Coaching Childcare Providers to Support Toddlers' Gesture Use With Children Experiencing Early Childhood Poverty

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of an intervention in which childcare providers (CCPs) are coached to support toddlers' gesture use during every day classroom routines. Method This study uses a multiple-baseline across strategies single-case experimental design to examine the impact of a coaching intervention on three CCPs' use of communication strategies with toddlers experiencing early childhood poverty. The CCPs were coached with a systematic framework called Setting the Stage, Observation and Opportunities to Embed, Problem-solving and Planning, Reflection and Review as they learned to implement three strategies to support toddlers' gesture use— modeling gestures with a short phrase, opportunities to gesture, and responding/expanding child gestures . CCPs were coached during book sharing and another classroom routine of their choice. Social validity data on the coaching approach and on the intervention strategies were gathered from postintervention interviews. Results The visual analysis and nonoverlap of all pairs' effect size indicates that the coaching intervention had a functional relation with CCPs' use of modeling gestures and responding/expanding gestures during book sharing, play, and circle time. Social validity data indicate that CCPs found the coaching framework supportive of their learning and feelings of self-efficacy, and that the intervention strategies supported their toddlers' communication. Conclusions The coaching framework was used to increase CCP strategy use during everyday classroom routines with toddlers. CCPs endorsed the coaching approach and the intervention strategies. This study adds to the literature supporting efforts to enhance children's earliest language learning environments. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14044055