Inclusion Matters

Our guest Michele Kvikstad, Program Coordinator for Follow Along in Minnesota joins us to share about this wonderful free program for families.  Michele highlights the way the Follow Along Program helps support caregivers of infants and young children track their child's development and let you know if your child is playing, talking, growing, moving, and behaving like other children the same age. Listen and learn more about this great free resource for families. https://www.health.state.mn.us/mnfap

Join us as we learn about Parent Aware from our guest, Katie Hoffman, Director of Quality Improvement at Child Care Aware of Minnesota.  We walk through the history, the principles, and the many benefits of becoming a Parent Aware Rated child care program.

Public Health Nurse and owner of MN Child Care Health Consultants, Sarah Hawley, joins us on this episode to share ways early childhood professionals can create a “breastfeeding friendly” child care setting.  Sarah highlights the health benefits of breastfeeding and the ways that supporting this personal parent decision can enhance the overall setting.

Kim Woehl, one of our CICC Coaches and a former licensed family child care provider, joins this episode.  Kim has many useful insights as to how to meet the needs of many different children at various ages and stages in the family child care setting.  She shares strategies related to building a flexible yet consistent routine, and tips and tricks that calm chaos and meet varied needs.

In this episode, we host Anna Paulson, from Region 11 Help Me Grow as she shares the many ways Help Me Grow MN (HMGMN)  supports the healthy development of young children.  She highlights the way HMGMN enables parents, caregivers, professionals, and others to know when there are child development concerns and who to contact when these concerns arise.  An early start can change long-term outcomes for children.  Early services can mean fewer or no services later in life.  That is the goal.  Listen and learn more about the ways Help Me Grow MN meets that goal and supports those caring for young children along the path to success.

Inclusion Matters welcomes back our friend Sarah Hawley of Minnesota Child Care Health Consultants to talk about helping children develop healthy eating patterns.  Sarah shares ways that early childhood educators can set a strong foundation for those in their care by providing opportunities to explore healthy foods and using positive modeling to encourage healthy choices.  She also shares wonderful free resources available to help you plan fun activities and share solid information with families.

Join us as we welcome Jacy Nylander, CICC Coaching Lead, as we discuss the current state of the field of early childhood.  As our field experiences the combination of the pandemic and ongoing social inequities it has led to a staffing shortage and in turn, affected how professionals, families, and children are existing in the community together.  We’ll focus on 3 areas that have been greatly impacted, our sense of safety, connection, and self-efficacy.

We welcome back Sarah Hawley, RN, BSN, PHN of Minnesota Child Care Health Consultants to discuss the important topic of Active Supervision.  The discussion centers around what is meant by Active Supervision, what strategies need to be in place for the safety of all, and what can be done when challenges occur related to behavior in the early childhood setting.

Our guest Dr. Jennifer Hall-Lande, a lead researcher on the CDC’s ADDM Network, invites us into a helpful discussion related to early care and education.  She specializes in research in early identification and prevalence of autism and other developmental disabilities at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration and the Masonic Institute on the Developing Brain (MIDB).  She is also a clinical psychologist and serves as the CDC’s Act Early Ambassador to Minnesota.  Dr. Hall-Lande shares updated information about national autism numbers as well as Minnesota’s prevalence and explains the way this critical information is gathered.  She discusses symptoms of autism and shares ways that the early childhood educator can assist families as they navigate the pathway to diagnosis.

In this episode Pediatrician, Dr. Kris Gendreau joins us to discuss the ways a child’s pediatrician can help decipher behaviors that may challenge.  She notes that behaviors can tell us that a child may be uncomfortable in their body, either due to external factors or internal factors and the pediatrician can dig deeper to decern what may be the cause.  Listen to learn more!