Discovery Child Development Center - Preschool located in Morrisville - podcast/shownotes

Advocating for Early Childhood Education with NC Senator Jeff Jackson

4/17/2019

Jeff Jackson joins us to discuss why it is important for parents, educators, and community members to advocate for early childhood education. We talk about ways to bring awareness to the issue and how to help influence policy at the state and local level.

Learning Through Play (Part 1) - Episode 47

4/3/2019

Lisa Murphy, Author and founder and CEO of Ooey Gooey Inc joins us to discuss her book, Lisa Murphy on Play: The Foundation of Children's Learning. She talks about why play should be an essential element of every child's day. In Part 1, we discuss what playful learning look and the many ways it benefits children.

Play as Foundation of Learning

Play and learning are not in conflict, and exist together
Play supports “house of academics”
Play cement that holds foundation together
Solid foundation important for later academic success

Examples of Learning Through Play

Four Development Domain - Cognitive, Social Emotional, Language and Literacy, Physical Development
Ex. Block Activity
- Social Emotional - Asking for blocks, navigating a block falling over, sticking with a setback
- Physical - Picking up blocks with fingers and grasping
- Language and Literacy - Signs that explain what something is, discussing what kind of block a child wants with peer. Descriptions of what they made
- Cognitive - Blocks following over shows gravity, asking for a certain number of blocks
- All of the skills we want children to develop later are learned through play

Supporting Play at Home

Cultivate resiliency in children
People do not know neighbors as well at they used to, many parents as a result less likely to allow children to play outside
Do not need as many toys as you think
Children love loose parts ex. Playing with pots and pans
Classic toys such as blocks, markers, and crayons are ideal
Building toys with instructions do not allow for as much creativity as others
Play should come from child and not the adult’s agenda
Children’s play is often deeper when parents are not around
Children sometimes will look for approval if parent is right there
Give yourself a technology break
Show kids that there are other options besides technology

What Play Actually Is

Peter Gray - Free to Learn
It is freely chosen and can quit at any time
Enough time for play
Sometimes think that look like work but bring pleasure, can fall under definition of play
Kids need more time and room for play than adults often realize
Outside is the best for play because offers natural elements such as sticks, dirt, sand, trees
Adults may not always understand the play the child has chosen
Can be frustrating for child when they are not given enough time to finish play they started

Teaching Kids to Think Episode 46

2/26/2019

Teaching Kids to Think – Podcast
Episode 46

Dr Darlene Sweetland and Dr. Ron Stolberg, authors of the book “Teaching Kids to Think”, talk about raising independent and thoughtful confident children in the age of instinct gratification.

What is instant gratification generation?

Children and teens have things available easily in this technology era.
Children are missing everyday opportunities like planning, organizing, communicating in everyday problem solving.
Not understanding the money value.

How can we increase children’s patience in toddlers in this technology era?

Technology should not become their habit.
Technology is infused in the society and important to make things fast but then we as a parent need to have a healthy balance.
Instead of giving screening each time for entertainment, we need to teach them to communicate with each other.
We need to teach the child its okay to wait at times.

When can anxiety be healthy?

Anxiety is a state of uncertainty.
It is a natural & healthy feeling.
Kids need not feel fear of this uncertainty in everyday life experience.
Kids need to notice it & come with a plan to figure out the situation which builds confidence in them
For young kids, parents need to work together with kids and encourage them to think to solve the situation.
The more experience they have of being uncertain and coming up with a plan to solve it, each time they are building their confidence.

What are the practical strategies for preschool kids to learn how to become independent for themselves in accomplishing tasks?

Let young kids explore to build confidence.
Let kids do everyday little things on their own, like deciding what they want to wear or which toy to play.
Do not do things for them let them try first. It builds a sense of confidence in them.

Problem Solving Development in kids

Instead of giving kids the solutions to the problems, ask them what choices or options they are thinking to solve the problem.
Most of the times children come to a solution by themselves but they just take long thinking time than adults so parents need to be more patient.
It’s okay if they don’t come to the best solution but it gives them a good learning opportunity.

What characteristics are most important to develop in preschool age children to help them a successful students later on?

