California MAP* to Inclusion and Belonging Newsletter *Making Access Possible | Fally 2017
Supporting Children of Immigrant and Homeless Families
MAP* to Inclusion and Belonging… *Making Access Possible Project, funded by the Early Education and Support Division of the California Department of Education, provides information, resources, supports, and training to help child care providers, educators, specialists, and families include children and youth with disabilities and other special needs in child care, after school and community settings. MAP Newsletters alert you to newly identified resources and practices that support optimal development and well-being in high-quality environments where children with and without disabilities and special needs can thrive together. In this newsletter, you’ll find inspiration from a friendship video, gain access to free resources from Brooks Publishing, learn a bit more about autism from a 3rd grader named Jackson, and read a health report. You’ll also find critical information and resources about supporting children and families of immigrants and homeless children and key resources geared toward early care and education providers to support children exposed to trauma. Last, but not least, is a reminder about the Beginning Together inclusion training opportunities on March 5-8, 2018 in San Diego! Take some time and enjoy the many resources!
Everyone’s Welcome: The Importance of Friendships
When it comes to differences, kids see things differently! Watch this short video that reminds us that we are more the same than different. You’ll find it in MAP’s Video Collection under Inclusion.
Friendship, as it shines in this video, is critical to the feeling of belonging and overall well-being, both necessary before children can engage in learning. Opportunities to build friendships between children with disabilities and their peers need to be intentional and facilitated. Friendship Circle posted 4 Tips to Facilitate Friendships in the inclusive classroom. Learn more about why friendships are important to everyone in the article 7 Ways That Friendships are Great for Your Health under Healthy Mind, Healthy Body “In the News.”
Free Calendar and a Taking Care of Them, Taking Care of You Guide
Be inspired by 12 inclusion hero winners nominated by Brooks Publishing fans, as they share their best inclusion tips and insights in the free Inclusion Heros Calendar for the 2017-2018 school year.
Then gain tips, ideas and advice to help stressed-out teachers and students with the free “Taking Care of Them, Taking Care of You” strategies for student support and teacher self-care. For teachers, the guide includes ideas for practicing mindfulness, tips for conflict resolution, and ways to build a support network. For students, there are activities for reducing stress in the classroom and techniques for countering bullying.
Autism: Meet Jackson! (Video), Transition Tips and Health
“Raise your hand if you know what autism is,” said Jackson. “Raise your hand if you know that I have autism. It makes some parts of my brain work really well and some parts my brain work not very well. Doctors don’t know what makes some brains have autism and some brains not have it. I have it, but Charley doesn’t, even though he’s my twin brother.” Watch this video of a 3rd grader starting the school year with a speech about autism. What a great way for Jackson to introduce peers to himself and autism!
Although the new school year has been well under way for a few months, this article, “Helping Students with Autism Transition Into a New School Year,” by a mom whose son has autism provides some great tips on how to manage transitions successfully from one class to the next. The idea of becoming familiar with the environment, routine, and teachers before school starts minimizes the anxiety that any child with a disability might feel. Keep this tip in mind the next time you are working with any family whose child is transitioning from one class to another. Find it under Inclusive Practices under Edutopia.
Autism and Health: A Special Report: Advances in Understanding and Treating Health Conditions that Frequently Accompany Autism, published by Autism Speaks in 2017, dives deeply into the latest research on the physical and mental health conditions that frequently accompany autism. Anyone who works with children with autism needs to be aware of health conditions frequently associated with autism. When trying to understand the complex needs and behavior of a child with autism, possible health conditions should always be considered.
Supporting Immigrant Children and Their Families: What Early Care and Education Providers Can Do
Approximately 1 in 4 U.S. Latino children have a parent who is an unauthorized immigrant. This means that there are more than 4 million Latino children in the United States who are at risk of experiencing parental separation and the stress and fear associated with their family’s uncertain legal status. Early Childhood Investigations hosted a webinar September 27, 2017 entitled, “Supporting Young Children and Families Impacted by Immigration Policies.” The webinar discusses how the recent executive orders and other immigration policy proposals impact young children in immigrant families and what early childhood providers can do to help support their students and families who may be at risk. MAP highly recommends viewing this webinar to hear the presenters share first-hand experiences, strategies and new resources to help child care and early education providers support families, including how to keep their programs safe from immigration enforcement and help families cope and prepare for possible deportation. These resources are all found under Cultural Competency on the MAP website, but for your convenience, the direct links to the recorded webinar and some key resources found in the webinar are provided below.
- Supporting Young Children and Families Impacted by Immigration Policies: Recorded Webinar September 27, 2017 by Early Childhood Investigations: Hannah Matthews, Dr. Michael McNeil, Wendy Cervantes
- CLASP’s Childcare and Early Education
- Fact Sheet for Families and School Staff: Limitations on DHS Immigration Enforcement Actions at Sensitive Locations (PDF)
- Apple Seed Network: Protecting Assets and Child Custody in the Face of Deportation 2017 Manual Appleseed’s manual will help families develop plans in advance to deal with critical financial and family issues in the event of deportation, arrest, and other family emergencies. Each chapter covers a different topic and is a separate downloadable pdf. The 2012 version of the manual is available in Spanish with Spanish videos.
