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Virtus Health - ABA Therapy | Autism Services

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Virtus Health is a leading provider of ABA therapy, Behavioral Health, and Autism Services for Goshen, IN, as well as Pensacola, North Port, Naples, Sarasota, and Fort Myers, Florida. Let us help you today!

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Our Legacy :: The Baker Center For Children and Families

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Early Learning Coalition of Florida’s Heartland | Childhood Education

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Investing in children | Learn about our programs and services, resources, licensing, and donations. Contact us at (941) 255-1650.

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Elite DNA Behavioral Health, Therapy and Psychiatry in Florida

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Elite DNA Behavioral Health offers comprehensive behavioral and mental health services like talk therapy, psychiatry and medication management.

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Health Planning Council of Southwest Florida

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Early Steps Providers - Health Planning Council of Southwest Florida

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The Florida Early Intervention System, through collaborative community partnerships and investments, ensures that infants and toddlers with special needs and their families achieve their full potential.

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Children & Adolescent Services | Charlotte Behavioral

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Children and adolescents face different developmental, social, behavioral, and emotional challenges than adults. Additionally, the therapeutic interventions that are used when treating children and adolescents must meet them where they are at developmentally.

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My Family Builders™ | Magnetic Wooden Blocks that Celebrates Diversity

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My Family Builders™ empowers children to explore a world of possibilities and build all kinds of modern families. Handcrafted magnetic wooden blocks & games. Diversity blocks, toys for diversity.

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Often in preschool, children identify with a color or a toy that seems to belong to the other gender. This is all totally natural and healthy even. So yes, sometimes a boy will play with the dolls and a girl will play with the cars.

We might hear a comment like, "I don't like pink, it's a girl color." When it comes time to clean up, a boy might not want to touch or pick up anything they think is a " girl toy." We even had a child tell us there was nothing to clean up, when there were toys still laying around, most of them being what he would call "girl toys." This goes both ways...girls will do the same thing, referencing a "boy toy" or saying they don't like "boy colors."

So, what do you do when this happens? Here are some ideas that have been helpful to us, and we hope will help you in dealing with this situation.

1. Reinforce the fact there is no such thing as a boy or girl color.

Teach your kids that all the colors are for everyone! Colors don't need to be gender specific and kids should just like what they like.

2. Make sure they know they can play with ANY toy.

It doesn't matter what it is. No one should be teased about the toy they have chosen to play with. Explain that all the toys are for everyone and it is okay if someone makes a different choice than they would make.

3. Teach them we all have a responsibility to help.

During clean up time, make sure they all take part in helping to put toys away. A child can and should pick up toys they did not play with or toys they may think are a "girl" or "boy" toy. We all help each other.

4. Establish that we are all friends, no matter what.

In preschool, we are all friends, and girls and boys can sit by each other. Bullying and being unkind is not acceptable because one happens to be a boy and one a girl - or for any other reason!

A lesson learned in preschool is that generally children respond well to the idea that someone who makes a different choice than they would can still be their friend. A discussion about colors and toys being for everyone and not gender-specific is usually well received. In fact, some of them pause and say, "Oh, I like that color, too." Then they name three other colors they like, as well. Gender bias in a 3 or 4-year-old has almost always been picked up from an older sibling, friend, or relative. We can help them consider other ideas that are less biased.

It is important for children to feel their preferences or choices are okay. No other child (or adult!) has the right to take that from them. It's okay to like something different than their friends. This is an important first step in teaching children to think for themselves, rather than follow the crowd. This proves to be an important skill later in life when peer pressure is strong! We want children to have confidence in their own choices and respect other's choices, as well.
This story was submitted to Love What Matters  by Kari Taylor and Marny Hazeldine. You can follow them on Pinterest and purchase their preschool curriculum here. Submit your own story here, and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos. Read more stories like this: Preschool Teacher's Advice For Raising Capable, Confident, Resilient Kids 'Should I look and feel THIS exhausted?': Teacher's heartfelt plea for parents to STOP their 'bizarrely lenient attitude toward disciplining children' 'I heard him say to his sister Ellie, 'I'm going to save these for you. We can all have chocolate for my birthday!' I swelled with pride.': Mom explains why teaching kids to share is a 'priority' 'Here buddy, I can help you down.' The man I'd tried to wave around us couldn't hold it in any longer. He was obviously annoyed.': Mom urges importance of teaching kids lessons by letting them do things on their own
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How To Address Gender Bias With Preschoolers

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"It is important for children to feel their preferences or choices are okay. No other child (or adult!) has the right to take that from them."

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8x. Developing Empathy to Build Warm, Inclusive Classrooms

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The following tips can help you consider your assumptions, expectations, and biases so that you can better develop your own empathy and the children's as well.

