What do you know about the communities you serve?

I was recently asked if there are statistics for school districts to help in planning the need for future daycare and preschool programs. Here is a great resource to use.
Go to the Prairie Lakes home page
Click on Programs and Services on left hand side of page
Scroll down, Click on Learning Supports
Scroll down, Click on DATA
Scroll down, See heading Iowa State University Regional Capacity Analysis Program
Click on School District Profiles
Find districts you serve.

I've attached the Pocahontas sample so that you get excited about all that you can learn about your community!

Department Meeting Topics

Are you currently serving a 0-3 child with red flags of being on the autism spectrum? Have you made use of the speech paraeducator to assist in the home? Are you feeling you have enough strategies to use with the little ones? Would we like to spend some time at one of the upcoming department meetings sharing strategies and techniques that work. We are fortunate to have Tammy Berger and Marlene Armbrecht on our AEA Autism team. Perhaps they could share other resources with us. Could any of Thomas Higbee's preschool strategies work for children in the home? Please let me know if this is a discussion you want to continue.

Gale,Cheryl,Tammy, and I attended the Parent Child Attachment Workshop in Milford on Thursday, Sept. 23. The target audience was home visitors. Dr. Martha Erickson shared the idea of video-taping a 5 minute session of mom and baby. It was empowering to watch the video with the mom at the next home visit. Mom was able to see strengths and things she'd change in her relation, reaction and responses to a young child. Very powerful!

Department meetings are perfect opportunities to spend time learning from others. Don't hesitate to suggest topics that would help us do our job better!

Wondering

I've been wondering how many of you are completing an ECO map with families as you get new referrals? Remember the ECO map is a great way to have a documented conversation about a family's formal and informal resources.

Also have wondered if you've tried a Routine Based Interview? Again, understanding the child within the context of his/her family and daily routines is the best way to ensure that your outcomes address what's really important to a family.

Did I mention family outcomes? We randomly sampled every 20th IFSP to gather baseline information for Dr. Gloria Frolek Clark. Our findings, 2 family outcomes!

Our work is ongoing. Please don't put last years learnings on the shelf! We continue to strive to be the best we can be!