The Pyramid Model is a bottom-up approach; think about the bottom tiers before you consider the middle and top tiers. For example, when problem-solving ways to support a child with challenging behavior, program staff will reflect on how they respond to a child’s communication (i.e., the tier that relates to Nurturing and Responsive Relationships) before working with a specialist to create a behavior intervention plan (i.e., the top tier, or Intensive Intervention). Lesson Three of the Positive Guidance Course in the Management track has an overview of each tier, and in this lesson you will learn about universal support: an effective workforce, nurturing and responsive relationships, and high-quality supportive environments. The remaining two tiers of the Pyramid Model, Targeted Social Emotional Supports and Intensive Interventions, will be addressed in depth in Lesson 4 and Lesson 5 of this course.

An Effective Workforce

If you have other professional experience, think about how you and your coworkers were supported. Who did you turn to if you had a question or needed advice? Did you have resources to expand your knowledge and practice? Your program’s workforce is made up of direct care staff, coaches, trainers, and administrators. While direct care staff, with the support of coaches and trainers, are children’s primary caregivers within the program, it is the administrator’s role to make sure that staff members have the time and resources to grow their practice and maintain their well-being. Think about how your program’s policies and procedures aid in your and your coworkers’ abilities to provide high-quality care for children and to support families. Lesson Eight in this course provides specific recommendations on policies and procedures to support programs in maintaining an effective workforce.

Nurturing and Responsive Relationships

What does it mean to nurture? How do you nurture something or someone? Think about how you nurture a plant to grow. It needs water, air, sunlight, and soil to thrive. Not all plants require the same formula though; each has unique needs, and those needs may change over time. Over time, continual nurturing produces a healthy plant that is more resilient when faced with challenges such as an unexpected frost. Nurturing responsive relationships with children is similar in that we honor each child’s development, interests, and culture; but all children need responsive interactions in order to develop nurturing relationships.

The Nurturing and Responsive Relationships tier (dark blue in the chart above) is another universal support of the Pyramid Model, and there are foundational strategies you can use to nurture responsive relationships with all children. Responsive means that you quickly attend to a child’s needs. What do you already know about nurturing responsive relationships? How do responsive relationships impact resilience? Several lessons throughout the Virtual Lab School address these questions. You can refer to Lesson Five in the Social & Emotional Development courses to review how caregivers can create responsive relationships with children. The Social Emotional Learning for Teachers (SELF-T) course gives you strategies to maintain your own well-being and resilience, and Lesson Five in the Family Engagement course speaks to your role in building resilience and responsive relationships with families.

What are some important relationships in your life? How did those relationships develop? Whether you are thinking about a relationship with a family member you’ve known your entire life or a friendship that you developed as an adult, ongoing positive interactions over time build your trust, affection, and a feeling of safety with others. Responsive relationships develop after repeated interactions that include predictable patterns of responses and an emotional connection. Consistently responding to bids for communication from children in a warm and loving way gives them a sense of comfort and provides adults with opportunities to engage in child-directed interests and respond to child-directed needs.

High-Quality Supportive Environments

“When environments are structured such that children feel safe and supported and know what to do, when to do it, and what is expected of them, children may be less likely to engage in challenging behavior.” — Hemmeter, Ostrosky, Corso, 2012

What do you already know about creating a safe and engaging learning environment that promotes social-emotional development and prevents challenging behavior? How will the learning environment be different for infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children? How do you create a learning environment that accommodates learners of all abilities? If you have completed all the VLS Foundational Courses within a track, you can answer these questions! All of the lessons in the Virtual Lab School Safe Environments and Learning Environments courses, Lesson Three in Social & Emotional Development, and Lesson Three in the Positive Guidance courses provide a wealth of information and resources that line up with the Pyramid Model’s definition of high-quality supportive environments. You can refer to those courses and lessons to review this information.