Northeast Indiana Child Care Providers Offered Free Training for Early Intervention Strategies
Child care professionals in Northeast Indiana will have the opportunity to participate in complimentary training designed to support young children with developmental and behavioral challenges. This initiative comes in response to a growing need for early intervention resources following the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly impacted the developmental health of children across the region.
The Northeast Indiana Early Childhood Coalition, an organization committed to improving early childhood services, has been awarded a 7,000 grant from the AWS Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for individuals with disabilities. The grant will fund a professional development series aimed at equipping child care providers with essential skills to better address various needs observed in children.
Among the topics to be covered during the training sessions are effective strategies for managing stress, understanding behavioral meltdowns, and enhancing the general understanding of how children process information. Allie Sutherland, executive director of the coalition, emphasized the pressing need for such training, citing that a staggering 67 percent of children under the age of three in Indiana do not undergo developmental screenings, a statistic that falls below the national average.
Sutherland noted, “Children just aren’t receiving the developmental screenings that they should be early. This is the time when prevention and intervention are most impactful—in these early years from birth to five—due to rapid brain development.” The executive director further explained that providing robust support and training to child care providers is crucial, especially as they encounter a wider range of behaviors among children since the onset of the pandemic.
Research underpins the approach taken by the coalition, advocating that early interventions yield more significant outcomes and are often more cost-effective than later interventions. In alignment with this mission, the coalition is collaborating with pediatric therapists to offer coaching for teachers directly in their classrooms, thereby fostering a more conducive learning environment that addresses the needs of young children effectively.
The next training session is scheduled for November 20, running from 6 to 8 p.m. at the AWS Foundation in Fort Wayne. This initiative illustrates a dedicated effort to enhance the quality of early childhood education in the region, ultimately contributing to better developmental outcomes for children in Northeast Indiana.
For further inquiries or more information about this training series, interested parties may contact Timoria, the labor and employment reporter at WFYI, via email at tcunningham@wfyi.org.
