Latest Updates Archives - Early Learning Indiana

ELI Celebrates Abbi Segvich, Tanner Teacher of the Year

Ambar Pire — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 21:22:22 +0000

Every day, our teachers work tirelessly to provide children with the highest-quality early care and education. They don’t seek acknowledgement for their efforts, which makes it all the more special when they are recognized for their hard work and dedication. We are thrilled to announce that our 2024 Tanner Teacher of the Year is Abbi Segvich, team lead and 2s teacher at Day Early Learning at Patty Jischke Early Care and Education Center in West Lafayette.

The Tanner Teacher of the Year is an annual award in recognition of an outstanding Day Early Learning classroom teacher. It is named after Gene and Rosemary Tanner, long-standing supporters of Early Learning Indiana, in honor of the endowment they started in 2019 to support teacher training and professional development.

Abbi is known and respected for her ability to create a calm and productive classroom learning environment, as well as her thoughtful and engaging teaching style. She excels at parent communication, always keeping them informed about what their children are learning and providing peace of mind that they’re well taken care of. As a team lead, Abbi is a team player who will drop what she’s doing to help her fellow teachers and make sure they feel supported.

“Not only is she an amazing teacher who creates a great classroom environment with her kids, but she’s also that team player who I can put in charge of the building. She’s just the full package,” says Abbi’s School Leader Jessica Walters.

Abbi joined Day Early Learning at Patty Jischke in 2022 from Day Early Learning at Purdue University Early Care and Education Center, where she started in 2017.

Today during a ceremony at Day Early Learning at Patty Jischke, Abbi’s family, friends, co-workers and students joined us as we surprised her with a plaque and cash prize.

Please join us in congratulating Abbi!

Promises of Parenting Program Brings Support and Connection to the Indiana Women’s Prison

Kelly Kough — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 17:43:42 +0000

The Promises of Parenting program offers parenting education and support to moms in the Leath Nursery Unit of the Indiana’s Women Prison, where eligible mothers can keep their infants with them until their release date. Through support from the Early Years Initiative, the Indiana University School of Medicine team has implemented and expanded the program with a vision of empowering all mothers living in the prison nursery unit to provide consistent, responsive, nurturing care for their children. Fifteen mothers have completed the program in 2024, with additional cohorts planned.

"There emerged a need for parenting education and parenting skills and helping moms effectively form that critical attachment with their babies. One of the neat things about this program is it encourages moms to reflect on their own upbringing and their own journey, at the same time they’re learning about their infant’s or toddler’s behavior.”

Jack Turman, PhD, Indiana University School of Medicine Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative

The program utilizes the Circle of Security® Parenting™ curriculum, an evidence-based model that teaches parents how to protect and nurture their children while also fostering their independence. Moms delve into the concept of letting the baby leave the circle of security to explore a safe environment, then being there to welcome the child back for nurturing and care. “It’s a really beautiful approach to the idea of attachment,” Turman said, “and our moms love the concept and are doing great work reflecting on how they can provide that security for their child.”

The weekly Circle of Security classes have proven to be invaluable in providing solid fundamental skills while encouraging awareness and reflection of parent-child attachment. As the program grew, the team identified an additional need for a more focused class on infant development.

Now, moms also attend a weekly Milestone Moments class that teaches the social, emotional, cognitive and motor domains of infant and toddler development. “Most parents – and this is a fairly universal experience – don’t have a lot of realistic expectations about their infants and toddlers,” Turman said. “The milestones class helps parents understand typical infant development and outlines what should be happening and when. If there are any concerns, the curriculum also teaches parents how to talk to providers and advocate for their child.”

The final component of the program is weekly Play and Learn classes, made possible by thoughtful collaboration between the Department of Corrections staff and the IU team. When the program started, the team was not allowed to keep any children’s materials in the space permanently due to facility regulations. Using justification from the parenting model and citing experts in early childhood development, the IU team made a case for allowing a permanent play area filled with developmentally appropriate toys and activities.

“Kudos to the Department of Corrections,” Turman said. “This was all new to them, and they were really willing to work with us. Now we have this great space, an environment completely built and designed for maternal-child interaction.”

