Handout 1-1: Responding to Children Under Stress-Session Overviews

The purpose of this staff development program is to suggest practical strategies for working with children and families who are living with high levels of stress and to provide ongoing support for classroom teams. The term classroom team refers to master teachers, teachers, assistants, aides, classroom volunteers, and other adults who work directly with children. Occasionally, the term teacher is used to designate any of the above team members.

1. Responding to Stress addresses the meaning of stress, discusses healthy and unhealthy ways to manage stress, and describes the conditions that may exist in multistressed environments. Participants complete an activity related to accepting families.

2. Head Start's Response reviews the roles and responsibilities of each Head Start component. Classroom teams define the constructive roles they play in working with children and families, both within the classroom and in conjunction with other components.

3. Characteristics of Children Living in Multistressed Environments reviews the signs that a child may be experiencing high levels of stress. Next comes an overview of how children develop self-esteem and what classroom teams can do to support children as they develop self-esteem and other skills. There is a brief review of observation and recording. An activity focuses on getting to know individual children.

4. The Learning Environment describes some elements of a supportive environment that can contribute to meeting the needs of all children in the group. Classroom teams focus on an individual child and suggest ways to adapt the environment to meet the child's needs.

5. The Daily Schedule, Routines, and Transitions begins with a discussion of how participants respond to disruptions in their dally schedule, routines, or transitions and how children typically respond to disruptions in their lives at home or Head Start. The importance of predictable, consistent schedules, routines, and transitions is emphasized. Classroom teams review situations in which children have difficulty handling transitions and develop strategies for helping the children cope.

6. Helping Children Cope with Stress describes the coping strategies that children may use and how classroom teams can help children learn more acceptable ways to cope. Participants discuss individualizing positive guidance, based on knowledge of child development and children's individual strengths, needs, interests, and temperament. Use of systematic observations is emphasized. Strategies for handling challenging behaviors are presented and teams analyze possible reasons for a child's behavior.

7. Supporting Parents reviews the role of parents in Head Start and offers examples of how staff can support parents. The importance of accepting parents without passing judgment is emphasized. Classroom teams read and discuss "stories" based on the experiences of a Head Start teacher.

8. An Approach to Problem Solving provides a format for analyzing and developing strategies for addressing specific problems. This session also is the planning meeting for defining the goals and format for an ongoing support group.

Handout 1-2: Accepting Families

In this activity, classroom teams will work together to conduct role plays of a parent- teacher conference. Below is a description of "Frankie," a child who shows signs of being affected by multiple sources of stress. The second page, "Laurie Jackson," describes his mother's feelings on her way to the conference. The third page, "Ms. Reed," expresses the teacher's feelings as she waits for Laurie.

Each member of the team will assume a different role: Ms. Jackson, Ms. Reed, or an observer. Ms. Jackson and Ms. Reed will conduct a role play of the conference while the observer watches, listens, and takes notes. After the role play, share your reactions to the conference with your classroom team. Switch roles and repeat the role play twice so that each person can have a turn playing the three roles.

Frankie
Frankie (4 years old) has been in your class for about two months. During this time he has had a difficult time adjusting to the adults and children. He plays alone most of the time, and speaks only when spoken to. When he does speak it's hard to understand what he's saying. He's so quiet that sometimes the classroom team forgets he's there. One of his favorite activities is painting at the easel. He will spend a long time painting circles and squiggles. Frankie has difficulty using materials that require fine motor skills. For example, he can't put Legos® together or get the top off the toothpaste. His gross motor skills also are poorly developed. He likes to ride a tricycle by pushing with his feet, but he cannot pedal. Frankie's screening results indicated the need for a thorough assessment, but it hasn't taken place yet due to scheduling problems. Each time it has been scheduled, Frankie has been absent.

