An Ecobehavioral Consultation Model For Addressing Needs Of Early Childhood Language Minority Students

Many preschool students with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds face challenges in early childcare settings that often are not prepared to deal with their unique education needs. Early childhood educators and parents of language minority preschoolers may have questions as to how they can provide instruction and support to these children to make the most of their preschool experience. This situation is further complicated by the language and cultural communication barriers that may exist between the child's parents and teachers. This study was designed to examine the use of an ecobehavioral problem-solving consultation model (PASSKey) for addressing targeted needs of early childhood language minority students. The study involved replications of a single-case quasi-experimental design to evaluate the extent to which students demonstrated improvement in targeted areas of concern. In addition, the degree to which teachers and parents found the PASSKey process and results meaningful and acceptable was assessed. Three PASSKey consultation cases were conducted with language minority preschool students and their caregivers (mothers, teachers and teacher assistants). The behavioral data demonstrated some modest evidence for the potential of positive change in all three cases. However, the number of target variables that changed and the level of change varied across the three cases. Additionally, ratings by the caregivers indicated that they found the process to be acceptable and meaningful for their child.