KIT a Hit at the LEAD Conference in DC

On August 14 I traveled to Washington, DC to attend the LEAD (Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability) conference. I was asked to co- present at this conference with my friend Sheri Sherman from the San Diego Zoo. We had a great time and our session was a hit. We presented on the building of bridges between the participants and their frontline staff and between them and their upper management. There were many sessions throughout LEAD on interesting topics I don’t usually get to hear about. One of the sessions I attended was on assistive technology. There are incredible items people have created to make museums, theater, and the arts more accessible. We were able to hear about these items, where they are being used and of course the cost so we can save up to have our very own. We were even able to test them out! Apparently they will be coming soon to Disneyland. What is it? Oh yes, sorry it is a hand held device, about the size of an iphone, (a little bigger) and it captions a predetermined script on an exhibit or attraction for those with hearing loss or who are deaf, in addition it can audio describe for individuals who are blind or have low vision. The changes in accessibility are quite amazing due to these types of technology.

Did you know that KIT will be co-hosting the LEAD conference next year with the San Diego Zoo? If you are a museum or cultural institution this would be a good conference for you to attend. The dates are August 26-29, 2010 in San Diego!

(pictured are Nili Mathews, KIT and Sheri Sherman and Bob Dillon, San Diego Zoo)

What We Did With Our Summer Vacation

The summer typically means less travel for the KIT staff. You are busy giving kids wonderful summer memories in camps, and we are busy at the KIT office creating new training, resources and materials that will be ready for you when the kids you serve are back in school. So, just when we settled in for the summer and got quite cozy in our office chairs...the phone rang and we were invited to visit the City of Brotherly Love to present at the US Army Exceptional Family Member Program manager's conference.

Of course, we never turn down a chance to talk about inclusion so off we went! Alissa and I flew to Philadelphia for a long (5 day) weekend to meet and mingle with EFMP managers from all over the world. Our session was lively and even though it was right after lunch the participants were very engaged and responsive. We also had a little time to see the historic sites of Philly, and while we did not eat Philly Cheese Steak (sorry, Philly, I am vegetarian) we did enjoy a huge pretzel.

Meanwhile, back at the KIT ranch there are a lot of exciting things going on. Have you heard about our upcoming fundraiser?

We hope your summer is going well and that you are making magic for children with and without disabilities. Remember to be in touch if there is anything we can do to help ensure that all children can enjoy a summer camp experience.

Trip to North Carolina

I recently returned from a great trip to North Carolina. I had the pleasure of visiting several branches of the YMCA of the Triangle. The YMCA of the Triangle located in Raleigh North Carolina is one of KIT’s national affiliates. My guides through the YMCA of the Triangle were Yo and Marco two of North Carolina’s finest gentlemen; they are both associate executive directors for YMCA branches. My guides showed me the in’s and out’s of YMCA facilities and programming, highlighting summer camps and after school programs all of which are inclusive. Along the way on our two day tour I was able to meet the real stars of inclusion the young vibrant staff that stand out in my mind as the frontline heroes of our philosophy. The tireless job (and it is because I’ve done it) of being with kids 8 hours a day educating and entertaining and maintaining an inclusive environment is made to seem effortless by these frontline heroes. I really enjoyed thinking back to my summer camp days and the great stories I had about the wonderful people I worked with and those I supported.

Inclusion is such a passion for me and when I see the champion in others to promote it, I get all fired up!

A very special Thank You to my hosts, and true gentlemen, Yo and Marco. Thanks for the tour, the food, and especially the air-conditioning.

Also cheers to my buddies Janet and Anna for hanging with me during my stay always good to travel and see friends.

Nili

Janet George Shares Her 5 Questions for Families

Hi, I am Janet George, School Age Specialist for the Child Care Services Association in Wake County, North Carolina.

Last night I facilitated the Opening Doors to Inclusive Programs: Partnering with Families module for staff from child care centers who provide school age care. They really kept me on my toes! The participants were interactive and voiced strong opinions and beliefs. I think some were initially challenged with the strategies I asked them to employ but they left with new ideas and a willingness to try!

