Family Support
Child Development Services/Family Involvement
Parent/Family Training
Child Screening & Assessment
Children with Special Needs
Infants & Toddlers
Literacy & Learning
Family Activities
Child Development Services/Family Involvement
Our New Family Involvement Program is comprised of a certified Parent Educator who visits center based and family home child care facilities. Suggested resources, techniques and ideas are shared with Early Childhood Educators to increase family involvement.
This program will empower families with information to support their children, create communication between home and school and offer opportunities for families to volunteering, and participating in their child’s early education.
Family Involvement helps children achieve more and creates a family friendly environment!
Participating families are invited to attend the quarterly parent forums at ELCFV and/or the convenient and fun parent group meetings at your child’s or other local child care programs (dates to be announced).
To find out more about our Child Development Services/Family Involvement Program, contact: Michele Lowe 386-323-2400 126, mlowe@elcfv.org or Nathalie Dunning ext. 188, ndunning@elcfv.org
Parent/Family Training
Family Forums were created as a result of overwhelming parent requests stemming from the Thrive by Five PYRAMID Summit held May 5 and 6 ELCFV successfully launched its first Family Forum on August 11th. Comments from parents attending the Forum included: “Thank ELCFV for making our community stronger”, ”Truly hope to see us grow as parents”, “Loved the incentive and ideas to increase parent involvement.” These forums are parent guided, informative, and in a friendly environment. The goal is to build a partnership between ELCFV and families as well as getting parent input on service delivery. We offer refreshment, child care in our fun and enriching lobby, door prizes and much more.
For further information contact: Nicole Knight, Family Partnership Coordinator 386-323 2400 ext. 126, 174, nknight@elcfv.org.Child Screening & Assessment
In order to maximize your child’s chance for success in school, the ELCFV provides Developmental Screening to all children enrolled in School Readiness programs. Developmental screening is an important tool in assessing whether your child may need additional services. One hundred percent of children in School Readiness programs receive Level I age-appropriate screening within 30 days following enrollment in the program.
If your child is identified on the Level I screening as needing further assistance, he or she will receive a follow-up Level II screening which also includes hearing and vision screenings.
You and your child’s child care provider will receive screening results. If your child is identified as needing additional services, you will also receive referral information.
Children with Special Needs
The ELCFV promotes inclusion and provides support for equal access to high quality child care for all children, including those with disabilities and special health care needs.
Child care providers receive assistance in the form of training regarding strategies, curriculum, and classroom adaptation. On-site technical support is also available to child care providers.
If you have a child with special needs or believe your child may have special needs, please contact - Rosemary Cashion 386-323-2400 ext. 191, rcashion@elcfv.org.
Infants & Toddlers
Child Development
What Goes on in the Lives of Infant and Toddlers?
The first three years
The first three years of life is the most important period of child development. Development is made up of several areas. These areas are: Physical Health, Approaches to Learning, Social and Emotional, Language and Communication, Cognitive Development and General Knowledge. The development of one or more areas depends on the development of other areas. The rate of development will not always be the same in each area per child.
Physical Health
Development of physical health for both infant and toddlers is made up of all body systems and wellness. Physical health monitors nutrition, physical, dental, auditory, and visual health. Wellness is ensuring that the physical health of the child’s needs is met with the help of those who care for the child.
Approaches to Learning
Approaches to Learning is a unique area of child development because it involves specific skills. The first skill is eagerness and curiosity with which the child engages with their environment. Persistence is the second skill that is demonstrated when the child works at challenging tasks even though they encounter challenges while completing the task. The last skill is creativity and problem-solving.
Social/Emotional Development
Social and emotional development of infants and toddlers consists of trust and emotional security, self-regulation, and self-concept. During the infant-toddler years, children learn to use language to communicate their needs, desires, and interests to those around them and this cannot be done without support and modeling from an adult. General knowledge is gained by the infant-toddler exploring their needs in everyday life. Through these daily explorations, not only is general knowledge met, but also problem-solving and creative thinking skills are gained which enriches their cognitive development.
