2014 Indiana Early Childhood Conference

Friday March 28th, 2014

Session A Emotional Regulation: Making Every Tantrum Count
Infants and Toddlers-Observing and Advancing Childrens Development Dr. Janice Katz

The goal of this presentation was to explore the roles of temperament, brain development, and attachment relationships that are all associated with a childs emotional regulation, and learn a variety of tools and strategies that promote selfregulation. Dr. Janice Katz began the session by defining self-regulation into four parts. The four types of self-regulation include: sensory regulation, attention regulation, impulse/ behavior regulation, and emotional regulation. For the session, emotional regulation was the type of self-regulation that Dr. Katz decided to focus on. She then began to discuss the importance of emotional regulation. Emotional regulation can influence several factors including acceptance from peers, prolonging friendships, and academic success. She suggested that one way of knowing emotional regulation is going well for a child is if that child can easily soothed and redirected. Dr. Katz stressed that we all have different temperaments and it they should not be seen as right or wrong rather they should be seen as unique characteristics for that individual. Next, we briefly discussed different types of attachment. Finally, Dr. Katz concluded the session by discussing a step by step process of how to deal with tantrums most effectively. The first thing is to make the environment as calm, safe, and secure as possible. Do not try and fix the problem right away. As a teacher one should comfort the child in an appropriate way and allow that to take the time that they need to return to a calm state. Only once they have reached this state should discussion take place between the child and the teacher.

Session B Explore the Natural World of Nature

Curriculum and Assessment- Developmentally Appropriate Practice and Curriculum Mary Jo Huff, Storytellin Time

The goal of this session was to offer teachers fun, simple, and creative ways to allow children to participate in activities that incorporate nature. Mary Jo Huff had several inexpensive ideas that she shared with the audience. She started the workshop by sharing one of her favorite activities that she uses on a daily basis with the children at her center. She called this activity the flip and slip journal. To create the journal Ms. Huff used small seasonal napkins that an individual can find at a local dollar store. Once she had the napkins she laminated them. She took a small pieces of paper and demonstrated how to fold and cut them into a small journal. She explained that at her center the children use the journal to discuss a variety of nature activities that they performed for that particular day. Midway through the session she discussed the growing and observing. She gave the example of growing corn in an old empty plastic jug. Another activity that she suggested was raising snails. Ms. Huff described how to create a habitat that was suitable for the snails, and a variety of activities that could take place when a classroom participated in the ongoing process of raising snails. She finished the workshop by revealing a variety of book that incorporated nature. Some of these books included: Billy the Bean, and Tops and Bottoms.

Session C Treatments in the World of Autism

Exceptional Children- Observing and Advancing Childrens Development Dr. Cathy Pratt, Indiana Resource Center for Autism

The goal of this workshop was to reveal different approaches that are sometimes used to treat autism, and inform individuals that autism should always be taken as an individualized approach. Dr. Pratt begins the workshop by defining autism as a spectrum disorder and then she discussed a variety of concerns when approaching autism. One of these concerns is the growing industry that has resulted from trying to treat autism. Dr. Pratt explained that there is a tremendous variability in the quality and type of programming and treatment approaches that are being promoted for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Next, Dr. Pratt discussed a variety of

alternative approaches. Some of the alternative methods discussed included: Lovaas Method (electric shock), PECS (communication driven), and verbal behavior approach. She then revealed that even though these treatment methods may be effective for the child, the cost of enrolling a child in a program that uses one of these methods can be extremely expensive and can sometimes cost an upwards of 60,000 dollars a year. She then suggested a number of aspects that should be considered before an individual should have his or her child participate in an autism treatment program. Some of the aspects that need to be considered include: Qualifications of the Personal, frequency and intensity of the program, the instruction approaches that are being used. Finally she concluded the workshop by explaining a large number of evidence based practices that have been used for children on the autism spectrum disorder.