Lessons – Page 106 – HDI Learning

Available Resources to Help Families

In order for us to have empowered alliances with families (the fourth quadrant of the matrix that we discussed in the first module), we have to ensure that families are equipped with the knowledge and skills that they need to advocate fully for their son or daughter. Here are three resources that you can provide them to ensure that they have the knowledge that they need. We will look at each of these more closely.

KentuckyWorks website & Needs Assessment Survey. Kentucky Works is a collaborative project of nine Kentucky agencies, including the KY Department of Education and the KY Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, to support youth and young adults with intellectual disabilities, autism, and multiple disabilities in finding integrated, competitive employment. The KY Works Needs Assessment Survey is designed to help families identify those transition resources most applicable to the needs of their son or daughter. You may also find the Needs Assessment Survey helpful in addressing the transition needs and concerns of your students.

Family Engagement Curriculum for Parents of Transition-Age Children with Disabilities. The goal of this free, online course for families is to promote the vision that everyone can work and has talents and skills to share with the world if given the proper support, including youth with the most significant disabilities. The content of this course parallels for families much of what we have included in the current module for professionals. The Family Engagement Module focuses on setting goals for employment from an early age, preparing for employment, and cultivating and sharing a vision for the future. Families can proceed through this accessible module at their own speed.

KDE/OVR Transition Document for Families. The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) have included important resources for families that can help their student achieve their goals of employment and post-secondary education. Key areas addressed in this document include:

What services are available to help my child with a disability(ies) start preparing for work while in school?
What are OVR’s Pre-Employment Transition Services?
What programs offer Pre-ETS in Kentucky?
Individualized Transition Services: Beyond Pre-ETS
Helping Families and Students Envision Post-School Success

There are many online resources that can be very helpful for families navigating employment and transition. KentuckyWorks offers a short online course about the basics everyone needs to know about Transition, and the UMKC Institute for Human Development has an excellent “Charting the Lifecourse: Daily Life and Employment” booklet for individuals and families to truly assess needs, determine available support and services, and develop a plan and path to employment.

The Pacer Center offers a comprehensive website with a wealth of information about employment, including videos and resources. And you can find out information about post-secondary programs for students with intellectual disabilities nationwide at thinkcollege.net. There are many, many online resources about Transition and employment, and these are just a few of our favorites!

Related Resources

Module—Transition 101: What We All Need to Know About Transition for Students with Significant Disabilities: kentuckyworks.org
Pamphlet: Charting the Lifecourse: http://www.lifecoursetools.com
Pacer’s National Parent Center: http://www.pacer.org/transition/
Postsecondary Programs: ThinkCollege.net
Seamless Transition Parent Interview Form and Positive Personal Profile, both created by TransCen, Inc.

Lesson 6: Preparing for Work – Leadership

Leadership is an important quality to foster in all students. Educators and counselors can work closely with families to foster leadership opportunities for their students with a significant disability. Here are some examples:

Building Leadership

Transcript

Many stories about people with disabilities revolve around them receiving service from other people, but our students with disabilities can also be leaders and provide meaningful service that benefits their communities and prepares them for future careers. My son, Andy, was selected to be the president of his little Sunday School class when he was 12-years-old, which meant one of his jobs was sharing announcements. His articulation was super clear at the time, but this experience really built his confidence. This same group of boys at church were also in the same Scout troop, and some of the other boys started slacking of once they turned 16 and got cars and girlfriends. However, Andy kept working and setting the example so that many of these boys who didn’t have disabilities ended up getting pulled along by him as he prepared for his Eagle Scout project and finished the final merit badges. The three boys in his age group ended up earning their Eagle awards within two weeks of each other. Our students with disabilities are not just the recipients of service. They also have the capacity to be leaders, and it’s important for them to develop those leadership skills heading into the workforce.

