2014 - the beginning!

Welcome to 2014 - a year full of hope, anticipation, and achieving goals.
For SCAN, the notification that we are to continue as a support for Preschools has been the best starting point for the year.  As mentioned in emails from Project Officers, there continues to be a great deal of deliberation over the allocation of funds to best address inclusive practice with relation to your individual applications.  The new SCAN Guidelines are being implemented providing a benchmark for equity and fairness with regards the allocations.

Whilst every effort has been made to provide you with the financial support requested, even with the guidelines in place, we are also limited by the budget and processing timelines. In this context, we have several children on waitlists, and several Exceptional Circumstances waitlisted.  Some preschools are yet to be notified as to their allocations due to the SCAN project notification delay. Please don't feel disheartened if any of this relates to you.  SCAN Project Officers are committed to visiting and supporting you through provision of strategies, mentoring, resources, and networking for professional and parental/carer collaborative practice.  Funding will also be reviewed at regular intervals throughout Term 1 and 2, with every effort being made to make sure inclusive practice supports are available to you.

Please remember that all children are special and come with a number of needs - some quirkier, more physical, or more urgent than others. Your Preschool families and inclusive support services and networks are your best allies.  Find out the strengths and 'favourite things' for every child early on.  Enable families to talk to you about their child - what works for them, what doesn't.   Provide a starting block for every child - expectations, what the routine will look like, images and visits where appropriate. For some, having a take home booklet will be the best support imaginable - who's who, what's where, and how we do things is for the children, not just the families. Assume competence - you may need to customise your environment or program to enable this to shine through. Above all else, have fun, and enjoy knowing that you are providing the foundation for the future.  See you soon!

The Red Beast

Resources can be hit or miss.  What one person thinks is valuable, another may read or interpret in a different way.  Recently, we put our heads together and provided preschools in Orana Far West, Central West and the Riverina Murray regions with a few resources that we thought would be really useful and a great support to educators, families and children.  One of these was The Red Beast by K.I.Ghani. 
Although it is set in a primary school environment, the methods and social story therein regarding how anger can manifest itself - specifically in the case of a child with Asperger's - are ageless.  We have been thrilled with the response from so many preschools that this has been read, requested and reflected upon by the children - particularly those heading to school next year.  I recommend reading the Author's note at the beginning of the book and the suggested strategies at the end of the book, prior to reading it to the class.  In addition, these notes and activities from Sue Larkey - The Red Beast - support notes - will provide you with useful methodology for getting the most out of this terrific (I think!) resource!

What is and why would I webinar?

Webinars are a wonderful method of keeping informed and current without leaving your service or setting.  Particularly of interest to those in regional and more remote areas, webinars - web-based seminars - can also be repeated, reviewed and even requested.  If there is a topic that has not been covered, ECTARC*, for example, are more than happy to hear from you.  As are Resourcing Families and many other organisations that support Early Childhood Professional Development, families, and children in general. 

SCAN - still supporting in 2014

“Supporting Children with Additional Needs (SCAN)
The aim of the SCAN Program is to enable preschools to better include children with additional needs within the educational and physical provisions of the preschool.  In 2014, the program will continue to operate through the same eight SCAN organisations as previously. Department of Education and Communities
Many of you will have been like us – wondering what the conclusion would be regarding the SCAN Program.  Well, we have terrific news.  SCAN is to continue!  We are aiming to have some further details regarding the program soon, but in the meantime, the article from Community Childcare Co-operative really says it all (see below). Please do take time to click on the links as well.  We will be processing the applications now as per the slightly revised programming requirements.  An email has been issued to all Riverina Murray, Orana Far West and Central West NSW Preschools with these details.  We look forward to continuing to develop the supports and hope to go from strength to strength on the path to quality early childhood inclusive programs.
Kind regards,
All at SCAN, CareWest 

Ten Fantastic Pressie ideas!

All I want for Christmas....well, what would be fun and educational at the same time?  Karla Morison, Speech Pathologist from My Word Speech Therapy, Albury, has listed ten exciting suggestions that are also easy to locate.  If you haven't got the funds to purchase some new versions, remember St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army, The Red Cross and local buy and swap groups often have just what you're after.  Click on the present on the My Word Speech Therapy website  www.speechtherapyalbury.com.au or go directly to Top Ten Christmas Present suggestions.  These are not just for Christmas :)

Social and Emotional Development in the Early Years of Childhood

Resilience in Childhood is a very interesting read from the Grow & Thrive program developed The Centre of Community Child Health. In this article on resilience, highlights are made to the importance of developing relationships and the value of this in relation to why and how we as early childhood professionals and / or parents can contribute to fostering resilience in our young children.  As also discussed and identified in the Care for Kids article Developing resilience in early years (and linked directly to the EYLF and the core elements of Being, Belonging and Becoming), resilience in early childhood is all about fostering for children:

• sense of self – knowing who they are
• self-esteem – feeling good about who they are
• optimism – feeling hopeful that they can make it through challenges
• problem solving skills – being able to persevere through mistakes and difficulties to find a solution
• decision-making skills – having the confidence to choose a path to a solution
• realistic sense of personal control – feeling that they can make a meaningful impact in their world. 

Communicating - knowing what, when and how to share information with families

The Anne Stonehouse article in the latest NQS PLP eNewsletter (No. 68), Communicating with families about children's learning, is the kind of article you print and include in your staff handbook - specifically with relation to the EYLF and NQS areas of collaborative communication.  It is also very useful for general relationship development. The exemplars in the article are relevant and you can picture the application of each.  There are starting points within that I feel you'll discover and use at some point in time - whether it's with the discussion about school readiness or general conversations with families. What I also find appealing in this article is the 'permission' almost, to not have to report everything to families.  Empathy will determine some instances where 'less is more'.  Knowing individual families and being considerate in what and how we say things, will make all the difference for the developing collaboration and bond between educator and family.