mason+mud.jpg — **SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT ABILITIES IN NATURE-BASED PROGRAMS**

Guest Presenter: Rachel Tenney

Present: Lisa Burris, Katie Baker and Esther -Turn Back Time, Susan Norton-Lakes Region Community College ECE Program Coordinator, Amy Butler-North Branch Nature Center, Mindy Beltramo and Christina Oliva - Dewey School, Jennifer MacDonald-Dewey School and public school consultant, Laura Mammarelli-Blue Heron School, Landere Naisbitt-Blue Hill Heritage Trust starting Forest Day Programs (K-6th), Johanna Booth-Miner-Live And Learn Early Center (infants through school age), Anne Stires-Juniper Hill School, Emily (Weiss?)-Wright-Locke Farm and Boston Preschool, Janet Altobello and Karen Rent-Harris Center for Conservation Education, Katie Swick - Montpelier home childcare center, Nicole Pelletier-SHED Children’s Campus, Caylin Gans-Child and Nature Alliance of Canada, Rachel Tenney-Brooklyn SEIT, Ellen Doris-Antioch University New England, Liza Lowe - AUNE

→ View Zoom Recording Here ←

Meeting Notes:

Rachel Tenney - Introduction and getting us started…

Rachel is a lifelong resident of New York City who has professionally been an early childhood educator for over a decade. Rachel has an MSEd from Bank Street College of Education in early childhood education as well as special education. Rachel has worked as a classroom assistant, head teacher and consultant and currently works full-time in Brooklyn as a special education itinerant teacher (SEIT) with three to five year olds as mandated by their IEPs. Rachel has been an Early Childhood Educator since 2014 and worked with children in various spaces, currently working in a Montessori inclusion preschool. Include children wherever they are. The children have IEPS and most have a diagnosis - cerebral palsy, down syndrome, and non-specific diagnosis.

Rachel was drawn to Antioch and the NbEC because they were curious to see what it can look like to be in nature in urban environments, especially in Brooklyn. Has a child who is in a park 2-3 hrs. a week… sometimes just the edge of the meadow of a nature-based playground sometimes fully immersed depending. When children are outside, out of their ordinary/expected place, you need to make a plan. Think and plan for the child. How can you make it a positive experience for the child? Children are motivated to be outdoors, to get to the playground, etc. You need to think through, how will we maintain a safe ratio for the child in need for longer outings? (Utilize a parent? A floater? Admin?). The upfront efforts can reduce the stress over the long-term. Overtime you can predict the necessary supports.

Tools: a back up “thing”… a fidget toy, a book - a familiar thing that could be used to settle them following a tantrum. For a child who struggles with attention… keep a bag of tricks at the ready.

Conversation continues with others…

Johanna, Live And Learn - we don’t have one-on-one assistance for setting children up for success in our Center. Get to know the child and their needs (deep pressure, run, food, an authentic job). Mostly work on meeting the child where they are - figure out their unmet need(s) or teach the foundation skills so they can join us. High sensory need child - worked with them all summer, then took them on a hayride. Fear of dogs - after the summer session = took a walk with the dog. Plan your day to meet the needs of every child. We believe that behavior is the child’s way of communicating - “We are going to have a great day!” (children ages 6 wks - 6 years, and up to 16 yrs.)

Lisa Burris, Turn Back Time - we are an inclusion program (30% of the children come from an at risk category). We always say that behavior is a language, it’s communicating a need. Relationships are key! Once we get to snack in our program we have met those “first hour needs” We talk a lot about trust - children are motivated to do something and through trust can make it happen. You get to hold a chicken when we trust you are going to have a calm and safe body with the chicken. Kids rise to expectations when they can trust us... and vice versa.

Rachel - Help children feel secure and safe. Be in touch with the children’s needs. Meeting the first behaviors that you’re recognizing! If the child is going to do something that is scary they need to trust that you’re going to be looking at what is safe for them.

Amy Butler, North Branch Nature Center - I work with public school teachers and we’ve made it a point that ECO is inclusive - including children in wheelchairs or limited mobility. The other children in the classroom community have been a part of solving that. One child needed a wheelchair/walker - the other students walked down to the sporting goods store and retro-fitted the walker with skis. We have an access point where students built a bridge! This became a big part of the students’ learning that year. We have a lot of access to people in the public schools - we can brainstorm, get financial support... hammocks were donated. Sitting on the ground wasn’t possible or comfortable for some of the children so we brought hammocks out so all the children could participate. The hammocks ended up being useful for other children as well. There’s a fanning out effect with new questions and new challenges in these outdoor settings. These children thrive when they’re outdoors vs. maybe just surviving indoors. Even if paras or aids are hesitant at first they eventually buy-in and support!

We have a licensed preschool at North Branch Nature Center and it’s been hard to accommodate and support children with various behaviors. We are required to serve these children. For some of these children this is their first learning experience and so there has been no screening yet. Some of these children need a one-on-one. How are others handling this?

Lisa - we’re not a licensed preschool, we’re a licensed camp. We have kids who might go to an integrated preschool some days of the week and come to us the other days of the week. We found that their behaviors are reduced here… We are a non-profit and have just decided that we are going to figure it out.

Johanna - the public school is financially responsible after the age of three and early intervention before the age of three.

Rachel - we’re finding it harder and harder to convince the dept. of education to support… they want to move children out of integrated programs … we’re always writing justification for extended services. My agency does a lot of fundraising!

Lisa - children with problematic behaviors often do better outdoors. There’s now a fantastic study+!!!!!! Often these children can be leaders in nature-based education, once they get settled into where they are. (+see link to study below)

Anne Stires, Juniper Hill School - between 25% free and reduced lunch, families don’t have the money… if families can’t get supports… there are many stories of children who need to leave the program. Middle of the school year, we needed to find money and needed to find it fast. What do others do when they have families who are super resistant?

Lisa - when families are resistant that’s difficult because with a diagnosis you could pull in other supports… The conversation needs to start happening that public funding needs to be given to these nature-based outdoor programs. We need to keep having this conversation with public schools. Finding ways to help public schools understand that it’ll be cheaper to support the child in your private nature-based programs than in the public school.

Katie Baker - the story with I is well documented. All sorts of specialists were brought in to provide the documentation necessary for her to get supports...

Lisa - the Fitzgerald Institute, an amazing small school… we got a solid neuro-psych eval for I and further documentation to show her needs. Start documentation early! Go to collaborators - public school or local agencies who provide support for families/children. Connect with outside collaborators who bring the support into your program. There is a chance that a school district will recognize the needs/benefits (especially if you have a proposal). At first they might be resistant, but… As educators… we can push for this! If I can say, “I have a success story here!”...

Rachel - documentation is always really helpful/useful - utilize a behavioral intervention plan*, be in contact with families around the behaviors and what’s happening, document all that you’re already doing. This could be one behavior or a handful of behaviors at any time. (*see document links below)

Resources, Documents and Tools:

NAAEE - Inclusion in a Preschool Outdoor Program with Susan Lancey

+ Frontiers in Psychology - Do Experiences with Nature Promote Learning? Converging Evidence of a Cause-and-Effect Relationship

Resource Library from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations:

https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/resources/index.html

Child Behavior Specialist - Bonnie Harris (author of When Your Kids Push Your Buttons)

* Behavioral Intervention Plans

* Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavioral Intervention Plan Compliance Checklist

* Behavior Intervention Plan Format