The Play and Learn classes give moms the opportunity to engage with their children in a safe, supportive space while receiving coaching and feedback. “The moms get to come in and just play with their babies,” Turman said. “Our team is there to watch and observe, to facilitate, to praise. And what we find is really cool is the moms observe and practice what they learn. It’s purely fun – they get rewarded and praised and start to understand their role as a mom and as a parent and the value they bring to their child.”

Results from the Promises of Parenting program have been encouraging. Participants consistently score higher on a standardized test of parental confidence after completing the program, along with reporting increased understanding of baby’s communication, increased understanding of themselves and decreased stress levels in parenting.

“In their qualitative assessments, moms report that they’re really getting a sense of their babies, they understand their baby more,” Turman said. “They know what it means when a baby cries. They understand that they have to give their baby some space to explore.”

In an enhancement to the program, made possible by Early Years Initiative, moms receive a tub filled with parenting books, essential supplies and developmentally appropriate toys when they join the program, along with another large box of materials when they are released to go home.

“Our moms love, love, love it – they get this huge tub of fun stuff,” Turman laughed. “And it’s theirs to keep in their room when they’re here, and to take home when they go. This piece is so important – if we aren’t helping them replicate what they’ve learned in their home environment, then we haven’t set them up for success when they leave.”

Moms in the program draw strength from each other, building a sense of community and finding commonality in life experiences. “There’s never any judgement or pressure to share more than a mom is comfortable with in our classes,” Turman said. “But it’s been nice to see the moms get some insight into each other and end up feeling less alone in their experiences.”

In a unique addition to the program, a cohort of supportive ‘coaches’ has formed with support of the Department of Corrections. This group of women offers encouragement and helps care for children while the moms attend educational classes or counseling sessions in another area of the facility. “This was completely unexpected and bravo to the Department of Corrections for adding this,” Turman said. “The coaches ask if they can attend the classes too and we’ve had to say, ‘Well no, the program is just for the moms – but you can listen in and learn.’ It’s a whole other set of women who want to learn these skills and it’s been really, really cool to see.”

Turman emphasizes that although the moms in the program are living in a unique situation with unique challenges, their love for their children is universal. “On our maternal attachment inventory, they score very high before we even start the program,” he said. “These moms are very attached to their babies. They love their babies. They want to be good moms. Just because their life circumstances led them to where they are today doesn’t change any of that. On the contrary, they really want the help and guidance and mentorship and to know ‘how do I best raise this baby?’ And isn’t that really all we can ask of any parent?”

“Classes really opened my mind. My parenting style is the same but now the lightbulb goes off and I ask myself, what is she trying to tell me?”

“I have the knowledge that I didn't have before. I thought things weren’t so important to a little child but now I realize how important they are.”

“Being in the program has helped me see that I'll get to bond with my new baby, and how important this chance is.”

“I feel like I have a better understanding of my kids’ needs – that they have needs that need to be filled and it's not just them acting out, they need something from me.”

“I try to sit and organize his feelings now. When he gets mad, I try to comfort him and meet his needs.”

“The "good enough" part helps remind me that I don't have to be perfect. This has definitely lowered my stress as a mother.”

“My favorite thing was having all the girls together, sharing about ourselves, and discussing our opinions together.”

Dunebrook Healthy Families Program Increases Access to Mental Health Services

Kelly Kough — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:16:00 +0000

Moms and families in need of mental health care services have a new option in La Porte County, thanks to an initiative by Dunebrook’s Healthy Families program.

Dunebrook’s executive director Tammy Button and Healthy Families program director Gabby Ginther serve on a county-wide Partners for Healthier Babies council, a group of community partners dedicated to improving maternal and child health outcomes in La Porte County. Mental health services were consistently identified as a need, with families reporting lack of access to care and long wait times to be seen.

“We started brainstorming, talking about how powerful it would be if we could offer counseling services free of charge and bring those services directly to our families,” Ginther said.

The Healthy Families program provides a framework to support and empower new parents, matching them with a family support specialist who offers personalized education and resources. Adding mental health services to the program just made sense – for families who are struggling, eliminating the barrier of seeking out mental health care can be the difference between accessing services or suffering in silence.

Through the Early Years Initiative, Dunebrook hired a full-time Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) to serve the Healthy Families program. As luck would have it, the therapist Healthy Families selected is a former Healthy Families home visitor, allowing her a unique perspective into the client base from her past experiences. “That’s been a great touch,” said Ginther, “since she really understands the program and can relate to our families.”