Throughout the evening we discussed many things, including the importance of building the relationship. As a group, we had to shift from a place where we think the parents are “not really interested” and/or “don’t have time” to a place of recognizing that families do want what is best for their children but there may be constraints we are not aware of that interfere. We agreed that creating a welcoming environment and working to figure out how to communicate successfully with families is really important. During the discussion I shared with them 5 questions I like to ask when establishing a relationship with families, and then we conducted an interview with parents in the room using the 5 questions. This approach put providers and parents at ease, and the providers get great information about the children. This is also a great first step to establishing a positive partnership with the family.

These are the 5 questions:
1. What does your child do that makes you laugh/smile?
2. What does your child do that makes him laugh/smile?
3. What are some things that upset your child?
4. What does it look like when your child is upset?
5. How does your child calm herself when she is upset? Does she need help to calm?

Historically, families of children with disabilities are asked about their child’s challenges, difficulties, etc as a first step. Using the questions above allows the parents to share what is important to them and gives the provider insight to likes, dislikes, strengths, needs, potential challenging behaviors and strategies to support the child!

Camp Winacka

Camp Counselors, Camp Winacka, Julian, CA

Girl Scouts are so much fun! Nili and I had the opportunity to train camp counselors working at a residential camp in Julian, CA yesterday. Hundreds of Girl Scouts will spend up to 13 days at the residential camp this summer. In two hours, we covered respectful accommodations, examples of accommodations and practiced making accommodations to games. Counselors learned drama-based games and brainstormed ideas for making accommodations for children with different types of disabilities to participate in the games. When asked the one thing they learned in the training that they will take with them, participants commented:

• "A person doesn't necessarily need to know everything to modify an activity for everyone."
• "The thought of being purposeful and aware of the kids."
• "How easy it is to adjust games without singling kids out."
• "Sometimes what you come up with is even better than the original activity, which is pretty cool."

Even though we got lost on the way and took a very lengthy detour to get there, it was a great experience. Julian is also famous for their apple pies so we stopped on the way back for some spectacular apple boysenberry pie!

Business Travel Has its Perks!

As you can tell by the blog, the KIT team has been traveling a lot lately! This trip to Washington DC actually took place May 20-22, but we are just now finding space for it on the blog. Nili and I traveled to DC together. I was attending the Including Samuel Summit and Nili was presenting a training for the Choral Arts Society of Washington, DC.

The perks of which I speak were in this case GIANT cookies from the Firehook Bakery & Coffee House in DuPont Circle. That cookie is bigger than Nili's head! We excitedly took it back to our hotel room and devoured it while watching the season finale of American Idol. Our other great find in DC was The Darlington House restaurant. If you are headed to DC and looking for a nice meal in a lovely setting, we give this one our recommendation.

OK, it wasn't all about the food. We did do some work on the trip. Nili worked with a great group of teaching artists who go into the schools. They took KIT's Supporting Positive Behavior and Supporting Social Emotional Needs training. Nili was very impressed with this group! While Nili was training, I was at the National Education Association at a meeting led by Working Films. They pulled together a group of twenty or so representatives from national organizations supporting inclusion and disability to discuss a strategy for using Dan Habib's beautiful film Including Samuel to promote inclusion at a grass-roots level. It was a great day, and good to see so many of our colleagues and collaborators face to face.

Mary in New Mexico

This is Mary Shea again and I just completed a 3 day trip to beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico where I did my site visit with one of our MEAF National Affiliates, the Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation Department. (By the way, there will be a test at the end of this blog to see how many of you can spell Albuquerque the first time!) I think it is one of the hardest words I have ever had to spell.

I flew on Memorial Day and I would recommend that option to anyone who doesn’t like crowded airports. It was a pretty quiet day in the skies and no one else was at the rental car counter so that was quick and I was at the hotel in downtown Albuquerque by early afternoon (of course I left my house at 4:00 am). I took a long walk downtown later in the day to get some exercise (hot and muggy weather) but it was a very quiet day because it was a holiday and few folks were downtown so it was peaceful.