- Resource Guide: Building a Bright Future for All (PDF) The guide, published in January 2017, was developed to enhance State and local efforts to support immigrant children from birth through the elementary grades. The first half of the book provides tips for educators in early learning programs and elementary schools. The second half provides tips for parents and guardians on how to facilitate children’s learning and education starting at birth.
Working with Homeless Families: California Department of Education Resources and a Self-Assessment
The McKinney-Vento Act defines homeless children and youths as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. See the complete definition on the CDE website for conditions that are included. This same legislation ensures that children of homeless individuals and homeless youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youths. To learn more about the legislation and resources to support children who are homeless, see “Resources for Homeless Children and Youth” on the CDE website under Legal and Licensing on MAP.
Self Assessment Tool for Early Childhood Programs Serving the Homeless has been specifically designed for child care, Head Start, and Early Head Start, and public Pre-K programs as a guide for welcoming and supporting families and children experiencing homelessness into these programs. We know that ending family homelessness will require implementing whole-of-community strategies to ensure that every member of each family experiencing homelessness is offered the services and the supports they need to thrive. Early care and education providers play a critical role in identifying and supporting families with young children who are experiencing homelessness and connecting those families to other resources within the community.
Resources for Trauma-Informed Care: Our Children Are Watching
The wild fires in California, the mass shootings in Las Vegas, hurricanes and their aftermath, violence and racism, and families experiencing homelessness or being threatened by deportation are all tragedies we have been exposed to or experienced in the past few months. Our children, including children with disabilities, are watching the news, watching adults reacting to what they see and hear, or they may be directly affected by a crisis. We all need to be aware of the impact that these events may be having on children and on us as parents, caregivers, and educators, whether we are directly involved in a traumatic event or experiencing secondary trauma from just hearing about the trauma of others. MAP’s Coping with Trauma page has resources to meet diverse information needs related to trauma-informed care. The resources described below are a sample.
PBS Parents: Talking with Kids About News is a great place to start when considering the needs of children who are exposed to traumatic events on television. See the articles, Strategies for Talking and Listening and Through Your Child’s Eyes, to help you become aware of a child’s view of the news.
If you are just getting started in learning about trauma, you might start by watching two short videos on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES). The Five Minute Primer on ACES and the animated video from England and Wales provide an introduction to ACES and explain why it’s so important to address trauma early.
Sesame Street’s new website: Traumatic Experiences has resources to share with children and families in English and Spanish. This website offers family friendly videos, printable activities, stories and tip sheets that teach coping strategies in the warm and engaging environment of Sesame Street. It has a choice of information geared toward parents and care givers or providers.
Center for Inclusive Child Care’s (CICC) Tip Sheets on Trauma offers short and concise information on trauma that all child care providers should be aware of. The three, one-page tip sheets explain how children may respond to trauma, challenging behavior associated with trauma, and how to support children affected by trauma.
Helping Children Birth Through 5 Rebound from Traumatic Experiences: Create Classrooms That Support Recovery is an excellent one-hour training webinar geared toward early care and education providers that provides an overview of trauma-informed care for preschool classrooms, along with strategies and downloadable resources.
For complete training and resources on trauma, see the federal government’s Resource Guide to Trauma-Informed Human Services. It has information and resources specific for early care and education providers, including step-by-step instruction and videos on how to build trauma-informed services.
The Child Mind Institute has prepared free trauma resources to aid parents, educators, and other adults in talking to children and adolescents about potentially traumatic events and identifying those who might benefit from more focused professional attention. Free resources are available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German, Hebrew, Italian, Chinese, Russian, and Bengali.
National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s The Road to Recovery: Supporting Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Who Have Experienced Trauma is a training that provides an overview for providers on how to work with children and families who are living with intellectual and development disabilities who have experienced trauma. This toolkit consists of a Facilitator Guide and a Participant Manual. Together, they are designed to teach basic knowledge, skills, and values about working with children with IDD who have had traumatic experiences.
See the MAP Coping with Trauma page for more supporting resources.
Inclusion Training: Beginning Together Seminar is for Everyone!
Four-Day Intensive Inclusion Training Open to Everyone! MAP is partnering with its sister project, Beginning Together, to promote an inclusion training for those serving children birth to age three. We are pleased to announce that the Inclusion Training Seminar, aimed at educators interested in supporting infants and toddlers with disabilities or other special needs in their programs, will be held for the first time in California on March 5-8, 2018 in San Diego, California. This training is open to anyone who has not already been involved with the Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC) modular track.
For those already versed in PITC, the 2018 Beginning Together: Caring for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and Special Needs in Inclusive Settings Institute, a Training-of-Trainers (ToT) also known as Module V, will be held March 4-8 in San Diego. See the July MAP Newsletter for links to registration and a downloadable flyer to pass on to your friends!
Direct questions or comments about this newsletter to map@wested.org