Tagged With "Early Development"
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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Strengthening Families: Increasing positive outcomes for children and families [www.cssp.org]
We engage families, programs, and communities in building key protective factors. Children are more likely to thrive when their families have the support they need. By focusing on the five universal family strengths identified in the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework , community leaders and service providers can better engage, support, and partner with parents in order to achieve the best outcomes for kids. How We Do It The Strengthening Families framework is a...
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Substance Use Disorder and Brain Development
The inputs a brain experiences during its developmental stages have a profound impact on whether that person will develop a substance use disorder (if they choose to drink or use other drugs). In turn, developing a substance use disorder (SUD) as a tween, teen, or young adult dramatically influences that person's brain development. And why is understanding this causality important? The risk factors for developing a substance use disorder are the result of inputs the brain experiences (or...
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Tantrums [Zero to Three website]
Anyone who has interacted with young children knows that tantrums can be hard to manage! Children are still growing in their ability to manage emotions, and they need patience and guidance along the way. The Zero to Three website can provide tips and strategies for helping children work through these difficult emotions, and help parents and caregivers stay level headed in the face of them. Acknowledge what your child is feeling. It is never wrong for a child to feel angry or sad, but you can...
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Teaching self awareness and stress recognition to kids age 4-6
Janai Mestrovich (BS/MS, Family & Child Development), teacher and developer of 'Superkid Power' (Ashland, OR) passed this along to me regarding how she uses finger activated mood card to measure temperature and kid stress levels: 40 Pre-K children learned how to measure their stress level this morning by measuring hand temp. with mood cards. Blue, happy-peaceful-very calm; Green, calm; Red, tight muscles/upset; Black Tense/grit teeth. We chanted and drummed appropriately - tense drumming...
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Teaching Social Skills to Improve Grades and Lives [NYTimes.com]
Re-Posted from ACEs Connection site earlier today. Originally posted by Samantha - thanks Sam! In the early 1990s, about 50 kindergarten teachers were asked to rate the social and communication skills of 753 children in their classrooms. It was...
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The First Five Years Matters: Quality of Early Relationships determines Lifelong Health
Quality of Early Relationships determines Lifelong Health The first relationship—usually this is between the mother and her infant—has an enduring impact on all later stages of human development. This relationship which occurs has been described by Bowlby’s attachment theory, which at its core, is about how the mother helps the infant regulate emotion. The mother-infant attachment communications are essential because they directly affect the development of the brain. Dr. Allan Schore, the...
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The Relentless School Nurse: Sesame Street in Communities & the Circle of Care
Two years ago, Sesame Workshop, the educational arm of Sesame Street, launched Sesame Street in Communities to offer support, guidance, and tools to those working with our most vulnerable population, our children. In the “About Us” description on their website Sesame Street in Communities they share their intention: “ Every day, you make a difference by helping kids and families grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. Organizations like yours unite communities, foster families’ and kids’...
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The Relentless School Nurse: When the Health Office Pass Includes Emotions
The collaboration between school counselors and school nurses creates safe spaces for students at school. Building a coalition between school counselors and school nurses creates a safety net for our most complex and challenging students while benefiting the whole school community. Promoting connections through intentional relationship building, and ensuring a school environment that is physically, emotionally and psychologically safe changes the culture and climate. Read about an amazing...
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The scientific effort to protect babies from trauma before it happens [qz.com]
By Jenny Anderson, Quartz, June 22, 2019. For nearly 30 years, Javier Aceves worked as a pediatrician in Albuquerque, New Mexico, focusing primarily on disadvantaged families. His approach was holistic: along with treating children, he did outreach with teens, and helped children’s parents with everything from addiction to learning how to be a supportive caregiver. For all the programs he helped develop, the patterns he kept seeing haunted him. He could treat young kids’ medical problems,...