Tuesday morning began with Jeffrey Paul, the Inclusion Manager for the County’s Parks and Recreation Department picking me up at the hotel and we began driving to Community Centers all across the county, which was very large and very diverse. Jeff had arranged and confirmed all the appointments so when we arrived I was able to tour the facilities and meet with staff and most directors. It was their time to ask specific questions about their programs and services as well as specific children they were supporting that they were having challenges with. It was a good day and I met with 5 of the 7 directors and approximately 18 - 20 full time staff and I was able to provide some quality site specific consultation.



The next day involved a full day of training at Mountain View Community Center where almost all staff (50 total) from the recreation department as well as 5 of the newly hired inclusion facilitators were in attendance. We did 3 of the KIT core modules (Respectful Accommodations, Supporting Positive Support, and Partnering with Families, and we addressed some specific issues in supporting children with attention deficit disorders. The staff really seemed to enjoy the training and activities and besides the fire alarm going off and having to evacuate the building quickly, the day seemed very successful and empowering to the staff. It was a very pleasant surprise to have both the Director and Assistant Director of Bernalillo Parks and Recreation Department stop by the training during the day and show their support for inclusion.

This visit was short and very busy but well planned and efficient and Jeff has done a great job in the 2 years he has been with the department. By the way, he told me he had an opportunity to apply for last minute stimulus funding that had come to their county and that is how he was able to hire 8 additional staff for summer programming! Wouldn’t that be a wonderful treat to every one of you if that was available?

Summer is finally here so wishing you all a peaceful summer and good luck with summer camps and programs and enjoy each and every day you get to spend with those joyful children whose parents have entrusted your with their care 

Training at the Montclair YMCA

Camp Directors pose for a photo after participating in a training.

I just spent the week facilitating training for the Montclair YMCA in Montclair, New Jersey. The Montclair YMCA is one of our ten national affiliate programs funded by the Mitsubishi Electric Ameria Foundation (MEAF). Since I am originally from Massachusetts, I love spending time on the East Coast. The people I had the opportunity to meet were amazing. From the Director of Development to the Program Director and Managers, Camp Directors, and After Care and Summer staff, I was impressed with the thought they put into questions and comments during trainings. We covered a lot of different topics from On Common Ground: Activities that Facilitate Inclusion to Ready, Set, Summer and discovered ways to support children with and without disabilities in programs at the Montclair YMCA. I was delighted to see an After Care Site Director facilitating an activity she learned during a training with children at her site the next day. It was great to see how she had taken the information and applied it directly to her program. The Program Directors were great hosts (see below) and I had a wonderful time getting to know them and experiencing their programs and city.

Megan Chell, Adrienne Fuller, and Alissa Lavelle

Mary Shea visits Lee's Summit, MO

This is Mary Shea and I am writing as I return from Lee's Summit, Missouri after two days of training and consultation with the leadership and staff of Kids Country, one of our newest MEAF national affiliates. It was an energizing and busy couple of days and the staff I worked with was enthusiastic, well prepared for my visit and very welcoming.

It was Sunday (Mother's Day) and I arrived in Kansas City, got my rental car and drive 40 miles south to Lee's Summit, a town with a population of 82,820. It was a sunny day but managed to rain before the night was over, which is very typical of Midwest spring and summer days as I recall from growing up in Wisconsin. The rain was good-it kept me in the hotel reviewing the 3" notebook of policies and procedures, marketing materials, history and highlights of Kids Country over the past 13 years.

Kids Country is the before and after school provider for the 17 schools in the Lee's Summit R-7 School District and all the staff are school district employees. Monday morning started with Dawn Butler, Coordinator of Kids Country and Kristi Fate, Assistant Program Coordinator, both of who, I would spend many hours with during the next two days,s tarting our visits to Longview Farm Elementary School, which was a beautifully refurbished historic horsebarn and I was able to observe the before school program and start my day smiling watching kindergartners and 1st through 6th graders enjoying themselves at play- what a joy!

