Program Model for School-Based Day Treatment for Children with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Prevention and Interventions

Abstract

School-based day treatment programs provide intensive mental health services for children and youth with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) who are unable to manage in mainstream classrooms. Children with these symptoms are at high risk for negative outcomes (e.g., Wagner et al., 2006). School-based day treatment provides a window of opportunity to alter developmental trajectories. Research on school-based day treatment is scarce and descriptions of program models are lacking (Clark & Jerrott, 2012). Little is known about the moment-to-moment processes and strategies used by staff to support and accelerate children’s social, emotional and behavioural development. In partnership with a school-based day treatment program for children in kindergarten and grade one, this research addresses this knowledge gap by describing the moment-to-moment processes and strategies of classroom staff and incorporating them into a program model.

Participants were 11 out of 12 boys aged 3.5-6, enrolled in a kindergarten and grade one day treatment program, and the five staff (multidisciplinary team of children’s mental health and educational professionals) who deliver the program. The goal of the program is for children to develop school readiness, including age-appropriate independence, behaviour regulations, social skills, emotional awareness and academic abilities, and transition to a mainstream classroom. Staff and children were filmed completing day-to-day activities. Staff were then interviewed individually within 48 hours of filming using the technique of stimulated recall (e.g., Sève et al., 2007). With this technique, staff are shown video excerpts of themselves delivering day treatment programming and asked to recall and describe their thoughts and experiences as they occurred on a moment-to-moment basis. Interview transcripts were analyzed using data-driven thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Several processes and strategies used by staff were identified and integrated into a program model (Figure 1).


Staff described taking an individually tailored approach to intervention in which they engage in a cyclical process of attunement, responsiveness, and assessment and evaluation. They use a team-based approach. This approach likely contributes to a climate of positive relationships, supports the assessment and evaluation process, and offers social support for staff. Staff discussed noticing positives about children, likely allowing staff to feel less stress and act more positively towards children. Staff described a focus on building positive relationships between children and adults and peers and having a sense of community in the classroom. Staff expressed having a developmental perspective on children, in which children are viewed as developmentally behind, missing the skills expected for their age. They also believed in the importance of providing children opportunities to learn from experience. Staff described regulating their own emotions and being flexible while also firm and consistent. Mind-mindedness and attachment are explored in relation to attunement and responsiveness, and staff member’s ability to notice positives and regulate their own emotions.

This research highlights the relationship among the numerous processes that adults engage in to support children’s development. It has implications not only for school-based day treatment, but for children with SEBD attending mainstream classrooms where there are not the same opportunities for support.

Authors

• Kathryn Pierce, York University
  Presenting Author

• Samantha Yamada, Child Development Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa Major, York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Debra Pepler, York University
  Non-Presenting Author