Frankie' s mother is 19. He calls her by her first name, Laurie, and calls his grandmother Momma. When Frankie was born, Laurie dropped out of school and went on welfare. For a while Frankie and his mom had their own apartment; then they moved in with Laurie's boyfriend, Troy. Troy got into some drug-related trouble and moved away. Laurie and Frankie now live in "Momma's" two-bedroom apartment. Other members of the household include Laurie's sister, Kate, and Kate's two children (a baby and a 3-year- old). Frankie is very attached to his cousin, who also is enrolled in Head Start. The three children share one room, Momma has the other, and Laurie and Kate sleep in the living room. Uncle Jake sets up a cot in the hall. This arrangement works well because Laurie and Kate like to go out at night and come back pretty late. To be safe from stray bullets, sometimes the children sleep in the bathroom.

Recently, Laurie began volunteering in the classroom. She noticed that Frankie doesn't play with the other children and that there are others his age who can pedal the tricycles, cut with scissors, pretend to be firefighters, and so on. Yesterday Laurie asked Ms. Reed, one of the teachers, "What's wrong with Frankie? He's so clumsy and he's always by himself." Ms. Reed offered to meet with Laurie to discuss her concerns about her son. They agreed on today at 3:30 p.m. as a good time for a conference.

It's 4:00 and Laurie just showed up.

Laurie Jackson

You are out of breath from running to the center from the bus stop. You were taking care of your sister's baby so you had to walt for Momma to come home to take over for you. She was late getting home from work and then your bus was late.

You like being a classroom volunteer because you think kids are cute and it's fun to be with your son. You hope that Ms. Reed will still be there because you are really worried about Frankie.

You like to go out in the evenings so you and your sister let Momma take care of the kids. She can handle Frankie better than you can. The children are afraid of Momma so they do what she tells them to do. You figure she's got more experience as a parent than you, so you might as well let her take care of the kids. When you pay attention to Frankie, Momma says you are spoiling him. Maybe you should have had Momma come to the conference instead of you.
You come into the room and say, "I'm really sorry, Ms. Reed. I hurried the best I could."

Ms. Reed

To prepare for this conference, you reviewed the classroom team's observation notes on Frankie and have a lot of information to share. You think Frankie has many, many problems, some of which you didn't notice until Ms. Jackson pointed them out. You think Frankie needs to get help immediately.

You look at your watch one more time, then finally hear footsteps on the stairs. Out of breath, Laurie Jackson comes in the door. She says, "I'm really sorry. I hurried the best I could." You smile and say, "It's okay, Ms. Jackson, I had some paper work to finish." That's not how you feel, however. Behind your smile you are thinking, "If she really cared about Frankie she would have been here on time."
 
Follow-Up Activity 1-1: Daily Log

Identify a child you think may be affected by high levels of stress. For the next week keep a daily log of what you did to help meet this child's needs. Note what the child did that led you to think he or she needed help, and what you did in response. There is an example on the log below. You can use this format, or one of your own. Each day spend a few minutes with your classroom team comparing your logs. At the end of the week meet as a team to discuss what each person can do to promote the child's development and to support each other.
 
What the Child Did 
What You Did
What Happened
Day One 

Example: 
Gerald asked for snack as soon as he arrived at program, and breakfast won't be served until 9:15. 

 Put snack out on table so all children can serve themselves when they are hungry.  Gerald got his own snack, then got involved in activities. 
Day Two 
Child's Need
What You Did
What Happened
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
 
At the end of the week discuss what each member of the team can do to promote the child's growth and development and support each other. 
Follow-Up Activity 1-2: Life in a Multistressed Environment

Select a child and family you think might be living in a multistressed environment and answer the questions below.

1. What sources of stress do you think this family is experiencing?
2. What are the strengths of this child and family?
3. What might be the effects of these sources of stress on the child(ren) in this family?
4. What might be the effects of these sources of stress on the adults in the family?
5. What can your classroom team do to assist this child and family?
 
Discuss your responses with the classroom team. Children and families respond to high levels of stress in different ways. It is important to identify and support their individual strengths.
 