We spent the rest of the morning (after some good Seattle coffee) reviewing policies, procedures and programs, and outlining our goals for the visit. At lunch the three of us met with the Executive Director of Special Education Services and the Director of Classified Personnel and supervisor of Kids Country and we were joined by Christy Weber, a Registered Nurse and the newest hire on the leadership team. We made several more site visits in the afternoon where I met with and observed some terrific site supervisors and program staff engaged with kids and providing some excellent programs.

That night the entire Kids Country staff (~100) attended the Fear Factor workshop and once we gave them box dinners and let them wind down for a few minutes after working all day, we had a wonderful workshop and lots of energy and great ideas coming from the staff. It was a big success and thanks to Nancy McCutcheon, Quality Advisor, who prepared all the materials and coordinated the training.

Tuesday started with another site visit and was followed by training for the 21 members of the leadership team which included all 17 site coordinators, Dawn, Kristi, Christy and Nancy where I reviewed indicators of quality programming and introduced strategies to support and empower staff. That meeting was followed by a Community Meeting where afterschool directors of 5 other cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area as well as the Director of Parks and Recreation for Lee's Summit and a parent came together to learn more about Kids Country and how they were progressing in their journey to inclusion. Dawn and I led them through the session identifying strengths and challenges of inclusion in their currently existing systems and Dawn, who is a legitimate boundary crosser committed Kids Country to share lessons learned, strategies and resources and together the community group re-affirmed their commitment to ensure that children and youth with disabilities in all of their cities would have access to quality afterschool programming. They are actually planning to host a statewide conference next year on that very issue and I am 100% sure it will happen!

Our afternoon ended with some last minute review of marketing material as well as strategic planning including suggesting a change in the current Kids Country Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). To date the program has had the Advisory Committee and a separate but parallel committee, the Ability Awareness Team (parents of children and youth with disabilities). With some reflection and guided instruction (my very favorite thing to do), Dawn and Kristi and I were able to draft an agenda for the evening PAC meeting where Dawn would introduce the concept of combining both groups of parents as well as inviting other people from the community who are interested in kids and families and would commit as stakeholders to this community vision. It was very well attended and Dawn did an outstanding job of inviting them all to this new process and two hours later they were still meeting in one of four individual subcommittees that would address program, professional development, cultural competence and diversity, and funding and sustainability. The energy in the room was infectious and when I returned to my hotel room 13 hours after the day started, I could only smile and be reassured that these Kids Country folks would continue to make a difference in the lives of children and youth with disabilities and their families, not only in Lee's Summit but in the entire state of Missouri and probably across the river in Kansas!

Meet Alissa Lavelle

As promised, I am going to use this blog post to brag about another KIT superstar- Alissa Lavelle. If you have scheduled or attended a KIT training, you have probably encountered Alissa. In addition to her outstanding work developing curriculum and organizing training events, Alissa also frequently facilitates training. One of our other KIT trainers dubbed her the "power pack." It's true. Alissa is a big ball of passion and fire in a small package. She has a wealth of both knowledge and practical experience, which can be a surprise to our training participants as she also looks a lot younger than her chronological age. Learn more about Alissa and her background on the KIT website.
Alissa's interests related to inclusion are very broad. She frequently researches new topics for training, and her initiatives have included popular training sessions on supporting children's social-emotional needs, creating behavior plans and examining your physical and sensory environment. In the above photo she teaches basic sign language to a group of participants taking a training on accommodations for children with autism spectrum disorders. You can view one of Alissa's recent webinars on the topics of helping children understand their peers with autism or how attachment affects inclusion.

At KIT, staff members tend to wear a lot of different hats. As you can see from the photos, Alissa has served as a model for our new inclusion t-shirts, a trainer, an actor in the video shoot for the eLearning module on Supporting Positive Behavior and the manager of the Snow Zone at a KIT sponsored community festival.

If you haven't had a chance to attend one of Alissa's live trainings or webinars, then I recommend that you do! Check the training calendar to find an upcoming event.