HEAD START®

Effective Transition Practices: Facilitating Continuity

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3 | Continuing Professional Development | Informational Resources Section

MODULE 1: transition and change

Outcomes | Key Concepts | Background Information | Activity 1-1 | Activity 1-2 | Activity 1-3 | Activity 1-4 | Activity 1-5 | Activity 1-6 | Next Steps
download these pdf attachments: Handout 1 | Handout 2 | Handout 3 | Handout 4 | Handout 5 | Handout 6 | Handout 7 | Handout 8 | Handout 9 | Handout 10 | Handout 11

Outcomes

As a result of completing this module, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate the impact of transitions on individuals and how they are helped by various internal and external supports

• Identify the stages of the change process experienced during transitions and the factors that influence the ability to cope with change
  
  
• Develop effective transition practices to address the individual and developmental needs of children and families who are adapting to expected and unexpected changes in routines, roles, environments, and relationships
  
  
• Develop strategies to involve all staff in continuously supporting children and families as they experience transition

Key Concepts

• When children and families transition from one setting to another, they inevitably encounter change, which requires them to adapt their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to meet the new expectations.

• While everyone experiences the process of adapting to change differently, common stages of the process include:

  — Letting go
  — Uncertainty
  — Taking hold

• Knowing how transition affects you can provide a basis for understanding the internal change process. Helping children and families who may experience the process differently requires shifting the perspective away from yourself.

• Team transition planning involves all staff and parents in developing comprehensive strategies to provide support, information, and continuity of experience to families and children. Program strategies should include a wide range of practices to address transition throughout the year.

• Parents provide stability for children and can facilitate continuity when they are included in the transition process.

Background Information

All cultures acknowledge major life events such as births, coming of age, marriage, and death with rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations. These rites of passage mark the end of one stage of life and the beginning of another. However, development does not happen abruptly. Through continuous growth and experience, children mature at their individual rates. They do not instantly become adults at age eighteen, nor do they instantly become ready for an academic environment at age five or six. Instead, developmental transitions occur over time as children are cared for in nurturing environments that meet their individual needs. Gradually their ability to adapt to changing expectations increases as they develop.

Supporting Children and Families

Ideally, children would move to new early childhood settings only during periods of developmental stability. In reality, transitions between early childhood settings do not always coincide with a child's individual developmental needs. Change occurs because of many reasons. Some programs, like traditional Head Start, serve children for a limited time. Other programs, like family day care, may be available for longer periods but often have changes in enrollment due to family circumstances.

Children cope with transitions differently depending on internal supports, individual developmental needs, and the amount of resources available to the family. Internal supports include the temperament a child is born with and other unique characteristics and abilities that develop as the child grows. Each of these factors affects how much external support is needed to ease transitions for both child and family. External supports are the people, activities, and environments that help children accomplish developmental tasks and cope with change and stress. Comprehensive strategies and involvement of all staff and parents in ongoing transition practices increase the likelihood that program supports will help ease both planned and unplanned transitions.

Process of Adapting to Change

Throughout early childhood, both children and their parents experience transition as a process of adapting to change. This process occurs as children and parents adapt their thoughts, feelings, and behavior to prepare for and cope with multiple changes. Not only is the environment different, but the caregivers are new, the routines may be different, and program policies vary. These changes in setting create both subtle and abrupt changes in expectations. For example, the child accustomed to napping in her own crib may suddenly be faced with sleeping on a cot in a large classroom. An older child who has been encouraged to explore learning centers finds he is expected to sit quietly and complete academic exercises. Parents who have been responsible for meeting their child's special needs must develop advocacy skills to ensure that the needs continue to be met in the new setting.

When adults understand the change process from a personal perspective, they can appreciate the need for supports that children have during transition. Even adults, who have acquired more internal resources, often need outside support to let go of old patterns of behavior and take hold of new roles. As individuals look for ways to accomplish these two tasks, they struggle through a stage of uncertainty, not knowing exactly how to maintain their sense of self as they change. Although each person experiences the change process differently, there are three common stages of the process, which are characterized by specific thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.

