Terrific Toddlers – how to make your toddler smarter, happier and more co-operative as you set foundations for learning, literacy and loving life!
A ground-breaking tele-seminar series featuring interviews with a highly qualified team of professionals who are all experts in specialised areas of early childhood.
Do you want to learn....
amazing secrets about early nurturing that will have lifelong benefits to your toddler's development?simple strategies that you can implement easily and effortlessly, just by tweaking your everyday care – no fancy equipment, no stressful curriculum – that will set your littlie up for later literacy and learning?How to spend less time agonising over your child's development ( what should he be doing now?), and more time enjoying him, so that living and learning is fun for you both?How to have a bright, healthy, happy toddler who is a pleasure to be around (most of the time)?
This important tele-series has been especially created to take away the anxiety of nurturing a terrific toddler so you and your 'little rascal' can really enjoy each other. The truth is, you ARE enough for your child – you are his best teacher and his most important role model!
The five session program features a team of acclaimed early childhood professionals who will each explain the revolutionary research in their specialised field of early development and how you can apply this information to create the best possible environment to help your child thrive, as you set the foundations for later literacy and learning.
By skilling up, through the information and techniques that the professionals on our calls will be sharing, you will have direction and focus, as well as confidence in your own ability to provide everything your child needs at this critical stage of development. You won't need to 'second guess' yourself and worry, am I doing all I can to support my child's learning? Or, can I give him enough right here, at home, without buying all the latest 'educational' products? What should he be eating? Learning? Doing – that is best for him, RIGHT NOW?
Download the FREE sample recording - From Bunny Rug to Boundaries»
What will you learn?
Our team of experts are all mothers as well as professionals in the fields of early childhood, health and nutrition so they will be sharing a wealth of practical strategies as well as the latest evidence based information about child development.
Session One: Learning – it's child's play!
Dr Jane Williams
Play is your child's work, it helps your toddler develop important social, emotional , neurological and physical skills that lay the foundation for lifelong learning
In this recording, Jane will share:
- How small children play – ages and stages
- Styles of play - active, imaginative, creative, sensory play- and how these support children's development and later learning
- Educational toys and games – what's really educational and what's not. How you can create an environment to encourage happy, productive play that will help your toddler's developing brain reach a new level of maturity
- What happens if? ... your toddler is not interested in playing in the sand pit/socialising with other children/listening to a story/dancing-spinning-tumbling/singing/talking/etc
About Dr Jane Williams
Dr Jane Williams, adjunct senior lecturer at James Cook University School of Nursing, Midwifery & Nutrition, is a researcher and educator and who is actively involved in the development of high quality early childhood development programs in Australia, Asia and Europe. The GymbaROO/KindyROO program, in which she is involved, is focused on the delivery of a program that promotes healthy neurological, social and physical growth in the first five years of life and early school years. Importantly the program actively engages parents in their children's development from birth.
Spreading the message about the importance of development in the early years is a primary aim of Dr William's. As Editor of First Steps, a magazine dedicated to parent education, she focuses on helping parents understand their child's development. Dr Williams also has a number of journal publications aimed at drawing the attention of early childhood health professionals to the importance of early childhood development, prevention and early intervention. She has presented at a number of conferences in Australia, China and the EU, and was an invited speaker at several of these.
Session Two: Imprinting a Life Time of Food Habits
Cyndi O'Meara
What you will learn:
- What in the first 6 months is babies first junk food and how to avoid it
- Foods that feed the brain and body
- Foods that cause anxiety and hyperactivity
- Awareness about the power of the food industry with Australian Food Authorities including, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand and The Heart Foundation.
- The deception of many food producers
- The power of Nestle in lobbying governments and food authorities
- How to bring up your child medication free
About Cyndi O'Meara
Cyndi is a passionate, determined and knowledgeable speaker on health issues and uses her education and experience to help others improve their quality of life so they too can enjoy greater health and longer lives. Concerned by the state of our health system and the lack of educated consumers, Cyndi explores relevant and confronting issues such as cancer, diseases, diets, drugs and medication and asks people to make a choice about what they are willing to consume.
Her unique, surprisingly simple and down-to-earth approach challenges and encourages others to eliminate unhealthy habits and has inspired thousands to make smarter choices about the food they choose to put into their body. By educating people on how to read food labels, why diets don't work, and how drugs can affect your total well-being and vitality, Cyndi confronts her audiences with new truths and empowers them to make long lasting changes with simple and achievable steps on how to create healthier habits.
Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Nutrition from Deakin University in Victoria and the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Cyndi also undertook postgraduate studies from RMIT Victoria in human anatomy, pathology, physiology and diplomas in diagnosis and management of health issues.
Session Three: I am sensational! - The importance of the sensory world to develop social, cognitive and physical skills, so children can learn with joy and confidence.
Lisa Findlay, Occupational therapist, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane
In this recording Lisa will discuss:
- Which senses are we talking about and what purpose do these have in development
- Your toddler's brain: an amazing filter and coordinator
- "Sensory preferences": how do we like our sensory input? And how does this impact on our choices, behaviour and personality?
- How do I know what my child's sensory preferences are?
- Can our sensory preferences change?What typical infant/toddler sensory issues impact on children's behaviour and development?
- What can I do as a parent? Strategies. Meeting the child's need for development and resilience.
- When is the processing of sensory information problematic for children? Will they grow out of it?
About Lisa
Lisa Findlay is an occupational therapist with the Infant Team at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane and a mother of 3 children. She has worked with infants and young children for almost 20 years and has lectured extensively on the topic of early development. Lisa is also currently involved in an international research project examining early rehabilitation of infants with brain injuries.
As an occupational therapist, she is interested in the factors contributing to development of the "occupations" of the young child (i.e. play, feeding, interaction and sleep). These factors may include difficulties with movement, social interaction and sensory processing. Lisa particularly enjoys the challenge of understanding infant and toddlers from their behaviour and cues.
Session Four: From Babble to Banter - how to give your child a head start in language learning, and why this matters for later literacy, learning and social success
Soraya Bews, Speech Pathologist, mother and creator of Child Talk DVD
A language rich environment is critical for strong early vocabulary skills; early vocabulary is critical for learning to read; and learning to read is critical for academic success.
In this recording Soraya will explain how you can:
- be pro –active in building your child's language skills from Day One
- create a language rich environment appropriate to your child's language level
- learn to identify your child's language level and then implement easy strategies to use at the right language level to maximize your child's learning
- discover ways to respond to your child's language attempts that will maximize their opportunity to learn language quicker and easier and ways that won't add value
- include simple strategies in everyday activities for just fifteen minutes every day, to give your child a head start in language and learning.
About Soraya Bews
Soraya Bews, mother of two and creator of Child Talk is an experienced educator in early language development and adult learning. She is a qualified Speech Pathologist who has worked in NSW, Queensland and the Tiwi Islands in Australia and in the UK. She has also worked with the Queensland University of Technology, University of Western Australia and Charles Sturt University. Soraya went on to complete her Masters in Health Administration and transitioned from clinical work into project management within the health industry.
Soraya is extremely passionate about early language development and empowering parents with the skills and confidence to be proactive about their young child's language development and decided to combine her love of early language and empowering parents with her project management skills to develop Child Talk: Strategies for Stimulating your Child's Language Development, a DVD and workbook that provides parents with the skills and confidence to build their child's language from Day One. It is available for purchase via the Child Talk website at www.childtalk.com.au for $24.95 + $3 p+h.
Session Five: Sing a Song of Childhood
Hilary Henshaw A.C.MM, A.Mus.A; A.T.C.Lond
Babies and young children love music and respond to it in many ways. They may be stimulated, soothed, excited or motivated. These responses can be seen in children of all ages and stages and with varying abilities.
- singing, moving and making musical sounds
- games that develop listening skills
- interactive musical fun to enhance speech and language
- encouraging creativity and self-expression
- Hear how to give your children and your family the gift of music for life!
About Hilary
Hilary is an early childhood educator, music and speech teacher who has specialised in music for the early years since 1983, working with families, early childhood professionals and students. She is also a professional singer and actor who has worked with many of Australia's major theatrical organisations, a professional speaker and sought after conference presenter. Her "Growing With Music" series (seven titles) and "MusicaLanguage" series (three titles, created with Dr. Beverly Joffe, lecturer and leader in paediatric speech and language pathology) are widely used Australian early childhood resources. Her current schedule includes performances of her one-woman shows and speaking and conference presentations around Australia. Resources may be found on www.growingwithmusic.com.au; www.musicalanguage.com and www.hilaryhenshaw.com
