As Linda said, my name is Socorro Robles.
I have three other staff members here with me.
Her name is Maria Salas, would you stand up please
Maria Delgado and Delia Harrington.
That’s our team from East Bay CDC.
I’m a little shy, so I’m going to look to my notes.
Our center, the Winters Child Development Center, is a center in the Yolo County Housing
Complex.
This place is in a rural area and it is a farming community.
The people who live in this housing is low income families and their children have priority
to be enrolled in the program first before we begin open enrollment.
The family connections begin when we first enroll the children.
That’s when we get to know the parents and find out about their individual needs.
We the staff, understand how important it is to build a strong connection with the parents
from the beginning when the child first starts coming to our program.
As well, we need to work with them together with the parents in order to provide the best
education.
The children come to us with different needs.
Not all the parents disclose information about their children, especially if they have some
kind of special need or challenging behavior.
As soon as we find out, after they are coming to our preschool.
Well, after taking the Teaching Pyramid training, we have been implementing most of the strategies
we have learned.
And it’s working!
We have been focusing on implementing PDA, PDA Plus, positive supports, social-emotional
and self regulation.
We noticed that the children with challenging behavior respond well to the self regulation
activities, such as smelling the flower or blowing the candle.
Children engage better by choosing activities on their own.
They have developed better sense of friendships among them and other adults.
They remind each other about what the class rules are and expectations.
We the teachers have seen a great improvement in their behavior, self regulation and social
development.
We are conducting teacher parent conferences this month and we have been sharing with parents
some of the techniques in this area with them so they can reinforce them at home, such as
PDAs.
We also have informed the parents through newsletters and parent meetings about the
staff members taking the Teaching Pyramid training and we have been chosen as a partner
site in a model program.
This made parents very happy and privileged to have their children there in our program.
All of us, the staff, come from the same background as the families.
We all had our children at preschool centers because we had to work.
I know I am speaking for myself I worked out in the fields or some kind of outdoor work.
We understand what the parents look for when they trust us with their children.
After taking the Teaching Pyramid training, we feel better prepared to take on this challenge.
To build a strong family connection.
At this time, I’d like to acknowledge with a PDA to my staff for working so hard in getting
all the materials ready for our display.
Thank you so much.