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SFTS August 2004 Newsletter

School Readiness and Special Needs
Did you know that one of the objectives in the Attorney General’s new "Safe from the Start" grant from First 5 California includes providing information to school readiness programs and programs serving children with special needs? Our goal is to work with existing local groups and programs to educate coordinators about the effect exposure to violence has on a child’s developing brain and how it relates to school readiness. We also hope to expand program efforts by offering expert speakers to train regional groups about the neuroscience of brain development and how it is changed by exposure to violence. Several local events are planned for this year (see www.safefromthestart.org - local events) and the inclusion of school readiness coordinators and special needs project personnel is essential.

Contact Arlene Shea at arlene.shea@doj.ca.gov if you want more information or if you have other ideas on how best to expand our efforts to serve these groups.


NEW RESOURCES

30 Simple Things Parents Can Do
This resource from the Children’s Defense Fund, “30 Simple Things Parents Can Do to Help Keep Children Safe from Violence” includes practical tips on safeguarding your children and easy steps to take in your home and community to protect your children. Also included are inspiring stories of “Parents In Action” who made their children and others safer from violence.

For more information or to purchase a copy, check out http://www.childrensdefense.org

The Collaboration Primer: Proven Strategies, Considerations, and Tools to Get You Started
In the Belief that “that the whole is more powerful than the sum of its parts,” the Health Research and Educational Trust has put together a primer on collaboration. Collaboration can help you better align resources with needs, reduce competition, increase effectiveness, and make your results more sustainable. The Collaboration Primer is a tool to assess your collaboration readiness and compare examples of successes and failures. It also includes examples of how to evaluate the status of your effort and to identify areas for improvement.


NEW RESEARCH

Study Identifies Early Risk Factors for Child Aggression
Research from the University of Montreal in Canada concluded that interventions to prevent youth violence could take place even before and during pregnancy. A study of 572 families with 5-month-old babies found that a child’s tendency toward aggressive behavior is formed before birth, and may be related to the parents’ behavior and background. This study also concluded that genetics, parents’ past behavior, and environment all affect the development of the brain and its capacity to regulate emotions, especially reactions to anger.

For more information, this study’s findings are published in the July 2004 issue of Pediatrics (Vol. 114, page 43) at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/

Computers Can Aid in Children’s Development
A study published in the June 2004 issue of Pediatrics, of 4-year-olds enrolled in Head Start, found early computer exposure, before or during the preschool years, is associated with the development of preschool concepts and cognition among young children.

To read an abstract of "Early Childhood Computer Experience and Cognitive and Motor Development," check out http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/6/1715

Learning to Talk
How do children acquire language? Talking to babies from the minute they are born helps spark this learning process. The vocal catalog of sounds available to children increases at an amazing rate, from babbling to syllables to short sentences in a matter of months.

For more information, check out Education Connection's "Finding a Voice: Perspectives on Language Acquisition" at http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/language-acquisition


TRAINING OPPORTUNITY

Batterers as Parents Training
The San Francisco SafeStart Initiative and the SafeStart Committee on Batterers Intervention are sponsoring free Batterers as Parents training. The training is meant to enhance and improve the ability of practitioners in family support to work more effectively with violent offenders who are parents. This training will be delivered by trained facilitators of approved batterers intervention programs who are experts in helping offenders to stop their violence.

For more information or to register, call the SafeStart Training Line at 415-557-6852 or send an email to safestart@dcyf.org. Registration is limited, and staff of agencies belonging to the SafeStart Advisory Council will have priority.

Regional Training in Monterey
Space is still available at the Center for Applied Research Solutions Free Mentoring Training, “Designing and Customizing Mentor Training,” in Monterey, CA on August 30, 2004. This hands-on training for program staff will provide you with the information and tools necessary to develop or improve the content of an effective mentor-training program. Mentoring experts Elsy Arévalo, DeVone Boggan, and Judy Strother Taylor will co-lead this informative workshop.

For more information, check out http://www.emt.org/ment_symposiums.html


EVALUATION NEWS

Early Childhood Programs And Evaluation
The Spring 2004 issue of the Harvard Family Research Project's periodical, The Evaluation Exchange, charts the course of early childhood programming and evaluation over nearly half a century. Contributing authors offer a range of views on how best to communicate the importance of investing in a child's early years and how to improve early childhood programs and policies. Promising practices, such as North Carolina's Smart Start Initiative, and evaluations of programs, such as Early Head Start, are also discussed.

For more information or to download this document, check out http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval/issue26