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Early Education and Child Care in Action

E-News for Health Professionals

An electronic newsletter for members of the AAP Section on Early Education and
Child Care and their child care partners

Click here to view past and current issues of E-News




Issue #4, November 2006

1. Message from the Chairperson Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP

2. News and Announcements

  • NCE Sessions on Child Care Issues

3. Resources

  • New Campaign and Free Materials to Help Child Care Facilities Identify Early Signs of Autism or Delays
  • Play Nicely CD 2nd Edition: Preventing violence, one young child at a time
  • Going Beyond Head Start: Programs that put real money into intensive preschooling pay off -- in productive workers
  • Sending baby to the shrink: Infant psychotherapy gains favor among parents
  • MSU Early Childhood News Natural Disasters and Child Care

4. Upcoming Events

  • Building State Systems to Promote Early Childhood Development
  • NACCRRA
  • AMCHP
  • PAS

5. Funding Opportunity

  • AAP Funding
  • CATCH Implementation Funds

1. Message from the Chairperson Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP:

Please Welcome the New Members Who Joined the Section in October 2006:
Gina Lynn O'Brien MD, FAAP

This brings our current Section membership to 239!

Thank you to the 149 AAP Section on Early Education and Child Care Survey respondents! Your answers to this survey are instrumental in guiding the activities of the section and will help us to better meet the needs of the provisional section members. Below is a brief overview of what the respondents stated in the survey as well as some initial plans in moving forward.

Current Activities

  • 81% report that they counsel parents on locating a child care program or deciding on the best child care arrangement.
  • 67% of respondents work with national organizations.
  • 59% report teaching health professionals about health and safety issues in child care. Of those, 65% teach pediatrics/family medicine residents, 50% teach medical students, and 36% caregivers/teachers/EECC professionals.
  • 55% provide direct patient care and 45% are involved with community pediatrics, advocacy and volunteer activities.
  • 54% already partner with state groups on early education and child care issues. Of those respondents, a majority report collaborating with their respective AAP Chapters (58%) and State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (47%).
  • Over the past year, 48% of the respondents provided one or more presentations on EECC and an overwhelming majority of the respondents created their own presentations (83%).

Future Interest

  • 66% report being interested in reading research-related articles.
  • While 74% report not participating in child care/health research, 64% stated that they would be interested.
  • 62% are very interested in referring parents to community agencies that can help with child care decisions.
  • 61% are interested in training students/residents.
  • 58% reported being interested in providing customized guidance to parents.
  • 55% stated they would be interested in training medical students or pediatric residents.
  • 52% are interested in participating in a speaker's bureau.
  • 51% reported an interest in identifying key contacts in communities/states.
  • 50% are interested in serving as a consultant or advisor to a child care program.
  • Many of the respondents stated that they would attend a program if it were based on improving own knowledge relevant to child care health and safety or quality child care (72%), educating other professionals on EECC or child care health and safety (63%) or parent education (60%).

Overall, the respondents found the Electronic News (E-News), CME educational programs and publications and manuals most useful and indicated that they would like additional early education and child care information. Therefore, our first step will be to host a research based webcast in January 2007. This webcast will be focused on the "Reducing the Risk of SIDS in Child Care Evaluation" project. More details regarding this webcast will be forthcoming. We are also exploring other educational formats such as topic-specific listserv discussions. These listserv sessions would be time-limited and moderated to give all the benefits of listserv discussions in a synthesized format.