Families are already enrolling in counseling services, with individual weekly sessions taking place in a dedicated office space at Dunebrook. Healthy Families home visitors and supervisors work as a team to identify families who may benefit from services, with a special focus on those in the postpartum period with a child under a year old. “We know there are often long wait times to get in and see a mental health provider, especially for postpartum issues, so we really wanted to give priority to those families,” Ginther said.

Families receive up to 12 sessions with the therapist at no charge, after which the therapist can assist with resources and referrals if longer term counseling is needed.

Ginther points out it’s been a process to educate all the Healthy Families home visitors about the counseling program and how they can promote it to their families, but now that word is starting to spread she expects the program to fill to capacity. “Definitely positive feedback from our staff on the program,” she said. “They think it’s fantastic that their families are able to access these services easily because a lot of times that has been a barrier.”

For some families, a negative experience in seeking services in the past makes them hesitant to try again. “The fact that our therapist was a former family support specialist has helped us to bridge that gap,” Ginther said. “It offers a comfort level to our families that they are going to be treated respectfully and in a thoughtful way.”

One client was particularly hesitant to start counseling but shared positive feedback with her home visitor afterwards.

“My counselor was able to validate my feelings of nervousness at our first visit. She made it comfortable for me to talk about my emotions and offer reassurance. I am appreciative of the support and connection!”

Family in the Dunebrook’s Healthy Families program

Ginther emphasizes the importance of the relationship between families and home visitors in breaking the stigma surrounding mental health care. “It helps so much that our families have such a bond with their home visitors,” Ginther said. “They build these great relationships, and our team really helps encourage our families and motivate them to try new things like counseling. It’s really cool to see the connections that form.”

ZERO TO THREE Program Makes a Difference at Kokomo YMCA Early Learning Center

Kelly Kough — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 13:50:25 +0000

For the Kokomo Family YMCA Early Learning Center, a burst pipe turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The flooding temporarily took a few classrooms out of commission but afforded the opportunity to take a fresh look at the center’s offerings and evaluate against the community’s needs. By reconstructing and reconfiguring the space, the center created 24 new child care seats by adding a second infant room and expanding capacity in the toddler rooms.

Staff and parents alike have reacted positively to the updates. “We had a parent of an infant enroll recently, and she said that after searching she felt that our program would be the best choice for her child,” said Kathryn Rice, Early Learning Center interim director and infant and toddler specialist. “After visiting and seeing the new rooms, she told us that we exceeded her high expectations. That’s a wonderful compliment.”

Additional classrooms and refreshed learning spaces are just a few of the improvements made possible by the Early Years Initiative. The center is also implementing a comprehensive, equity-focused infant and toddler development program, including health and development screenings and interventions, pediatric care support from community providers, professional development for educators and the addition of a full-time infant and toddler specialist. Training through ZERO TO THREE provides an enhanced level of support for not only the children, but for parents and caregivers too.

Embedding screenings and interventions into center programming ensures that all children have access to services. “Even if families have a pediatrician, this offers another set of eyes and gives more specialized attention to any developmental needs,” Rice said. “The goal is to identify any potential issues and offer early intervention, and the Early Years Initiative has provided us the tools to do so.”

Rice said the on-site screenings have already paid dividends for several families. “We’ve had three or four cases where a child’s hearing was flagged during a screening and it turned out they weren’t hearing well and needed ear tubes,” she said. “The parents may not have received that information as early as they did without the screening.”

Professional development from ZERO TO THREE is a key area of focus. Teachers recently completed training on brain development, diving into research about how the brain is built and the significant impact of the first three years of life in shaping a child’s future. In the classroom, newer teachers are paired with more experienced teachers to take strategies from training to implementation. Future offerings will focus on conscious discipline and incorporating those principles into real-word scenarios.

Rice believes professional development raises the level of quality care in the classroom and helps minimize employee turnover.

“We really want to effectively train our teachers so they feel empowered and valued, and so they buy into our curriculum and what we’re trying to achieve. By pouring back into our teachers, we’re changing the mindset from ‘just babysitters’ to ‘we are educators and the work we do is making a difference.”