Ability to communicate
Problem solving skills
Independence
Perseverance

Importance of Sports in kids

It’s a fun way to learn the value of practicing for achieving.
Lots of kids struggle with academics, but excel in sports.
Parents can give exposure to new things to try, but should not push them into a specific sport. It should be the choice of child whether he wants to play or not.
Kids get to make new friends and learn how to work in a team or a group.
They learn the importance of exercising.

Show & tell

Let kids learn sharing, communicating, by having play dates. Playing with other children help them to learn to share their things, or how to take turns by communicating with each other.
Let kids earn what they want. It could be a toy or an app on iPad, or anything, just give them a little work to earn that reward. It can be anything like help dad to water the plant or walk a dog etc. This also helps them to learn problem solving or waiting for something, the value of earning things.

Building Emotional Vocabulary - Episode 44

12/5/2018

Guest: Dr. Gail Joseph has written extensively about the importance of building emotional vocabulary in young children. Dr. Joseph is the Bezos family distinguished professor in the early learning, and the founding director of cultivate learning at the University of Washington.

Why is Building Emotional Vocabulary in young children so critical

It is an important foundational skill for young children throughout their life.
It has specific function in terms of being able to increase a child's ability to regulate their own emotions, as well as lending it to their interpersonal interactions with others.
Strong emotional vocabulary helps them regulate or express their thoughts, and get their needs met in a healthy way.

Teaching young children how to identify emotions in themselves and in others

Help them identify emotions based on somebody's face on how they might be feeling and how they sound
Help them observe and understand the situational cues.
Helping kids read somebody else’s emotions at a young age is important to their ability to interact with other people.
Help them build a high emotional quotient which will be really important in later years

What are the Common Emotional Words based on research

Most 3 year olds at the beginning of the preschool year know the basic feelings like, happy, sad and mad.
We need to build a stronger emotional vocabulary throughout preschool and early elementary years.
One way to do it is to go beyond happy, sad and mad. Adding words like, feeling frustrated, overjoyed, encouraged, included or feeling loved
In the classrooms adding one word in weekly lessons and reinforcing it at home and school.
Kids in their preschool years get really excited and want to share and impress people, parents /teachers by using the new words that they have learnt

Incorporating Positive Emotional Vocabulary

Use more emotion words and encourage children to notice when they are feeling calm content and happy vs when they are in a stress mode.
Expand the amount of time that children recognize what being calm feels like, what feeling content feels like.
Find the right opportunities to build the positive emotional vocabulary

Role of Books
One great way to expand vocabulary in general and emotional vocabulary is through books.

Choose colorful books that are about feelings, expressing different emotions.
Thinking ahead before reading with children about the different emotion words and pointing out what the characters might be experiencing and even writing those words down
Read aloud, stop and pause and point the facial expressions and ask children if they can imagine how they're feeling
While reading with young kids pause and have a little bit of a dialogue about the feeling. Include questions like, “How would you feel? How do you think they feel the same way? Or do you think they might feel different?” Can be a great way to build the vocabulary.

Suggested Books: Glad Monster, sad Monster by Ed Amberley
My Many Colored days by Dr Seuss
How are you Peeling Foods with Moods by Saxton Freyman
When Sophie Gets Angry- Really Really Angry by Molly Bang

Emotional Coaching By Parents

When reading with your child, you know his or her experiences. Try to help them think about times where they've experienced all these different emotions and connect to the book that way.
Another strategy that is really helpful is to use emotional coaching with your child and incorporate that into daily routines.
Incidental teaching: Just pausing and taking time throughout the day creating labels for children and for yourself expressing how they are feeling and how you are feeling.

Helping Young Children Regulate their Emotions

It is important to teach children to calm down when they are having a meltdown and get out of the red zone and back into being calm.
Show and Tell
- Show them a drawn thermometer. It would have different colors from going from blue at the bottom all the way up to very red at the top. Children really like to associate their feelings with those different colors on the emotional thermometer ,like feeling blue is feeling happy and some other words that make you feel really good, feeling calm, feeling content , feeling included

And then we can go all the way up to feeling irate or feeling really angry or feeling really disappointed and helping children identify what is that feeling that they experienced that really starts to overwhelm them.

