Pilot Results of Using a Data-Driven, Video-Based Consultation Teacher Consultation Model to Improve Preschool Children's Challenging Behaviors

Introduction: Children who display early disruptive behaviors problems are at risk for short- and long-term negative outcomes.  Research indicates that providing consultation to teachers can be an effective intervention for reducing young children’s challenging behaviors within the classroom.  This paper will focus on a newly developed early childhood, mental health consultation model, called Learning to Objectively Observe Kids (LOOK), which uses data from validated measures of child classroom engagement and video-based feedback, to guide teachers’ selection and implementation of evidence-based, behavioral strategies. Specifically, LOOK places particular emphasis on using observational and teacher-report data to understand children’s behavior within the classroom context. This information is presented by a consultant to the teacher in order to create an individualized scope and sequence for the consultation process. This paper will present our results for a pilot study examining the impacts of LOOK on teacher’s reported classroom practices and attitudes and children’s behavior.

Methods: A small randomized controlled trial was conducted that included 49 preschool teachers (all from Head Start programs) and 143 children displaying elevated disruptive behavior in the classroom.  Children were mostly Hispanic (67%) or African-American (29%) and all were living within poverty. Classrooms were randomly assigned to either treatment or business-as-usual (BAU). At the beginning and end of the year, teachers reported on their own classroom practices and attitudes as well as on children’s behavior and social-emotional skills. In addition, children’s engagement was independently observed. Intent-to-treat analyses (regression analyses using Mplus to account for nesting and missing data) were used to determine impacts of LOOK on teacher and child outcomes.

Results: Teachers in the LOOK condition reported gains in self-efficacy and increased use of effective behavior management strategies relative to BAU teachers. LOOK teachers reported that children showed decreases in teacher and peer conflict, negative play interactions, and negative emotion reactivity and increases in children’s emotion regulation skills. Finally, children in the LOOK condition were observed to engage more positively with peers in the classroom.

Conclusions: We will discuss these pilot findings in terms of the promise of using a data-driven, video-based consultation model to improve classroom engagement of young children who display challenging behaviors.