Seminar Information

Click here for a current schedule of seminars and information on how to register.



More information and options are listed below the seminar descriptions.


Seminars vary from 1.5 hours to 3.0 hours, depending upon the topic, audience, and location.  Group discussion is a critical component of all seminars; be prepared to participate in some way. 



PITC/ITTI seminars may be taken individually or as part of the 40-hour series leading to program certification.  Seminars may be selected in any order and there is no time limit to complete the certification. For certification information, click on the PITC/ITTI tab above.


All PITC/ITTI seminars count toward annual licensing hours and are valuable for all age groups.  For example, when do these considerations disappear or become unimportant in a child care setting:  environment, routines, temperament, cultural issues, dealing with parents and family, special needs, etc.?



Nearly all PLA-INC. seminars have been approved by a licensing department (Rule 2) and will be accepted by most licensors (Rules 2 and 3) for annual licensing requirements.  Many are also suitable for the first 8 hours of training needed for first-year Rule 2 professionals.  If you are awarded a grant through your CCR&R, many of these seminars will also count toward those training requirements as well.  But, to be sure and to avoid unpleasant surprises, always check with your licensor or grants administrator, respectively, FIRST if you expect to use any seminar from any organization for either your first 8 hours as a new Rule 2 professional or for your grants obligations.


If you would like a seminar about a topic you do not see here, please contact us.  We want to be your professional alternative.


Baby Steps - Keys to My Future

Emotional development sets the stage for all other developmental growth. The child and her interchanges with her environment, which may also be changing, impact core skill development.  Caregivers can best facilitate the intellectual growth of young children by understanding milestones of emotional development.  Fill your toolbox with several ideas for supporting emotional development – the basis for all other growth and positive mental health.

Dancing with Children

Suitable for both parents and caregivers together.  Discover how to get in tune and partner with each other, determine everyone’s temperament, and dispense guidance and discipline in a loving and respectful way.  This can be presented with or without Christian-based materials.


A Different Point of View - Center for Inclusive Childcare (formerly Project Exceptional)

Increase your sensitivity to disabilities and develop an understanding of personal safety issues.  Each person brings unique strengths and needs to your setting.  Learn to observe carefully in order to meet each child’s needs.  Be prepared to actively participate; dress comfortably.


Getting to Know You - Center for Inclusive Childcare (formerly Project Exceptional)

During this interactive seminar, you will learn strategies to uncover the hidden strengths in others, increase your awareness of stereotypes, and discuss implementing various approaches to help each child be successful. Be prepared to actively participate; there will be plenty of moving around. Bring teen-age helpers who are or want to be leaders, e.g., faith groups, scouting, schools.

 

Making Music - Even If You're not a Musician

It’s been said that music tames the wild beast.  It does, indeed, have tremendous power to evoke emotions, trigger memories, and enhance learning.  Learn simple strategies for implementing music (voice, instruments, cds, videos) in your program even if you can’t carry a tune or play a note.  You can control the ambiance (e.g., high excitement or nap time) as well as incorporate various cultural influences with ease. Yes, you can!

Networking:  We're All in This Together!

Networking is more than just mentioning your career choice at a ‘meet and greet’.  It is an essential skill you must learn and intentionally implement within your business plan in order to successfully grow your business (generate income!).  Leave with a Strategy Tool Box to create your networking campaign and be visible without really trying.  These strategies will work for your family child care association, too!

Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers (PITC) (formerly ITTI) - Module I

Getting in Tune/Responsive Caregiving:  Knowing how to read and respond appropriately to an infant or toddler is critical to sensitive caregiving.  Explore the technique of watch, ask, and adapt to read infant/toddler behavioral messages.


Guidance and Discipline:  This session addresses appropriate ways to set limits for infants and toddlers with challenging behaviors as well as how to guide the development of their social skills.

Social Emotional Growth & Socialization:  How does a child develop emotionally and what does that look like?  How can you contribute to the emotional growth of a child?  Learn the answers to these questions and leave with strategies you can implement right away.


Temperament:    Each child is born with a unique temperament.  When we know what that is, we can begin to understand how to respond to the individual needs of the children ­ and how to effectively deal with other important people in our lives.  We’ll discuss the 3 major types of temperament and how to determine where we ‘fit’.

Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers (PITC) (formerly ITTI) - Module II

Environments:  How the space where children play and are cared for is organized has a powerful influence over the way children and adults behave and interact.  Learn how thoughtful arrangements of activity areas can create pleasant and engaging contexts for the various activities and routines of the day.

Organizing Infant and Toddler Groups:  How do we create intimacy in group care that focuses on the infant’s and toddler’s crucial need for security with primary caregivers?  Learn how to provide a base for the child’s social emotional development as well as foster all other learning.

Respectful Care:  What is high quality infant and toddler care?  How can we care for very young children in ways that work with their developmental changes?  Learn how providing respectful personal care helps infants and toddlers develop into competent authentic adults.