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The State of the Evidence for Intervention and Prevention Programs for Child Welfare-Involved Populations [CEBC]
As of May 2019, the California Evidence-Based Clearing House (CEBC) has reviewed and rated over 450 programs. These programs are organized across 47 unique topic area s and each topic area varies in the number of programs with published peer-reviewed research evidence. The topic areas with the smallest number of research-supported programs are listed in the first table below in order to illustrate where gaps in effective services exist for child welfare-involved populations. The second table...
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The Trauma-Informed Lens Podcast is Back with Author Sarah Bennett
Sarah Bennett, the author of Trauma-Sensitive Early Education, joins the show to talk about her book and how she integrated trauma-sensitive approaches into her work as a 1st-grade teacher. traumainformedlens.org
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To Build a "Trauma-Informed Community" Start With Babies (www.psychologytoday.com) & Dr. Claudia Gold
Cissy's note: This article was written by the same @Claudia Gold who was the featured guest in one of our Parenting with ACEs chats . Here are excerpts from her article published in Psychology Today.
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Trauma and Resiliency Informed Systems Change in Los Angeles County
First 5 LA and its partners are calling for a commitment within organizations and systems to help individuals, families and communities heal from trauma, strengthen their resiliency, and become trauma and resiliency informed. This work began in 2016 with a kick-off event to hear about promising practices underway in other counties and progressed to a workgroup of foundations, community-based organizations and Los Angeles County Departments that convened for nearly a year to provide...
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Use Creative Expression to Help Kids Facing ACEs
Join us for the launch of our new webinar on using creative expression to help kids facing ACEs.
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We Need a Healing Movement
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...
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WEBINAR: Amplify Impact from National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation on 8/29
High-quality early childhood education (ECE) has an enormous positive impact on lifelong health, serving as a protective factor against adult disease and disability. Children who receive high-quality ECE stay in school longer and earn more income as adults, helping to close the income inequality gap. Yet parents sometimes struggle to access or pay for available programs, and only about 16% of children who were eligible for federal childcare subsidies in 2015 received them. Given the high...
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WEBINAR: Getting Started with Mindfulness in the Early Childhood Workplace Part II
Part II: Promising Applications of Mindfulness in Early Childhood Settings on February 12th. 11-12 PT, Wednesday, February 12, 2020 Mindfulness can help your early childhood organization support the well-being and resilience of staff and promote the delivery of quality service for children and families. Join us for part II of our three-part webinar series, where we will explore different strategies for applying mindfulness across early childhood disciplines. Presenters will share how they...
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WEBINAR: Supporting Parents in the Earliest Years
10-12PM PT, January 15, 2020 Promise Venture Studio and the National Family Support Network would like to invite you to Show+Tell, a first-of-its-kind series of online, interactive events showcasing the most promising innovations in early childhood development with the potential for scaled impact for children facing the greatest adversities. This first Show+Tell will feature a 3 min "demo" about Family Resource Centers, developed by the NFSN and selected by Promise Venture Studio for...
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WEBINARS: Getting Started with Mindfulness in the Early Childhood Workplace from ZERO TO THREE
Part 1: An Introduction to Mindfulness in the Early Childhood Environment : Wednesday, January 15, 2020; 11am Part 2: Promising Applications of Mindfulness in Early Childhood Settings: Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 11am Part 3 (available for ZERO TO THREE members only): Mindfulness in the Early Childhood Workplace Q and A : Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at 11am How can mindfulness help your early childhood organization support the well-being and resilience of staff and promote the delivery...
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When Parents Fear "It's All My Fault"
Many of my colleagues in the field of early childhood mental health work with what are termed "high risk" populations. Children of drug addicted parents, victims of child abuse, and families in abject poverty. While the challenges these families face are daunting, I find myself feeling some envy for my colleagues whose clients are in such obvious distress that the need for intensive treatment of parent and infant is not in question. In my rural, small-town population things are not so clear.
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Why We Should Teach Empathy to Preschoolers [dailygood.org]
In the fall of 1979, Yalda Modabber had just moved from Iran back to her birthplace in Boston. Her timing was bad: Just weeks later later, a group of armed Iranians took more than 60 U.S. citizens hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran. As a result, her fellow students bullied her ruthlessly. “It was nonstop for two years,” says Modabber, who has dark curly black hair and a warm smile. “That period in my life was so hard that I blocked it out. I don’t even remember my teachers’ names. The...
