Dana's Kids

Join us on Tuesday April 18th 12-1pm! Learn from a panel of experts how to navigate power struggles with young children and better understand how to address them proactively versus reactively. This workshop is geared for parents of children ages two through six years old.
Register here:

Navigating Power Struggles with Young Children Parents will learn how to navigate power struggles with young children and better understand how to address them proactively.

Let’s chat about the benefits of sensory play!

Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain's pathways, which lead to supporting the child's ability to:

✨complete more complex learning tasks
✨language development
✨cognitive growth
✨fine and gross motor skills
✨problem solving skills
✨and social interaction.

I know not everyone is into slime… but I HAD to share these fun recipes! There is edible finger paint, edible pudding slime, and marshmallow slime!

Pro tip: get a plastic shower curtain at the dollar store to do crafts and sensory activities on for quick clean up!

Tag a friend in need of some new recipes, or share on your stories!

Which one is your favorite?

Teaching children empathy + kindness is an important duty we share as caregivers and parents!

We want to raise children that create a positive impact on this world.

The reality is: we teach them by modeling this behavior!

Here are 6 tips to implement, starting today:

💗Model empathy by considering the emotions of others, verbally.
💗Read books that teach kindness.
💗Start by giving kids small tasks around the house to build grit!
💗Expose them to giving back to food banks, charity, and random acts of kindness.
💗Emphasize using manners by modelling them yourself..
💗 Praise and recognize them when they are practicing their "empathy skills"

How are you showcasing your empathy skills?

South Sound Reading established that 85 - 90 percent of brain growth occurs in the first five years of life. 📚

Spending 15 minutes a day with your child reading a single story can change your child’s cognitive skills, comprehension, behaviour, focus, and long- term perspective on life.
Here are 7 ways reading to your child can support them:

1. Not only will it affect your child’s cognitive skills, reading skills, comprehending numbers and literacy,  but also emotional development.

2. Reading to children at a young age has a direct causal effect on their schooling outcomes, regardless of their family background and home environment. Children were able to sit, focus, and truly comprehend the information that they were being taught in their classroom.

3. Reading to your child 3-5 times a week has the same effect as being 6 months older.

4. Reading 6-7 times a week has the same effect as being 12 month older.

5. Your child will learn how to describe their feelings and their character.  Overall, it enables them to better express and manage their behaviors when experiencing sadness and anger.

6. Children under 5 who are played with, and read to, by a parent or caregiver showed a positive impact on their perspective about life and their behavior.

7. Engaging with your children was proven to decrease the amount of challenging behavior seen, increase the amount of happiness in their life, and consequently help parents enjoy their children more.

Studies + resources to look up:
30 Million Word Gap
The Ohio State University: The Importance of Reading to Kids Daily
South Sound Reading
Reading Rockets
New York Times: Importance of Reading Aloud

Let’s chat about the benefits of sensory play!

Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain's pathways, which lead to supporting the child's ability to:

✨complete more complex learning tasks
✨language development
✨cognitive growth
✨fine and gross motor skills
✨problem solving skills
✨and social interaction.

I know not everyone is into slime… but I HAD to share these fun recipes! There is crunchy foam slime, sand slime, and kinetic sand!

Pro tip: get a plastic shower curtain at the dollar store to do crafts and sensory activities on for quick clean up!

Tag a friend in need of some new recipes, or share on your stories!

Which one is your favorite?

When we want to help children understand a plan for the day , these are some ways we can help connect the idea:

✨ visuals to connect with the routine
✨ “first- then” statements to help ground them
✨ use frequent and consistent songs and phrases for transitions

There are lots of strategies when working with children who have difficulties with transition. Send me a DM if you are needing additional support! 💗

If you are struggling with anything with your children from birth to 9 years old, either developmentally or behaviourally, I am here to support you. I currently am doing home visits, as well. 💗⁠
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My goal is to help parents understand:⁠
✨ themselves as parents⁠
✨ their children’s development ⁠
✨ their children’s behaviour and temperament ⁠
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And ultimately, do this in a way that is fun, healthy, connecting, and comfortable for you. 🙌🏼⁠
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Go check the link in my bio for access to a plethora of resources to support you! 💗⁠
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Grounding Technique 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….

First, help them find their breath!
Then, engage with the child and discover the answers together with these prompts:

✨5 things that you can see
✨4 things that you can touch
✨3 things that you can hear
✨2 things that you can smell
✨1 thing you can taste

Routine Rather Than Schedule | Learning From Home

Young children don’t need to know exact time,
They need to know what is coming first, and what is next. 🙌🏼

For Instagram visuals, that chart is up and down. Typically, I would have the chart left to right to naturally train children’s eyes for reading.

