Hanen: It Takes Two to Talk

I attended the Hanen: It Takes Two to Talk workshop December 11-13. It was a training for SLPs to lead parent groups, targeted towards parents of young children who have language delays. There were lots of great tools I can use in my work individually with families. I love the idea of helping parents to facilitate communiation effectively in everyday interactions, and taking language development out of the speech-language therapy bubble. It would also be great to get a parent group together, but there will be logistical things to consider. One thing is need/interest- are a lot of you working with families whose children have language skills at the 2-word level or below, and who would be interested in parent training?

Here's a picture of me and the instructor, who was great.



I have the parent workbook and a DVD. Let me know if you want to have a look!

NY Times: Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education

Positive news for Early Ed programs in this article.

Interactive Smart Boards for Early Education

At the NAEYC conference I was very excited to attend a presentation on interactive Smart Boards for early education. At the following link you can watch a video demonstration on some of it's capabilities. http://www.hatchearlychildhood.com/media/video/tslsStream.flv.

The following is an excerpt from the "White Page" for the equipment:

The Role of Technology in Educating Young Children
It is well established that three and four year olds need a strong focus on cognitive development along with attention to their social/emotional development to be ready for kindergarten. Technology can play a key role in this preparation. Experts confirm that preschool age children are developmentally ready and able to benefit from instruction with technology. The use of educational technology is now known to have a major, positive impact on the social, emotional, language, and cognitive development of children. It is recommended that many opportunities be given during the preschool years for exploration using technology tools in a playful, supportive environment. Researchers further agree that a number of technology applications have the potential to support and extend learning in the young child through their unique capability to provide excellent instruction in these important developmental areas that are critical for educational success. For example, research has found that preschoolers, who used computers with supporting activities for key learning goals, had more gains than children without computer experiences. Among others, these included gains in knowledge, long-term memory, verbal skills, problem solving, and manual dexterity.

Powerful Technology: The TeachSmartTM Learning System
The TeachSmartTM Learning System is an interactive, hands-on technology system with tools that help both learners and educators. The System comes with a computer, LCD projector, the SMART BoardTM Interactive Whiteboard, the SMART Recorder, and hundreds of research- and classroom-tested learning strategies and activities. It is the most efficient and effective tool in education today because it enables educators to provide interactive learning environments in today’s 21st century classrooms. Educators can have confidence in the integrity of the TeachSmartTM Learning System, with the SMART Board component having won such awards as a 2007 Technology & Learning Award of Excellence and a 2007 Education Software Review Award, and the research- and classroom-tested instructional content package provided in this product.

The TeachSmartTM Learning System is so complete that it can be used all throughout the instructional day. It makes gaining knowledge and skills fun for children while cutting down the teachers’ work considerably. With one touch educators can create digital portfolios, documentation for assessments, and show what is being taught daily.

Many exciting features include:
The SMART Recorder can show the child physically using an activity while also hearing the child explain his/her thought process.
To be most effective, delivering educational content must be tied to knowing that children are learning and mastering the key preschool skills. TeachSmart TM includes a wide selection of assessment activities already designed and connected with skill areas. Teachers will also be able to develop their own customized progress monitoring and assessments.
A powerful feature is that children’s individual work and progress can be shared with the child and with parents. Children can benefit from seeing their own work samples as evidence of their growth and progress. For parents, documentation of their child’s work in the context of conferences or evaluations allows them to learn about the curriculum and to have knowledge and expectations about their child’s performance that are appropriate. This makes them feel more a part of their child’s education and will encourage parent involvement, which research shows is strongly connected to children’s success in school.

To read more, go to: http://www.teachsmartlearningsystem.com/downloads/Hatch-tslsWhitepaper.pdf

I am looking for grants to purchase these systems. I would love to know your thoughts!

NAEYC Conference

Well, I spent the week last week at the conference hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (Hosted by Target).

I left there with some new tools for evaluation, some new information on working with children with selective mutism, and new software and books! I still wish that the DEC and NAEYC would co-sponsor a conference. Advance sessions in working with children with special needs is really needed at NAEYC and hands on sessions for practitioners are really needed at NAEYC. It would be a wonderful union, I think.

Autism Spectrum Disorders Workshop

Yesterday we attended a workshop given by the Vermont State I-Team entitled, "Autism Spectrum Disorders - Let's Get Real!" There were plenty of opportunities to break into teams, and we had some nearly complete teams there! Some very useful conversations got started, and we left with some helpful activity sheets to organize our conversations and planning around each child.

COUNTYWIDE

Great Countywide on Friday. I really liked breaking up into small groups by positions. It was really nice to share with Lise and Paula and brainstorm ideas. It is always nice to know you're not the "only" one dealing with issues. Hope to see more of my colleague's next time!! Lori

Governor and Legislators Visit Barlow Street Preschool

ST. ALBANS CITY — Gov. Jim Douglas and legislative candidates from around the county toured the Barlow Street Preschool Friday morning, in an event organized by Pre-K Now, an advocacy group.
Under Act 62 – which states that the first five years of a child’s life are crucial to development -- schools may choose to offer pre-K programs for three and four year olds. Currently, St. Albans City has enough pre-K capacity to have a slot for every four-year-old, according to Michelle Spence, Early Childhood Education coordinator for Franklin Central and Franklin Northwest Supervisory Unions. To achieve that capacity, the supervisory union has worked with local childcare providers willing to provide 10 hours per week of early childhood education to the four year olds in their care, Spence said. In order to qualify, providers must have a license in early childhood education. Mary Barrosse Schwartz, who organized the tour, said the purpose of the tour was to familiarize legislators and potential legislators with early childhood education programs and the children themselves. “Their needs are important, even though they don’t vote,” Schwartz said. Senate candidate Randy Brock asked what the long-term benefits are and what the evidence is which demonstrates those benefits. Spence replied that there are several national studies showing the long-term benefits. “If that gap is not closed early on, it is very hard to close it later,” Spence said referring to performance gaps between at-risk children and other children. In Franklin County, there is data showing participation of at risk children in the program increased 65 percent when the program was opened to all children, Spence said. Asked about what benefit there is in early childhood education for children who are not at risk, Spence said those children can teach the at-risk children by modeling such things as how to make friends. Sen. Sara Kittell, who supported Act 62, said her main concern is limited access to the programs. She would like to see every four-year-old have the opportunity to attend an early childhood program if their parents chose. She believes the programs can save the state money in the long run. Republican legislative candidate Lynn Dickinson compared early childhood education to a vaccine, saying that by investing in children when they’re young, the state can avoid problems later. “There’s more bang for the buck,” Dickinson said. Schwartz said her group would be working on increasing the number of qualified early childhood teachers. Studies show that children benefit most from having teachers who understand early childhood development, according to Schwartz. Parents, too, can benefit from highly trained teachers. In St. Albans there are monthly Building Bright Futures meetings to discuss the needs of children in all of the region's the early education programs. Parents can attend those meetings as well as receiving help from their child's classroom teachers about strategies to use at home, and home visits, if the parents wish, Spence explained.

See also PreK Nows blog regarding this site visit at http://prekvt.blogspot.com/2008/10/barlow-street-center-st-albans-vt.html