Letting Go

Whether planned or unplanned, a transition affects relationships. Feelings of sadness and resistance to change occur as individuals experience the letting go stage of the change process. When individuals experience changes in their lives, they need to acknowledge what they are losing– whether it is an attachment to people, roles, or settings. They also need to celebrate what they have gained. Rites of passage during developmental transitions provide individuals with a formal acknowledgment of their accomplishment and symbolic support as they meet new challenges. Similarly, ending ceremonies and celebrations such as retirement parties serve this purpose during personal transitions. Formal celebrations are not the only way to mark transitions. Regular ongoing activities such as making scrapbooks, taking photographs, or making mementos of who or what you are leaving all offer individuals a way to celebrate the past.

Uncertainty

Transition can cause fears, concerns, and mixed feelings. Transition creates confusion and makes it difficult for people to act on their own during the uncertainty stage. It is a time when people need extra encouragement and support. Individuals in this stage may have difficulty understanding the connection that their past experience has to the new one. Providing information and support during a change helps those affected to imagine how their skills will help them in a new role. Because children are concrete learners, they gain information best by visiting a new setting or taking part in joint activities with older peers from the new setting. After the visit or activity, children can express their feelings by writing stories, drawing pictures, or discussing stories about transition. Conducting these follow-up activities with children helps adults understand children's feelings. An understanding adult can help the children by calming concerns.

Taking Hold

Taking hold of new thoughts, feelings, and actions allows individuals to change so they can meet new demands. This stage begins with the individuals in transition clarifying expectations–learning the rules, defining responsibilities, and knowing when they have done something right. Individuals in this stage are ready to change their behavior when they understand expectations. They express confidence and an appreciation for the personal growth that they gain by accepting new challenges. It is not easy to take hold of new expectations when they do not relate to past experiences. However, when individuals find that they are prepared for these new challenges, transitions become an opportunity for growth and development.

Effective Transition Practices

Effective transition practices address the needs of children and families even before they enter a program and continue after they leave the setting. Staff can provide continuous support at all stages of the change process. For example, celebrations help children in the letting go stage. Answering questions both formally and informally assists children and parents in the uncertainty stage. Setting up buddy systems for children and families who have left the setting helps create a welcoming atmosphere so important to the taking hold stage.

Journey Point

Throughout this document, participants are asked to think of the training as a journey toward effective transition practices. At the end of each workshop and coaching activity, there is a place to stop on this journey, or Journey Point, so that participants can organize their materials and thoughts. In this module, at each Journey Point the trainer refers participants to their Journey Bag and Pocket Guide 1. These tools, and a summary of the journey, are provided in the Introductory Activity: Beginning the Journey, on page 9.

Activity 1-1: The Change Process

Purpose: In this activity, participants will become familiar with the common stages of the change process that individuals experience during transitions.

Materials:
     Handouts 1 and 2
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 1 (Introduction)
     Newsprint, markers

Explain the Stages of Change

1. Using examples from the Background Information section, discuss the relationship between transition and change. Define the stages in the change process.
   
   
   • Letting go–focusing on the old role or setting and celebrating where we have come from
     
     
   • Uncertainty–picturing and preparing for new possibilities
     
     
   • Taking hold–acquiring new roles and behaviors to adapt to the change
     
     
   Distribute Handout 1: The Process of Adapting to Change and provide an overview of the thoughts, feelings, and behavior associated with each stage of the change process.

Create Personal Timelines

2. Ask participants to think about a personal transition experience and how they felt about the transition over an extended period of time. Then distribute Handout 2: Timeline for Adapting to Change and explain to participants how to use the handout to illustrate their personal process of adapting to change. Tell participants to label the stages in the order that they were experienced and shade in the number of months that each stage lasted.