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As educators, it's our duty to explain to our students that everyone has roots in other countries. But trying to explain the melting-pot concept to elementary-age children can be tough! My colleagues and I decided to add an entire multicultural theme to our curriculum in order to embrace diversity. Here are a few of my favorite activities for studying cultures in your classroom in a way that's educational and fun.
Further Reading: How Pen Pals Expanded the World for My Students
Say Hello

I like to begin every morning with a multicultural greeting to my students. Every month, I choose a simple phrase from a new language and greet my class with it. Repeating these phrases for the month is a fun way for students to learn a bit of a foreign language.

September: "Hello" (English)

October: "Buenos dias" (Spanish)

November: "Bonjour" (French)

December: "Shalom" (Hebrew)

January: "Jambo" (Swahili)

February: "Huanying" (Chinese)

March: "Guten tag" (German)

April: "Konnichiwa" (Japanese)

May: "G'Day mate" (Australian English)

June: "Goed dag" (Dutch)

Travel around the World

Make daily use of a globe or flat map to help your class realize how big the world is. Take inspiration from Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days and invite your class on a pretend trip to several places on the planet. Discuss the various landforms you'd have to travel across in order to reach each destination, and build a thematic unit around every country "visited." Because Around the World in Eighty Days is a long, advanced book, it may not be the most appropriate story for younger children, but your school's librarian can suggest a variety of age-appropriate travel books for your class. The important part is to get your students curious about exploring the world and its many cultures.

Indulge in Different Cuisines

To encourage cultural awareness and experimentation with food, consider serving different kinds of breads as a snack in your classroom. This is an easy beginning to global food study. As you munch on croissants, pitas, tortillas, matzo, and dark breads, have a class discussion about who eats these breads and the countries where they're most popular. Next, have parents assist you in putting together a globally influenced potluck lunch. Have students bring a food or dessert that represents their heritage. As you engage in this feast, discuss where each dish originated. After the potluck, collect the recipes from each family, compile them, and send a multicultural cookbook home with each child.

Make Diverse Art

Introduce your students to other cultures through hands-on, creative activities. Using my own Greek heritage for inspiration, I taught my class how to make worry beads. The Greek people traditionally used worry beads as a relaxation technique to diffuse their concerns; when they had a problem, they reached for their string of beads, placed it behind their back, and counted the beads two by two. To make our own worry beads, we took about 24 inches of yarn and folded it in half. Then we tied up five pieces of yarn (about four inches long) to make a fringe at the halfway mark on the long strand. Beginning at one end, students strung different colored plastic beads for about five inches, then tied the beads off with a knot. This process was repeated on the other side, and we finished by tying together the long strand to make a continuous loop.

My class also made tissue-paper flowers to honor Mexican culture. These flowers are traditionally used to decorate streets, houses, and churches during festivals and holidays. For this craft, each student needs tissue paper in a variety of colors and a green pipe cleaner. Have your class draw round scalloped flower shapes in different sizes on the paper. After cutting them out, have them stack the flowers from largest to smallest and help them punch a hole in the center. Then thread the pipe cleaner through the holes and twist it to form a stem. To give the flowers a natural look, fluff all the layers.
Further Reading: The 3 Cs for Creating an Engaged and Positive Classroom Culture
These are just a few ways to learn about cultures in your classroom. You can use specific holidays, music, games, and dances as inspiration for your lessons. Leverage your experience, research, and imagination to think of other authentic ways to introduce children to the magical diversity of our world's population.

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Exploring Cultures in Your Classroom: Fun Activities to Try

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You can celebrate diversity, and engage students in the study of different cultures, with these interactive activities.

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I get so excited every year about my Disability Awareness Day!! It brings so much awareness onto our school campus, is so life-changing for so so many, and it's so much fun for everyone! I recently posted about the event last month and many of you have reached out to me about how you would love to host your own Disability Awareness Day, but don't know where to start. So, today I'm sharing with you everything you need to know to host your own event.
I have six stations. I number each station and place a large task card at each station with step-by-step directions for each task they will complete at that station. This also makes it super easy for your volunteers helping out to follow. I use clear, plastic photo frames from Dollar Tree for this, but you can also choose to tape the numbers and task cards on the table too.

Here's a peek at each station.

Students begin this station by having a piece of sandpaper taped inside the back of their shirt and they must tolerate it as long as they possibly can.

Students practice communicating using only picture symbols and other communication devices.

The static activity requires them to communicate with their peers and try to focus on an activity while background noise plays in their ears. You can achieve this by placing it on a radio station that is just static.

In this station, students get to feel what it might feel like to have an Intellectual Disability by completing a German test, the f's test, and trying to express themselves without using any words. The mother working this station said to me upon arrival, "Oh, I don't know German." And I said, "HaHa, that's the point."

In this station, students try reading a jumbled passage that simulates what a child with a reading disability, such as Dyslexia, may see when they try to read.