Understanding Child Development - Episode 43 with Rae Pica

11/16/2018

Importance of Movement

Sitting increases fatigue
Reduces concentration
Brain stimulated more when moving
Research shows sitting does not equal learning
Brain images by Dr. Chuck Hillman shows how much more active the brain is after a 20 minute walk compared to sitting still

Learning from Failure

Need to let children do things on their own to become independent autonomous adults
Skills need to be learned in early childhood
We all learn through our mistakes and failures
How can we improve next time?
Can't fully prepare children for future we cannot anticipate, but the skills we can give them like problem solving and cooperation will serve them well throughout their lives
Kids are now going to college counselors at much higher rates and have a harder time solving their own problems
Dr. Stuart Brown's study of violent prison inmates showed that none of them engaged in meaningful play as a child
Dr. Peter Gray shows correlation between lack of play and depression
Lots of research showing mind and body connection

Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Research shows that children who do things when they are developmentally ready easily catch up and often surpass kids who are forced to do things before they are developmentally ready
Early childhood is when kids learn to cooperate, solve problems and it is a developmental progression
Not all children are developmentally ready to read in kindergarten
By third grade, you can not tell the difference between early readers and those who read when they were ready later

Bribes and Threats

They work in the short time
Rewards then become expected and have a hard time when reward is not there or is no longer motivating
Does not prepare them for later school and jobs without those rewards
Want to stimulate intrinsic motivation is what we want - motivation from within rather external motivation
We want children to grow up with character and you do not build it by only doing something because you will get something in reward

Praise

Just saying "good job," is not helpful to children as they do not know what was good about what you are praising
Become addicted to praise
They will have teachers and bosses that will not be saying it all the time
Eventually children will tune it out
They can also identify false praise
Praise should be descriptive

Zero Tolerance Policies Concerning Violence

Children around the world all use imaginary weapons
It is dramatic play to work things out in their world
Nancy Carlson Paige argues that it is healthy for kids to make toy guns and play war games
Children should not be watching violent tv shows and movies

Show and Tell

Encourage children to go outside and spend less time on screens

Links

www.raepica.com
www.bamradionetwork.com

Successfully Starting School - Episode 41

5/22/2018

Episode 41
Common Challenges and Solutions For Children Starting School

Children who have been in preschool can have smoother transition because they have practice learning how to self regulate
Will need to share attention with a large number of students
Teacher’s perception of students can have a significant effect on child
Social emotional learning important for school
Can gain many skills from playing outside
Give them practice waiting turn ex. when rolling ball, can wait a few extra seconds before passing back
Give children unstructured play time
Cooperative board games offer many benefits

Navigating schools

Many parents have had traumatic prior school experiences and that can impact interactions
Understand power structure the school
Many teachers not trained in interacting with parents
Parents should keep in mind that teachers are people and is important to be respectful and let them know they are appreciated
Parent participation critical to student success
Many different ways for parents to participate
Talk to principal and teacher and see if you can volunteer
Go in with open curiosity
Don’t be afraid to speak up for the things you need

Brain and Learning

David Souza “How the Brain Learns.”
Something has to have sense and meaning for student learning to stick
Toddlers are motivated to learn, but during school years changes to “will it be on the test.”
Find out what they are learning about in school and see if there are activities you can do at home to make it more relevant to their lives

Intrinsic Motivation

Learning for the sake of learning
Hard to develop at school because other people are telling them what to learn
Most powerful thing you can do is to listen to what they are curious and connect them to resources that can help them find answers
You do not need to be an expert on the topic they are interested in

Overcoming difficult transitions to school

do not minimize feelings
Teach strategies to overcome problems
Check in with teachers to see what insight they have about your child
Children benefit from working through issues if possible

Show and Tell

Your Parenting MoJo podcast
Course on helping your child to transition to school. http://yourparentingmojo.com/courses/Discount for Preschool and Beyond listeners with code PAB

Developing Your Child's "Yes Brain" - Episode 40 with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson

5/4/2018

The Yes Brain vs No Brain

The book is not about always saying yes to a child
2 states in which brains and nervous systems are in
Our bodies can respond to how we are feeling before we are aware of it
The brain is either in reactive mode - No Brain
Receptive or open state - Yes Brain
As parents we can be yes brain or no brain parents
The way we communicate with children shapes their brain
Yes brains are resilient, creative and curious
They can handle disappointments, whereas a no brain can be rigid or shutdown, anxious, afraid to try new things

