Natural Learning Environment Practices

Taken from www.coachinginearlychildhood.org ...

"Due to existing and emerging evidence regarding effective and ineffective practices in natural learning environments, early intervention practitioners must strive to rethink their intervention paradigms and learn how to support children within the context of their family and community life. If we continue to practice as we did five years ago, two years ago, or even last year, we must question our usefulness and work harder to bridge current knowledge to everyday practice. Simply "kerplunking" the practices we used in clinic-based settings into family homes and other community settings is unacceptable (Rush, 2000). Although many practitioners feel they are making major sacrifices by changing the location of their support, we now understand that embedding decontextualized practices into the child's family and community life is not helpful and has been demonstrated to be detrimental. The lessons we have learned from the literature and interactions with children and their care providers have given us a clear mandate to accept the challenge of refocusing our practices. Current practice guides us to coach care providers in supporting their child's learning in everyday moments by maximizing his/her participation in the things he/she likes to do."
click here to read the rest of this article