October 3, 2009
Program welcomes kids with special needs
By Erin Wiltgen
chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035
HILLSBOROUGH -- Even with a long-anticipated expansion on the horizon, the Little School promises it won't lose its commitment to high-quality child care and attention to the individual.
A child development center in Hillsborough devoted to hands-on multi-sensory learning, the Little School emphasizes more than just the basics.
"We recognize that it's really important to know what your child ate and how often they use the potty every day," said Christa Niven, co-founder of the school. "But we feel like a true quality center should use something much deeper and richer and should be able to tell the parents at the end of the day how their children grew that day, how they saw the world that day."
To help ensure such individual attention, the Little School has three teachers in every classroom as opposed to the typical two.
"We don't want them changing diapers all day long," Niven said. "We want there to be enough teachers in each classroom where they are able to have truly educational moments. We want the teachers to feel like teachers."
In addition to quality care, caring for autistic children and children with sensory integration issues became part of the mission almost from the start. Sensory integration difficulties can be caused by a range of catalysts, from prenatal alcohol exposure to traumatic brain injury or even cochlear implants. A few characteristics children can display are extremes of activity level, trepidation of swings, seesaws or heights, aggression in response to someone accidentally bumping them or avoiding physical contact with people and with certain "textures."
Niven said a family called the school before it even opened asking admittance for a little boy with probable autism. The parents had called everywhere and been turned away immediately, even at the school where the mother worked.
When Jennifer Dock, co-founder and co-director of the school, and Niven agreed to take the child without a second thought, the father began sobbing.
"I didn't know there was a reason to say no," Niven said. "I realized this was a very serious issue when that man began to cry."
Despite the connotation that goes along with teaching special needs children, Niven said having autistic children hasn't added an extra burden. The county sends specialists to help teachers with children who have special needs. Niven said all it takes on their part is a willingness to open the school's doors.
"That's our happy accident," she said. "We always had willing hearts. There was no question for us whether there was going to be a place for every child in our school."
And not only does it not bring a burden to the school, Niven said, but having autistic children actually helps the school.
"It makes us better," she said. "It makes us happier. It makes our community more whole."
Autistic children themselves benefit from an environment that's not necessarily just for kids with special needs, a situation that doesn't challenge them, Dock said.
"One of the most potent things you can do for a child with autism is to include them with typically developing children to foster the skills you're teaching them," she said.
Including autistic children benefits the other students as well, Dock said, partially because changes that are made for autistic kids in a classroom actually help others.
For example, one child with sensory integration issues struggled to express himself in the moment. He would get more upset each time he had a hard time communicating. A county on-site provider gave the teacher a visual prompt, so that each time the child struggled to communicate what was wrong with him, he could hold the prompt and the teacher would know something's wrong.
Suddenly, whenever that child held the prompt, not only teachers but other children in the classroom would ask him what was wrong. And other students, autistic and non-autistic, began using the prompt to express themselves as well.
"All children are trying to be stronger verbally," Dock said. "And all children are trying to figure out and are developing their social skills. Honestly, we don't need to stretch and change to accommodate these children. We stretch for all kids. The most important thing we do is to see each child not as a label but as what does he or she need."
And what each child needs, according to the Little School curriculum, is an environment to engage in hands-on, creative learning with a focus on each individual student. Students learn by expressing themselves through music, painting, drama, song, movement and play. At a conference on Oct. 2, Dock even learned how to use outdoor spaces as teachers and use farming and gardening in the curriculum.
Although each child leaves the school knowing the alphabet and numbers, the Little School emphasizes problem solving as well as basic knowledge parents see as crucial for entering kindergarten.
"We spend a lot of time advocating for children and really communicating with the families that the top five things that parents think that kids need to be ready for kindergarten are actually the bottom five that kindergarten teachers want," Dock said. "Teachers want kids who can negotiate their day, use impulse control and problem solve."
And the Little School sees to it that the children within its doors learn those skills within a context that fits them as individuals. With so many teachers, the one-on-one experiences give children the time they need to process lessons at their own pace.
"Just to be able to walk on the porch with one teacher or take a walk in the woods, to do that without putting stress on the other classroom teacher makes a huge difference," Dock said. "And it's simple."
