The Purpose of our Web Site

The purpose of our web site is to discuss positive behavioral supports for young children who engage in challenging behavior. The information on this web site is intended to help families, caregivers, and service providers to:

• understand why a particular behavior may occur,

• help service providers develop intervention strategies for organizing environments to decrease the possibility of challenging behaviors in young children, and

• help families and service providers to learn more about strategies to support children with challenging behaviors.

The Project

Positive Approaches to Challenging Behavior is designed to be used by and to assist parents, regular and special education classrooms, Head Start programs, child care centers, and other community-based programs. The website blends technology with technical assistance to help educators and families. Information about challenging behavior and proactive ways to assess both form and function provides guidance in developing positive behavioral support plans. Project personnel regularly monitor a discussion board, providing an opportunity for online interaction. In addition, scheduled live chats provide an opportunity to interact directly with experts in early childhood.

The project is administered and managed by the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED), located in Pattee Hall, along with the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) (part of the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service [UCEDD]), at the University of Minnesota, College of Education and Human Development. The creation of this Web site was funded under the Multistatewide Outreach grant by the U.S. Department of Education (Grant #H024D70015) and the Minnesota Department of Education. The Minnesota Department of Education continues to support this website through the Positive Approaches to Problem Behavior, Trainer of Trainer grant.

Read about the project in the Center for Early Education and Development's lead article of the 2001 issue of the newsletter Early Report entitled Preventing and Treating Challenging Behavior in Young Children.

Return to top

Upcoming Courses

For those desiring more information on meeting the needs of young children, the project is offering online courses. For information, please visit the CEED web site at http://cehd.umn.edu/ceed/coursesandtrainings/ or contact LeAnne Johnson at 612-626-3457 or chaf0032@umn.edu.

See the Center for Early Education and Development's Events page for additional upcoming presentations related to children.

Play Time/Social Time

A curriculum developed to teach children with and without disabilities social interaction skills and positive patterns of social behavior using children's natural inclinations to play. The manual includes methods for selecting target children, selecting peers, social skills lessons, structured play activities, procedures for prompting, and procedures for fading prompts.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Play Time/Social Time, print and send this order form. For additional publications available, see the Institute on Community Integration's Publications Catalog.

Title: Play Time/Social Time
Pub date: 1997
Cost: $25.00
Authors: Odom, S., & McConnell, S.

Return to top

Early Childhood Behavior Project
Center for Early Education and Development (CEED)
University of Minnesota
Education Sciences Building, Suite 40
56 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Joe Reichle, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator, Phone: 612-625-6542;
E-mail: reich001@umn.edu

LeAnne Johnson, Ph.D., Project Coordinator: Phone, 612-626-3457; E-mail: chaf0032@umn.edu
Shelley Neilsen Gatti, Ph.D., Phone: 612-626-9528, E-mail: neil0024@umn.edu

College of Education and 
Human Development   

University of Minnesota

[Home] | [Personnel] | [Presentations] | [Strategies] | [Case Studies] | [Discussion] | [Links] | [Contact Us]