Ask the Community
ACES/Resilience Surveys w/Parents
Hello all, I work at an Early Learning Center and we will be presenting on ACES and Resilience to the parents of preschoolers. One of the aspects we have debated is when to offer them the ACES and Resilience surveys. However, after reading https://www.acesconnection.com/blog/putting-resilience-and-resilience-surveys-under-the-microscope I am wondering what purpose it would ultimately serve (and what unintended consequences it may have) to give parents the surveys. It would be optional, and...
Ask the Community
ACEs scores for early childhood educators
Hello! New to this community. Wondering if anyone has run across research or data regarding ACEs scores for early childhood educators? I am hosting a NC preschool expulsion and suspension summit in late April and thought this would be helpful information to share. Thanks for your help!
Ask the Community
ISO Trauma-Informed Child Care Programs
Greetings! I was wondering if anyone is aware of a child care program that would consider themselves "Trauma-Informed" - implementing trauma-informed practices throughout their program. I'd like to reach out to them for an interview, with the potential of being featured in an upcoming publication. Thank you! Suzanne,
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In the Arena with NOW Podcast Episode, "Cultivating Leaders of Color in Early Care and Education" (27 min)
The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) is excited to share the third episode of In the Arena with NOW , a podcast series that lifts up the voices of community leaders who are “in the arena” -- in classrooms, playgrounds, Congressional halls, hospitals, and neighborhood streets -- working to make sure that all children and families can live healthy, thriving lives. In our third episode, we speak with members of the California Consortium for Equity in Early Care and Education...
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International Congress in Paris: The Transition to School
For many children, the transition to a traditional elementary school setting, whether it be from home or a pre-school environment, represents a radical discontinuity - not just in terms of their physical environment, but on multiple levels, including values, behavioral and learning expectations, teacher attitudes, emotional support, etc. What if, in line with the latest neuroscientific discoveries about brain maturation, we were to re-envision early childhood education as commencing at birth...
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Issue Brief 61 - Addressing Trauma in Early Childhood [chdi.org]
Young children (under age 7) are exposed at high rates to potentially traumatic events such as abuse, violence, and loss of a loved one. Over half of all victims of child abuse in the U.S. are under age six. 1 Despite this, young children who are victims of trauma receive trauma-focused behavioral health treatments at much lower rates than older children. Since 2008, of the more than 10,000 children in Connecticut that have received effective trauma treatments, only 800 of these children...
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New Report: Holding Policymakers Accountable for Kids' Well-Being
New Report: Today’s shifting political sands have put kids at risk, and it’s urgent that policymakers put kids’ needs front and center. We all have the power to hold policymakers accountable for prioritizing the needs of children, and our friends at the child advocacy group Kids Impact have charted a course on how. In their new report, “Accelerating Policymaker Accountability for U.S. Kids’ Well-Being: Charting the Course & A Call to Action,” they help define a collective “True North”...
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Plymouth County Schools Receiving Trauma Informed Training
This opportunity is for schools and districts to receive training to develop an awareness of the prevalence of traumatic experience, its impact on academic behavior and relations and the need for a whole school approach. For the 2019-2020 school year, Carver, Marshfield, Rockland, Scituate and Silver Lake qualified to receive free training from TLPI.
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Raising The Organic Unity Of Child-And-Community
“When a child displays a behavior problem, the first place to look for the cause and for the solution is to the child’s environment.” Maria Montessori We cannot truly separate the child from the community. In our efforts to “fix” child behavior or heal the child from the traumatic impact of adverse childhood experiences, we need to relate to the community as an extension of the child’s physical and psychological constitution. An organic unity operates here. There is more than just a...