Students also complete the "Brain Scatter" activity which challenges them to read the color, not the word.

It's more challenging than you think!

This is always a favorite!

Students get to practice signing phrases, learn how to sign their name, and try to listen and have conversations with cotton balls in their ears.

At this station, students learn what it might feel like to have a vision impairment by trying to copy a blurred passage from the board...

They learn about Braille and get to make a Braille name tag.

And they choose a slip of paper with a drawing task on it and try their luck at "Blind Drawing."

In this station, students see what it might feel like to have a physical impairment.

They try to go up and down steps and sit down with a yardstick taped to their leg.

Another activity requires them to open and close containers using only one hand, and place socks or gloves on their hand and try to pick up pennies.

This is optional, and something new I did this year. Each participant received a cupcake at the end of the event. One of my mothers and volunteers made this sign since we held the event on WDSD this year.

Her and I also made awareness ribbons for all of the participants too, but again this is optional.
Following the event, I gave my volunteers a little gift. It's a note cube, a $10 Kohl's gift card, and an Autism Awareness heart pin. Again, optional, but I want my volunteers to know how much I appreciate them!

I have to brag a little here! This year our event even made front page headlines. Woohoo!

And 2 of the classes even wrote thank you letters to us.

A: All of the signs, tasks, parent letters, and printables are available in my Disability Awareness Day Kit
I get so many questions about this event from people wanting to host their own. Since you may have many of the same questions, I've posted them here.
Q: What grades is this event for?
A: I host the event for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I feel that is a good age for them to begin to understand students with disabilities.
Q: How many students attend?
A: 156 students attended this year from six different classes. That included two 3rd grade classes, two 4th grade classes, and two 5th grade classes.
Q: Do all students attend at once?
A: No, I break the event up into two sessions. There is a morning session and an afternoon session.
Q: How long is each session?
A: Each session is 2 hours and 15 minutes long.
Q: How long is each station?
A: Each station is 20 minutes long, which equals 2 hours. The other 15 minutes is for my opening and closing statement.
Q: How do you manage the stations?
A: When students arrive, I count them off, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....and over again until all students have been counted off. They go to the station that corresponds with the number they were given. Every 20 minutes, I blow a whistle and students rotate clockwise. I explain all of this to them in my opening statement.
Q: Where do you host the event?
A: I host the event in our gymnasium.
Q: Our students eat lunch in the gymnasium. How did you work around this?
A: All students have lunch outside on this day.
Q: How did I get volunteers for each station?
A: I send home a parent letter a couple of weeks prior. I only had two parents volunteer, so my husband and best friend also worked a station, and my two paras worked the other two stations. I also expect the teachers from the participating classes to help out too.
Q: Where are my students during the event?
A: My students are assigned to a station to assist with.
Q: What are the blue and yellow folders each student has?
A: At the very first station, each student is given a sheet of 12x18 construction paper to fold in half and write their name on. They take this from station to station to store any activities they complete at each station.
Q: Where can I get the table signs and activities at that you used?

Q: What other materials do I need to gather for the event?
A: If you have my kit, the only other materials you'll need to gather are yard sticks, masking tape, pennies, containers with lids, socks, blindfolds, radio/listening center, sandpaper, tape, cotton balls, scratch paper and pencils.
The kit also includes a pretest and a post test that teachers can give to their students.
here.

I hope you'll consider hosting a Disability Awareness Day at your school to spread awareness, promote acceptance, and decrease bullying. The outcome is just amazing and touches so many!
I hope you'll find the information I've shared helpful when hosting your own event! Don't hesitate to write me with any questions you may still have that weren't covered here.

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How to Host A Successful Disability Awareness Day

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disability awareness day, special education, hosting a disability awareness day event, spread awareness, acceptance

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Martin Luther King Jr. activities for Kids are an excellent way to honor and learn about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Through simple activities and crafts, children can explore his core beliefs of peace, justice, and equality in ways that are both fun and educational.

There are many Martin Luther King Jr.-themed projects out there, such as creating Martin Luther King Jr. quote posters to hang up in your home or schoolroom, playing a Martin Luther King Jr.- themed game or activity, writing their own speech based on one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous quotes as well as engaging in role-play scenarios to better understand Martin's words and beliefs.

Each of these activities provides an opportunity for kids to reflect on the impact Martin had on this world while learning more about him in the process. Below are my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. activities, crafts, projects, and ideas for celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with Kids.

All images are sourced from the original linked-up post. Please click through to the websites for all the details!

I found these Martin Luther King Jr. Crafts for Kids and had to share them with you all! We have a few activities in the works that I will share with you soon.

Martin Luther King Jr. Crafts Kids Love

This free printable social-emotional learning activity will create a birthday wish for Martin, focusing on equality, kindness, fairness, and respect for others￼.

