Inclusion Matters

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!

We welcome Sarah Hawley, RN, BSN, PHN of Minnesota Child Care Health Consultants back to the podcast.  In this episode, we discuss the inclusion of children with special health needs into your childcare setting. Sarah shares information about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it pertains to the enrollment of a child with special health needs.  We also learn more about the critical importance of the Individualized Child Care Program Plan (ICCPP) and the key collaborative partnership with the family. For more information on this topic, Download this tip sheet, listen to another podcast on the same topic, and visit https://www.ada.gov/

Sarah Hawley of Minnesota Child Care Health Consultants joins us again to elaborate on ways to create ongoing training methods that help ensure quality and safe care for all children in a child care setting.  Our discussion focuses on simple ways leadership can set up routines that provide opportunities for your team to learn together and elaborates on the ways that this process can help retain staff.

Listen in as our guest, Public Health Nurse Sarah Hawley, of Minnesota Child Care Health Consultants, discusses ways to implement good procedures that will help ensure that your team is well trained in health and safety protocols. Sarah shares suggestions for implementing a training process that reinforces and reminds regularly so that your health and safety procedures are consistent across the whole team.