Shadowing is a strategy for supporting kids with challenging behavior where a teacher stays physically close to a child, usually within arm's length. It’s a method of supervising a child by positioning our body close by, and it’s meant to be used when a child requires a high level of adult support to participate successfully in classroom routines or activities. Check out our new course on
Shadowing or keep reading to learn more!
By staying within close proximity, the teacher is able to
help the student navigate social interactions, transitions, and activities more
successfully. Teachers can help reduce
challenging behavior while shadowing by:
- Decreasing the child's frustration and anxiety
by anticipating and meeting their needs.
- Increasing the child's sense of security and
trust in the adult.
- Teaching the child appropriate ways to
communicate and cope with big emotions.
- Reinforcing the child's positive behaviors and
skills.
- Redirecting the child's attention and energy to
more productive and positive activities.
- Minimizing triggers for challenging behaviors.
- Reducing the child's opportunities and
motivations to engage in challenging behavior.
Shadowing is incredibly effective at reducing challenging
behaviors. But as you can imagine, staying within arm’s reach of a child
for the entirety of that child’s school day is a fairly intense strategy, and
not always possible. So shadowing is usually reserved for situations where behavior has
become more frequent and is causing a relatively high level of concern or
stress for a classroom. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to
determine whether shadowing might be an appropriate strategy:
- Does the behavior feel stressful or cause a lot
of disruption to the classroom environment? Does it cause harm or create a
safety issue?
- How often is it happening? Shadowing is
typically reserved for behaviors that are happening repeatedly. If a
child has one hard day and has a challenging behavior, we’re not going to start
shadowing the child because this is a one-off incident, not a pattern of
challenging behavior.
- Is the behavior increasing despite other
prevention strategies? This is key. We don’t shadow every single toddler
who bites. But if a toddler is biting even though you've already tried a
number of prevention strategies (like teethers or coaching a child to use their
words) and nothing seems to be working, that’s when you might start
shadowing.
Here are some general guidelines for getting started with shadowing:
- Identify the child who needs
shadowing and the times and situations when they are most likely to exhibit
challenging behavior.
- Select a staff member who has a
positive relationship with the child and who can shadow them consistently and
effectively. Sharing the responsibility of shadowing with a co-teacher can help
decrease burnout.
- Follow the child closely and
attentively during the shadowing period. Provide praise, encouragement,
guidance, and assistance as needed.
- Shadowing should be discrete. A
parent who comes into the classroom should not be able to tell that you are
shadowing a particular child.
- Fade the shadowing gradually as
the child's behavior improves and stabilizes. Monitor the child's progress and
adjust the level of support accordingly. Provide positive feedback to the
child as behavior improves.
- Communicate and collaborate with
the child's parents, teachers, and other professionals involved in their care
and education. Share information, observations, and strategies to ensure
consistency and continuity across settings.
Want to learn more about shadowing as a strategy to prevent
challenging behavior? Check out our new on-demand course,
Shadowing to Prevent
Challenging Behavior to learn how shadowing and
zoning
work together as supervision strategies, how to shadow solo, tips for when to
phase out your shadowing, how shadowing fits within a comprehensive behavior
support plan, and so much more!
- The IMPACT Team
