NPN Developmental Differences Fair

Tuesday’s Child is sponsoring the Neighborhood Parent’s Network’s Developmental Difference Fair. The 2nd Annual Fair is dedicated to providing Chicago families school options, service providers, and nonprofits in one place that focus on serving parents of children with developmental differences.  Join Tuesday’s Child staff and parents at the 10:30 workshop called Managing Challenging Behaviors. The Fair will be held at Gordon Tech High School’s Gymnasium from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Sunday February 10th. Visit npnparents.org for more information. 

Register for 2013 Summer Camp

Registration is open for 2013 Summer Camp. Each summer, Tuesday’s Child provides children a therapeutic, supportive environment for the summer. The camp is overseen by Tuesday’s Child professional trained staff with the goals of reinforcing Tuesday’s Child’s parenting and child development techniques. Children learn and practice skills such as following directions, recognizing limits, coping tools, and playing appropriately with others while engaging in both indoor and outdoor summer activities. Each week at camp, there is a new theme for children to embrace with costumes, crafts, games, and share time. 

Camp begins June 18^th and goes through August 23^rd with both morning and/or afternoon sessions on Tues, Wed, and Friday. Every Thursday is an all-day field trip to exciting destinations throughout the city and suburbs such as Children’s Museums, Indian Boundaries Park, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and Mayan Water Park.

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL  - Sign up before April 30, 2013 for the full summer and receive an $850 discount.  To register, please call Tuesday's Child at 773-423-5055. 

Register Now for the 2nd Annual Family Marathon

Join Tuesday’s Child’s families and friends and walk, stroll, or run to support our future on Sunday May 5, 2013. Last year, over 100 people, in 14 teams walked 2.62 miles around Gordon Tech High School and the adjoining park. After the walk, the kids participate in games and other activities such as face painting and crafts.

You can start your own team or join an existing team. There are prizes for the teams that have the most members, raise the most money, and more.

Visit www.tuesdayschildchicago.org for more details or click here to register. 

Wall of Success

Join Tuesday’s Child in celebrating our many success stories throughout 30 years. We are calling on all alumni to share their stories. You can see the 9 stories on our Wall of Success next time you visit Tuesday’s Child’s new home at Gordon Tech High School. The stories are also be posted on Facebook and on our website.  If you’re interested, please give us a call at 773-423-5055 and ask for Brandon or Kim. You can also email your story with a picture to kheather@tuesdayschildchicago.org.

Introducing Margaret “Meg” Kincaid, Ph.D

Dr. Meg Kincaid joined Tuesday’s Child in October, 2012. Meg is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and earned her Ph.D. in Clinical and School Psychology from Hofstra University in New York. She worked as a school psychologist for many years in Port Washington, New York and more recently for a north shore district near Chicago. Dr. Kincaid also works in clinical settings, serving as a cognitive behavioral psychologist for pediatric and adult patients in private practice and in hospital settings.

Discipline: Taking the "NO" Out

When my children were in preschool, it seemed I was always one step behind my kids when it came to discipline; No jumping on the couch!” “Stop fighting!” and  “Put your brother down!!!” Also, my kids always had a reason for their misbehavior,  ie., I’m not jumping; he started it, and he likes it.  So any “no, don’t or stop” from me cultivated an argument – yes you are jumping; or a discussion -- he started what; or a screaming match -- PUT HIM DOWN NOW!!! In fact, much of what I said to the kids started with no, don’t or stop.

At Tuesday’s Child, I learned to use scripts that were encouraging and provided a clear message what my child should do.  “Your feet belong on the floor” (it’s the rule – they can’t argue that); “stop and listen to each other, do you need my help?” (Listening is a great tool for them to learn to use in a disagreement, and I really should get involved before it gets out of hand), and “your brother’s feet belong on the ground.  He is crying – he is not having fun.”  Firmly reminding kids what they should be doing, instead of yelling out limits and restrictions changed the overall tone in my house. My kids were much more apt to listen to the encouraging mommy – instead of the mad mommy. I also empowered by kids by letting them make their own choices and taught them about making good choices at the same time. When my 5 year old wanted a cookie 10 minutes before dinner, I didn’t say “No way, dinner is in 10 minutes” because that would send him into a tantrum. Instead, I said “that’s a great choice for after dinner, I’ll put it right here on the counter so we’ll remember it’s your dessert”.  

The Friendship Club: A Social Skills Group for children ages 5-8

Tuesday's Child is offering a series of Social Skills Groups for children age 5-8.  Kids will become social detectives as they work on skills related to emotions, friendships, and appropriate behaviors. Groups are open to all but Tuesday’s Child alumni have priority.

Groups meet on Saturdays February 23^rd – March 30th
Ages 5 - 6: 9:00 - 10:00 AM
Ages 7 - 8: 10:15 - 11:15 AM

Concepts covered in the curriculum:

• Social Smarts: The type of "smarts" in our brains that we use whenever we are around other people. Social smarts help our brains to know that others are having thoughts about us and we are having thoughts about them. We use social smarts in school, at home, and EVERYWHERE!
• School Smarts: Different types of "smarts" in our brains that we use for school learning.
• Body in the group: Your body is in the group if others feel you are part of the group.
• Brain in the group: Your brain is in the group when others feel that you are paying attention to what is happening in the group.
• Thinking with your eyes: This means that you are using your eyes to look at a person and it makes them feel that you are thinking about what they are saying or doing.

Groups will be led by Katie Conklin, M. Ed., LPC, Program Director at Tuesday’s Child and supervised by Meg Kincaid, Ph.D.

REGISTER NOW ONLINE or call 773-423-5055

It’s Testing Time –Make Sure Your Child is Set up for Success

The process of putting an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in place at your child’s school is long and challenging. As parents, we often know best what helps our child succeed whether it’s a one-on-one aide, sensory breaks or fidgets. The school’s evaluations determine the need for speech, occupational, or other therapy services. Together, the team comes up with a plan and, ideally, it’s monitored and adjusted as necessary to be most helpful to the child. When the IEP process is completed in Kindergarten, 1st or even 2nd grade, state mandated testing is in the distant future. Alas, time flies and your child is in 3rd grade and facing the ISAT test in March. There are many accommodations that can be put in place to help kids with standardized tests including the ISAT, MAP Testing and placement exams for Gifted and Classical programs. Once the accommodations are documented in an IEP or 504 Plan, the test administrators (usually the school) have to adhere to them. Here are some examples of testing accommodations:

 ¨ Additional time for testing

¨ Frequent breaks

¨ Testing in small groups or individual settings

¨ Large print textbooks

¨ Adaptive writing utensils

¨ Reading directions and/or questions to students

¨ Oral testing

  

So, don’t wait to incorporate standardized testing into your child’s IEP or 504 Plan. Remind the team at your school to address this topic well in advance. It will save you some anxiety later, not to mention help your child do as well as possible on the test.