All services from our teachers and learning specialists are at no cost to families for Little Eagles through 3rd grade.
We often hear that early intervention is key as it pertains to our health. That is why we schedule annual appointments for bloodwork, tests and even scans to stay proactive about our health and address any concerns early, giving us the best chance to keep our bodies strong and thriving.
But how does the early intervention concept apply to our two- through five-year-olds’ academic and social development? Susan House, our dedicated Early Childhood Learning Specialist, shares how identifying needs of our youngest learners is important to ensure they are reaching their potential – whether they need movement to get their minds ready to learn or they need one-on-one tutoring so they understand foundational concepts to meet academic milestones.
Read as Mrs. House shares more about how she helps set ECS Early Childhood students up for success.
What does an Early Childhood Learning Specialist do?
My role is to work with the Early Childhood Director and teachers to make sure each of our students is thriving at ECS. This can span from working with students a few times to help them with a specific area that the teacher notices they are struggling in, all the way to working with students three to four times a week all year long to help them in multiple areas. Many of our young students just need extra movement in the mornings to help them regulate their bodies before they are ready to sit and learn. We will use various activities to help them regulate their sensory systems to be ready to learn. Every student is uniquely made by God and will need different things. I work with multiple groups in my classroom, and many students I work with individually. The needs of our students vary from additional help in academic tasks, additional support in strengthening fine and gross motor skills, learning self-regulation skills and social skills groups. Also, my background in speech allows me to reinforce skills being taught with their Speech Therapist.
Which Early Childhood students work with you?
For our Little Eagles classrooms, I have set times during the week that I am in their classrooms, usually during centers, working/playing with all of these students. It is important to me to be in their classrooms because of how vital it is to pick up on skills they may struggle with early and intervene. We take advantage of this time to build essential skills more easily than later in life. I work very closely with the teachers to recognize and address any specific therapy needs (i.e., speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy). Getting our students early intervention in these areas will greatly increase their ability to thrive in those areas as they get older. For our Pre-K and Junior Kindergarten classes, I stay in communication with the classroom teachers, and they let me know when they see a student that may need intervention in a specific area. Our teachers are diligent in making sure each student is given what he or she needs to succeed. It is a privilege to work with such amazing teachers that care deeply for their students.
How do Early Childhood students benefit from a Learning Specialist trained in the latest research?
As an early childhood team, we make sure we are adapting to the changing needs of students. The students we are teaching now are different from students in a classroom 20 years ago. Also, there is so much evidence-based research available to us today. We are constantly researching and learning the best way to teach our current students. An example is our use of multi-sensory teaching in our classrooms. Even when I’m working with students in a small group, I make sure I am using techniques that engage sight, sound, touch and movement. If we are making sure that students are engaged using multiple senses, research tells us they are more likely to retain the information and create new neural connections in their developing brains.
How have your intervention services benefited a student?
My goal is to grow every student that I see. I have had few students this year who grew in skills and also grew in their confidence in themselves. I can think of several specific students this year that, when their teachers assessed them at the beginning of the year, were missing some key foundational skills for reading and math. I started working with them that week and had the joy of watching them grow quickly through reinforcement from their teacher and me. We were in communication with the parents, and they made sure they had the additional support they needed. Those students will confidently be going into the next school year with all of the skills needed to build strong academic foundations. Success comes when we all work together as a team!
How is ECS different from other schools who may offer similar services?
As soon as a teacher notices that a student is struggling in a certain area, I am able to intervene immediately. In Early Childhood, no diagnosis is required for students to receive intervention. Our students immediately get the help they need before they fall further behind. Because of this, they may not need my help for very long because we have quickly closed the gap. I am so thankful that ECS understands the importance of having a Learning Specialist for our youngest students because of the advantage early intervention plays in the lives of our students with learning differences, setting them up well for future success.
