Program Evaluation and Reflection

The vision, mission and the goals of this program desired to positively effect Charlies
social and emotional development by supporting his expressive language capacity growth
through the implementation of Dialogic reading and other evidence-based strategies.
Employment of the evidence-based strategies in cognitive, social/emotional, behavioral and
transitional supports, outlined in this program sought to produce a marked reduction in Charlies
harming of himself and his peers as well as to positively affect his development across all
domains. Frequency counts, anecdotal records of observations and email correspondence was
collected prior to and during four weeks of intervention in an effort to track the effectiveness of
this program.
Academic/Cognitive Intervention Evaluation:
Charlies cognitive/pre-academic goal stated that during Dialogic reading sessions
Charlie would engage in the text by looking at the pages during teacher/interventionist reading,
and he would use at least two 2-word combinations to describe the images and story line of the
Hands are not for Hitting book. The program plan stated that, During the third week of
intervention Charlie and a small group of his peers would be engaged in Dialogic reading and the
EI, teacher or parent who is reading would ask Charlie and his peers open-ended questions
related to the text being shared with the children. Parents, teachers and the EI will engage him
and a small group of his peers in Dialogic Reading by asking them open-ended questions about
the social story pictures and pausing to give the children time to respond by retelling the story in
their own words. The program further stated that after 8 weeks of Dialogic Reading intervention
Charlie would sit still to listen to the social stories for 5 minute increments; he would point to

pictures in the books to show, for example, what hands are for. Charlie was also expected to
begin to use vocabulary words from these books such as: hands, wave, hello, hitting, drawing,
playing, eating, drinking helping, hugging. It was expected that during this intervention program
Charlie would gain a minimum of 10 words in his vocabulary within a 3-week period. According
to, parental and teacher reports Charlies vocabulary has grown more than 10 words, and he uses
many more two-word phrases. Due to staffing situations at the school, data collection for his
two-word phrase frequency was not adequately recorded.
He has been observed using the following vocabulary words: Hands, not, hitting and
hugging. In addition to these words during our intervention sessions Charlie has begun to engage
with his peers. I have heard him say, my turn, your turn, 5 pushes (on the swing), now me.
Charlie points to pictures in the book, however he is not yet interested in sitting still for the entire
5-minute goal, time. He listens to book reading while on the swing; in between his requested
number of pushes.
Program goals specified that Charlie would model at least 2 appropriate ways that his hands can
be used; this brainstorming and choice making would demonstrate his cognitive processes as
Charlie considered acceptable behavioral choices and refrained from hitting with a minimum of
2 prompts. On at several occasions Charlie was asked what his hands could be used for, both
during dialogic reading and when he had his fist raised to hit a peer. Charlie was observed by
myself and his teachers choosing to hug his peers or handing them toys. On one occasion, he
looked at me and said, Hands not hit.
At times, it was difficult to engage Charlie in the shape sorter activity at his school, this
may be due to the fact that our sessions take place during free-choice outdoor time. Although we
did not spend a great deal of time on this cognitive development activity Charlies parents

engage him in many learning activities in their home environment which facilitate his learning.
Together with a small group of 4 to 5 peers Charlie was naming shapes and placing the shapes
into the shape sorter with ease. Charlie was able to label all the pairs of 6 shapes. He had some
difficulty placing the heart into the shape sorter, but with some prompting and scaffolding he was
successful. After 4 days of Errorless Learning intervention, Charlie was naming the shapes and
needed limited guidance with only one shape (the heart).
Charlies 2-word phrase frequency count was very erratic. I would highly recommend
that this data collection process be conducted once again. The fact that we were tracking both
behavior and vocabulary development may have resulted in the teaching staffs focus on the data
collection of one particular area (behavior).
Future Recommendations:
The use of social stories and Dialogic reading has proven to be highly effective in
improving Charlies social/emotional, behavioral and cognitive development (choice making and
expressive language). I recommend that a variety of social stories be presented to Charlie. Since
Charlie prefers the swing and wagon, Dialogic Reading is best presented in short intervals in
between these preferred activities.
Social/Emotional Intervention Evaluation:
Due to Charlies limited vocabulary he rarely engaged in simple joint interactions with his
peers, without striking at them, or as of late biting them. Charlie had much difficulty in the area
of self-regulation; when he became frustrated with his peers he simply lashed out at them and/or
would bang his head with a closed fisted hand. The behavior that Charlie was engaging in limited
opportunities for him to gain the social and emotional competencies that positive peer interaction