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Resource: Guide for Early Childhood Development
Healthy development in the early years of life provides the building blocks for lifelong health, educational achievement, and responsible citizenship. What can we do during this incredibly important period to ensure that children have a strong foundation for future development? This guide explains how children develop in their earliest years, why that time period is so important, and the practical ways we can support early childhood development (ECD) and improve outcomes for children and...
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Revisiting a Wonderful Resource
Today I stumbled on an "old" resource and was reminded about what great and accessible information it has. Calmer Classrooms was published in 2007 by the Child Safety Commissioner in Victoria Australia. It is full of excellent and...
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Children are Better Positioned to Develop Resilience with Strong Family Connections [thesector.com.au]
By Freya Lucas, The Sector, July 1, 2019. The likelihood of flourishing – that is, doing well in life despite adversity – is true for children across all levels of household income, health status and exposure to adverse childhood experiences. The findings, published in the May issue of Health Affairs , suggest that more emphasis should be placed on programs to promote family resilience and parent-child connection, in conjunction with continued efforts to lessen children’s negative childhood...
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Culturally Responsive Self-Care Practices for Early Childhood Educators
Available for pre-order now! See attached flyer. Release Spring 2020. Early childhood educators have very complex jobs. They work long days on their feet with constant demands on their energy and patience—whether they are holding and rocking infants, reading storybooks to toddlers, engaging in imaginary play with preschoolers or building problem-solving and self-regulation skills with kindergarteners. Despite the intense workplace demands early childhood teachers face on a daily basis, they...
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Developing Healthy Minds: It’s Never Too Early to Start! [Blog.SAMHSA.gov]
The human mind is one of the most complex structures in the universe. Even in early infancy, it is capable of taking in a wide variety of inputs. Still, in our early years, we’ve only unlocked a small portion of its potential. Our brains actually continue to develop into our twenties . Accordingly, the U.S. Government embraces a definition of youth that continues until we turn 25. Nurturing the development of young minds to stay healthy through adulthood is a primary goal of SAMHSA’s Project...
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Do You Have a Story to Tell? Speak at the 2018 Fall Trauma-Informed School Conference
Beyond Consequences is excited to announce that our Call for Proposals for the 2018 Fall Trauma-Informed School Conference has been extended. If you have a great story to share about your experience in working with students who’ve had adverse childhood experiences, we would love to hear from you! Here are some examples of sessions that fit in at our nationally recognized conference: Administrative/School-Wide Track • Mindfulness Instead of Suspension • Special Education Law & Advocacy •...
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Early-childhood development offers a brighter future to entire nations [The Seattle Times]
By Steve Davis and Peter Laugharn, July 29, 2019 The Seattle Times The World Health Organization just unveiled an initiative that could improve millions of children’s lives and boost the global economy by trillions of dollars. The initiative, known as the Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development , [ PDF attached ] seeks to change how we raise infants and toddlers. Children’s experiences during their first three years of life heavily influence their well-being as adults,...
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Early Childhood Educator - Top 2 Books on Trauma Informed Care
https://www.optimalbrainintegration.com/books
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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Educating the Whole Child: Improving School Climate to Support Student Success
Each year in the United States, 46 million children are exposed to violence, crime, abuse, homelessness, or food insecurity, as well as a range of other experiences that cause psychological trauma. These experiences create toxic stress that can affect children’s attention, learning, and behavior. Research on human development shows that the effects of such trauma can be mitigated when students learn in a positive school climate that offers long-term, secure relationships that supports...
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Effects of Preterm Birth
A baby born prematurely often spends that crucial time for attachment and development of neural pathways in the NICU
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Five Things You Wish Your Community’s Early Childhood Programs Knew [CitiesSpeak.org]
By NLC Staff on May 10, 2019 Cities, towns, and villages are places of innovation and solution finding. If you want to improve early childhood wellbeing—local leaders are key partners. The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Learning Community is a program of Boston Medical Center’s Vital Village. The learning community’s goal is to support local early childhood coalitions and build their capacity to work together with the broader community to improve the wellbeing of our...
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FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19
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...
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FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19
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...