This craft from Kristen at Busy Kids = Happy Mom is beautiful on so many levels. I love the colors, the dove, and the collaborative approach.

Check out this adorable and easy-to-put-together craft.

Deborah at Teach Preschool gives us an easy and excellent hands-on craft for kids to truly begin to think about these more significant topics.

This list of biographies for kids is super thoughtfully curated and can be used all year round.

Mari from Inspired by Family Magazine rocked this big topic! What child does not love cracking eggs AND the element of surprise? Plus, the lesson sticks with children.

Valerie at Inner Child Fun offers simple and beautiful activities. I adore this Peace Symbol plate. Easy to put together and lots of room for creativity!

Artists Helping Children offers wonderful multicultural activities to celebrate MLK Jr. Day with kids.

Free Kids Crafts presents a beautiful MLK Jr. hand print poem craft for kids.

Barely & Birch let us in on a sweet activity: Make: A Collage Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Celebrating MLK Day: Martin Luther King Jr Lesson Plan with The Purposeful Nest offers a fabulous free printable activity booklet for you and your children to celebrate and learn about Dr. King.

This handprint wreath is a lovely MLK Jr. kids' craft

Allie at No Time for Flashcards presents an easy yet powerful MLK Jr. Kids Multicultural Craft

Thank you for visiting us today. Please leave a comment with your favorite MLK Jr. idea for Kids. I love hearing from you. Check my Martin Luther King Jr. Day for Kids Pinterest board for more favorites.

Marnie

Resources for Teaching Kids Diversity

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Martin Luther King Jr. Activities for Kids

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I collected the BEST Martin Luther King Jr. Crafts for kids from the best bloggers out there! I hope you enjoy these ideas!

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Read 32 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. What If We Were All The Same! is a children’s book that embraces the beautiful differences …

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The Juice Box Bully: Empowering Kids to Stand Up for Ot...

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Read 59 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Have you ever seen a bully in action and done nothing about it? The kids at Pete's new scho...

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In a brand-new companion to his beloved classic It's Okay to Be Different, New York Times bestselling author Todd Parr encourages kids to be proud of who they are inside.
Be who you are!
Be proud of where you're from.
Be a different color. Speak your language.
Wear everything you need to be you.
Who better than Todd Parr to remind kids that their unique traits are what make them so special? With his signature silly and accessible style, Parr encourages readers to embrace all their unique qualities.

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In a brand-new companion to his beloved classic It's Okay to Be Different, New York Times bestselling author Todd Parr encourages kids to be proud of who they are inside.Be who you are!Be proud of where you're from.Be a different color. Speak your language.Wear everything you need to be you.

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It’s okay to need some help.It’s okay to be a different color.It’s okay to talk about your feelings.From the bestselling author Todd Parr comes a reassuring book about being who you are. Told with Todd Parr’s signature wit and wisdom, It’s Okay to Be Different cleverly delivers the important message…

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If they haven't been already, preschool children will likely be around disabled adults and children at some point in their lives. Because of their young age, many preschoolers don't understand what it means to be disabled. Disability awareness activities can increase their knowledge of disabilities and teach them to be sensitive toward others who are different.

Hide an object in the room and ask one child to go look for it. After he has found it, put a blind fold on him and ask him to find another object in the room. Allow the other students to give him directions. At the end of the activity, discuss with the preschooler how much more difficult it was to find the object with a blind fold. This activity helps preschoolers understand what it is like to be blind.

This activity teaches preschoolers to accept others and allows them to be creative as well. Give each preschooler some clay, a paper plate and craft sticks. Instruct the preschoolers to sculpt something, such as a person or a dog. After they have sculpted for a couple of minutes, ask them to use only one hand to sculpt. After they're finished, ask them how much more difficult it was to sculpt with just one hand. Explain to them that some people don't have both of their arms or legs and have to face many challenges every day.

For this activity, ask one of the preschoolers to put two pairs of socks on each hand. Instruct him to remove one raisin at a time from a box and eat it. Ask another preschooler to put two pairs of socks on each hand and unwrap a piece of candy and eat it. At the end of the activity, ask them how difficult it was to do these tasks with socks on their hands. Explain to your preschoolers that people with a muscular mobility disability deal with these types of challenges every day.

Have half of the preschoolers put on earphones. Conduct lessons and activities like normal. After 30 minutes, have them take the earphones off and ask the other half of the preschoolers to put them on. At the end of the activity, ask the preschoolers to discuss how they felt not being able to hear anything. Tell them that deaf people can't hear anything, and many of them use sign language to communicate with others.

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Activities for Teaching Preschoolers About Disability Awareness | Synonym

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If they haven't been already, preschool children will likely be around disabled adults and children at some point in their lives. Because of their young age, many preschoolers don't understand what it means to be disabled. Disability awareness activities can increase their knowledge of disabilities and teach ...