March 2020

Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ is offering our Sensory and Emotional Literacy APP for FREE for a lifetime if you download in the next 2 months. You can access links to the APP and a free 22-minute video and a free 16-page user guide to support children ages 3-8 with sensory and emotional literacy. Download now while it is free and share widely. We wish you and your children physical, social and emotional wellness. https://www.optimalbrainintegration.com/app-1

Caring for children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can be an intense and exhausting experience for ECE professionals. Whether you may be working to resolve your own childhood trauma or may be experiencing secondary trauma as a result of the demands of care for children who are impacted by ACEs, it is essential to develop a self-care toolkit to support your own wellbeing and to provide the best care possible. This module focuses on practical strategies for self-care...

By Karissa Luckett, RN, BSN, MSW Common reactions to stress will fade over time for most children. Let’s be honest: Your exploring, tactile toddler won’t suddenly start keeping their hands to themselves. Your continually forgetful preschooler won’t suddenly start hand-washing properly just because you’ve told them it’s important. Depending on their ages, stages and temperaments, some children will require more reassurance or more time to shift than others. This situation is unique, and so is...

FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19 (details below) Sponsored by Region 9 Head Start Association, Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ and Continued. Webinar #1 Being Your Own Emergency First Responder: Leaders Managing the Stress of Working in Response to COVID-19 Facilitators: Julie Kurtz, Julie Nicholson and LaWanda Wesley Description: This webinar provides leaders with useful information to help them manage their own stress response to the...

FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19 (details below) Sponsored by Region 9 Head Start Association, Continued and Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ Webinar #1 Being Your Own Emergency First Responder: Leaders Managing the Stress of Working in Response to COVID-19 Facilitators: Julie Kurtz, Julie Nicholson and LaWanda Wesley Description: This webinar provides leaders with useful information to help them manage their own stress response to the...

By Amanda Merck, Salud America!, February 26, 2020 Communities are increasingly concerned about the rise of poverty, homelessness, trauma, and opioids among children and families. However, few states address these issues by investing money in Head Start programs, which are proven to strengthen families, promote school readiness, and improve child health. The good news is that lawmakers in 14 states are investing over $400 million each budget cycle for local Head Start and Early Head Start...

By Emily Tate and Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge, March 4, 2020 Today on a bonus episode of the EdSurge Podcast we’re talking about the youngest victims of the opioid crisis. They’re preschoolers whose parents or caregivers misuse painkillers; some have become addicted to heroin or other street drugs as a result. One expert called these kids “America’s lost children.” Of course, educators haven’t given up on them. But they recognize teaching these kids brings unique challenges. EdSurge reporter...

By Cara Anthony, St. Louis Public Radio, March 6, 2020 Champale Greene-Anderson keeps the volume up on her television whenever her 5-year-old granddaughter Amor Robinson comes over after school. “So we won’t hear the gunshots,” Greene-Anderson said. “I have little bitty grandbabies, and I don’t want them to be afraid to be here.” As a preschooler, Amor already knows and fears the sounds that occur with regularity in their neighborhood. [ Please click here to read more .]

What if you had developed a cure for the most painful and costly public health problem in America, you had proven that it worked, and you were offering it for free, but could not reach those who need it most because no one wants to talk about the problem? Tragically, this is my reality and the truth about human nature. It is easier to suffer in silence than acknowledge the painful things that happen to us. Over 20 years ago, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser...

This story is part of an EdSurge Research series about the early childhood education workforce. HAMILTON, Ohio — Suzanne Prescott first noticed the changes in children’s behaviors in 2015 "She was fielding reports of kids knocking over bookshelves, tables and chairs; hitting their classmates; and causing physical harm to themselves and their teachers. Not only were more 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds having outbursts, they were doing so with an intensity Prescott had never before seen. In some...

Chances are, if you’ve taken a stroll through the children’s-book section of bookstores or libraries recently, you’ve seen a lot of bright colors and catchy titles. You saw some good lessons on friendship and manners, some lively adventure stories and some cute animals. You also saw a lot of pictures of straight-size white girls. While children’s literature now features far more diverse stories than it did even a couple of years ago, there is still one movement that hasn’t gotten a foothold...