Supporting Young Children During Outdoor Play

The role of outdoor play in early childhood special education (ECSE) and early intervention (EI) settings provides children with opportunities for development in multiple areas, including physical activity, social interactions, behavior, and academic skills (Barros, Silver, & Stein, 2009; Jarret, 2002; Pellegrini & Bohn, 2005). For many typically developing children, outside time presents an opportunity for a break from the demands of the classroom. However, for children with or at risk for a delay or disability, outside time can be a difficult activity to navigate due to the unstructured nature in which it occurs. Because of this, children may show increased engagement in challenging behavior, as well as higher rates of self-stimulatory behavior. Meaningful, explicit instruction is needed to support children during outside play. Best practice outlined by the Division of Early Childhood Recommended Practices (DEC; 2014) identifies multiple topic areas aligned with meaningful instruction is implemented during naturalistic routines such as outdoor time, including environment, instruction, and interaction. This session will focus on providing teachers and other practitioners with low cost, low tech strategies and supports to increase positive outcomes attributed to outside time for children with or at risk for a delay or disability.
 
Participant Outcomes:  
Participants will gain knowledge of the benefits of outside time in early childhood special education (ECSE) and early intervention (EI) settings.
Participants will gain knowledge of the DEC Recommended Practices aligned with outside time in ECSE and EI settings.
Participants will gain an understanding of barriers affecting engagement in functional, appropriate behaviors for children with or at risk for a delay or disability during outside time.
Participants will learn instructional strategies to support engagement in meaningful play, social interactions, and engagement for children with, or at risk for a delay or disability during outside time.
 
Presenters: Katherine Bateman, PhD, BCBA-D

Katherine Bateman, PhD, BCBA-D, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Board Certified Behavior Analyst- Doctoral in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Katherine works on the Supporting Transformative Autism Research (STAR) initiative, conducting research geared at increasing quality of life for children and families affected by autism.