Review Timelines

3. Illustrate several personal timelines on newsprint. Use samples from volunteers in the workshop or use several hypothetical timelines. Compare these samples and then ask participants:
   
   
   • When did you experience each stage of change?
     
     
   • How long did each stage last?
     
     
   • Were there any time periods when you experienced more than one stage or when feelings from an earlier stage reoccurred?

Discuss Behavior of Children

4. Have participants think about how children act when they are entering the program or preparing to leave. For example, some children cry easily, others cling to their caregiver, and some talk about friends that they will leave behind. Ask:
   
   
   • What feelings might children be experiencing when they behave in these ways?
     
     
   • What other ways have children in your program communicated that they are experiencing the process of adapting to change?
     
     
   • What strategies have you found to be successful in helping children during this time?

Review Individual Differences

5. Discuss individual differences in adapting to change. Make the following points:
   
   
   • Each child experiences the change process in a unique way.
     
     
   • Individual temperament, previous experiences, and the nature of the change affect how children act and feel during the process.
     
     
   • The amount of time and support it takes to meet individual needs at each stage of the change process varies.

Review Needs

6. Refer participants to Handout 1: The Process of Adapting to Change and review the needs for each stage. Have them brainstorm ways to meet these needs of children and families in their program and list their ideas on newsprint. Summarize by making these points:
   
   
   • Each stage involves a need that can be addressed through effective transition practices.
     
     
   • Program events and procedures can support families and children throughout the change process.
     
     
   • Individual strategies are often required to meet the unique needs of children and families.

Journey Point

Suggest that participants put the handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to Pocket Guide 1 to list strategies that address the needs of children and families experiencing change. Then ask them to share their ideas with a partner.

Activity 1-2: Family Changes

Purpose: In this activity, participants will evaluate the impact of family changes on children and investigate factors that influence children's ability to adapt to the changes.

Materials:
     Handouts 1 and 3
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 1 (Introduction)

Review the Change Process

1. Distribute Handout 1: The Process of Adapting to Change and review the stages of the process during the first coaching session.

Discuss Family Changes

2. Discuss family changes that participants feel have had an impact on children in their program. Some examples might include a parent moving out of the home, the birth of a sibling, or a change in the family income. Ask:
   
   
   • How do children behave when their families experience these changes?
     
     
   • What might the children's behavior tell us about their feelings and thoughts about the change?
     
     
   • How do these reactions compare to the reactions listed on Handout 1: The Process of Adapting to Change?

Complete Interviews

3. Ask participants to identify three children in their program whose families are experiencing one of the changes discussed. Give participants a copy of Handout 3: Children and Change to complete for each child. Ask them to interview staff members who work closely with each child and family. Remind them that sensitivity is required when discussing confidential information. Participants who work directly with the children and families can include child and family observations and interviews as appropriate.

Compare Individual Experiences

4. Conduct a second coaching session to discuss and compare the individual experiences of these children. Point out the following factors that can influence how a child reacts to change: the child's age and developmental stage, the child's temperament, the support the child is receiving from family members and staff, and the child's individual needs. Questions to discuss include:
   
   
   • What factors might be influencing both the reaction of the child and the strategies being used to assist the child?
     
     
   • What strategies seem to be working with all the children?
     
     
   • Do the children share any similar reactions? What reactions are different?

Develop a Plan

5. Work with participants to develop a plan for routinely identifying available supports to children. The plan will vary depending on the staff responsibilities. Some examples follow:
   
   
   • Administrators might develop an intake form or interview format to use with families as children enter the program.
     
     
   • Teachers might develop an activity that encourages children to express their supports through art or dramatic play.
     
     
   • Home visitors might develop a record keeping system to document the family supports that they observe during home visits.

Journey Point

Suggest that participants put the handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to Pocket Guide 1 to list new strategies for meeting the individual needs of children in transition. Have them share their ideas with someone outside the coaching session.

Activity 1-3: Pass the Baton

Purpose: In this activity, participants will develop strategies for all staff parents to support families and children in the continuous cycle of transition.