Again, many thanks for taking the time to complete this survey! To show our appreciation, you will be receiving a free resource in the mail shortly.
Sincerely,

Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP

Pedialink Scholarships

Comments from two Scholarship Recipients:

I would like to thank the Section for awarding me a scholarship to complete the AAP EECC Pedialink online course. As a pediatrician working with the PA Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS) program, I found the course helpful when responding to questions from child care professionals on health and safety. After completing the course, I modified one of our online training modules to include a checklist to help practitioners to identify 3 key areas that could contribute to the presence of challenging behaviors in child care settings; 1.) child care environment and the teacher/program approach, 2.) family environment and parental discipline
and 3.) the child's temperament, physical and developmental health. As PA recently received funds to enhance our Child Care Health Consultation efforts, I am also working to help others understand the braided role of physical and mental (socio-emotional) health and the importance of the connecting children with challenging behaviors in child care to their medical home. It took me about 7 hours to complete the Pedialink course, and it did enhance my knowledge and efforts in my state!
-Beth A. DelConte M.D., FAAP

The Early Education and Child Care online course is a very user-friendly activity logically divided into several sections, including: Injury, Illness, Administration of Medication, Behavioral Issues, etc. I found the information provided to be very practically-oriented as it is presented in case examples. It was enlightening as to the everyday considerations and role that childcare plays in the practice of Pediatrics (infectious disease issues, asthma exacerbations due to exposures related to child care, injury prevention, etc.) I found the module on behavioral issues particularly helpful as it covered some of the cultural and social issues that can play a role in behavioral problems that occur in childcare. I would recommend this activity to anyone practicing general Pediatrics as the information provided is absolutely relevant to the care of young children.

Thank you for allowing me to participate in this very helpful program.
-Valerie Sussman, MD

 

2. News and Announcements:

NCE Sessions on Child Care Issues

At the NCE, two presentations engaged participants in interactive dialog about child care issues. The seminar was co-presented by Rachel Moon and Sue Aronson and the 6:45 Meet the Expert Session was presented by Sue Aronson with some early risers attending. Both sessions drew upon five case studies in which a pediatric health professional has the opportunity to advise a family and early educators about a health issue. We plan to offer these scenarios in future issues of this e-news to stimulate and share thinking among our readers.

During the discussion of the scenario about a child with special health needs, Libby Ruppert from Ohio suggested a follow-up activity. She thought that benefits from mutual support would result from linking the programs that serve children who are medically fragile and technology dependent with each other. Also, such a registry could help practitioners who might be searching locally for facilities for patients in need of child care services. For many years, an association of providers of care to mildly ill children has provided mutual support to its members. However, as far as we know, the providers of early education and child care to medically fragile children are not linked with one another.

Action Item: If you know of any resources and/or are interested in forming a small group, please email: childcare@aap.org

-Sue Aronson, MD, FAAP

 

3. Resources:

New Campaign and Free Materials to Help Child Care Facilities Identify Early Signs of Autism or Delays
November 8, 2006

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with a coalition of national partners, is launching a new phase of the "Learn the Signs. Act Early" public awareness campaign. This childhood development campaign is designed to help increase awareness about the importance of tracking a child's social and emotional development, including the potential early warning signs of autism and other developmental disabilities.

For the full Press Release along with more information on the "Learn the Signs. Act Early" campaign, developmental milestones, and ordering information on the FREE Child Care Provider Resource Kit, click here.

Play Nicely CD 2nd Edition: Preventing violence, one young child at a time
The Play Nicely CD ROM teaches parents, health care professionals, counselors, and
caregivers/teachers the basics in responding to times when children ages 1-7 exhibit challenging behavior. Participants learn that there are better responses than ignoring hurtful behavior, speaking angrily, or physical punishment.

As part of the program, viewers see a video clip of one young child hitting another and are asked, "Assume you see your child hurt another - what should you do?" There are 16 response options and participants receive feedback in the form of narration and video clips.

For more information, click here.

Click here for the Play Nicely Handout.

Going Beyond Head Start: Programs that put real money into intensive preschooling pay off -- in productive workers
October 23, 2006

Recent data has shown that quality preschool provided for children in disadvantaged homes has made a significant difference in the long run. By combining high quality care and low child-to-teacher ratios, along with parental involvement, programs like Head Start are eliminating problems early. Although it can be quite expensive, the benefit-to-cost ratio has been estimated at $17 for every $1 invested.

To read more on this article, click here.

