The heart of the Responsive Teaching Curriculum are the 66 strategies that are used to encourage parents and other adults to engage in more responsive interactions with their children.
Responsiveness is conceptualized as a multifaceted style of interacting with young children. It consists of at least five distinct components of interactive behavior: Reciprocity, contingency, Shared control, Affect, and Match. Each of these components is further subdivided into 2 to 4 dimensions of the component. The following lists each of the Strategies included in this curriculum according to the component and dimension of responsiveness that they promote.
Reciprocity - frequent episodes of interaction that are characterized by a balanced, “give and take” relationship.
Engagement
Be physically available and interactive
Play frequently together
Get into my child’s world
Use mirroring and parallel play to join an activity
Expect my child to interact
Balance
Take one turn and wait
Keep my child for one more turn than usual
Play back and forth with sounds
Get from my child as much as I give
Communicate less so my child communicates more
Joint Activity Routines
Play face-to-face games without toys
Sustain repetitive play or action sequences
Join perseverative play (make it interactive)
Play with my child with toys
Make a habit of communicating during joint activity routines
Contingency - interactions that have an immediate and direct relationship to a child’s previous behaviors that support and encourage the child’s actions, intentions, and communications.
Awareness
Observe my child’s behavior
Take my child’s perspective
Be sensitive to my child’s state
Timing
Respond quickly to my child’s signals, cries, or nonverbal requests
Respond immediately to little behaviors
Discipline promptly and comfort
Intent
Respond to unintentional vocalizations, facial displays, and gestures as if they were meaningful conversations
Accept incorrect word choice, pronunciation, or word approximations by responding to my child’s intention
Translate my child’s actions, feelings, and intentions into words
Rephrase unclear vocalizations and word approximations with words that match my child’s actions or intentions
Interpret noncompliance as a choice or lack of ability
Frequency
Explore how RT strategies can be used to enhance my child’s participation throughout daily routines
Encourage multiple caregivers to use RT strategies
Shared Control - guidance and direction that facilitates and expands the actions and communications which the child initiates or leads
Moderate Direction
Communicate without asking questions
Imitate my child’s actions and communications
Give my child frequent opportunities to make choices
Facilitation
Expand to show my child the next developmental step
Expand to clarify my child’s intention or to develop my child’s topic
Wait silently for a more mature response
Play for a purpose
Change the environment
Affect - expressive, animated and warm interactions that are characterized by enjoyment or delight in interacting with the child.
Animation
Be animated
Wait with anticipation
Respond to my child in playful ways
Be more interesting than my child’s distractions
Accompany my communications with intonation, pointing, and nonverbal gestures
Enjoyment
Act as a playful partner
Interact for fun
Turn routines into games
Repeat activities my child enjoys
Warmth
Be physical but gentle
Respond affectionately to my child’s cries and needs for attention
Comfort my child when he or she is fussy, irritable, or angry
Acceptance
Value what my child is doing
Treat my child’s fears as meaningful and legitimate
Accept whatever my child does
Talk about the novel, funny, and good things my child is doing
Match - interactions and requests that are adjusted to the child’s developmental level, current interests, and behavioral style or temperament
Developmental Match
Interpret my child’s behavior developmentally
Know the developmental skills my child seems ready to learn
Request actions that match my child’s developmental level
Act in ways my child can act
Communicate the way my child communicates
Have developmentally appropriate rules and expectations
Interest Match
Read my child’s behavior as an indicator of interest
Follow my child’s focus of attention
Follow my child’s lead
Behavioral Style Match
Be sensitive to my child’s sensations
Observe how my child ordinarily engages in interaction
Respond to my child’s behavioral state
Have expectations that conform to my child’s behavioral style
Match my child’s interactive pace