promotes. In order to support this toddlers social, emotional development, in addition to the use
of Dialogic reading of prosocial picture books Positive Peer Reporting was implemented.
Positive Peer Reporting has been shown to be a highly effective intervention strategy for
promoting social skill development (Murphy, J. & Zlomke, K., 2014). The social and emotional
competency development enhancing strategies, according to this program plan, were selected for
their ability to promote social skill and language building opportunities. Positive peer reporting
has demonstrated effectiveness in increasing peer acceptance (Murphy, J. & Zlomke, K., 2014),
therefore this strategy was chosen as part of Charlies intervention plan. It was my hope that as
Charlie learned about acceptable behavior through the dialogic reading and was provided with
opportunities for positive peer interactions (though positive peer reporting) he would be provided
with many opportunities in which his peers would model language to him in their daily
interactions, thus enhancing his vocabulary.
The director and the site supervisor of the preschool spoke with the 4 and 5-year-old students
and modeled Positive Peer Reporting for them. These students were told that when they reported
Charlie and other students good behavior, a note would be sent home to their parents to
inform them of their childs kind, encouraging behavior. During Charlies first 2-months enrolled
at this preschool his peers interacted with one another, but when Charlie would approach they
would say, Charlie is baddont let him play with us or other hurtful words that resulted in
Charlies hitting them and running away. After at least four weeks of Positive Peer Reporting
children began complimenting Charlies behavior and playing with him.
At the end of the programs intervention period, Charlie had begun to form friendships with
his peers and hitting of himself and his peers was significantly reduced. After approximately 4

weeks of intervention, when asked to make another choice (in an attempt to urge him not to hit
his peers) with his hands Charlie was observed hugging his peer and/or handing toys to them.
Future Recommendations:
Posting photos of children engaged in prosocial behavior (helping, sharing etc.) in the
dramatic play area would be very beneficial to Charlie. Charlie has expressed a high interest in
Sesame Street. Sesame Street Social stories and perhaps puppets could be used to help Charlie to
identify actions that are kind and helpful. In addition to these strategies it may be beneficial to
have Charlie and his classmates assist the teacher during snack, and other, times.
Behavioral Intervention Evaluation:
The behavioral goal for Charlie stated as follows: Charlie will refrain from harming
himself or his peers and will use his words to express his needs and wants with no more than 2
prompts. Prior to implementation of the interventions outlined in this program, I received several
emails from Charlies mother which reflected her concern for her son and her fears that he would
be expelled from the preschool he is currently attending. One week before intervention
implementation Charlie was sent home from school because he bit a peer and hit another child on
the head with a shovel. It was clear that behavioral and other supports were essential if this child
was to remain in the preschool setting his parents had chosen for him.
During week one of intervention strategy implementation, using the Dialogic Reading
strategy, I read the books, Hands are not for Hitting and the Calm Down book, to Charlie and a
small group of his peers. In addition to our reading at school I emailed a link to a prosocial video
and requested that his parents share the YouTube video, The No Hitting Song, with Charlie at