Lesson 5: Preparing for Work – Community

Inclusion at school and in the community can help students build relationships and confidence that make work possible. Below is one student’s story:

Andy’s Job Story

Transcript

When my son with Down syndrome was about 16-years-old, we were driving home from school one day, and he said he wanted to get a job at our local grocery store. The reason for that was because Andy had always been included at least half the day with typically-developing peers, and he saw that many of his friends from school were working at that store. In my mind, I thought, well I’ll have to check into getting a job coach and supported employment, so I told him I’d work on it. In Andy’s mind, he was telling me what he was going to do that day. So I went in to fix dinner and talk to my mom on the phone, but when I sent my daughter to tell her brother to come down for dinner, she said he was gone. I ran outside to find his bike was missing and then saw that I had two missing calls on my phone. He has left me a message saying, “Mom, I go to the store. I go get a job. You come to get me.” Well, I was getting nervous because it was getting dark, and there’s a big intersection between our house and the grocery store, so I didn’t want him to try and ride his bike home alone in the dark. So, I called the grocery store in a panic and asked them not to let him leave until I got there. As I was driving over kind of frantically, my husband called and said, would you have ever imagined when he was born that our worry at 16 would be that he went over to get a job on his own? When I arrived at the store, I found out that he had gone to the store and found his friend who was working there and asked how to apply for a job. Then, his friend took him to the customer service desk to find out how to submit an application. He got a little tripped up with filling out the forms on the kiosk, and that’s when he called for my help. The store was so impressed with his initiative that they said if we filled out the forms, and he came in for an interview, they were sure they could find some hours for him. Now I’m super proud of my son, but I don’t tell this story to make you think he’s exceptional. I think that if our kids with disabilities are included with their peers as much as possible and are also encouraged to follow their dreams and work when they get older, they can all find a path to employment with some help. But they need to be surrounded by good examples and people who believe in them.

There are multiple activities a student can engage in the community. Let’s review several examples:

Lesson 4: Preparing for Work – Starting Early

Now, let’s examine strategies for helping families introduce the idea of employment from an early age.

Lesson 3: Building a Vision for the Future

Father and son with Down syndrome laughing together.

Now, let’s focus on how to prepare students for their future. We do this by helping the student and their family have a shared vision for the future.

Identify the steps in helping students and their families create a vision of the student’s future, including competitive employment.

Identify and apply evidence-based strategies that prepare and enable students with significant disabilities to attain competitive, integrated employment.

Identify state and national resources to support the families of the students you serve in enabling students to achieve their employment goals.

Create a personalized action plan to foster increased family engagement around competitive, integrated employment for your students.

Lesson 1: Listen Up! Introduction

Welcome to TAALC! Watch the video below. When the video has completed, you will see a link to a Think Spot appear below. We recommend you not stop the video before the end.

RP – Take Care of Yourself

children holding hands going around in a circle

You cannot care for others, if you have not taken care of yourself. Taking time for yourself and taking care of your mental health is not being selfish, it is enabling you to be the best early care and education professional you can be.

Take Care of You!

You can follow along with the content on pages 44-45 of your Recommended Practices participant handout.

RP – Communicate With Families

As important as you are in a child’s life, parents¹⁹ and families play an even more important role. In this section we will learn strategies to work with families.

Why Involve Families
What Family Involvement Is

You can follow along with the content on pages 41-44 of your Recommended Practices participant handout.

References

¹⁹ The term “parents” refers to the people who have guardianship or custodial control over a child. This may include biological parents, step-parents, grandparents, foster parents, etc.

RP – Set the Stage For Learning

The kind of experiences needed to facilitate children’s development do not “just happen”. You set the stage for learning and development when you:

Know the difference between lesson plan and daily schedule
Plan Appropriate Learning Activities and Play Experiences
Support and Extend Children’s Learning
View Routines and Transitions as Times For Learning and
Maintain an Appropriate Physical Environment That Facilitates Learning

You can follow along with the content on pages 25-41 of your Recommended Practices participant handout.

RP – Use Guidance Strategies

In this section we will cover the following topics to help understand how to use guidance strategies when working with children.

Discipline Versus Punishment
Understand Why Children Behave As They Do
Positive Guidance Strategies
Time-Out

You can follow along with the content on pages 18-24 of your Recommended Practices participant handout.

RP – Know Child Development

In this section we will cover the following topics to review the basics of child development.

Areas of Growth and Development
Basic Principles of Child Development
Experiences Are the Key

You can follow along with the content on pages 13-17 of your Recommended Practices participant handout.

RP – You Are A Professional

In this section we will learn why early care and education teachers should be considered professionals.

Contrary to what some may believe, you are NOT “just a babysitter” or “just a child care worker.” You are an early childhood professional!

Let’s review what it means to be a professional, so that the next time someone says, “Oh, you just work with children” in that put-down sort of way, you can say “No. I am a professional and let me tell you what that means.”