For more information on infant and toddler child development, contact:
Nathalie Dunning 386 323-2400, ext. 188, ndunning@elcfv.org
Literacy & Learning
The Literacy and Learning department is committed to helping our providers, parents, and families, increase their knowledge of emergent literacy skills in young children recognizing the importance of reading aloud and related language activities throughout the early childhood years.
What is Emergent Literacy?
The view that early literacy development begins at birth and contends that children construct their own knowledge about reading and writing as a result of social interaction and meaningful engagements with print. The quality and richness of children’s early experiences with print and language influences early reading achievement. It is what children know about reading and writing before they actually learn to read and write.
• Emergent Reading
1– Motivation
2– Age-appropriate phonological awareness
3– Alphabetic knowledge
4– Understanding of text read aloud
• Emergent Writing
1– Motivation
2– Letter-like shapes to convey meaning
3– Age-appropriate writing
4– Knowledge of structure of written composition
Phonological awareness is paying attention to the sounds of language. It is not about print, but of hearing and manipulating the sounds of language.
There are many things that families and educators can do to enhance the development of language and early literacy skills such as:
- Reading books aloud frequently
- Answering children’s questions about print
- Pointing out letters and words in the environment
- Providing easy access to books and print materials
"Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read." Marilyn Jager Adams
Dr. Adams is internationally regarded for research and applied work in the area of cognition and education. Recipient of the American Educational Research Association's Sylvia Scribner Award for outstanding research, her contributions include the books, Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print and Phonemic Awareness in Young Children (coauthored). She is currently a Research Professor in the Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Department at Brown University.
Interesting literacy facts that support early literacy initiatives:
Literacy Statistics According to the literacy report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
- About one in 20 adults in the U.S. is not literate in English.
- 11 million Americans lack the skills to handle many everyday tasks.
- 30 million adults may not be able to make sense of a simple pamphlet.
- Adults with ability to perform challenging and complex reading tasks made an average yearly salary of $50,700 in 2003. That is $28,000 more than those who lacked basic skills.
Literacy links (parents and families):
Reading is Fundamental http://www.rif.org/parents/
PBS Homepage http://www.pbs.org/kids/
Reading Rockets http://www.readingrockets.org/families
Volusia County Library Kids’ Page http://volusialibrary.org/kids/
Flagler County Library Children’s Dept http://www.flaglerlibrary.org/story/story1.htm
Just Read Florida! http://www.justreadflorida.com/parents.asp
Literacy links (childcare providers and preschool teachers):
Reading is Fundamental http://www.rif.org/educators/
Volusia Literacy Council http://volusialiteracy.org/index.cfm
Reading Rockets http://www.readingrockets.org/teachers
For further information or technical assistance, contact: Trish Perry (386)323-2400 ext. 119 pperry@elcfv.org
Family Activities
Learning through play: In the early childhood years, as children explore, investigate and experiment through play activities, they will naturally learn concepts to help develop creativity, problem solving and social skills. As all of this unfolds, a healthy self-concept will result and they will develop a lifelong love of learning. This “love of learning” will pave the way for children as confident problem-solvers, as they encounter the many challenges that lie ahead.
Family activities are presented at quarterly parent forums at ELCFV or group meetings at child care programs by Parent Educators as part of the Parents as Teachers™ program. The age appropriate activities range from ages zero to five and encompass activities for development of the social-emotional, fine and gross motor, language, cognitive and special needs. Parents are educated on the importance of early childhood development and their role as their child’s first teacher in order to help their child develop to their fullest potential.
For further information about Family Activities, contact: Michele Lowe
386 323-2400, ext. 126, mlowe@elcfv.org
Early Learning Coalition Of Flagler & Volusia Counties
230 North Beach Street
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Phone: 386-323-2400
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