Showing posts with label holistic approach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holistic approach. Show all posts
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Week 11 Community
Welcome back to our blog. The response to last week's blog has been phenomenal. Thanks so much to those of you who wrote to us. One responder is a former superintendent of schools. He forwarded our entry on to some folks involved in public education in North Carolina and beyond. Their discussion was really interesting and the feedback very affirming. How fun for our little blog to travel so far.
This week we want to talk a little about the importance of being a member of a community- our Little School community as well as the larger Hillsborough community that we are so much a part of. We would like to talk about both pieces. This week we are going to just cover our school community.
The Little School, from its inception, has existed to serve the needs of families living in the Hillsborough community. We thought very carefully about how we would define that service for ourselves. As most of you know, the Little School was created out of our need for high quality child care for our own children. When we considered what constitutes "High quality child care" we were clear that only a holistic approach that addresses the needs of the entire family within the context of the larger community would do . As we have discussed in previous blog entries, we are interested in taking a relational approach that goes beyond the superficial to a deeper level of knowing each other, a not only nutritional perspective with regard to our meal plan but also a local and organic perspective that also serves and respects our physical environment, and an ever evolving curricular perspective. This is not just something we purport on our website, it is how we live and run our business.
One way that our devotion to this principle is displayed in our school is founded in our Reggio-Emilia philosophy. The Reggio approach is a "come as you are" approach that encourages not only an acceptance of the person as they are, but also an honesty in how we translate ourselves into our environment. When we are happy at The Little School we celebrate- and LOUDLY. When we are sad we cry- and LOUDLY. This seems so fundamental, and yet, it is so very often that parents touring the school tell us that our school feels more alive than
other schools they have visited. They tell us about other environments where the children seem quiet, and even subdued. If you know children, than you know that children are not naturally subdued or quiet!
We think that it is too often that artificial emotional parameters are placed on us as people and this, unfortunately includes our children. If you are told to sit quietly in your chair all day long you learn to do so. The fact that your heart may be singing out has no impact on the outward translation. Similarly, even when we are heartbroken we learn to follow the rules and respond emotionally to the imposition of the rule. Sit quietly looks the same no matter how we feel.
We reject this approach entirely! The children at The Little School are encouraged not only to express themselves, but to also LISTEN to others as they express themselves. Go figure! The product is a louder, more emotionally authentic environment which in turn creates a more authentic school-wide community.
What a blessing!
Similarly, when parents arrive at the school we observe a transition in their demeanors as well. Parents who might at first arrive feeling like it is their responsibility to always sound intelligent and look polished and neat soon find themselves volunteering to be a lunch helpers in jeans and t-shirts. They say that they are coming to support their children (which they are, of course) but we suspect that they also volunteer so that they can be in the classroom playing, and singing, and digging in the sandbox. There is nothing better than seeing an adult play like a child.
Is there such attraction to the authenticity because it is rare in our grown-up
worlds?
One dad debated with us for three years about the benefits of a food fight at lunch in our preschool room- especially on spaghetti day. We eventually convinced him to choose a different avenue of his world where he worked as an epidemiologist, that nothing was as much fun as his drop-off time with his kids in the morning.
In fact, another dad told us today that he would wake in the morning excited to get to the school for the fifteen minutes that he got to spend in one of classrooms before going to work. He said that he knew more about the other children in his daughter's class than he did about his co-workers. He said that it was easier to get to know them because they were willing to share who they really are.
Maybe a food fight isn't such a bad idea in the greater scheme of things! We know that we feel much more alive and connected to others when we have played and laughed (or cried) together in a genuine and authentic way.
More on this topic to come...
In lieu of a Glimpse we have an opportunity:
We are inviting all of our families to help us to raise money for
the Hillsborough Police Department and their K-9 Unit. There is a demonstration on Saturday, May 30th from 10-12. There will be snacks for sale as well as opportunities to interact with the dogs. The goal for the event is to raise a total of $1,600 for body armor for two of the dogs. Any additional money will be put aside to purchase a new dog when one of the current dogs retires next year. We think that this is a great way for us to easily respond to the needs of our community. We look forward to many more in the future. Please let us know if you are interested in supporting this event. We will be collecting money at the school. I realize that these are difficult financial times but if we each give $4 we can raise this money for the Hillsborough Police Department.