This is a wonderful opportunity to prepare your child for activities, experiences, and learning from home with a visual schedule. ✨

When creating a visual schedule, we want to think specifically about the goal. If your focus is
the bedtime routine, the visual schedule should include only photos, words or illustrations
(depending on your child’s age) of that piece of their daily routine.

If your child is learning from home, you can show the parts of day: from play time, to snack
time, to technology time, etc. For young children, you might show half of the day at a time.

Have you ever tried implementing an at home visual schedule in your home learning? 👇🏼

Free Event: How to Support Your Child During COVID-19 Join us to learn how identity develops in early childhood and how to raise families who value anti-racism. You will also hear about how this work is woven into our early childhood classroom and the overall curriculum at Corlears. This event is for current and prospective families of children ages 1-...

Meet the child where they currently are, not where you expect them to be.
At the end of the day if the information isn’t developmentally appropriate, where are we going?

Here are 3 simple tips for your back pocket:

1. Allow room for + acknowledge “big emotions”.
2. Sometimes challenges come up, and you aren’t a bad parent.
3. Consistent, secure home rules create comfort in safety.

How are you currently meeting your child where they are at?

Don’t forget to check the link in the bio on our latest freebie + newsletter! ✨

Sign up for my FREE newsletter and get FREE, instant access to this PDF:

10 Strategies for Supporting Your Child at Home: Create an environment that supports your child’s learning and development 👇🏼
https://danaskids.com

Why Isn’t This Working?!

Research shows that true change in any behavior (for a child or an adult) takes 21 days. During this time, I am in frequent contact with parents.
They need support and encouragement during this process. 🙌🏼

Even when all of these things are in place, children tend to show an initial backlash to the change in a parents reaction. This is absolutely normal! 🙌🏼

Children need modelling and instruction of positive alternatives.

They need opportunities to be successful, and consistent and continual reinforcement when they make a “good” choice.

Sign up for my FREE newsletter and get FREE, instant access to this PDF:

10 Strategies for Supporting Your Child at Home: Create an environment that supports your child’s learning and development 👇🏼
https://danaskids.com

Discipline is not a bad word. Positive discipline and limit setting gives children a lifelong gift!

Many parents today are concerned about disciplining their children.
Some don’t want to be “mean,” others don’t want to “damage” their children.
Some want to be “friends” with their kids, and others just aren’t sure how to do it.

Here is some insight:
👏🏿 Acknowledge your child's emotions, but do not tolerate unacceptable behavior.
👏🏾 Teach them to manage their emotions.
👏🏽 Teach them what is and is not okay in your family.
👏🏼 Support them as they learn self-control.
👏🏻 Reinforce their positive behavior.

Sign up for my FREE newsletter and get FREE, instant access to this PDF:

10 Strategies for Supporting Your Child at Home: Create an environment that supports your child’s learning and development 👇🏼
https://danaskids.com

It is a responsibility as a parent to intentionally seek out opportunities for our children that support their overall well- being and healthy development.

This is exactly my job, as well: to help you create a plan that supports the overall well-being and healthy development of your child and yourself.

Through the process we'll have successes and challenges, and we'll manage the frustration together.
We will recognize this as an opportunity to make things better, together! 🙌🏼

There is no shame in admitting there are challenges that arise in parenthood, and having a village to navigate these difficult ventures can change the game.

What would educated and loving support do for you? 💗

The way we talk to our children and react to their emotions becomes their inner voice.

Cognitive scientists at MIT that found children aged 4-6 who had conversations specifically geared towards positively impacting their inner voice, resulted in a boost of the child’s brain development and language skills.

You cannot always have control, but you can choose to have a positive impact on your child. So, here 5 Tips for Positively Impacting Your Child’s Inner Voice ✨

Ask questions and listen to their pain points.
Acknowledge their feelings.
Empower them through connection, encouragement, + empathy.
Problem solve as a team.
Thank your child for their vulnerability + praise them.

Remember: this should be done without judgement, assumptions, or expectations!
Build your relationship with connection as the roots.

Sign up for my FREE newsletter and get FREE, instant access to this PDF:

10 Strategies for Supporting Your Child at Home: Create an environment that supports your child’s learning and development 👇🏼
https://danaskids.com

Let’s raise a generation of resilient + mindful little ones by teaching them sustainable tools like emotional regulation! ✨

Here are 5 Emotional Regulation Tips:

1️⃣ Talk about emotions often and freely, without judgement.
2️⃣ Listen and empathize with their emotions.
3️⃣ Encourage problem solving.
4️⃣ Teach them tools to relax and calm down.
5️⃣ Be an example by modeling emotional regulation skills!