Materials:
     Handouts 4 and 5
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 1 (Introduction)
     Masking tape, paper towel roll

Trainer Preparation Notes:

While this activity addresses the transitions that occur in Head Start programs, it can easily be adapted for other settings that workshop participants may represent. Arrange the room so the center is free from chairs and tables. Use masking tape to create a large oval track on the floor with a designated starting point. Make a baton with a paper towel roll.

Discuss Program Year

1. Distribute Handout 4: Addressing Change. Ask participants to select transition practices on the handout that are helpful at the following times of the year:
   
   
   • Beginning of the program year
   • Middle of the program year
   • End of the program year

   Point out that many practices are useful at several points of the year because children and families are experiencing transition continuously.

Introduce Lap Concept

2. Ask participants to imagine Head Start families walking separate laps around a track at the beginning of the year when they enter the program, during the year as they experience personal transitions, and later as they prepare to transition to the next setting. Ask them to imagine staff members joining families on the track as a relay team that provides support.
   
   
• The first staff person to meet the family walks with them for a time, carrying a baton of support.
  
  
• When the staff team member is finished providing support, he passes the baton to another team member.
  
  
• The relay continues as families walk each transition lap.

Role Play

3. Explain that the track around the room allows participants to practice working as part of a team that provides continuous support. Ask all staff who help families transition into the program and two volunteers to represent a parent and child entering the program to go to the track. Give the baton to the staff member who begins the process and have her walk with the family, acting out her role and describing the support she can provide to the family. Explain that in the first lap, the starting staff member passes the baton of support to another when she completes her role, and the process continues until all staff have acted out their roles.

Personal Transitions

4. Then ask the parent and child to begin the second lap without staff support. As they walk the lap, ask them to pretend that they are experiencing a personal transition that might occur during the child's enrollment in the Head Start program. Tell the parent and child that during the role play they can call on staff members to provide support. Give those staff the baton of support and have them join in the role play. Examples of personal transitions include birth of a sibling or change in the parents' employment.

Transitioning Out of Head Start

5. Call all staff members who transition families out of Head Start to walk a third lap in the same way that they did in the first lap. At the end of the lap, pass the baton to the parent, who will continue to support the child through all of life's transitions.

Small Group Discussions

5. Distribute Handout 5: Involving All Staff. Divide participants into three groups. Tell them to discuss how to improve their teamwork and involve more staff and parent volunteers in their transition team. Assign each group one of the following laps:
   
   
   • Lap 1: Transition into Head Start
   • Lap 2: Personal transitions during the year
   • Lap 3: Transition out of Head Start

Summarize Roles

7. Reconvene the entire group and ask each group to share their ideas. Point out that each team member needs to know his role in order to provide effective transitions throughout the year.

Journey Point

Suggest that participants put the handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to Pocket Guide 1 to list new strategies for involving all staff in supporting families and children. Have them share their strategies with a partner.

Activity 1-4: Developmental Spiral

Purpose: In this activity, participants will identify children's emerging to cope with change so staff can develop expectations and supports that developmental needs.

Materials:
     Handouts 6 and 7
     Digest: A Child's Emerging Coping Abilities (Informational Resources)
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 1 (Introduction)
     Newsprint, markers, scissors

Discuss Children's Feelings

1. Remind participants that the change process is a universal one. Discuss how the feelings and needs of children experiencing a change in caregiver or setting can be very similar to those experienced by adults who move or change jobs. Use the following examples to explain how children are less able to understand, express, and control their feelings:
   
   
   • A toddler in the uncertainty stage of the change process may be feeling anxious and insecure; she may cling to her mother, experience nightmares, or draw attention to herself by acting out or regressing.
     
     
   • Older children in the uncertainty stage, who can express themselves, may share their anxious feelings by asking questions or telling their parent that a monster is after them.

