WHAT IS S.T.E.M. AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOUR CHILD?

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These are the exact areas of knowledge where Americans are lagging behind many other nations. They are also the subjects that we, as educators, will need to emphasis in order to ensure that our children will be able to compete in an ever-growing global arena.

STEM is:

• absolutely essential in Early Education curriculum

• easy to integrating into other subjects such as art, music and social studies

• fun

• as important for girls as it is for boys

• effective in building an understanding of the world around us

Partners In Learning is providing a foundation for STEM concepts that children will need as they move into their elementary school years.

Katherine Generaux, Community Inclusion

Hope or Denial

I had the opportunity to attend the Opening the Doors to Inclusion 2013 Early Childhood Inclusion Institute last week in Chapel Hill.  It gave me the opportunity to network with educators from all over the world.  Two speakers especially left an impact and I wanted to share them with you. 

The keynote speaker featured Micah Fialka-Feldman in Through the Same Doors: Living a Fully Inclusive Life. Micah shared his first-hand story of inclusion.  Micah is 24 years old and one of the new wave of adults with cognitive disabilities attending college.  Since first grade, when he told his parents he wanted to go in the same door as all of his friends, he has been fully included in his school, community and now on a college campus.  He serves on the Project Advisory Committee for the Center for Postsecondary Education for Students with Intellectual Disabilities. You can also watch his award winning documentary, Through the Same Door: Inclusion Includes College on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWnCVd2cBpA).  Currently Micah is engaged in fulfilling his dream to live in the university dorm.  Micah’s favorite quote is by Dan Wilkens, “A community that excludes even one of its members is no community at all.”  Micah is committed to building community for himself and for others.

Following the keynote, Janice Fialka, Micah's mother conducted a separate plenary session which I attended.  She talked about theThe Dance of Partnership: Why Do My Feet Hurt? Strengthening the parent-professional partnership.  During her presentation she discussed rethinking the word denial that professionals often use.  She discussed how

parents are often judged solely from the professional’s perspective, the professional may not genuinely listen to or engage parents in a conversation about their dreams and hopes for their child. If professionals categorize parents as “in denial,” unaccepting, or difficult, professionals may lose the chance to understand and learn from the parents.

She discussed how parents and professionals often enter into a working relationship with different expectations and perspectives. Such differences affect how each partner perceives the next step in intervention. For many professionals, a label, diagnosis, and/or prognosis can give direction and insight to their work with a child. They can consider which intervention techniques work best with children with that particular diagnosis. They know what they expect to happen with the child. During the initial diagnosis and during transition periods, parents may not appreciate the importance of a diagnosis or label. To parents, labels may be like foreign words creating chaos and a sense of inadequacy. Parents may question the meaning of the diagnosis, unsure about how it might affect the future of their child and family. They may feel unprepared for this new twist in life, and wonder how to assimilate so much information at once. 

Many parents and professionals have heard or used phrases such as, “that parent is in denial,” or “that father can’t face the reality of his child’s limitations,” or “that mother refuses to admit that her child won’ t be able to...." Sometimes when professionals use the phrase “in denial,” the implied message is that the parents are not being realistic in their expectations of what their child can or will be able to do. Professionals should be careful not to judge a family when the family does not want to do things the way the professionals think is best.

Professionals can reframe “in denial” as the parents’ way of being “in hope.”
They can help parents explore their dreams, hopes, and fears for their child. Professionals 
can encourage the parents’ dedication to, determination, and high expectations for their child.
http://www.danceofpartnership.com/index.htm

Suggestions for professionals:

•  Support parents’ hopes and dreams for their child.

•  Suspend judgment of families and their behavior.

•   Be patient. People need time to find their own personal way through unexpected events.

•   View this time as an opportunity to strengthen trust.

•   Educate other professionals and family members to rethink denial

Unfortunately, I have been a professional that fell into the "in denial" trap.  I will forever more consider parents "in hope".  

In Hope, Norma Honeycutt, Executive Director 

Cheap & Easy Speech Therapy Tool

What in the world are these small circular devices and how do you use them?

They are called 'Talk Point' and they are made by Learning Resources (check out their website). Each device records 10 seconds of voice and can be played back instantly when you push the top of the device.

What do I use them for? I use them with nonverbal children to encourage them to communicate, first with the help of technology, and eventually on their own.

For example, if I want a child to say "more," I will record my voice saying "more" on the device. The child will then have to push the button to hear the word and then get the toy. I also use multiple at once, such as "go" and "car." The child must push "go" and then "car" before I will push the car to them.

After successfully manipulating the buttons and hearing the words many times, the child begins making the correct sounds and eventually the whole word.

This method is great with children who have developmental delays in speech or special needs in general. While these specific devices record only 10 seconds, more expensive and professional augmentative communication devices can record multiple words for a much longer amount of time. I bought each of these for just $7 at Just the Thing in downtown Salisbury.

These are awesome to use with your child if you want to encourage them to communicate specific words. When they outgrow them, you can use them for reminders. I love them because they are cheap and very easy to use.  

Check out the website at learningresources.com. They have great products for children with special needs.

Katie Zink, ITFS/P

Clucking with the Chickens

One of the best things about doing Community Based Rehabilitative Services (CBRS) is the flexibility to take advantage of the child's natural environment. This often means engaging in activities that the classroom is doing or that a child in a home is doing. Typically, I arrive during group or center time, or even during art activities.

Only at Partners In Learning would I arrive to see my CBRS child planting seeds and clucking along with chickens.

"Can you open my seeds PLEEEEEASE?"

If you have never gone out to the chicken coop at PIL, you should definitely check it out!

Big Roosters, little chickens

Cluck, cluck

This natural learning environment is such a wonderful experience for children. The child that I visit loved getting dirty and seeing the animals. We talked about the chickens and roosters, which ones were big and which were little. We identified the colors of the bunny rabbits. We then dug holes in the garden plots with our fingers before planting some seeds. This activity was a great addition to the children's daily lessons.

Black and white bunnies

 

Playing in the dirt and finding worms

 

Digging holes for the seeds

 

Katie Zink, ITFS/P

MAKE-IT-YOURSELF LIGHT BOX

I’ve been pining for a light table for some time now. I had so many ideas for its use, but they’re SO expensive. I found a website with instructions on a cheap and easy do-it-yourself light box. To build a light box, you’ll need to purchase:

• A plastic storage bin (You decide how large you want your light box to be.)

• A can of frosted spray paint (Spray a couple coats on the inside of the lid to defuse the light a bit.)

• Aluminum foil (Line the inside of your light box in order to reflect the light upward.)

                                                             or

• A can of plastic primer spray paint and a can of silver metallic spray paint. (Spray the inside of the box.)

• Florescent lights or touch pod light (Battery powered lights will allow your light box to be easily portable. The electrical plug-in version means you won’t have to buy or replace batteries.)

Possible uses for a light box:

• Exploration of small objects such as shells, glass stones, crystal rocks, objects from nature ----The possibilities are endless

• Art – such as painting on paper or painting directly onto top of the light box

• Observing shapes, colors, and sizes – contrasting and sorting objects

·         Imagination – It’s amazing what the children can create               

Katherine Generaux