In any profession there are 4 characteristics that help define it. In the upcoming topics we will discuss each in more detail.

Knowledge and Skills
Professional Organization
Code of Ethics
Standards

You can follow along with the content on pages 5-13 of your Recommended Practices participant handout.

Recommended Practices (RP)

Welcome to the third module of Early Care Orientation OnLine (ECOOL): Recommended Practices (RP)

This module will take approximately 3 hours to complete.

Check-In (Self-Assessment)
You Are A Professional
Know Child Development
Use Guidance Strategies
Set the Stage for Learning
Communicate with Families
Take Care of You
Check Yourself (Post-test)

Recommended Practices – Please print or download a copy for future reference.

Lesson 1: How use Adobe Photoshop

Lesson 2: Strategies to Improve Family Engagement

You girl with Down syndrome with long brown hair and her mother. smiling.

Now, we will discuss the eight Family Engagement Strategies, outlined below:

Use helpful, healing language

Focus on outcomes

High expectations/messaging

Show that you value your students

Ask the right questions

Seeing youth in a different way

Listen

Set the course for partnership

Lesson 1: Rationale for Family Engagement

Woman with Down syndrome helping a child with Down syndrome to read.

Course Objectives:

Identify the benefits of family engagement to prepare students for competitive, integrated employment.
Describe the perspectives of parents and educators/counselors from the framework of the Partnership Capacity Matrix, and apply that framework to your own work.
Identify key concerns and frustrations of families about competitive, integrated employment for their students.
Describe the impact of working upon a student’s SSI benefits.
Identify and apply family communication and engagement strategies to your own work.

CA – Minimize the Risk

There are many things that you can do to reduce the risk of child abuse or neglect from occurring in your early care and education program. Click the arrows in the boxes below to see more information about how you can help to minimize child abuse and neglect.

1. Provide adequate supervision and maintain staff to child ratios

Arrange the space so that children can be seen at all times (no hidden or blind spots). Never leave children unattended.

2. Maintain health and safety standards

Health and safety standards are designed to help protect children and to keep them safe while they are in your program. All licensed and certified child care programs must follow Kentucky’s health and safety regulations.¹¹ Failure to keep children safe (e.g., a child puts a metal object into an unprotected electrical outlet, etc.) could be viewed as child neglect.

3. Know who is authorized to pick-up children

Ensure that each child’s parent or guardian specifies in writing who is authorized to drop off and pick up their child. Do not release the child to anyone who is not authorized by the parents. If you do not know or recognize the person authorized to pick up the child, you should ask for picture identification prior to releasing the child.

4. Create a “touch policy”¹²

Your policy should specify between appropriate and inappropriate touches. For example, appropriate touches might include patting a child on the back or having a child sit on your lap while reading a story. Inappropriate touches include any form of physical punishment. Also, be aware of and respect children’s physical space. Let a child know that you are about to touch him or her. For example, before wiping a toddler’s face you might make eye contact and say, “I am going to wipe your face now.” Instituting a “no touch” policy is not appropriate. Being held and touched are necessary for optimal child growth and development.

5. Manage your own stress level

Caring for and educating young children can be stressful. First, focus on managing the stress in your environment. For example, ensure you have adequate space, adequate supplies, regularly planned breaks, a daily schedule, and a planned program of activities. If a child is doing something that causes you to feel frustrated or angry, try counting to ten and breathing deeply before speaking to or touching the child. If you are concerned that you may hurt a child, call someone to help you. You can also call the Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky Parent Helpline at 1-800-CHILDREN.

Bend over Backwards to Minimize the Risk of Child Abuse and Neglect – refer to page 24 of your Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse participant handout.

We Deserve to be Free From Child Abuse and Neglect – Print this or save as a reference for where to report and common indicators of child abuse.Download

References

¹¹The health and safety standards for Type I and Type II licensed programs are described in 922 KAR 2:120. Child care facility health and safety standards. The standards for certified family child care homes are described in 922 KAR 2:100. Certification of family child care homes.
¹² National Association for the Education of Young Children (1996)

video – where to put

CA – How to Report Child Abuse

If you suspect, report!

Know your program’s child abuse reporting policy and follow it. If your program does not have a policy, suggest that one be developed.