Compare Adult and Child Supports

2. Tell the group that to begin to get a picture of the internal supports a child develops over time, we can think about supports adults rely on as they adapt to change. Some examples follow:
   
   
   • Social skills, such as the ability to make friends easily, help adults when they are in new situations. Even though children throughout early childhood are developing social skills, at age seven or eight they still need adult guidance in order to share and get along with others.
     
     
   • Personal beliefs, such as the belief that things will improve over time, help adults manage difficult times. Young children do not have enough understanding of time or experience to develop these strong beliefs.

Review Developmental Tasks

3. In early childhood, children are referred to as infants, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and primary school children based on their developmental stage. The child's developmental stage affects the kind of supports he needs. Such supports help young children accomplish certain developmental tasks, or the abilities common to the child' s specific stage of development. For more information on child development, refer to the training guide Enhancing Children's Growth and Development in the series Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community.

   Summarize the child's developmental stages, needs, and tasks on newsprint as follows:

   • Infants need nurturing and responsive care to develop a sense of trust and security.
     
     
   • Toddlers need safe opportunities to do things for themselves to develop independence.
     
     
   • Preschoolers need opportunities to express themselves with adults and peers to develop communication and social skills.
     
     
   • Kindergartners need appropriate challenges to build their skills and develop a sense of competency.
     
     
   • Primary school children need environments that foster acceptance and cooperation to develop a sense of belonging to a peer group.

Review Developmental Spiral

4. Distribute Handout 6: Developmental Spiral. Explain that child growth and development can be envisioned as a spiral. Tell participants that to help children and families, it is important to get a clear picture of how internal and external supports help children move through the spiral.

Create a Spiral of Support

5. Ask for a volunteer to stand in front of the group, representing the infant in the center of the spiral of Handout 6. Tell participants to think about how infants develop trust and security. Ask them to name external supports that meet the infant's need for nurturing care. Proceed as follows:
   
   
   • Have the first person who names a support link arms with the person representing the child.
     
     
   • As participants name other supports for meeting the infant's needs, have them continue to link arms and encircle the child like the spiral on the handout.
     
     
   • Once several supports are identified for this stage of development, tell the group to lead the child one step forward to move into the next stage of development.
     
     
   • If they are experiencing difficulty moving to the next stage, point out that children do sometimes encounter difficulties as supports and expectations change during transition.

Continue the Spiral

6. Ask participants to continue the spiral outward by naming external supports that will help this child in the next stage of development. Refer to the developmental tasks and needs listed on newsprint. As you introduce each subsequent developmental stage, tell the group to take one step forward. Continue the line of supports as a spiral around the child. If the participants seem to be limiting their responses, you can suggest these examples:
   
   
   • A parent who provides a step stool for a toddler to wash her own hands supports her growing independence.
     
     
   • An older sibling helps a preschooler develop social skills by playing games with him.
     
     
   • Kindergarten teachers help new students know what they are capable of doing by displaying their work.
     
     
   • Recreation leaders help primary grade children learn to get along with peer groups when they organize club or sport activities for this age group.

Involve All Participants

7. Encourage any remaining participants to represent the external supports that meet children's needs associated with ongoing developmental tasks. These tasks include developing a disposition to learn (enthusiasm), motor control, emotional control, and a sense of self. If participants cannot think of any more supports, others can suggest some so that the remaining participants can represent them in the spiral.

Movement Activity

8. Now that everyone is part of the child's support system, ask participants to stay linked together as the child leads them through the room. Then thank all participants for their willingness to support the child as she moved through the developmental stages of early childhood and for continuing to hold onto the child when she took the lead.

Interpret the Spiral Activity

9. Demonstrate how Handout 6: Developmental Spiral can be cut along the line of the spiral to create a long curved line. Explain to participants that the spiral represents the flow of children's growth and development. Make these points:
   
   
   • Just as the support system expands gradually, so does the child's coping capacity–the ability to cope with change by relying on internal supports.
     
     
   • Transitions might be seen as the kinks or turns in the spiral that occur when children are challenged to develop new capacities.
     
