Spring 2022 Newsletter

ATLAS TRAINING

SPRING 2022 NEWSLETTER

IN THIS ISSUE

New York

Connections: Atlas

Training Staff

Network at Annual

NYAEYC Conference!

Resource

Recommendation:

Chrome Music Lab

Essentials for

Working with Young

Children drawing

winner announced

An Interview with

Devonna Lewis:

Advocating for

Dignity in our

Profession

CDC Lowers

Guideline for

Developmental

Milestones for

Language and

Communication

NEW YORK CONNECTIONS:

ATLAS TRAINING STAFF NETWORK AT ANNUAL

NY AEYC CONFERENCE

As a young organization that is just beginning to develop its

relationship with the New York ECE community, the staff of Atlas

Training was excited to participate in the 2022 New York Association

for the Education of Young Children (NYAEYC) conference, held at

Turning Stone Resort in April of 2022.

The conference kicked off with a welcome keynote on the Power of

Joyful Reading, with guest speaker Eric Litwin, followed by an opening

keynote on Advancing Equity, Building Power, and Unifying the Early

Childhood Education Profession by presenter Lauren Hogan. From

there, conference participants enjoyed workshop sessions on such

topics as Active Play, Caring Spaces, and the Pyramid Model.

Atlas Training Program Director Maureen Hogan and Program Assistant

Elisa Wilson attended the conference and were thrilled to meet so

many of the important ECE providers serving children in New York.

Reflecting on the event, Maureen Hogan recalled, "It was a pleasure

to collaborate with colleagues in New York, where we plan to build

formidable partnerships in the coming years."

WWW.ATLASTRAININGCENTER.COM

ATLAS TRAINING


WINNER OF BOOK

GIVEAWAY DRAWING

ANNOUNCED!

During the recent NYAEYC Conference, our booth

offered a drawing for a free Essentials for Working with

Young Children textbook. Our winner was contacted

and generously elected to donate the textbook for a

future student experiencing financial hardship.

If you or someone you know recently enrolled in our

program and are experiencing financial hardship that

makes the purchase of your textbooks challenging,

please contact Elisa Wilson and ask about this textbook

donation.

RESOURCE

RECOMMENDATION:

CHROME MUSIC LAB

Whether you are doing a unit on sound or

simply need to expand your inventory of

appropriate technology, the Chrome Sound Lab

offers a number of excellent games appropriate

for children 3-4 to explore and interact with

sound.

You do not need to register or provide any

information to access these games; simply go

to Chrome Music Lab (chromeexperiments.com),

select a game, and start playing! Some of our

favorite sound activities include:

Spectrogram: Children can "see" what their

voice looks like through a spectrogram.

Lines appear and shift in response to

changes in pitch and volume. Can the

children use their voices to make a straight

line? A hill? a zigzag? Check out the

spectrogram to find out!

Kandinsky: In this activity, children can free

draw and then "listen" to the music their

drawings make! Pro tip: different shapes will

produce different types of sounds!

Sound Maker: In this game, children select

cell blocks that represent different musical

tones. Once they have selected their blocks,

children can press play to hear their songs!

Give it a try and let us know what you think!


ATLAS TRAINING


ADVOCATING FOR DIGNITY IN OUR

PROFESSION: AN INTERVIEW WITH

DEVONNA LEWIS

Devonna is a childcare provider who works in

New Haven, Connecticut. A student of Atlas

Training and an advocate for the early childhood

profession, Devonna recently agreed to

interview with Atlas Training staff member Elisa

to share more about her advocacy efforts and

views on where the workforce is headed.

E: Thank you so much for your time today. You

are clearly a busy woman. Tell me about the

work that you have been doing over the past

months.

Presently I am the lead preschool at Gentle

Hands Academy. Because I have years of

experience, not only do I teach the children, but

I help train staff to think quickly on their feet and

think outside of the box. I also communicate

with parents about behavioral expectations,

keeping open communication between staff

and parents so that the parents feel not only

included, but also understand that we aren’t just

babysitting.

I've also been trying to share with other people

how important early childhood education is.

We’re setting a foundation and helping children

to communicate effectively and understand

their emotions so that when they go into the

school systems, they have a step up. This is not

just a job but a mission. We are on the frontline,

setting the bar high so when children leave our

center, they are more equipped to adapt to

different environments.

E: What are some of the biggest challenges

you see providers facing?


There aren't enough providers because of the

pay. We don’t get paid enough to draw people

into this field. Unfortunately, it’s not seen as

something that’s very important. Staff become

frustrated and burnt out because there are not

enough educators in the building. So it gets

harder and harder for those who stay to do so

long-term. By there not being enough staff in

some facilities it leaves those that are there in a

place where there is no mental health days -

paid or unpaid - for Educators to regroup and to

avoid the burnouts.]

