Starting Ahead is Better than Catching Up

Checkout the newest video from the Heckman Equation. More information is available at heckmanequation.org.

Help Me Grow and Strengthening Families

The following comes from the Center for the Study of Social Policy and is available in PDF.

Help Me Grow (HMG) connects families with young children to community-based services and support. Through the HMG system, statewide partners and communities are mobilized to build collaboration across service sectors, including child health care, early care and education and family support. Ongoing data collection and analysis helps HMG state affiliates identify gaps in and barriers to services. The HMG philosophy and model align well with the Strengthening Families mission and protective factors.

Parental Resilience: HMG fosters parental resilience and family strengths by meeting families where they are and partnering with them in identifying and prioritizing issues. Families are helped to recognize early signs of developmental/behavioral risks and to successfully find needed programs and services. Parents become better equipped to respond effectively to family crisis situations.

Social Connections: Through HMG care coordination, families are linked to a wide array of formal and informal services and supports such as family events, children’s play groups, parent/family networks and educational programs. These experiences all help to facilitate mutual support, friendships and partnerships.

Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development: HMG supports families as their children’s first observers, teachers and advocates for optimal healthy development. Through a variety of informational materials and community resources, families acquire knowledge and skills related to child development, behaviors and milestones. Families are further assisted in using observational tools and effective parenting strategies to best support their children.

Concrete Support in Times of Need: The HMG system connects families to services, programs and opportunities where they live. Care coordinators build relationships with families, helping them understand available resources, how to access them, specific questions to ask and, if needed, assistance with completing service application packages. HMG further acts as a care coordination service for child health care, early care and education and family support providers, thus promoting an ongoing cycle of concrete support.

Social and Emotional Competence of Children: HMG care coordination and service referrals are provided for children and families at every level of need: developmental, behavioral or social-emotional problems, Birth to Three, Title V special health care needs and special education. By linking families to community-based programs such as child care, Head Start and family resource centers, HMG supports positive early learning and peer socialization experiences that strengthen children’s social-emotional abilities, school readiness and school success.

Project LAUNCH Summit

Registration is open for the Alabama Project LAUNCH Summit!

The Alabama Project LAUNCH Early Childhood Summit will be held on May 3-4 at the Bryant Conference Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Summit will focus on strengthening adult capacities to ensure children’s optimal development and is open to all early childhood professionals, mental health practitioners, physicians, educators, home visitors, or any other professionals across the state working directly with children birth to eight years old.

Project LAUNCH, which stands for Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health, promotes the wellness of young children from birth to eight years by addressing the physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of their development. The Alabama Partnership for Children partners with the Alabama Department of Mental Health, the Alabama Department of Public Health, and Child Development Resources of The University of Alabama for Project LAUNCH’s local implementation in Tuscaloosa.

The May 4th Project LAUNCH Summit includes keynote addresses from David Willis, M.D., FAAP, the director of the Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems Maternal and Child Heath Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Nancy Fishman, the deputy director of the Ready Nation/Council for a Strong America, and Jessica Richards, MS, MSW, LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist specializing in early childhood mental health.

Registration is available online at http://training.ua.edu/launch. Registration costs $30 for the Professional Development Institute, $35 for the Project LAUNCH Summit, and $60 for both days. CEU certificates are also available.

For more information about Alabama Project LAUNCH at the state level, please contact Marguerite Johnson by calling toll-free 1-866-711-4025 or by emailing mjohnson@smartstartalabama.org. For information about Alabama Project LAUNCH in Tuscaloosa, please contact Amy Crosby by calling 205-348-4036 or by emailing acrosby@ches.ua.edu.

Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness Month and the Autism Society of Alabama has plenty of opportunities for you to get involved, including a Walk for Autism near you! If you are in Alabama and have questions or concerns about autism, call 2-1-1 and ask for Help Me Grow.

Help Me Grow passionately supports early identification of developmental or behavioral concerns, so that a family can get connected to the best resources available to fully support a child’s opportunities for success in life. The following links share stories regarding autism diagnosis from a first-person perspective.

Families Describe How They Felt Hearing About An Autism Diagnosis
After The Diagnosis: How Families Experience Autism
When An Autism Diagnosis Comes In Adulthood

Joining Hands for Week of the Young Child

You are invited to attend the Alabama Partnership for Children’s annual Joining Hands for Week of the Young Child event on Tuesday, April 12th. This event brings together child advocates to illuminate the needs of young children in Alabama. More information can be found at http://smartstartalabama.org/get-involved/, including Instructions for Making and Returning Handprints.

Joining Hands for Week of the Young Child

Photo Credit

Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Location: Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education
Alabama Center for Postsecondary Education Building
135 South Union Street
2nd Floor Conference Room
Montgomery, Alabama

Agenda
10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. General information
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 noon Deliver handprints!

Don't forget to RSVP! Please contact Bailey McKell (BMcKell@SmartStartAlabama.org) by April 5th to let her know if you plan to attend.

National Nutrition Month

http://www.eatright.org/resources/national-nutrition-month

March is National Nutrition Month, an annual observance that encourages Americans to adopt a healthy eating pattern that includes nutritious and flavorful foods. Nutrition professionals and health and child care providers often celebrate this special month by providing educational and fun resources and treats to promote healthy eating at work and at home. This year’s theme, “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right,” encourages food traditions and the appreciation of eating flavorful foods with friends and family.

Children learn by example and it's important for you to demonstrate healthy habits that will set them up for success. Check out the following resources for more information and ideas:

Healthy From the Start by ZERO TO THREE (PDF)

Especially for Moms by USDA

National Nutrition Month by EatRight

The Benefits of Reading to Children

                                                                            Photo credit

Parents are often told to read aloud to their young children, and most people would say that they understand that children benefit from being routinely read to. 

While parents are often recommended to do certain things to benefit their children, not many people can explain how reading benefits them. Now, for the first time, a study has revealed hard evidence that reading aloud to kids has a significant impact on literacy and language readiness.  

In this study, researchers looked at the brains of nineteen 3-5-year-olds using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. Researchers scanned the children's brains while they listened to recordings of a woman reading stores, as well as while they listened to background noise, in order to see how their brains responded when faced with different types of stimulation. The team also found out how stimulating their home reading environments were by asking the children questions about how often they were read to and if they were exposed to a variety of books.

The MRIs revealed that children from the more stimulating home reading environments had more activity in the parts of the brain that help with narrative comprehension and visual imagery. The brains showed greater activity in those specific areas while they listened to stories. 

Dr. Thomas Dewitt, Director of the Division of General and Community Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, said "This is a small and very early study, but the exciting thing is that it was able to demonstrate that early reading does have an impact on the parts of the brain that are fundamental for developing literacy early on," Dewitt said. "It is biological evidence that transcends empirical studies."

 We can now help explain the "why" to parents when they are recommended to read aloud to their children. Reading to babies and children is important and can help the development of their young brains.