     
   • By developing expectations and supports that match children's capabilities, we can help them transition more easily between settings.

Discuss Matching Expectations

10. Distribute Handout 7: Expectations and Supports That Match Developmental Needs and tell participants that appropriate transition expectations for young children are based on matching the child's developmental needs with appropriate supports. Review the ideas on the handout and summarize the information in Digest: A Child's Emerging Coping Abilities, located in the Informational Resources section.

Journey Point

Suggest that participants put the handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to Pocket Guide 1 to list strategies that address the developmental needs of children. Then ask them to share their ideas with a partner.

Activity 1-5: Going to Kindergarten

Purpose: In this activity, participants identify effective strategies and initiatives to support children as they develop skills at their individual Kindergarten rates.

Materials:
     Handouts 8, 9, and 10
     Digest: Transition to Kindergarten (Informational Resources)
     Hands-on Activities: Sample Transition Activities (Informational Resources)
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 1 (Introduction)
     Preschool props
     Newsprint, markers

Trainer Preparation Notes:

This activity can be adapted for children experiencing transitions at other developmental levels. Refer to the Hands-on Activities in the Informational Resources section for strategies that assist children during each developmental stage of early childhood.

Suggested props for this activity are toys, books, music cassettes and cassette player, cafeteria-style trays, photographs of children in a classroom, baby pictures, telephone, paper, and markers.

Introduction

1. Ask for a show of hands from the group to see how many participants have been involved in helping children or families in transition. Next, ask for a show of hands from the group to see how many participants have been involved in each of these transitions:
   
   
• From home into their program
  
• From any program to home (particularly for parents)
  
• From their program to a child care provider before or after school
  
• From one classroom to another classroom within their program


• From their program to another school setting

List Transition Challenges

2. Make two columns on newsprint. Label one column Challenging Behavior. Ask participants to think about children who have not had easy transitions and to discuss the challenges that their behavior created for staff. As behaviors are identified, keep a running list on the newsprint.

Star Items on the List

3. Review the list of challenging behaviors with the group and mark a star next to difficulties resulting from a lack of social and communication skills. Examples may include:
   
   
   • Cries excessively
     
   • Is unable to share toys
     
   • Does not follow caregiver directions

Discuss Research Findings

4. Summarize the information in Digest: Transition to Kindergarten, located in the Informational Resources section as follows:
   
   
   • Communication and social skills are of primary importance when children transition to kindergarten.
     
     
   • These skills were identified by both parents and kindergarten teachers who were asked what skills children need to enter kindergarten.
     
     
   • Current research studies have identified social and communication skills as predictors of ongoing school success.

Small Group Planning

5. Explain that children with difficulties communicating and interacting with others can succeed when they receive extra support. Divide participants into small groups, and distribute one scene cut out from Handout 8: Scenes of Support to each group. Ask each group to develop a short skit using the props and specific strategy assigned on Handout 9: Strategies for Offering Support: Preschoolers/Kindergartners.

Act Out Scenes of Support

6. Choose one scene and ask the two groups assigned this scene to perform their skits. Ask the groups to report how they chose their activities. Repeat the same process for the other scenes. Then ask:
   
   
   • What were the differences in the skills each child developed?
     
   • What additional activities might support these children?
     
   • Why might similar strategies help with different problems?

   Refer participants to the Hands-on Activities located in the Informational Resources section and explain that Sample Transition Activities: Preschoolers/Kindergartners, Sample Transition Activities: Infants and Toddlers, and Sample Transition Activities: Primary School Children suggest strategies for each developmental level. Explain that for additional support, more individualized strategies and activities may need to be developed.

Apply Strategies to Challenge List

7. Refer the group back to the newsprint list of challenges in transition and particularly to the starred items. Label the second column Strategies and ask the group to choose overall strategies to address the needs of these children. Discuss their ideas and write them in the Strategies column.

