Making Sense of Early Learning for Parents and Childcare roviders

Today we welcome back blogger Renée Jordan, who last wrote for us in 2016. We are delighted to have her contributing to our blog once again. Read about her story and hear about the exciting learning resources she has helped create.

I used to be a learning specialist at The Yellin Center. I eagerly joined the incredibly talented team as soon as I finished grad school at Columbia. My years at the Yellin Center are where I grew my knowledge of child development and how a child’s brain learns and grows. Working alongside Dr. Yellin deepened my understanding of the neurodevelopmental constructs that are fundamental to the work of The Yellin Center and my commitment to helping families and children make sense of their cognitive strengths and challenges to ensure they find success in school and beyond.

I left the team in 2016 to return to my hometown to focus on fertility treatments in hopes of starting a family. Leaving NYC and The Yellin Center was one of the hardest decisions we have made to date. But finally, in 2018, we welcomed our son Anderson. While on maternity leave, I began creating and doing easy activities with Anderson that targeted the core neurodevelopmental domains. When I began sharing them on Instagram I generated a following of fellow parents and childcare providers who were looking to make sense of the early years for their own kids.

It was during this time that I met Sarah, the other half of Earlybird. Sarah is an entrepreneur with a robust business knowledge and incredible sense of design. After we both had our second children, we decided now was the time to partner and build a platform outside of social media where parents and childcare providers could come to find the information they needed to know about child development, as well as the evidence-based activities and materials they needed to apply that knowledge. So in the middle of the pandemic, with four kids under three-years-old between us, we launched Earlybird.

Earlybird’s goal is to nurture every child’s intellectual, physical and social-emotional development to ensure they are ready for school and life. Anyone caring for children will find that Earlybird equips them with the confidence, knowledge and resources they need to create child-centered and developmentally appropriate play-based learning experiences that build a child’s literacy, numeracy, motor, social-emotional and creative thinking skills.

We keep it simple for you by using everyday items in our little to no prep activity ideas. On the platform you can filter resources by subject, specific skills, and ages. Then do the activities now, or save your favorites to your saved folder for later. We take the guesswork out of the early years for you.

Stay tuned for more posts looking at the research behind the early childhood tools we have developed. 

Pride Month - Resources for Students, Families, and Educators

This June marks the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the uprising at a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, that marked the beginning of the gay rights movement in the U.S. Out of this event has grown the Pride Movement, encompassing a broad array of individuals; both Presidents Clinton and Obama issued Presidential Proclamations declaring the month of June to be Pride Month.

The Pride Movement has expanded over the years and now seeks to promote education, legal rights, acceptance, and self-fulfillment for individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, or gender non-conforming (LGBTQ).

Advocates for Children of New York has created an excellent LGBTQ Education Guide, setting out the rights of LGBTQ students in New York City Public Schools. The Guide is very detailed, giving specific contact information and covering such topics as bullying and harassment, transfers for safety and other reasons, the rights of students who do not live with their families, and how students can change their names. This is a valuable resource for students, parents, and educators.

Still another helpful resource is from our colleagues at The American Academy of Pediatrics, which has a Section on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health and Wellness. In a section of the AAP website dedicated to Adolescent Sexual Health, there are links to excellent resources for physicians and other health providers and a link to a policy statement that includes ways to make medical care welcoming to all young people and for pediatricians to obtain and share needed information to help support LGBTQ young people (and parents) and to provide them with the care they need.

Kid-Friendly Apps for Scheduling and Task Completion

Ever since the iPhone and iPad were introduced, app developers have been busy making life easier for children and caregivers. Many children, but especially those who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, benefit from keeping to a daily routine and knowing what to expect throughout their day. Two apps by BeeVisual help kids and their parents manage a predictable daily schedule and organize a long-term calendar. 

The first, Choiceworks App, is a task management app filled with useful tools. Its most basic function allows the user to create to-do lists with pictures, audio, reward choices, and custom photos or titles. Kids can then swipe through each of their tasks - like taking a bath and finishing homework - as they complete them to earn their reward choice, which has an optional countdown timer. This simple setup helps kids become more independent in carrying out their routines while enjoying the use of a phone or tablet. The Choiceworks App also has “Waiting” countdowns, to help kids identify activities they can do while they wait, and “When I am _____, I can _____” screens, which help them choose healthy ways to respond to their emotions. Most everything is customizable with highly recognizable icons, so caregivers can enter their own activities or even photos of a child demonstrating for herself exactly what it means to “brush teeth”.