Kathryn Rice, Interim Director, Kokomo Family YMCA, Infant and Toddler Specialist

Looking ahead, Rice hopes to add an outdoor learning space to provide additional outlets for experiential learning. She envisions a garden that the students could plant and care for, where they could offer produce to families at no charge and sell plants and flowers at a community market and invest proceeds back into the center. “We have big dreams and big ideas,” Rice laughs. “We’d also love to assist other centers in implementing programming. If we could serve as a pilot and help others roll it out, we’d love to do that.”

“We’re very grateful that the Early Years Initiative afforded us this opportunity. We’ve seen such a positive impact on our community already,” said Rice. “I say to our parents all the time that it takes a village, and we’re so honored and thankful that parents choose us to be part of their village.”

Pre to 3 Program Supports Vanderburgh County Families in the Earliest Years

Kelly Kough — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:24:55 +0000

Vanderburgh County’s Pre to 3 program aims to reduce infant mortality by offering long-term support for families, providing free home visits for families from pregnancy until the baby turns three years old. For many families, it’s a lifeline to support services, education and resources and a connection to someone who cares. Last year, the Foundation for Better Health, a health department partner, utilized Early Years Initiative grant funding to expand the Pre to 3 program to more families in need.

The team currently serves 300 clients in the community, pairing each family with a dedicated community health worker. For families that do not speak English as a first language, the goal is to match with a community health worker that speaks the family’s native language.

“That's a key area we all feel passionate about. Everybody should receive services in the language that they're comfortable with. We hold that model very close to our hearts.”

Lynn Herr, Vanderburgh County Health Department Director of Clinical & Outreach Division.

Families who need additional support have access to a client advocate to address social determinants of health needs, as well as a nurse to provide clinical services in the home.

“Our program is very well respected within the community, and we have a lot of community partners,” Herr shares, highlighting strong partnerships with local birthing centers, Black Nurses of Evansville and other like-minded organizations. “We’re very integrated into the community, and we’re all really focused on improving our infant mortality rates.”

As the Pre to 3 program, created by the Vanderburgh County Health Department, has grown and flourished over the past six years, the team saw an opportunity to share their experience and knowledge with neighboring counties. Last year, foundation staff worked with the Dubois County Health Department to implement Pre to 3, providing foundational training and ongoing support. “The Dubois County team provides the services directly in their community,” said Charissa Schuetz, Vanderburgh County Health Department Director of Accreditation and Public Health Expansion, “and we’re able to support by providing data infrastructure, charting documentation and billing and reporting services, allowing their team to focus on providing care.”

In partnership with Purdue University, the Pre to 3 team is working on several research-based journal articles focusing on return on investment, the utilization of community health workers, maternal child health outcomes, infant mortality and other program measures. All families complete a Healthy Families Parenting Inventory upon joining the program and every six months after. The evidence-based tool provides a rich data source for measuring program effectiveness and outcomes, with the first analysis set for early 2025.

The Pre to 3 program can also be tailored to specific community needs. “We’ve added the Hope at Home curriculum, which focuses on substance use,” said Ashly Holt, Pre to 3 Program Manager. “We utilize that curriculum for families that have any history of substance use and it’s allowed our team members to address that difficult conversation in a sensitive and trauma-informed way.”

Holt shares the story of one mom who started Pre to 3 early in her pregnancy, when she was in an active substance use phase. “She started recovery during her time in the program, and even now that her child is two years old she often tells us that the support from Pre to 3 is one of the key things that’s kept her from relapsing,” Holt said. “She’s tried other programs in the past, but the structure of our support, the trauma-informed care, the evidence-based approach is something that has really stuck. She’s been able to hold on and make those changes in her life.”

Early literacy is another key component of the Pre to 3 program. Client advocates partner with local libraries to ensure every family receives a library card, helping to remove barriers such as transportation or proof of residency and showing families how to utilize the library’s online and in-person resources. Families track the number of books read and are rewarded with prizes such as clothing store vouchers, stickers, cups and t-shirts for reaching goals and milestones.

It’s bittersweet when families age out of the Pre to 3 program, but the team ensures each family is set up for success after graduation. “We definitely make a plan so that as the graduation date approaches, we make sure the family is connected with child care or preschool,” Herr said. “We’ve also partnered with different organizations to offer supplemental home visits, and lots of our families stay in touch and send us updates. The goal of the program is really to build up their support network, to strengthen the family and build that self-reliance.”

