Events List

Date: Saturday April 1 (9am –12noon),Tuesday April 4 (6:30-9 pm) and Tuesday April 11 (6:30-9 pm) Cost: $100
Total PD hours: 8 hours Location: Online Presenters: Heather Bartholomew & Debbie Thompson 

Description: This workshop series will provide ECEs with the tools to identify the functions of behaviour. Partici-pants will consider the importance of motivation in preventing challenging behaviour & in encouraging positive alterna-tives. Heather & Debbie will provide a plethora of examples of motivating activities & adaptations that can be incorpo-rated into participants’ programs. Opportunity will also be provided between sessions for applying principles & skills & follow-up feedback & support will be provided so that participants are fully supported through the process of applying strategies.
The objectives of this workshop series are to:
1)provide preventative strategies to support children with challenging behaviour
2)teach the process to identify functions of behaviour
3)learn how to incorporate this information into a framework to develop a complete plan to support children to use prosocial behaviours to meet their needs.

Presenter Biographies: Heather Bartholomew graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Child & Youth Study) & in the twenty plus years since then, has been working with preschoolers. Additionally, she has recently begun working part-time with adults with developmental delays, giving her a broader, across the lifespan perspective on supporting di-verse individuals at any age. She has worked as an Early Childhood Educator, one-to-one support staff & as a resource teacher. For five years, she served as Resource Teacher at the Mount’s Child Study Centre, supporting children with identified special needs &, in particular, delivering programming to students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Heather has worked as a Program Implementer in Halifax’s Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention program for the past seventeen years. She has developed & facilitated workshops on a variety of topics, most frequently relating to Inclusion. Heather is passionate about facilitating positive inclusion experiences & finding effective & efficient strategies to sup-port individual & classroom-wide learning.

Debbie Thompson is a graduate from Mount Saint Vincent University with the Degree in Child & Youth. Debbie started her journey in ECE at Wee Care Developmental centre working as a Developmental teacher in an integrated setting. It was there that she knew she wanted to focus her attention on working with children with special needs. Debbie also developed the Resource position at Wee Care & was responsible for developing & implementing plans for children with special needs. Debbie now works at the IWK as a Program Implementer for the Early Intensive Behaviour Intervention program (EIBI) working with children with Autism. Through her job at the IWK she continues to work closely with preschool teachers consulting & providing feedback in various programs. Debbie also teaches regularly at Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education & Mount Saint Vincent University on various topics including challenging behaviour & Inclusion.

Date: Saturday April 1 (9am –12noon),Tuesday April 4 (6:30-9 pm) and Tuesday April 11 (6:30-9 pm) Cost: $100
Total PD hours: 8 hours Location: Online Presenters: Heather Bartholomew & Debbie Thompson 

Description: This workshop series will provide ECEs with the tools to identify the functions of behaviour. Partici-pants will consider the importance of motivation in preventing challenging behaviour & in encouraging positive alterna-tives. Heather & Debbie will provide a plethora of examples of motivating activities & adaptations that can be incorpo-rated into participants’ programs. Opportunity will also be provided between sessions for applying principles & skills & follow-up feedback & support will be provided so that participants are fully supported through the process of applying strategies.
The objectives of this workshop series are to:
1)provide preventative strategies to support children with challenging behaviour
2)teach the process to identify functions of behaviour
3)learn how to incorporate this information into a framework to develop a complete plan to support children to use prosocial behaviours to meet their needs.

Presenter Biographies: Heather Bartholomew graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Child & Youth Study) & in the twenty plus years since then, has been working with preschoolers. Additionally, she has recently begun working part-time with adults with developmental delays, giving her a broader, across the lifespan perspective on supporting di-verse individuals at any age. She has worked as an Early Childhood Educator, one-to-one support staff & as a resource teacher. For five years, she served as Resource Teacher at the Mount’s Child Study Centre, supporting children with identified special needs &, in particular, delivering programming to students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Heather has worked as a Program Implementer in Halifax’s Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention program for the past seventeen years. She has developed & facilitated workshops on a variety of topics, most frequently relating to Inclusion. Heather is passionate about facilitating positive inclusion experiences & finding effective & efficient strategies to sup-port individual & classroom-wide learning.

Debbie Thompson is a graduate from Mount Saint Vincent University with the Degree in Child & Youth. Debbie started her journey in ECE at Wee Care Developmental centre working as a Developmental teacher in an integrated setting. It was there that she knew she wanted to focus her attention on working with children with special needs. Debbie also developed the Resource position at Wee Care & was responsible for developing & implementing plans for children with special needs. Debbie now works at the IWK as a Program Implementer for the Early Intensive Behaviour Intervention program (EIBI) working with children with Autism. Through her job at the IWK she continues to work closely with preschool teachers consulting & providing feedback in various programs. Debbie also teaches regularly at Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education & Mount Saint Vincent University on various topics including challenging behaviour & Inclusion.

Date: Wednesday April 5 & Wednesday April 12, 2023 (7pm-8:30 pm both evenings)
Cost: $40 Total PD hours: 3 hours Location: ONLINE Presenter: Taylor Hansen
Description: “Use your words”
Young children’s screams are often misunderstood, dismissed, quieted, or disciplined. In this workshop we will explore our own feelings about children’s screams & how these feelings impact how we respond to screams in the early years. We will discuss the different ways screams are used by children, why they are important for educators to listen closely to, & how we can better respond to them. Educators will learn to see screams as overflowing with meaning & requiring more thoughtful engagement.
Objectives::
Clearer understanding of adult perceptions of children’s screaming & the impacts, with a specific focus on understand-ing how you react to screaming & the impacts of your reactions
Increased knowledge of the diverse & complex ways children use screaming
Equipped with new perspectives & information to support getting curious about screaming & disrupt automatic & generalized responses

Presenter Biography; Taylor Hansen has worked with young people in a variety of capacities & contexts for over 18 years. She has always prioritized being open to new experiences in the service of young people in order to broaden her perspective & improve her practice. She previously worked as an ECE at the MSVU Child Study Centre & ran an early learning program that focused on creative projects inspired by time with nature. She currently is a Research Coordinator at the IWK & teaches in the Department of Child & Youth Study at MSVU. At its core her personal practice is about building relationships & she believes that it is in the context of relationships that we are able to understand one another & meet the needs of young people.