Report whenever you have reasonable cause to believe a child is experiencing abuse or neglect. YOU are responsible for ensuring that a report is made to the proper authorities. Therefore, you should make the report yourself.

Your program might have policies and procedures to notify your supervisor instead of immediately reporting your suspicions. You still are responsible for reporting. Telling your supervisor does not eliminate your responsibility to ensure a report is made. In fact, BOTH you and your supervisor are now responsible for reporting the suspicion.

Who do I call to report?

When a child IS NOT in immediate danger, call:

Your county Department for Community Based Services (see Appendix B, pg.23) OR
Child Protection Hotline at 1-800-752-6200 (toll free) Use this number during business hours.
Statewide Hotline 1-877-597-2331 (toll frees) outside of business hours – before 9:00am and after 5:00pm.
Online by visiting this link (during business hours only) https://prd.webapps.chfs.ky.gov/reportabuse/home.aspx

When a child IS in immediate danger and needs protection (for example, when a very young child or child with a disability is left alone), call:

911 or your local police department.

If in doubt, call the hotline or your county Department for Community Based Services office and they will talk with you about your concerns. They will help you sort things out, such as whether a specific incident must be reported and to whom.

What do I report?

There is a lot of information that officials receiving a child abuse report would like to have. The more information officials have, the better they will be able to help the child. But it is better to report their suspicions with the minimum amount of information needed by officials than it would be to wait until more information can be gathered.

That information can be divided into two categories:

“Need to Know” Information

• Child’s identity: name, sex, and approximate age
• Person believed to be responsible for the abuse or neglect, if the person is known
• Nature and extent of the abuse/injury, neglect, or threatened harm
• Where the child can be found (day care, school, home address, etc.)
• Any immediate risk to child OR to a worker going to investigate (e.g., guns in the home)
• Name and address of the reporter (optional, but strongly encouraged)

“Helpful to Know” Information (but not essential to make a report)

• What happened to the child and when?
• How do you view this situation and what firsthand knowledge do you have?
• What are the names and address of the parents or caretakers?
• Have you been involved with the family or have you attempted to work with them on the problem?
• How did the parents respond to any attempts to help?
• Are there others who have information which may be helpful to the investigation?

Need a sample form that can be used to make a report? Refer to page 25 of your Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse participant handout.

Do YOUR part to protect children

In 2000, early care and education professionals nationwide reported 2% of the child abuse cases that were investigated.

However, in Kentucky, only .02% of the investigated cases were made by early care and education professionals.

Refer to the handout Listen to Children for more information on how you can help a child.

Domestic Violence

Childcare providers are also mandatory reporters of domestic violence, as well as child abuse and neglect. We encourage providers to include this statement in their policy manuals so that the families in their care understand the providers’ responsibilities. Reporting domestic violence can be very different than reporting child abuse, because the victims have the right to refuse services, unlike child abuse cases. The Division of Child Care encourages all childcare providers to receive additional training on this topic.

In the event of a possible domestic violence situation, childcare providers should use the following contacts:

In the event of an emergency on the premises, call 911
Child/Vulnerable Adult Abuse – 1-800-752-6200
Spouse Abuse – 1-800-544-2022

Department for Community Based Services listing can be found on page 23 of your Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse participant handout.

Listen to the Children Download

Sample Reporting Form can be found on page 25 of your Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse participant handout.

Typical Concerns When Reporting Download

What happens when I report Download

References

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: The Administration for Children and Families (2002)

CA – Identify

In this section of the course we will cover the following topics to help you understand how to identify child abuse and neglect.

Be Observant For Signs and Indicators
Neglect
Physical Abuse
Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma (PAHT)
Sexual Abuse
Emotional Abuse
Children with Special Needs

You can follow along with the content on pages 8-16 of your Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse participant handout.

Related Resources

Transcript

Transcript

Use helpful, healing language

Focus on outcomes

High expectations/messaging

Show that you value your students

Ask the right questions

Seeing youth in a different way

Listen

Set the course for partnership

1. Provide adequate supervision and maintain staff to child ratios

2. Maintain health and safety standards

3. Know who is authorized to pick-up children

4. Create a “touch policy”12

5. Manage your own stress level

If you suspect, report!

Who do I call to report?

What do I report?

“Need to Know” Information

“Helpful to Know” Information (but not essential to make a report)

Do YOUR part to protect children

Domestic Violence

4. Create a “touch policy”¹²