home. Some weeks after emailing the link Charlies mom informed me that he was not at all
interested in any programming (videos etc.) that were not Sesame Street. During a home EI
session I attempted to share this video with Charlie but he refused and requested a Sesame Street
video instead.
Future Recommendations:
Continue the reading of social stories, as open-ended questions and have Charlie and his peers
dramatize these stories both in the indoor and outdoor dramatic play centers.
Transition Intervention Evaluation:
No data was collected for this part of the intervention program. I had planned to provide
the teaching staff with emotion cards that, based on research and the Infant Toddler Learning
Foundations 2009, would aid Charlie in identifying his own and his peers emotions, yet after
discussing this with the site supervisor, I was later informed that this focus on emotions was not
in line with the preschools vision.
In addition to the emotion cards I also felt that the creation and use of a real world visual
schedule would support Charlie in his self-regulation capacity building (specifically with the
anxiety he faces due to missing his mom while at school), therefore I included this intervention
strategy in Charlies program. When I approached the teaching supervisor with the transitional
visual support intervention strategy, she and the toddler teacher felt that this would be highly
beneficial. After they discussed this with the preschool program director she made the decision to
not post a visual schedule in the classroom. I set up a meeting and spoke with her. We,
respectfully, discussed the developmental appropriateness of such a schedule for Charlie and the
other toddlers in his class. After this discussion, the director agreed to have a visual schedule that

his teacher could keep on a clipboard. It was agreed upon that his teacher would refer Charlie to
the visual schedule when he had difficulties with transitions and when he was missing his
mother. I offered to create a clipboard size visual schedule, however the director insisted on
creating this herself (as she had concerns that the visual be representative of the schools Reggio
Emilio/Montessori philosophy). Unfortunately, to date even after several reminders, the director
has not supplied Charlies toddler teacher with the visual transitional schedule, therefore no data
could be recorded for this program area.
I put forth an earnest effort to collaborate with the director and teaching staff, but was
unable to motivate them in the transitional area of support needs at this time. It is my hope to
continue working with the staff, and to perhaps encourage them to collaboratively create and
implement the transition visual schedule after the New Year. I feel that the staffing shortage at
this preschool has led to the loss of data records and to their inability to create or implement the
visual schedule. It is my hope to present the director and teaching supervisor with a chart
representing the data that was collected for the three interventions that were conducted and that
Charlies progress in these areas will show improvement such that the staff and leadership at this
preschool site will be more apt to engage their efforts in supporting his intervention program as
well.
Future Recommendations:
Provide examples of transition schedules for the director and teaching staff. In addition to
this, discuss with Charlies parents the possibility of posting a calendar schedule of his daily
home activities to help him ease into the routine of following a schedule.

Final Thoughts
Charlie made significant gains in his behavior and social/emotional skill development. In
addition to these gains, Charlies exposure to language (due to positive peer interactions) has
resulted in an increase in his 2-word phrases. Dialogic reading of prosocial stories was a
wonderful intervention which promoted Charlies cognitive and vocabulary development, while
also improving his social and emotional development.
Due to the staffing considerations at the preschool, perhaps implementation of all of the
programs intervention strategies may have proven to be overwhelming for the school staff. In
the future it will be highly important to communicate with parents and with the school staff to
collaboratively plan future intervention strategy implementation.

References
California Department of Education (2009). Infant/toddler learning foundations. Sacramento. CA.
Murphy, J., & Zlomke, K. (2014). Positive peer reporting in the classroom: A review of intervention

Spencer, T. D., & Slocum, T. A. (2010). The Effect of a Narrative Intervention on Story Retelling and
Personal Story Generation Skills of Preschoolers with Risk Factors and Narrative Language
Delays. Journal Of Early Intervention, 32(3), 178-199.
Vajcner, T. (2015). Dialogic Reading Using Social-Emotional Themed Storybooks: Impact on
Preschoolers Emergent Literacy and Emotion Knowledge.
What Works Clearinghouse (n.d.). Dialogic Reading Intervention Report. Retrieved from:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/EvidenceSnapshot/135
What Works Clearinghouse. (n.d.). Summary of Evidence for PK Social Skills Training. Retrieved
from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc//InterventionReport/364

procedures. Behavior Analysis In Practice, 7(2), 126-137. doi:10.1007/s40617-014-0025-0