The Teaching Pyramid:
A Model for Supporting Social Competence and Preventing Challenging Behavior in Young Children
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 Many early educators report feeling ill equipped to meet the needs of children with challenging behavior and frustrated in their attempts to develop safe and nurturing classroom environments. These teachers spend much of their time addressing the behaviors of a few children, leaving little time to support the development and learning of the other children.
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The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) is a national center focused on strengthening the capacity of Child Care and Head Start to improve the social and emotional outcomes for young children (birth to age 5). CSEFEL works to develop and disseminate evidence-based, user-friendly information to help early childhood educators meet the needs of the growing number of children with challenging behaviors and mental health needs in Child Care and Head Start programs. CSEFEL has developed the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence to promote young children's social emotional competence and address challenging behavior. CSEFEL engages in intensive training and technical assistance (T/TA) to selected states, territories, and/or tribal partners to foster professional development that sustains the use of effective practices at the local level. CSEFEL is jointly funded by the Head Start Bureau and Child Care Bureau, under the auspices of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Social and Emotional Health in Early Childhood, "Building Bridges Between Services and Systems"
With this groundbreaking guide to systems development, professionals will discover how to improve young children's outcomes by building sturdy bridges between mental health and medical, educational, and social services.
Best Beginning: Partnerships Between Primary Health Care and Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for Young Children and Their Families
Pediatricians are in a unique position to identify early childhood mental health concerns and family mental health and substance abuse risks. This SAMHSA funded, web-based resource features eight innovative medical home practices that integrate behavioral health screening for the whole family, facilitate referrals to community services, and follow-up care.
Translating DC: 0-3R to ICD-9: Florida's Experience
The Florida Center was part of the Florida Infant Mental Health pilot project from 2000-2003 and had gained significant experience in assessment/diagnosis of children birth to age three and their families. Approval of the "Crosswalk" allowed our agency to continue services to these children and families, as well as over 150 additional children/families.
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Increasing evidence suggests that an effective approach to addressing problem behavior is the adoption of a model that focuses on promoting social-emotional development, providing support for children’s appropriate behavior, and preventing challenging behavior (Sugai et al. 2000).
The article describes a framework for addressing the social and emotional development and challenging behavior of young children.
The pyramid framework includes four levels of practice to address the needs of all children, including children with persistent challenging behavior (see “Teaching Pyramid”).
Building positive relationships
The foundation of an effective early education program must be positive, supportive
relationships between teachers and children as well as with families and other professionals (Bredekamp & Copple 1997; Joseph & Strain in press). Good relationships are key to effective teaching and guidance in social, emotional, and behavioral development.
Implementing classroom preventive practices
A teacher who examines the impact of the environment may make simple changes that reduce the frequency of challenging behavior (for example, by providing children with choices, creating well-organized learning centers, eliminating wide-open spaces, limiting the number of children in learning centers, and so on)
Using social and emotional teaching strategies
Effective teaching in this domain
requires careful planning, individualization,
provision of many
and diverse learning opportunities
throughout the day, and
attention to children when they
are engaged in socially competent
behavior such as following
directions, helping their friends,
participating in dramatic play with
peers, and sharing.
Planning intensive individualized interventions
Even when teachers establish positive relationships, implement classroom preventive practices, and use explicit teaching strategies, a few children are likely to continue to display challenging behavior. In the last decade, research has demonstrated that positive behavior support (PBS) is a highly effective intervention approach for addressing severe and persistent challenging behavior.
A systemic approach
The teaching pyramid represents a hierarchy of strategies.
Implementing successive levels solves more of
the social and behavioral problems experienced in
classroom settings. When the three lower levels of the pyramid are in
place, only about four percent of the children in a
classroom or program will require more intensive
support (Sugai et al. 2000). The key implication here is
that most solutions to challenging behaviors are likely
to be found by examining adult behavior and overall
classroom practice, not by singling out individual
children for specialized intervention. This is good news
for teachers who are eager to provide all children with a
high-quality early education experience.
By Lise Fox,
Glen Dunlap,
Mary Louise Hemmeter,
Gail E. Joseph,
and Phillip S. Strain
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