Session 2
Head Start's Response 
Summary for Classroom Teams 
Objectives

This session will enable you to:

· State the roles and responsibilities of Head Start component staff.
· Explain and give examples of how Head Start components work together.
· Describe the ways in which classroom teams work together.

Materials
 

Agenda
I. Discussion of Session 1 Follow-Up Activities (10 minutes)

As you discuss the Session 1 Follow-Up Activities, remember the following:

· Coping with multiple sources of stress can overwhelm children and families.
· Classroom teams can begin to help by accepting rather than judging children and families.
· Itis important to help families identify and build on their strengths.

You can ask questions and/or voice concerns before the session begins.

II. Discussion Topics and Activities

A. The Head Start Team (45 minutes)

Your copy of the Head Start Program Performance Standards and the Final Rule on Head Start Services for Children with Disabilities are the "Reading" for this session. In this discussion you will review how the Head Start program is carried out by a team of
staff, each responsible for a different component. While the components have specific areas of expertise, they work together in a supportive manner. Individual staff members do not work in isolation. Classroom teams provide support for each other; however, they also have many colleagues who can work with them to help children and families receive the full benefits of being enrolled in Head Start.

Participants will work in small groups for the activity described on Handout 2-1: How Our Head Start "Team" Works Together. The handout includes descriptions of eight situations in which a classroom team member has noticed a child or parent's need that should be addressed using a team approach. Your trainer will assign one or more situations to each small group. Each group will read the situation, discuss how they would work with other component staff to respond to the family's needs, then share their responses with the full group.

B. Cross-Component Coordination (30 minutes)

In this activity you will think back over the past month about the times you worked with another component to complete a task or to do something for a child or family. You will record these examples on Handout 2-2: Component Coordination Log. After noting several examples of cross-component coordination, you will discuss your "log" with your classroom team.

As each team shares its examples of component coordination, your trainer will clarify any inaccuracies or misunderstandings and answer questions about each component's responsibilities.

C. The Education Services Component (30 minutes)

As you discuss the roles and responsibilities of the following staff-the Education Coordinator, teachers, assistants, and volunteers-you may see that there is a lot of overlap because team members share responsibilities. Within each team, however, each individual has a unique role. With your classroom team, think of a typical day in your classroom. You will use Handout 2-3: A Typical Day for Our Classroom Team to list the roles and responsibilities each team member carried out that day.

Ill. Closing (5 minutes)

Handout 2-1: How Our Head Start "Team" Works Together

In a small group discuss how the component staff in your Head Start program might work together to address the needs described in the following situations. Your trainer will ask you to discuss one or more situations. Assume that you are the classroom team member who has noticed the need. Use the questions below to guide your discussion. Be prepared to discuss your responses with the other participants.

How Would Your Head Start Team Respond In These Situations?

1. When a parent brings her son to the program one morning, she tells the teacher that he is probably hungry because she didn't have any food at home.

2. A child appears to be very withdrawn, seldom playing with others and spending most of the day by himself.

3. Several parents complain to the teacher that the meals at Head Start don't taste like what they cook at home.

4. A child has had a cough for more than a month. His grandmother says she has not taken him to see a doctor, because she knows he will get better when the weather gets wanner.

5. At an Education Component meeting the teachers report that many children are tired when they arrive in the morning. Their parents say that the children don't get to sleep until 10 or 11 p.m.

6. A parent asks a teacher how she can become a classroom volunteer.

7. In a meeting to plan home visits, a classroom team member says that she is too scared to go to one of the neighborhoods where many Head Start families live.

8. A parent faints in the classroom. When she recovers she says that she is 3 months pregnant and has not seen a doctor.

1. What does this child or parent seem to need?
2. Which component staff member would you discuss this situation with first?
3. What other components might be involved in responding to the need?
4. What action might each component take?
5. How would component staff follow up with each other?
6. If referrals are needed, who will make them and who will follow up to find out what services were provided?
7. What changes would you make in the system your program currently follows for component coordination?


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