About
Support to manage children’s behaviors & promote social-emotional development.
REACH will come to you!
Most child care directors and teachers say they want more training in managing challenging behaviors and helping children grow in social-emotional development. But for many specialized training is far away or “hard to reach.”
We go the distance so you don’t have to.
REACH provides training sessions at times that fit your schedule, toolkits with items to practice the skills and concepts taught, and personalized coaching through classroom visits, texts, and email.
Training
REACH brings training and follow-up coaching to your child care program. These services are available at no cost to eligible child care centers.
Our six-month partnership helps
- Improve staff morale and enhance program quality.
- Increase support of children’s social-emotional development.
- Reduce staff stress.
- Reduce “problem” behavior in classrooms.
- Fulfill state license requirements for annual professional development hours.
Training Topics
The REACH partnership begins with two directors workshops followed by teacher trainings on these topics:
- A Nurturing Relationship With Every Child: Laying the Groundwork for Good Behavior
- Routines, Schedules, and Rituals: Tools for Effective Behavior Guidance
- Talking About Feelings and Solving Problems
- Positive Attention: How to Use it Effectively to Increase Good Behavior
- Choices: Giving Children the Power to “Be Good”
- Advanced Strategies: What to do when a Child Needs Extra Help
Results
Documented Improvement
We send independent observers into classrooms both before and after the REACH partnership.
For those who complete REACH we have documented improvements.
Increased Overall Sensitivity, Teacher Warmth, and Responsiveness
- Teacher encourages children to exhibit prosocial behaviors
- Teacher speaks warmly to children
- Teacher pays attention to children as individuals
- Teacher talks to children on a level they understand
Decreased Harsh Punishment Like:
- Teacher speaks with irritation or hostility to children
- Teacher seems critical of children
- Teacher finds fault easily with children
- Teacher threatens children to try to control them
Want more details?
Download our FY18 Annual Report
Center Director:
“One of things I loved about REACH was it didn’t matter if you were brand new to the field or had 25 plus years in the field. There is something that everybody can learn from.”
Teacher:
“REACH gave you the concrete stuff. It gave you the tools to use and the steps of how to use them.”
Get Started
REACH is available to licensed child care programs throughout Arkansas. We try to prioritize to centers that will benefit most.
If you are interested in partnering with REACH, the first step is to fill out our REACH Child Care Information Form (CCIF). If you would like more than one center within your organization to be trained, a separate CCIF will need to be filled out on each center (please make sure to include each center’s physical address and facility number).
Directors, Once you have filled out the Child Care Information Form, a REACH trainer will contact you. The next steps are:
- You and the REACH trainer schedule Director Workshop 1. This workshop will include you and other administrators at your site.
- Upon completion of Director Workshop 1, you will be invited to fill out a Participant Agreement.
- You will be sent a link for each of your staff members to fill out a pre-training survey.
To find out more email reach@uams.edu.
Contact
REACH
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
Research and Evaluation Division (RED)
521 Jack Stephens Drive, Slot 530
Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: 501-526-4239
Fax: 501-686-8421