How are you ensuring your children understand their emotions, and are able to self regulate?

Sign up for my FREE newsletter and get FREE, instant access to this PDF: 10 Strategies for Supporting Your Child at Home: Create an environment that supports your child’s learning and development 👇🏼
https://danaskids.com

Why Isn’t This Working?!⁠⁠
⁠⁠
Research shows that true change in any behavior (for a child or an adult) takes 21 days. During this time, I am in frequent contact with parents. ⁠⁠
They need support and encouragement during this process. 🙌🏼⁠⁠
⁠⁠
Even when all of these things are in place, children tend to show an initial backlash to the change in a parents reaction. This is absolutely normal! 🙌🏼⁠⁠
⁠⁠
Children need modelling and instruction of positive alternatives. ⁠⁠
⁠⁠
They need opportunities to be successful, and consistent and continual reinforcement when they make a “good” choice. ⁠⁠
⁠⁠
Don’t forget to check the link in the bio on our latest freebie + newsletter! ✨⁠⁠
⁠⁠
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On Wednesday December 16th, at 1pm EST, my FREE Helpful and Hopeful call will focus on developing communication skills in the 1st year of life. Keren Erieh, M.S., CCC-SLP and Rosemarie Ott, M.A., CCC-SLP have created Day One Language: Baby's First Year. This guide was created first and foremost as a way to help support and empower parents of babies and toddlers.

As speech-language pathologists and Moms, Keren and Rosey noticed that many parents and even pediatricians were unaware of the foundational components of language that come before the first word milestone. Day One Language aims to help parents understand that there is no fancy toy, game or activity that will get their child talking but rather that language development relies on the the small, routine and everyday interactions between Baby and caregiver that blossom into the social and complex exchange of communication. This all begins from Day One.



Join us for this FREE conversation on Zoom and help us
https://zoom.us/j/243432196J

⭐ Wise words to remember this shopping season!

More tips for choosing the best toys for babies and toddlers: https://go.zerotothree.org/toys

On Wednesday November 18th at 8pm EST, we'll hear from Special Educator and Special Education Administrator, Cheryl Gelber, M.A. about supporting infant and toddler development and understanding the Early Intervention Program. This conversation will provide an overview of key red flags in infant and toddler development and how to access support when concerned. We will discuss how to access the Early Intervention Program, the evaluation process, and what services are available to support families and young children.
New York Center for Infants and Toddlers, Inc.


Join us for this FREE conversation on Zoom and help us
https://zoom.us/j/243432196J

Ways to support our family Anti-Racism journey through the lens of three classic children's games!
Social Justice Parenting

3 Ideas to Support Your Family's Anti-Racism Journey | Parenting Tips & Advice | PBS KIDS for Parents Anti-racism is the practice of working to eliminate the unfair treatment of people based on the color of their skin. Here are small things to do to begin your family's anti-racism journey.

On Thursday, please join us for our second webinar of the year, featuring a panel of NY and CT special education attorneys and moderated by Lara Damashek from Early Insight Advocacy. Panelists include attorneys from The Law Offices of Neal Rosenberg, Skyer Law, Dana Jonson Law, and Meredith Braxton Esq.

Today's is on panelist Greg Cangiano from The Law Offices of Regina Skyer in New York. Gregory Cangiano was inspired to pursue special education law because of his mother, a guidance counselor whose life’s calling was working with special needs children. Greg earned his bachelor’s degree at SUNY Binghamton and graduated with honors from Touro Law School in 2006. During his undergraduate and law school years, he interned part-time at Skyer Law. As a law student, he also did pro bono work with the Long Island Advocacy Center, an organization dedicated to protecting the legal rights of students and individuals with disabilities.

Greg is a partner at Skyer Law, and has been an attorney with the firm since 2006. He regularly participates in IEP review meetings with clients throughout New York City, Nassau, and Westchester. He has extensive litigation experience in all areas of special education law, including in appeals to the Federal District Court.

Greg is passionate about empowering parents and educators in the IEP process. From 2009-2012 he served as an adjunct professor at Bank Street College of Education teaching a graduate course, Communication and Collaboration: What the Law Intended. He designed this course to explore how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) demands school districts to work cooperatively in the development and implementation of IEPs.

Greg lives on Long Island with his wife, a kindred spirit who teaches special education, and his two beautiful children. In 2017 he launched the INA Fund, an organization in memory of his mother that is dedicated to supporting students with special education needs.