About Developmental Therapy Teaching
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How does DTT instruction change from stage to stage?
Teachers adjust their instructional goals, content, materials, learning environments, and classroom management strategies to students’ stages of development and IEP objectives. They also adjust their own roles as significant adults in the learning process.
For Children in STAGE ONE
Your task: Teach them to respond and trust
Your role: Care and nurture; encourage responses; make good things happen
Learning environment: Consistent routine; luring rather than demanding
Developmentally appropriate materials: Exploratory materials with enticing sound, color, texture
Management strategies: Stimulating materials; structure; routine; comforting feedback; redirection; controlled vocabulary; supportive physical proximity
For Children in STAGE TWO
Your task: Teach them basic skills for success
Your role: Lead them to abundant success
Learning environment: Active exploration
Developmentally appropriate materials: Exploration; imagination; themes of adults caring for children and kindness to others
Management strategies: Abundant encouragement to participate; positive feedback; verbal redirection; reflection of positive words and actions; model desired actions
For Children in STAGE THREE
Your task: Teach them to participate successfully in peer groups
Your role: Be the group leader, benign sheriff, and motivator
Learning environment: Group focus and teamwork
Management strategies: Positive feedback about individual contribution to group; motivate with success-producing lessons; redirect behavior; reflect positive words and actions; connect actions to feelings; positive rules; individual Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI)
For Children in STAGE FOUR
Your task: Teach them to care about being contributing members in groups at school, with peers, and at home
Your role: Group facilitator, advocate, counselor, role model, reflector of reality
Learning environment: Reality-oriented group focus
Management strategies: Positive feedback from peers and adults; help student interpret behavior and feelings; group and individual LSCI
For Teens in STAGE FIVE
Your task: Teach them to use their skills in new situations independently
Your role: Supportive teacher, mentor, counselor, advisor
Learning environment: Natural teen settings for independent use of competencies and selected values
Management strategies: Positive feedback and encouragement preferably from peers; interpretation; LSCI; remind student to consider values and consequences
Q: Who can use DTT?
Special and regular classroom educators
Art and music educators
Administrators
Psychologists
Social workers
Childcare workers
Paraprofessionals
Parents and foster parents
Other adults guiding children and teens
Q: How can a teacher or parent assess a child’s current stage of development?
The Developmental Teaching Objectives Rating Forms-Revised (DTORF-R) is used for an in-depth assessment of social, emotional, and behavioral development. Baseline results become the foundation for instructional planning.
DTORF-R also provides a functional behavioral assessment and a behavioral intervention plan (BIP) as part of an Individualized Education Program (IEP), Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), or Individual Transition Plan (ITP).
DTORF-R assessments can be repeated for each grading period during a school year to track progress.
When selected DTORF-R milestone objectives have been achieved, there is no further need to continue intervention focus on those objectives. Move on to the next objectives in the developmental sequence.
At the end of the year, the number of objectives achieved documents progress made during the year.
Q: What does research say about DTT?
Three separate research studies have documented program effectiveness for the U. S. Department of Education. Click here for a summary.
Q: How can individuals learn to use DTT?
Our online course, extensive self-study resources, workshops, professional development programs, and technical assistance consultation are available for individuals, public and private schools, childcare programs, home school programs, and service agencies.
Q: What skills are gained?
DTT training enables you to: Assess a student’s current social-emotional-behavioral status. Design developmentally appropriate individualized educational programs. Select learning objectives and instructional strategies. Apply DTT in early childhood settings, elementary and high schools, mental health programs, and home environments. Use evidence based, field tested resources. Evaluate students’ progress. Document outcomes. Self-monitor your own skills.
Q: What is the cost for training?
Costs depend upon type and extent of training needs. Costs are negotiated at the time an initial training agreement is made.
Q: What resources are available to learn to use DTT?
An internet course, Developmental Teaching for Students With Special Needs, is designed for participants to independently learn how to use DTT. (Available Here)
A 2007 textbook, Teaching Responsible Behavior, provides a comprehensive guide to DTT. (Available: www.proedinc.com)
An interactive CD, PEGS for Teachers, increases teachers’ skills in using positive behavior management strategies and reduces students’ negative behaviors. (Available Here)
A developmental assessment rating system, DTORF-R, to identify learning objectives and document student progress online, DTT Stages One through Five. (Available: www.dtorf.com)
Developmentally based early childhood lesson plans. (Available Here)
Developmental Art Therapy textbook and art activity lesson plans. (Available Here)
Onsite training.
Workshops.
DTT Leadership certification.