Pillars of Success

Society has emphasis on achievement as success
Some children achieve, but do not have an internal compass
BRIE - BALANCE RESILIANCE INSIGHT EMPATHY
Need emotional regulation, or balance to stay in the “green zone”
Parents need to try to remain in the green zone themselves
Do not want to bubble wrap kids
If we want children to be resilient, they need to practice things that are difficult
With support, we can help build their emotional muscle
Can then have empathy for others who are going through a tough time

Pushin' vs. Cushion

We want to push to expand capacity
If we push too far though, nervous system will be stressed and send them into reactivate state
This leads to more constriction in capacity
They will have bigger green zone as they grow up
Track how they are doing
With support can I keep the child in the green zone?
Key is how much support and cushion we will give them ex. Let’s take 3 steps closer or stay for just 5 minutes
Provide scaffolding
If they are a little comfortable, but you are there with them, they will learn to tolerate being uncomfortable and that helps change their brain

Becoming Aware of Feelings

Reactive feelings are not always a choice
Give children the language and words for their feelings
Teach them strategies for when they are feeling big emotions they have difficulty handling
We can teach children about their brain
Can teach breathing strategies
We can teach children about green and red zone
Reactive behavior is not necessarily a child’s choice, they are communicating they are not in control and need help and support
When children are acting reactively, they need support and empathy. Ex. I see you are having a hard time, how can I help you calm down?

Additional Strategies

Adults need to take care of themselves ex. sleep, finding time for our selves
Trying to keep ourselves in the green zone as much as we can
When you make a mistake as a parent, it is an opportunity to talk about it with your child and learn from it
Showing how to repair a relationship is important
Children need to learn that sometimes relationships have ruptures, but there are ways to fix them
Teach empathy when another child is having a hard time
Can ask them what they think is the cause of that behavior
Show them empathy when they need it

Show and Tell

Be present
Allow child to express feelings
Take care of ourselves so we can stay in the green zone

Outdoor Fun During the Spring and Summer - Episode 39

4/19/2018

Benefits of Daily Outside

Great stress relief for everyone in family
Can help children refocus
Great parenting tool - kid more cooperative, get ready faster after
Can do many of the things you already do outside
Gift that helps parents and children
Can make ordinary things seem more fun
Great way to bond with child

Encouraging Children to Get Outside

Open ended questions spark curiosity and interests
Can act their imagination
Can stop by a new playground
Outdoor props by door. ex. Bike and helmet by the door
Have toys dedicated to outside ex. special truck
Find what child likes and then suggest they go outside and play ex. I am going outside with a soccer ball now if you want to join me
Do not always need to have a big plan, kids can take the lead and you can start exploring together

Getting Started With Gardening

Can let children take the lead
Make it a big science experiment
Sugar snap peas are sweet to eat and fun to watch grow. Seeds sprout in 3-7 days
Could put them in a cup and moist newspaper and put pea seed on either side
Lettuce is easier to grow
Need full sun every day for vegetables
Need to water every day
Make sure their is a drainage hole
Container gardening is good option for people just getting started
Peas can be planted in 40 or 50 degree weather
Things that don’t grow can be a good learning experience
Kids love to pull weeds
Good way to get children to try new foods

Going Outside in the Rain

Helps to have rain gear
Place towels by the door
Time it - Can go right before bath

Favorite Spring Activities

Find a new path or playground
take a nature walk
Create an adventure book
Build a fort
Use your scenes to take in sights and sounds

Magic Bag

Keep one handy for summer with things that get kids excited to go outside
Can be something new or special
Can put items such as deflated beach ball, sidewalk chalk, bubbles
Have a surprise that is outdoor related

Extending Learning Activity

Embrace concept that you are learning outside
Children become their own storytellers
PJ’s Backyard Adventures Books
Children like to write about outdoor adventures at school

Links:
Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids
Be Outside and Grow Website
PJ's Backyard Adventures
Curiosity Cards App

Raising a Bilingual Child - Episode 37 with Adam Beck

3/22/2018

Benefits of Raising a Child Bilingual

Spend time bonding with child
Can communicate with extended family
Future professional opportunity
Social opportunities
Can pass the language abilities to future generations

