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An Office of the Administration for Children and Families Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC).

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Digging Deeper: Looking Beyond Behavior to Discover Meaning 
A Unit of Three Lessons
 

Digging Deeper: Looking Beyond Behavior to Discover Meaning is a unit of three lessons that explore and apply the Responsive Process—Watch; Ask 'I Wonder' Questions; and Adapt: Using 'Flexible Responses' to the behaviors of very young children. Program staff, education coordinators, trainers, and parents may use this information to build or refresh their observation skills and responses to children’s behaviors. Head Start Program Performance Standards and other resources are included.

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Digging Deeper: Looking Beyond Behavior to Discover Meaning
A Unit of Three Lessons 


Lesson 1:  Watch

Understanding a child’s behavior is not easy. Lesson 1 helps you recognize how hard understanding behavior can be. The steps in the Responsive Process are discussed and the first step of the process, Watch, is explained.  A short video clip of a toddler (Katie) arriving at an Early Head Start Program offers an opportunity to practice the “Watch” skills. 


Lesson 2: Ask ‘I Wonder Questions’

Lesson 2 helps you make sense of the many meanings of a behavior. Four key factors that affect behavior are explored using the “I Wonder” strategy for asking questions. You practice developing “I Wonder” questions using the video clip of a toddler (Katie) arriving at an Early Head Start Program.


Lesson 3: Adapt Using ‘Flexible Responses’

You’ve “Watched” and asked “I Wonder” questions. Now you are ready to choose ways to respond to the behavior. In Lesson 3 you use the answers to the “I Wonder” questions (Lesson 2) to help select responses to address the child’s behavior. Muk (Katie’s teacher) shares the answers to her “I Wonder” questions as she explains her responses to Katie’s behaviors.


 

Digging Deeper: Looking Beyond Behavior to Discover Meaning. A Unit of Three Lessons. Early Head Start National Resource Center at ZERO TO THREE. HHS/ACF/OHS. 2006. English.


Last Reviewed: February 2009

Last Updated: February 19, 2009