There is a set of digital Companion Books embedded within the app to accompany the different task boards. These books are meant to be shared with the child before using the app, so she gets an idea of what the app intends to do. For example, the Companion Book about waiting talks about how hard it is to wait, why it’s important, and some good activities to do while waiting. What your blogger likes best about the app is the child-friendly task manager. Enabling children to progress through their own schedules by sliding tasks from “First I Need to” to “All Done,” leads to gains in independence while children learn the beginning skills of time management and delayed gratification.

BeeVisual also makes Choiceworks Calendar, an iPad app. This app is a child-friendly calendar app that uses pictures to display what is coming up today, this week, or this month. Like the previous app, everything is customizable so caregivers can put in photos and new activities. There’s also a countdown feature – the app will count out loud the days until an upcoming event that a child may be looking forward to. This app is a simple way to introduce kids to the concept of time beyond the daily routine, and can help them think concretely about long-term goals. Both apps are available on the iTunes store for under ten dollars.

Podcasts for Growing Minds - Part 1

Podcasts (audio shows you can pre-load onto a smartphone or play through a website) have become the hottest thing since sliced bread. They even have the power to potentially get someone out of jail or connect strangers who are tied to each other in a way you could never imagine. They’ve even made it possible to enjoy emptying the dishwasher and doing laundry! Since the number and types of podcasts have proliferated so much in recent years, it seems like a good time to pick out the best of the best to recommend to families. 

Below are reviews some of your blogger's favorite podcasts for kids.  In subsequent posts we'll look at our favorites for teens and adults. These audio programs are a great way to learn about the world, about ourselves, and about some things we never even realized we wanted to learn about in the first place. In addition to acting as valuable learning resources, podcasts can help kids and teens kick off their mindful relaxation time. They’re also superb conversation starters for families looking to engage in some tough critical thinking or debate. 

1. How to do Everything (20-30 minutes)
This is “half advice show, half survival guide.” It’s guaranteed to entertain both kids and adults – one of the best episodes features Patrick Stewart demonstrating what a cow would sound like depending on the region of England it was raised in. Other recent episodes include talking to scientists about what dinosaurs probably sounded like and why we really do the pee dance (and does it work!?). The hosts bring in consultants to answer these and other extremely important questions, like the “World’s Greatest Extra” who can teach you how to blend into the background on any television or movie set.

2. Brains On! (15-25 minutes)

The host of this podcast and her guests, both kids and adults, answer some of science’s most interesting questions in a very fun way. They’re “serious about being curious.” A recent episode, for example, explored why humans get allergies by interviewing an 11-year-old who has a few allergies and an allergist who can answer her questions. Other episode have explored farts (are they good for you?), the science of baking, and how to translate your dog’s barks or cat’s meows.

3. Can I Pet Your Dog? (45-55 minutes)

Yup, you guessed it. This is a show about dogs and all things dog-related. The first episode features an interview with Hamilton-creator Lin-Manuel Miranda all about his dog Tobi. The hosts discuss dogs they’ve met, dog news, dog care tips, and funny stories from their lives (with dogs, of course). It also has a pretty awesome theme song. This is one of the few podcasts out there for kids that isn’t directly trying to teach them something, but it offers plenty of life lessons without even trying.

4. But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids (12-22 minutes) 

The premise behind this podcast is pretty simple. Kids ask questions and the hosts get answers from athletes, engineers, scientists, novelists, artists and others from all across the career spectrum. Recent episodes have looked into why bikes don’t fall over, how it feels when families grow and change, how cheese is made, and why people have different religions.

5. The Adventures of Eleanor Amplified (10-15 minutes)
This one is pure fun. Each episode follows fictional journalist Eleanor Amplified on her “pursuit of truth.” She works hard to defend quality journalism and access to information in the face of evil scientists and politicians who try to stop her. The stories find Eleanor all over the globe in all sorts of sticky situations. If you have a child who is having trouble transitioning from watching too much television to becoming a lover of books, this could be a good first step to help her engage in the art of the story without the provided visuals.

6. Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child (50 minutes)
This is a weekly playlist that helps “kids and their grownups” connect over new and classic music, with songs from awesome artists like They Might Be Giants, Beck, REM, Apples in Stereo, and Kermit Ruffins. Finding intersections between your interests and your kids’ can be hard, so it’s nice to see a podcast that the whole family really can enjoy together.