Common Challenges

Parents can underestimate what the challenges are
Need to provide sufficient language exposure
When child grows they will hear a lot more of the majority language
Can be hard to find time to give them adequate language exposure

Different Approaches

Research study found following results for success rates using different approaches:
1) Both parents used only minority language at home had success rate of 96.92
2) One parent uses minority language and other parent uses both languages success rate 93.4%
3) Both parents use both language 79.18 percent
4) One parent uses majority language and other uses minority language 74.2%
5) One parent uses both languages and the other uses just majority language 35.70%
One parent one language can have lower success rate if the minority language parent does not spend enough time with the child speaking the language
Lack of success acquiring a second language usually result from lack of exposure and lack of need to use the language
Have to match circumstances to aims

Habits and Routines to Develop Language Skills

Read to child
Play games
Online conversations with websites like italkie
Can have homestay guests who speak target language
Au-Pair can live with family
Older playmates and tutors can engage with child in language weekly
Find playgroups in target language
Play music in target languages
Find wordless picture books - can narrate stories, explore pictures, will work with any language
Need steady stream of quality resources in target language
Cooperative Board Games are great for developing language

Supporting Children at School

Children will learn majority language through exposure and grow quickly
While they are acquiring the language can receive additional support such as tutor they visit, having time at home when they read in the language they are acquiring
Giving teachers a list of words in the language they speak at home to help the child in the classroom communicate basic needs

Maximize Your Child's Bilingual Ability
Bilingual Monkeys: Ideas and inspiration for raising bilingual kids (without going bananas)
The Bilingual Zoo: A lively online community for parents of bilingual & multilingual kids
Cooperative Games

Speech and Language Development - Episode 35

2/21/2018

Differences Between Language and Speech

Speech is the physical act of how you move your mouth to produce sound
Can you be understood?
Encompasses syntax - how you are putting words together to make complete sentences
Language is a larger component
How am I communicating what is in my head
Receptive language and expressive language
Social pragmatic language - how are we using language with peers with adults

Milestones

18 month old 5-25 words typically spoken
Starting to talk and wanting to imitate
2 year old have an increase in single word development
Should be imitating and labeling words
Can point things out
More intent when speaking
3 year old should have more advanced sentence development
Able to answer more questions, state actions ex. I ran up the slide
4-5 year olds have more advanced vocabulary
Put 4-5 words together

Role of Parents

Play a huge role in language development
How much language is child exposed to?
Is there a lot of modeling at home?
TV and iPad cannot replace human interaction. Need the back and forth turn taking

Developing Sounds

phonological process
Slowly develop sounds over time including p b d t by age 2
Each year add on more sounds
By age 8 should have all their sounds
Saying "tookie" for "cookie" at 2 is developmentally appropriate
A 3 year old that is not able to say s r or l is not usually a red flag
By age 2, should understand 50 to 60 percent of what a child says
By 4-5, 80 to 90 percent should be understood

Modeling

Should not constantly correct a child's speech
Answer the correct way ex. oh you want a cookie
Do not use baby talk
Give child time to get out what they are trying to say. They often need more time to process and express what they would like to communicate

Learning Multiple Languages

Advancing vocabulary at a different rate
Number of words they learn can be at a different rate
Code switching can take time ex. one language spoken at home and one at school
Consistency in how you are using language helps
Articulation is different from language to language
If there are concerns, should look if they are stronger in one language
If they are struggling in both languages, may be a concern
Would want to test in language they hear the most
Bilingual children usually catch up quickly and many benefits to being bilingual

Seeking Evaluations

See what your insurance company covers
Under the age 3 can go through children 's development service agency - they help you find therapists at a reduced cost
Older than 3, start with pediatrician and then search for speech therapist
Some will do a consultation and you can see if services are needed and if it is a good match
Socially can be harder to start therapy when the child is older
Children can get frustration if they cannot communicate how they are feeling
Can also make it hard to socialize with other children
Therapy early sets them up for success early
Therapy with preschoolers is often play-based
Depending on severity intervention could be a few months to a few years

Show and Tell

Make sure you give child plenty of opportunities to communicate
Even if you know what they want, offer them two things so they have to communicate what they want
Get down to their level and play with your child
Read with your child

Holly Springs Feeding and Speech