This week we want to talk a little about the importance of being a member of a community- our Little School community as well as the larger Hillsborough community that we are so much a part of. We would like to talk about both pieces. This week we are going to just cover our school community.
The Little School, from its inception, has existed to serve the needs of families living in the Hillsborough community. We thought very carefully about how we would define that service for ourselves. As most of you know, the Little School was created out of our need for high quality child care for our own children. When we considered what constitutes "High quality child care" we were clear that only a holistic approach that addresses the needs of the entire family within the context of the larger community would do . As we have discussed in previous blog entries, we are interested in taking a relational approach that goes beyond the superficial to a deeper level of knowing each other, a not only nutritional perspective with regard to our meal plan but also a local and organic perspective that also serves and respects our physical environment, and an ever evolving curricular perspective. This is not just something we purport on our website, it is how we live and run our business.
One way that our devotion to this principle is displayed in our school is founded in our Reggio-Emilia philosophy. The Reggio approach is a "come as you are" approach that encourages not only an acceptance of the person as they are, but also an honesty in how we translate ourselves into our environment. When we are happy at The Little School we celebrate- and LOUDLY. When we are sad we cry- and LOUDLY. This seems so fundamental, and yet, it is so very often that parents touring the school tell us that our school feels more alive than
other schools they have visited. They tell us about other environments where the children seem quiet, and even subdued. If you know children, than you know that children are not naturally subdued or quiet!
We think that it is too often that artificial emotional parameters are placed on us as people and this, unfortunately includes our children. If you are told to sit quietly in your chair all day long you learn to do so. The fact that your heart may be singing out has no impact on the outward translation. Similarly, even when we are heartbroken we learn to follow the rules and respond emotionally to the imposition of the rule. Sit quietly looks the same no matter how we feel.
We reject this approach entirely! The children at The Little School are encouraged not only to express themselves, but to also LISTEN to others as they express themselves. Go figure! The product is a louder, more emotionally authentic environment which in turn creates a more authentic school-wide community.
What a blessing!
Similarly, when parents arrive at the school we observe a transition in their demeanors as well. Parents who might at first arrive feeling like it is their responsibility to always sound intelligent and look polished and neat soon find themselves volunteering to be a lunch helpers in jeans and t-shirts. They say that they are coming to support their children (which they are, of course) but we suspect that they also volunteer so that they can be in the classroom playing, and singing, and digging in the sandbox. There is nothing better than seeing an adult play like a child.
Is there such attraction to the authenticity because it is rare in our grown-up
worlds?
One dad debated with us for three years about the benefits of a food fight at lunch in our preschool room- especially on spaghetti day. We eventually convinced him to choose a different avenue of his world where he worked as an epidemiologist, that nothing was as much fun as his drop-off time with his kids in the morning.
In fact, another dad told us today that he would wake in the morning excited to get to the school for the fifteen minutes that he got to spend in one of classrooms before going to work. He said that he knew more about the other children in his daughter's class than he did about his co-workers. He said that it was easier to get to know them because they were willing to share who they really are.
Maybe a food fight isn't such a bad idea in the greater scheme of things! We know that we feel much more alive and connected to others when we have played and laughed (or cried) together in a genuine and authentic way.
More on this topic to come...
In lieu of a Glimpse we have an opportunity:
We are inviting all of our families to help us to raise money for
the Hillsborough Police Department and their K-9 Unit. There is a demonstration on Saturday, May 30th from 10-12. There will be snacks for sale as well as opportunities to interact with the dogs. The goal for the event is to raise a total of $1,600 for body armor for two of the dogs. Any additional money will be put aside to purchase a new dog when one of the current dogs retires next year. We think that this is a great way for us to easily respond to the needs of our community. We look forward to many more in the future. Please let us know if you are interested in supporting this event. We will be collecting money at the school. I realize that these are difficult financial times but if we each give $4 we can raise this money for the Hillsborough Police Department.
