection
• Review communication and interpersonal skills
  that support effective coaching partnerships

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• Coaching, through reflection,
• emphasizes learning to
• do with
• instead of
• do to partners.
• Mattingly Fleming,
  1994

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Your role as coach

• Building partners competence by refining a
  partners skills/knowledge through guiding and
  self-discovery
• and
• Assisting partner to identify and implement
  strategies to help a child participate in early
  childhood settings/programs

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Key components of Coaching
(Hanft, Rush, Shelden, 2004)
Action
Observation
Reflection
Evaluation
Continuation
Resolution
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Readiness for coaching.

• I offer objective feedback to colleagues.
• I am open to suggestions from colleagues.
• Its helpful when a colleague sees what I do and
  gives me feedback.

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Process is interactive and cycles back and forth
between.
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Actions
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Coaching skills supporting observation, action
reflection

• Observe actions, reactions, interactions
• Listen attend, acknowledge, associate
• Respond probe, summarize, feedback/info, problem
  solve
• Plan clarify, identify action/strategies

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Video Vignette Jacob

• Observe how Heidi (PT) interacts with Holly
  (mother) using-
• Observation
• Action
• Reflection

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Observations are outcome related and include-

• Colleagues behavior
• Nonverbal communication, comments, interaction
  and actions in response to events, others and the
  coach
• Reactions of others to the learner
• acceptance of learners actions
• Physical and social environment
• 1-3 on Coaching Self Assessment

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Listening

• Attending to present interactions
• direct eye contact, positive facial expressions,
  an open body posture, close proximity to the
  speaker, being quiet
• Acknowledging
• respond verbally and nonverbally without agreeing
  or disagreeing with colleague
• Associating
• link colleagues communication to desired
  outcomes, your ITP mission and guiding principles
  www.nectac.org
• 4-9 on Coaching Self Assessment

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Respond to learners by

• Asking probing questions
• Facilitating problem-solving/coping
• Summarizing discussion and actions
• Sharing information, resources, support and
  feedback
• 10-18 on Coaching Self Assessment

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Ask open-ended questions (11)

• Invite discussion
• What do you think might work to help us
  develop functional outcomes with families?
• Rather than decide direction
• This is what I think we should do..
• When its time for direction, start with whats
  going right.
• Ive noticed --- is really working well.
• When you ---, Carly really sits still longer.

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How professionals talk affects caregiver
participation

• Indirect behavior praise/encouragement, ask ?,
  accepting feelings/ideas
• Encourages caregivers to initiate and
  structure interactions- BUT-
• 95 of praise was about child, not caregiver
  actions
• 96 of questions were close-ended
• Direct behavior giving info, directing,
  criticizing
• Leads to professionals giving more info
• Brady et al, 2004. JEI, 26(2),
  pp.146-159

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Responding Examples of open-ended questions

• 1. Recall or gather information
• Tell me about
• Tell me more.
• What did you want to happen?
• What happened when ..?
• What did you do/say when?
• What went well?
• Where does that most often occur?
• When did you first notice this?

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• 2. Compare new info/experiences with previous
  ones
• How did you decide to do this?
• What types of support will you need?
• What do you think about?
• How do you feel about.?
• 3. Apply new info to change behavior
• What would you do differently next time?
• How might you go about doing that?
• What would happen if..?

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GROW questions ? decisions ( 19-20
on Coaching self-assessment)

• G- goal oriented situation specific
• What did you plan for? What happened?
• R- reality partners state what they saw, heard,
  felt
• Who was involved? What triggered Corys
  outburst? How did you react?
• O- options explore alternatives
• What have you tried? What else might work? What
  actions could lead to a different outcome? How
  can I support you?
• W- Who is going to do what by when?
• Be careful about asking why questions
• Whitmore, 1996

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Planning

• Clarify the purpose and mutually agreed upon
  outcomes for the coaching relationship
• Determine who needs to do what, before and during
  the next coaching conversation
• Identify strategies for how colleague will
  acquire/refine knowledge
• 19-21 on Coaching Self Assessment

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Coaching colleagues.

• Peer coaching is a confidential process through
  which two colleagues work together to
• Reflect on what they are doing
• Refine current skills build new ones
• Share ideas with one another
• Solve problems
• Robbins, 1991,
  p.1

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Components of effective peer coaching.

• Voluntarily supported by entire team as part of
  life-long learning.
• Flexible formats (expert/reciprocal approaches
  spontaneous/planned)
• Colleagues desire for additional knowledge/skill
  are matched with appropriate coach.
• Peer coaches understand adult learning and
  interaction.
• Chapter 7 in Hanft, Rush Shelden, 2004

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Reciprocal peer coaching

• Colleagues observe one another and reflect
  together by sharing feedback re a mutually
  agreed upon topic
• Colleagues are at similar levels of learning and
  want to learn/apply new info/skills
• Can be planned or spontaneous

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Spontaneous peer coaching

• Look for opportunities-
• Team meetings
• Informal talk during lunch (bump-intos)
• Planning home community visits
• In-services and other PD events
• Use video, audiotape, phone, email
• to ask probing questions to prompt reflection-
• Wh questions- Who, what, where, when
• Be careful asking Why

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Peer Coaching Vignette Jasons Play time

• Spontaneous coaching in team meeting

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Expert peer coaching

• Coach shares specialized knowledge experience
  with others
• May be external consultant or internal staff
• Usually time and place is planned

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Align coach-colleague experience and knowledge

• Do I know what my colleague really hopes to
  master?
• Do I understand a colleagues context for
  applying the skills/knowledge I plan to prompt
  him or her to acquire?
• Do I have the expertise to guide this colleague?
• knowledge of evidence-based practices and
  experience using them?

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Assist colleague to refine knowledge/skill.

• What frequency and intensity of coaching sessions
  are needed to help a colleague reach his or her
  goals?
• How often will a colleague need follow-up once
  his or her goals are met?
• How will the principles of adult learning be
  addressed for each colleague?
• What mix of coaching strategies will help? e.g.,
  demo, observation, print resources

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(11) Coaching..

• Based on conversations of personal discovery
• Improves an individuals performance within a
  specific context
• Process for improving skill, trying new
  approaches, resolving challenges and building
  collegial relationships

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• Cramer Stivers. (2007). Practical strategies
  for challenging collaborations. Teaching
  Exceptional Children, 39(6), 4-8
• Hanft Shepherd. (2008). Collaborating for
  student success. Bethesda, MD AOTA.
• Hanft, Rush, Shelden. (2004). Coaching Families
  and Colleagues in Early Childhood. Baltimore, MD
  Brookes Publishing.
• Fisher, R. Shapiro, D. (2005). Beyond reason
  Using emotions as you negotiate. NY Penguin
  Books.
• Hollingsworth, H. (2001). We need to talk
  Communication strategies for effective
  collaboration. Teaching Exceptional Children,
  33(5), 4-8.
• Mattingly Fleming. (1994). Clinical reasoning.
  Philadelphia F.A. Davis.
• Robbins, (1991). How to plan and implement a peer
  coaching program. Reston, VA ASCD.
• Whitmore, J. (1996). Coaching for performance.
  London Nicholas Brealery.