Lakeisha Roach, Pre to 3 Program Intake Coordinator and Team Lead, recently celebrated her 16th graduating family and highlighted one mom that holds a special place in her heart. “This mom had been through a lot of trauma in her life from a very young age, was a single mom of two children, and decided that she wanted to break that stigma,” Roach said, sharing that the mom graduated from the University of Louisville with a bachelor’s degree in social work, got her first job as a social worker, and is going back to school to earn her master’s degree. “I’m just really, really proud of her and all she’s accomplished. She was not an affectionate mom when she started the program and would rarely hug or kiss her daughter. We’ve come such a long way with her showing affection and opening up and letting people in. I’ve seen her blossom in a big way since joining the program.”

Looking ahead, the team hopes to further expand services throughout Vanderburgh County and build capacity to support families currently on a waitlist; expansion to other counties is a possibility too, pending resources and funding. “There’s a million success stories coming out of this program,” Herr said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our team, this program and the families in it who are working so hard to improve the lives of their kids.”

Women’s Care Centers Support Families Along the Path to Learning

Kelly Kough — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 14:17:43 +0000

One in nine Indiana babies gets their start at a Women’s Care Center location, according to Women’s Care Center vice president Jenny Hunsberger. With 12 locations across the state, the centers have always offered pregnancy support and counseling but have expanded educational programming through Baby’s Path to Learning. This centralized and enhanced programming supports mothers throughout pregnancy, infancy and toddlerhood and focuses on healthy pregnancy and nutrition education, newborn care and development, toddler enrichment, early literacy, family activities and more. The program is built around three key pillars:

1. Early Access, Ongoing Support

Through the Baby’s Path to Learning program, families have access to evidence-based, developmentally appropriate education from the beginning of pregnancy, with ongoing supports built into the program as the child grows. “The best time to start fostering learning for your little one is the same time that you make your first prenatal care appointment. And that represents a shift in thinking for a lot of our families,” said Hunsberger.

“Let’s start at the beginning – as soon as families are making their first parenting decisions like health insurance, signing up for WIC – and offer early and continued care and support so that no family slips through the cracks and so we don’t have gaps in learning.”

Jenny Hunsberger, Vice President Women's Care Centers

2. Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Education

The Baby’s Path to Learning program offers both series-based and ongoing components, ensuring that families can join no matter where they fall on the spectrum of parenting. Specific programming in the prenatal series, the first-time mom series and the newborn series allow deep dives into developmental periods, while parenting and nutrition curriculums provide ongoing support as the child grows. Women’s Care Centers offer a balance of individual and group care, encouraging families to build relationships with a skilled, trained counselor for one-on-one support, while simultaneously building community through group parenting classes.

“It’s one thing to learn about strategies to deal with temper tantrums when you have a four-month-old,” laughs Hunsberger, “and you think, ok, I’ve got this, this is how I’ll parent when my child is two and throwing temper tantrums. It’s a much more valuable thing to be able to revisit that education when your child gets to that phase and have other parents going through the same thing there to offer encouragement. The peer support component is really powerful.”

Hunsberger highlighted a recent class where the entire group came in with gifts to celebrate a new mom after she had her baby. “To see all of these families celebrate this birth and support this new mom, I just thought – this is why we do what we do.”

The programming includes a comprehensive booklet with important milestones and resources for families, allowing education to continue at home. “The booklet is doubly beneficial, since it works as a stand-alone education piece but also promotes participation in additional classes and the group support,” Hunsberger said.

3. Available and Accessible Education

Baby’s Path to Learning classes are offered at various times including evening classes and are taught in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. “The Early Years Initiative allowed us to really dig into our facilities and ensure we have adequate space and capacity for our classes and the number of families who want to participate,” said Hunsberger. Recent improvements include a major expansion of the Bloomington center, a new child care and education space at the South Bend location and new children’s areas at other centers.

Hunsberger notes that the Early Years Initiative enabled the team to combine existing components to create a thoughtful, linear program where all the strings connect and tie together. “We’re building excitement and a vision of what a family can learn, and how you can begin your baby’s learning,” she said. “These classes really are a joy, they’re fun. So much of parenting is hard work, but this is a time that we get to celebrate. We get to celebrate parenting and celebrate learning and enjoy being together.”

“Parenting classes give me things that are easy to understand and easy to incorporate at home.”

“I love the music and my girls love it too – it's so exciting.”

“The classes are so educational and the learning is fun.”

“I love learning together as a [class] family.”