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Find out in this Q&A with the authors of The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook |
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About the authors
 Dathan D. Rush, Ed.D., is Associate Director and researcher at the Family, Infant and Preschool Program (FIPP) in Morganton, North Carolina. He provides ongoing technical assistance to several statewide early intervention programs to implement evidence-based early intervention practices in natural settings. Dr. Rush previously served as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center teaching early childhood intervention in the graduate program. He has more than 25 years of experience as a practitioner, program director, and presenter on topics related to writing and implementing individualized family service plans (IFSPs), team building, using a primary service provider approach to teaming, coaching, and supporting young children with disabilities and their families in natural learning environments.
Dr. Shelden has 28 years of experience as a physical therapist and special educator. She received a 2000 National Institute on Disabilities and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Mary E. Switzer Merit Fellowship. She also is a graduate Fellow of the ZERO TO THREE National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Dr. Shelden has presented nationally on topics related to IFSP development and implementation, transition, inclusion, evaluation and assessment, coaching, primary service provider approach to teaming, and provision of support to children with disabilities and their families in natural learning environments. Questions? Customer Service: |
Q: In your new book, you guide practitioners through the process of early childhood coaching. How is coaching different from typical approaches to intervention?
A: Typically, when a practitioner talks with parents about an issue a child is encountering, the practitioner will ask a series of questions and make observations to come up with suggestions to make to the parents (or other care providers). In contrast, with coaching, the parents are equal partners in generating ideas. The practitioner asks questions that are designed to prompt thoughts from the parents' point of view, taking into consideration what the parents have tried and what they consider feasible within the context of the family's routines and practices. The practitioner and parents pool their brain power to develop ideas and strategies. And since the parents are involved in coming up with the suggestions, they are more likely to put them into practice. Q: Can you provide an example? A: For instance, say, a family's mealtime is disrupted because a child wants juice but struggles to hold the cup. In a typical scenario, the practitioner might ask the parents a series of specific questions: Have you tried ... using a straw, holding the cup for him, putting just a little juice in the cup? In a coaching scenario—rather than asking such yes/no questions—the practitioner would prompt the parents by saying, Tell me what you have tried. Then, without jumping in to offer solutions, the practitioner would further prompt, What do you think might help? or What do you think might be causing the difficulty?, and support the parents to come up with ideas prior to making suggestions. If the parents stated, Well, maybe the cup is too heavy, so I could fill only a little bit at a time, then the practitioner could encourage them to try it or add additional information as necessary. Q: What is key to the success of early childhood coaching? A: Early childhood coaching is focused on helping the important people in a child's life promote participation within the real-life activities that the child wants and needs to participate in. By focusing our support on the parents and care providers, we help ensure that child learning is happening all the time, not just when the early intervention practitioner is present. Research tells us that the number-one factor in promoting child learning is adult responsiveness, so we must ensure that adults in the child's life know how to respond to the child within the context of everyday activities (mealtime, playing on the living room floor, or swinging at the park) in ways that foster learning and development. Q: How does early childhood coaching help meet Part C mandates? A: One of the purposes of Part C is to provide intervention in natural learning environments in a manner that promotes the ability of care providers to support the growth and development of the children in their care. Using coaching with parents and other adults in the life of the child builds their competence and confidence by affirming what they already know and are doing to support the child's learning as well as jointly developing and implementing newly generated ideas and strategies that become a natural part of their everyday routines and activities. Q: What is important for practitioners to understand about "natural learning environments"? A: Early interventionists need to know that serving infants and toddlers in their natural environments is about more than just the location. Certainly, the location should be a place where the child would be if he or she did not have a disability, but the context for our intervention is the everyday activity settings in which the child is or could be participating. For example, a child's home is a natural environment, but more specifically, mealtime provides many important learning opportunities. Q: Why are children's preferences and everyday activities key? A: Learning happens as children are doing things with the important people in their lives. If we know the activities, people, and objects that the child is most interested in, then the child is more likely to stay engaged for longer periods of time, which in turn, provides more opportunities for practicing current abilities and new skills. As early intervention practitioners, we need to know what the child's interests and common activities are and how we can help parents support the child's involvement in these activities, which then naturally leads to skill development. Q: Since the focus of coaching is on supporting the adults in a child's life, how does that alter a practitioner's approach? A: We need a way of interacting that is consistent with how adults learn and that builds their capacity to promote the child's development especially when the early intervention practitioner is not present. The research about adult learning tells us that adults have preconceived ideas about how the world works, so in this case, we must start with what they know about their child and family and what they are doing to support their child's participation in everyday activities rather than just telling them what to do. Q: Specifically, what is coaching attempting to accomplish? A: The purpose of coaching is to build the capacity of the parent to be able to
Q: What are the 5 evidence-based elements of coaching? A: The research-based characteristics of coaching are
Q: What are some typical sticking points practitioners run into when adopting a coaching approach? A: When new coaches are learning coaching practices, they often focus solely on asking questions, many of which are yes/no, which can limit the parents' reflection. It is important to use all 5 evidence-based elements of coaching (see above). The coach's goal should be to ask the fewest number of open-ended questions necessary to promote reflection, obtain information, and generate new ideas. Balancing questioning for reflection with observation, modeling, feedback (i.e., sharing information and ideas), and joint planning will ensure the achievement of positive outcomes through coaching. New coaches often have to fight the urge to jump in and tell the coachee what to do rather than first exploring what the coachee has already tried. This happens in one of two ways: either by making recommendations or by using coaxing questions to get the person to respond in the way the coach believes is best. Building on the coachee's ideas first and then adding input is the basis of the coaching relationship and increases the likelihood that the coachee will formulate a joint plan and implement the new ideas generated during their discussion. Q: What are some common misperceptions about coaching? A: A few of the most common misperceptions we encounter are that coaching is a hands-off approach (sitting on the couch interacting only with the adults and never with the child); practitioners cannot share information or ideas (only ask questions of the parents or other care providers); and that coaching won't work with children or families in complex circumstances. In contrast, coaching is as hands-on as it needs to be. Practitioners both share and seek information from family members and, often, those families who are in challenging situations benefit most from a relationship-based approach that builds on strengths and addresses family priorities. |
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