Sending baby to the shrink: Infant psychotherapy gains favor among parents
October 24, 2006. By Elizabeth Bernstein, The Wall Street Journal

Therapists are increasingly moving their treatments from the couch to the crib. While the field of infant mental health - which encompasses the study of children from birth through age three-- has been around for decades, new research on everything from brain development to maternal depression is giving it a boost. A widely used mental health and development diagnostic manual for infants was revised last year for the first time since 1994 to include two new subsets of depression, five new subsets of anxiety disorders (including separation anxiety and social anxiety disorders) and six new subsets of feeding behavior disorders (including sensory food aversions and infantile anorexia).

Read more on this article here.

MSU Early Childhood News Natural Disasters and Child Care
November 9, 2006

The Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute published three reports on disaster preparation, response, and recovery in child care. Below are the reports including the recovery from Katrina, an Early Childhood Atlas, and the impact of hurricanes on children.

The First Year of Child Care Restoration in Mississippi Katrina Region

Early Childhood Atlas Ready to Support Disaster Response in 12 States

ECI Participates in Congressional Briefing on Hurricanes Impact on Children

4. Upcoming Events:

Building State Systems to Promote Early Childhood Development
January 18-19, 2007, Washington, DC
The Child Care Bureau, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Office of Head Start are collaborating to plan a conference to help key state partners to develop early childhood comprehensive systems. A small team from each state will attend this meeting - do you know who is attending from your state? Contact your statewide Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) coordinator to find out. The grantee contact list and other information can be found here.

National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies Annual Policy Symposium
February 27- March 3, 2007, Washington, DC
We are pleased to announce that the Reducing the Risk of SIDS in Child Care Evaluation Project abstract has been accepted! Details to follow.

Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
March 3-7, 2007, Arlington Virginia

Pediatrics Academic Society Annual Meeting
May 5-8, 2007, Toronto, Canada

 

5. Funding Opportunity:

The Gerber Foundation Funding Opportunity
The Foundation's mission focuses on infants and young children. Accordingly, priority is given to projects that improve infant and young children nutrition, care and development from the first year before birth to three years of age. Programs should support a specific nutrition or health intervention and have defined outcome parameters.

Organizations recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) are eligible to apply for Foundation grants. Organizations must also be determined not to be private foundations under Internal Revenue Code 509.

Grant awards are approved in May and November. Initial letters of inquiry are accepted at any time but should be submitted no later than 5 months prior to these award dates.For the May round submit letters prior to December 1; for the November round submit letters prior to June 1.

For more information on this funding opportunity, click here.

Student Opportunities to participate in Grant Review
Do you know any students or pediatric residents who might benefit from and enjoy participating in a federal grant review process? The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is recruiting undergraduate and graduate students to serve on panels that review and make recommendations on the award of Federal grants. The ACF Student Grant Reviewer Pilot Program was created to broaden the pool and diversity of potential grant reviewers and to provide students with a valuable opportunity.

Students selected to serve on the grant review panels will spend 1 week reading, evaluating, discussing, and making recommendations on grant proposals. They will work with other panelists from a variety of backgrounds related to helping children and families. Students may be assigned to read grant applications in any of the following topical areas covered by ACF:

  • Prevention of child abuse
  • Head Start
  • Childcare
  • Developmental disabilities
  • Native Americans
  • Community services
  • Refugee resettlement
  • Family assistance

Students who are selected to be reviewers will receive compensation for their time, as well as valuable experience in the Federal grant review process.

For more information, download the ACF Student Grant Reviewer brochure here.

Grants 101: Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop
The Grant Institute's Grants 101 Course is an intensive and detailed introduction to the process, structure, and skill of professional proposal writing. This course is characterized by its ability to act as a thorough overview, introduction, and refresher at the same time. In this course, participants will learn the entire proposal writing process and complete the course with a solid understanding of not only the ideal proposal structure, but a holistic understanding of the essential factors, which determine whether or not a program gets funded.

All participants receive certification in professional grant writing from the Institute. These workshops are offered in several different locations around the country. For more information call (888) 824 - 4424 or visit The Grant Institute website here.


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