E: There have been a lot of calls to raise the

pay of early childhood workers. Why do you

feel providers should be earning more money?

Because this is a profession and a career. This is

not a stop on providers' career journey; this is

something they enjoy doing and something that

they want to do. But when people have to go to

a second job, they feel stretched thin. It takes

their physical energy and mental energy, and it

becomes hard to do a better job. People will be

more creative and enthusiastic about their jobs if

they have enough money from just one job.

Even for myself, I’ve had to keep a side hustle to

make things meet. I want to be able to do this

and then just be able to go home and take care

of my family. Even though I love early childhood,

my career has sometimes been a revolving

door, because I just can't afford to stay in this

career and have had to come back off and on

over the years.

E: If a generous budget increase is provided,

how would you urge policymakers to spend

that money?

There should be a designated portion to go

towards a pay increase and benefits, or even

state benefits. State medical so providers don’t

have to pay out of pocket.

The parents that we have now understand how

important early childhood is. They know that

they can’t be with their child and they know their

child should get supportive and high-quality

care. I got my start as a parent, and I think that

other parents might be attracted to the field if

they feel it is being fairly compensated. The

government needs to acknowledge this. Early

childhood teachers deserve it.

ATLAS TRAINING


CDC LOWERS GUIDELINES FOR

DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES

Republished from Abbington Speech (CDC Lowers Guidelines for Developmental Milestones - Abington Speech Pathology

Services, Inc.Abington Speech Pathology Services, Inc.)

For the first time in nearly two decades, the CDC

has lowered developmental milestones for

toddlers. This means that “normal” standards of

development that were reserved for children of

two years old have now been extended to 2.5

years old.

Age 2 has always been a pivotal year in

children’s speech development. Many kids

make major speech strides between 18-24

months, which is why Early Intervention services

typically start at age 2. Accordingly, 2-year-old

milestones warrant special focus.

The announcement has been met with a diverse

set of reactions online, from speech-language

pathologists to pediatricians. We took a look at

the updated guidelines to examine what they

are, why they are important, and what this could

possibly mean for your child.

What Are “Developmental Milestones?”

The CDC describes developmental milestones

as: “Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for

the first time, and waving “bye bye” are called

developmental milestones. Children reach

milestones in how they play, learn, speak, act,


ATLAS TRAINING


CDC LOWERS GUIDELINES FOR

DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES (CONT.)

Republished from Abbington Speech (CDC Lowers Guidelines for Developmental Milestones - Abington Speech Pathology

Services, Inc.Abington Speech Pathology Services, Inc.)

and move (crawling, walking, etc.). How your

child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offer

important clues about your child’s development.

Developmental milestones are things most

children (75% or more) can do by a certain age.”

Why are Developmental Milestones Important?

Developmental milestones offer important clues

about a child’s developmental health.

Reaching milestones at the typical ages shows a

child is developing as expected. Reaching

milestones much earlier means a child may be

advanced compared with his or her peers of the

same age. Not reaching milestones or reaching

them much later than children the same age can

be the earliest indication that a child may have a

developmental delay.

The CDC recommends that [parents] check the

milestones [a] child has reached by the end of 2

years by completing a checklist with CDC’s free

Milestone Tracker mobile app, or by printing the

checklist pdf.

What Did the CDC Change About the

Developmental Milestones?

Simply put, the CDC changed the milestones and

thresholds by taking milestones that were

previously assigned to 2 years, and extending

them by six months (or, 2.5 years old). Before, the

milestone guidelines said that at 24 months (or

two years of age) a child should be able to say

more than 50 words. Essentially, these new

milestones put kids back by six months, which, in

the context of early childhood development, is a

tremendous extension.

Additionally, the latest changes introduced a 30-

month milestone, which didn’t exist previously.

PRE PANDEMIC:

Pre-pandemic, two-year-olds were typically

repeating words and speaking two- to fourword

sentences as well as “knowing names” of

familiar things.

POST PANDEMIC:

Today, the updated milestones are heavy on

pointing and gesturing, and typical 2-year-olds

are only expected to say two words together.

For the first time, the CDC milestones

introduced expectations for the number of

words spoken to be at 50 words. However, this

directly conflicts with The American Speech

Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), (who

is clear that “saying fewer than 50 words” when

a child is two years old is a sign of a “language

problem.”

ASHA is the gold standard for speechlanguage

pathology. It is important to note that

other related organizations (including ASHA)

have not changed any guidance during the

pandemic.


Spring 2022 Newsletter

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