Discuss Appropriate Expectations

8. Distribute Handout 10: Expectations and Supports That Match Individual Needs. Discuss why it is necessary to consider individual needs and strengths to develop appropriate expectations and strategies. For more information on identifying individual strengths and strategies for supporting resiliency, see Promoting Mental Health, one of the guides in the series Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community.

Journey Point Suggest that participants put the handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to Pocket Guide 1 to list strategies for offering new transition initiatives. Then ask them to share their ideas with a partner.

Activity 1-6: Bringing It All Together

Purpose: In this activity, participants develop strategies that meet individual and developmental needs of children as they adapt to expected and unexpected changes.

Materials:
     Handouts 5, 10, and 11
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 1 (Introduction)

Coach Preparation Notes:

In preparation for this activity you can review the Background Information section and the previous activities in the module. Key terms to become familiar with include internal supports, external supports, developmental stages, coping capacity, and transition.

Review Concepts

1. During an initial coaching session, discuss the following concepts: internal supports, external supports, developmental stages, coping capacity, and transition. Find out how participants would define the terms and why they feel it is necessary to understand these concepts to effectively assist children in transition.

Discuss Children in Transition

2. Ask those in the session to identify one child who is preparing for or experiencing a transition. Help participants use Handout 11: Bringing It All Together to identify factors that might impact the child's experience.

Develop Strategies of Support

3. Distribute Handout 10: Expectations and Supports That Match Individual Needs. Help participants use the handout to develop specific supports for the child identified in Step 2. Remind participants that strategies need to address the family as well as the individual child. Have them record their strategies on Handout.ll: Bringing It All Together.

Recruit Additional Staff Members

4. Distribute Handout 5: Involving All Staff. Have participants identify other staff members who can help implement the strategies. Help participants plan ways to involve these staff members and ask them to implement their plan over the next few weeks. Schedule a follow-up session to discuss results.

Evaluate Activities

5. At the follow-up session discuss:
   
   
   • How were the strategies implemented?
     
     
   • How did the support offered impact the child and family?
     
     
   • What other types of support and staff involvement might help in
     the future?

Journey Point

Suggest that participants put the handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to Pocket Guide 1 to list new strategies for involving all staff in supporting families and children. Have them share their strategies with someone outside the coaching session.

Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice

The following activities can help participants review key information, practice skills, and assess their understanding of the concepts in this module.

• Conduct a staff meeting to discuss expectations that all staff have about children transitioning in or out of the program. Use Handout 7: Expectations and Supports That Match Developmental Needs as a basis of discussion. Ask staff to share their expectations of children and what ideas on the handout they might like to implement. Brainstorm ways that the program can work together to increase support during transitions. You may choose to invite an expert in child development or a mental health consultant to assist in identifying ways that the entire program could make staff expectations more appropriate for children.
  
  
• If there are some children that are not responding to the transition strategies the program has developed, outside consultants may help. Ask a local mental health specialist to identify the child's specific needs and individualize transition strategies. Make sure that parents have been consulted about the child and included in developing transition plans before calling a consultant. Explain to parents the advantage of including a consultant and be sure that they have given permission for the consultant to observe the child and review records. Ask the consultant to evaluate the child's coping capacity and provide additional community referrals if necessary.
  
  
• Use Handout 6: Developmental Spiral to help families recognize the importance of providing supports throughout early childhood. This activity could be introduced in a session with an individual family, during a workshop for parents, or during a parent-child program.
  
  Give family members a copy of the handout. Explain how each loop of the spiral represents a stage of development, or a time when a child is working on a specific developmental task. Family members can discuss the supports that they have already provided at each stage of development, listing them next to the appropriate developmental stage. Then help family members identify the supports that they can provide during future developmental stages, listing them next to the appropriate stage.

  Once all supports are identified, ask the child and family to decorate and personalize the spiral. As a final step, tell them to cut along the line to create a three-dimensional spiral. Discuss the growth that the spiral represents. Encourage each family to discuss the spiral with their child and to proudly display the spiral as a symbol of ongoing growth and support.