ERIC Number: EJ1415565
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1362-3613
EISSN: EISSN-1461-7005
Available Date: N/A
Feasibility and Acceptability of a Low-Resource-Intensive, Transdiagnostic Intervention for Children with Social-Communication Challenges in Early Childhood Education Settings
Michael Siller; Lindee Morgan; Sally Fuhrmeister; Quentin Wedderburn; Brooke Schirmer; Emma Chatson; Scott Gillespie
Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, v28 n3 p587-599 2024
Preschool classrooms provide a unique context for supporting the development of children with social-communication challenges. This study is an uncontrolled clinical trial of an adapted professional development intervention for preschool teachers (Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood). Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood is a low-resource-intensive, transdiagnostic intervention to address the learning needs of children with social-communication challenges and consists of four asynchronous online modules and three synchronous coaching sessions. The current research evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of intervention and research procedures, implemented in authentic early childhood education settings. Participants included one teacher and one target child with social-communication challenges from 25 preschool classrooms, sampled to maximize variability. Overall, the current research revealed high levels of feasibility, with 9 out of 10 benchmarks met: (a) procedures for participant recruitment reliably identified a neurodiverse sample of children with teacher-reported social-communication challenges; (b) teachers showed high levels of program engagement and Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood completion (76%); and (c) results revealed a robust pattern of gains in Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood classrooms and associations among key outcome measures (including active engagement, student teacher relationship, social-communication competencies). Implications for the design of a subsequent, larger effectiveness-implementation hybrid trial (Type 1) are discussed.
Descriptors: Students with Disabilities, Intervention, Preschool Education, Preschool Children, Preschool Teachers, Feasibility Studies, Communication Skills, Interpersonal Competence, Faculty Development, Social Emotional Learning, Online Courses, Coaching (Performance), Program Effectiveness, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Federal Programs, Low Income Students, Social Services, Self Efficacy, Teacher Student Relationship
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2993
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Head Start
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Social Responsiveness Scale; Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales; Teachers Sense of Efficacy Scale; Student Teacher Relationship Scale
Grant or Contract Numbers: R21HD100820
Author Affiliations: N/A