www.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
Newsletter main page
CICC E-News, Issue #3. February 2008
Printing newsletter pages from Firefox, Safari, and Netscape will display link addresses in print.
Website Rollout at Inclusivechildcare.org
The CICC has rolled out our redesigned website featuring an accessible user friendly interface and many new features. Take a look—click around—and let us know what you think. Here are a few highlights.
- Resources search is a new database that makes it easy to quickly pinpoint documents and websites you’re looking for. Search categories are currently being consolidated for greater efficiency.
- Findability has been greatly enhanced with a simplified site menu.
- Accessibility has been implemented with rigor. Inclusivechildcare.org is one of the few (but growing number of) websites that meets section 508 accessibility standards as well as stringent Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
- Users requiring special accessibility in the areas of hearing, vision, and alternate languages will find comfort and special accommodation. Our website is screen reader friendly; we have a new text resize feature, and we’ve implemented the latest Google language translation tool.
- Inclusion Consultation is now available online from a staff inclusion consultant.
- Learning Center options and content are much easier to find.
Let us know what you think. Click Ask CICC at the bottom of any page and send us your comments. Happy surfing.
continued on next pagewww.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
Upcoming Online Training of Trainer Courses
Several Train the Trainer Courses are being offered by the Center for Inclusive Child Care in February through May of 2008. If you are interested in increasing your professional skills as a trainer, please visit www.inclusivechildcare.org to download a registration form or contact croft@csp.edu for more information. You can also view details here.
Consultation Q & A
A question to the CICC’s Consultation Coordinator, Dea Anderson
Question from a Family Child Care Provider:
I recently enrolled a five-year-old child in my family child care program. This child’s previous child care center was closed due to the discovery of child molestation by one of the employees. The child’s mother is not certain if her child was molested or if she witnessed any molestation. I am concerned about this child. I have observed her exhibiting toddler-like behavior such as sucking her thumb, baby talk, and her constant attention seeking, both positive and negative.
She is supposed to start kindergarten in the fall and I do not know if she will be ready socially and emotionally. She has a December birthday and will already be one of the older children in her class. One of my concerns is that if her behavior does not stop she will not be able to start kindergarten and will have to attend the school’s readiness program. This will mean that she will be 19 years old when she graduates. Coupled with the fact that her mom is a single mother who struggles financially I am worried that she will drop out of school. Her mother has just contacted a mental health professional and their first appointment is in April. How can I help or are there other avenues that her mom could use? View the Consultant’s Response.
continued on next pagewww.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
Consultation Services Available to Early Childhood and School Age Care and Education Professionals
The Center for Inclusive Child Care (CICC) offers child care consultation and support services to child care and school age providers throughout Minnesota. The goal of these services is to help providers successfully include and keep children with special needs and those with challenging behaviors in their child care programs. These services are currently available at no cost to parents and providers. More Information
Use GoodSearch.com
What if the Center for Inclusive Child Care earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or what if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can! Actually, last year we did earn some revenue from your searches, THANK YOU!!
GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up! GoodSearch.com also has a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's, and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause.
Just go to www.GoodSearch.com to search the Internet and to shop at the new online shopping mall. Be sure to enter Center for Inclusive Child Care as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word!
continued on next pagewww.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
Press Release from Childcare Bridge International, Inc.
MLFCCA will now be offering their members an exclusive discount for the Childcare Wizard, the industry's leader in childcare websites, as a benefit to their members. Childcare Bridge International, Inc. developed the Childcare Wizard to simplify enrollment and parent communication online for childcare providers and childcare centers everywhere. Showcasing childcare programs online provides parents choice and ease in one of the most important decisions they will make for their young children. Minnesota is proud to be the first state to offer the Childcare Wizard as a membership benefit. View the full press release.
Three Resources From the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health in Portland, Oregon
- Getting my Child Ready for Kindergarten: To-Do List
- Example of Interagency Agreement between School District and Head Start
- Individualized Transition Plan for Student Support
www.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
Free Sketch Up from Google
Children with Autism architect their ideas using SketchUp: a free, easy to use, 3D design software available at http://www.google.com/educators/spectrum.html
Project Spectrum was developed by the SketchUp Team at Google to help people who have Autism take advantage of their visual and spatial gifts. When Google released SketchUp, it didn’t anticipate the response it would receive from parents of children who have Autism Spectrum Disorders. Parents gave the software rave reviews, remarking that it had enabled their children to tap into their visual and spatial gifts. View a web page or an informational video on Project Spectrum and SketchUp.
* Note: The above information is from the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health in Portland, Oregon.
Recently Released Information
Frontline Episode: "The Medicated Child"
A recent episode of PBS´ journalistic series "Frontline" confronts the issue of prescribing psychiatric medications to children. There is very little known about the long-term impact of childhood consumption of the drugs, but the short term consequences are serious in terms of the severity of the medications´ side-effects. The episode is available for free download.
Autism-Thimerosal Link Fraying
Current national and international research may dispel the belief that autism may be caused in part by thimerosal, a preservative used in some vaccines that are given to young children. Data show that as the prevalence of thimerosal in vaccines has drastically declined over the last decade, rates of autism among young children have soared.
www.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
Gene Variant Implicated in Autism Development
A variant of the CNTNAP2 gene, responsible for some brain cell functions, has been implicated as a risk factor in the development of autism.
* Note: The above information is from the Research and Training Center, Portland State University, January, 2008.
The above links have also been posted in the CICC Resources database.
Commentary on Inclusion
An article titled, Parents of Disabled Students Push for Separate Classes, published by The Wall Street Journal receives an open-letter response from an inclusion advocate.
Article published by The Wall Street Journal:
Parents of Disabled Students Push for Separate Classes, by Robert Tomsho, November 27, 2007
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Last fall, groups who favor placing disabled students in regular classrooms faced opposition from an unlikely quarter: parents like Norette Travis, whose daughter Valerie has autism.
Valerie had already tried the mainstreaming approach that the disability-advocacy groups were supporting. After attending a preschool program for special-needs students, she was assigned to a regular kindergarten class. But there, her mother says, she disrupted class, ran through the hallways and lashed out at others -- at one point giving a teacher a black eye. Read the full article.
continued on next page
www.inclusivechildcare.org || Concordia University, College of Education
Cindy Croft, Director || croft@csp.edu || 651.603.6265
Open-letter response from an inclusion advocate:
By Pamela Winton, senior scientist at the FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Robert Tomsho’s article, "Parents of Disabled Students Push for Separate Classes," is the WSJ’s second recent front page story to attack the merits of inclusion. While these articles raise legitimate concerns, they distort the issue by focusing only on the symptoms (the conflict), rather than the actual problems that need to be addressed. Read Pamela Winton's full response.Early Childhood Inclusion
A summary of key conclusions from several research studies on early childhood inclusion gathered by the National Professional Developmental Center on Inclusion, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina is available.
There are nine main points in this summary of key conclusions and each of these points contain the research studies to support it. This type of document is useful to everyone interested in promoting inclusion in professional development, with policy makers, and in grant writing. For example, one point states: Children in inclusive programs generally do at least as well as children in specialized programs; Inclusion can benefit children with and without disabilities, particularly with respect to their social development. View this document.