Routines:  Daily routines are at the center of sensitive caregiving.  They provide important opportunities for one-on-one interaction between the caregiver and the child during which both learning and the deepening of emotional bonds can take place.  There is no need to always hurry through these critical interactions.



Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers (PITC) (formerly ITTI) - Module III


Ages of Infancy:  Explore your role in under-standing the needs of infants and toddlers, their  issues with security, exploration, and identity development throughout their early childhood.


Discoveries of Cognitive Development and Learning:  Caregivers can facilitate learning by observing and responding to infant’s cues and play, using caregiving routines as opportunities for exploration and interaction and providing an environment rich in materials for discovery.


Language Development:  Learn to promote healthy communication and language development in young children.  How do infants and toddlers perceive their surroundings and how can we best interact and communicate with them?

Special Needs:  We All Have Them!:  Receive insight into the lives of those with disabilities and those who care for them.  We all have special needs; some are more obvious than others or more ‘acceptable’ than others.  We’ll share some history of the Americans with Disabilities Act and how providers can effectively and sensitively include those with special needs.

Special Needs:  What Are You Afraid Of?:  Now that you know what ‘inclusion’ means, let’s work on ways to make your program comfortable for all the children who attend.  There’ll be lots of discussion and plenty of re-sources to take with you.  We’ll also review material from ‘We All Have Them!’


The Next Step:  Including the Infant in the Curriculum (What Are They Interested in Learning?):  In this interactive seminar, we will explore ways to plan activities for infants through preschoolers based on their abilities and interests as well as how to effectively utilize those teachable moments.  We will also discuss common misconceptions and how the early learning experiences and interventions you provide impact the child's brain development and future learning.


Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers (PITC) (formerly ITTI - Module IV

Acknowledge, Ask, Adapt:  Explore how to sensitively support the development of infants and toddlers from families whose beliefs about children and child rearing practices differ from your own


Creating Partnerships with Parents:  Learn how to form and maintain successful relation-ships with parents and other caregivers that will enhance the experiences of children and their families.  It’s more than just a contract.


Cultural Diversity for Sensitive Infant Care: How does one become more aware of one's own culture and its influence on one’s child caring practices?  How does one learn to be more understanding and respectful of different perspectives and solve issues that might arise?  Good skills to hone for all types of discussions.


Responding to Families in Culturally Sensitive Ways:  Caregivers serve a variety of families whose circumstances and life styles may differ from their own.  How can you be more responsive to the needs of family members while becoming aware of how your past experiences affect your present interactions?


Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers (PITC) (formerly ITTI) - Module V:  Beginning Together

There has been much attention given to building capacity in infant toddler caregiving. Capacity includes quality as well as increased numbers of caregivers.  Young children with disabilities or at-risk for disabilities have not always been carefully and thoughtfully include in these efforts.  Beginning Together is a model that will support the inclusion of infants and toddlers with disabilities and special needs while at the same time enhancing the quality for all children.


Me, Too!:  Creating an environment that works for everyone requires a thoughtful, sensitive, and reflective approach. Explore strategies for adapting your environment (space, toys, activities, routines) to the ever-changing needs of the children.


Setting the Stage: What Part Do You Play?:  Caregivers strive to provide a safe, welcoming environment for all children so they may fully and actively participate. Each person caring for the child brings his/her own history, ideas, attitudes, and questions to the table. We will explore the critical importance of maintaining confidentiality, building trust, facilitating communication, handling concerns, acknowledging emotions, accessing information, as well as careful observation of the child within the cultural boundaries of the family and program and your role in achieving a sensitive balance. An overview of IDEA is included.


Do You See What I See?:  Responsive care is built around a child’s individual routines and his family’s cultural values. It is also the heart of successful inclusion of children with special needs. We’ll discuss perceptions and assumptions that color our observations and how we can get the rest of the story.


Building Relationships: Roadblocks or Bridges?:  Building relationships is one of the most important aspects of successfully including all children in your child care setting. The quality of the partnership between the family, caregivers, and specialists supporting the child may be impeded by “roadblocks”. Learn strategies to promote successful teaming and collaboration, thus promoting an improved quality of life for the child and family.


Raising Empowered Children

Children require several skills in order to cultivate a sense of confidence and self-esteem.  We will discuss strategies you can add to your tool box that will foster accountability, respect, and relationship-building in children of all ages and how these skills affect the atmosphere in your classroom.  You will understand how mastery of these skills generates self-advocacy and more positive behaviors and rewards, thus empowering each child so gifted by his caregivers.

Sensory Processing Disorder

This interactive seminar will describe the characteristics of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and how it may impact young children.  Each participant will have the opportunity to examine their own sensory preferences and how s/he meets his/her individual sensory needs.  Children have unique sensory preferences and sometimes those preferences can interfere with learning and social growth, perhaps resulting in challenging behaviors.  Strategies for inclusion will be presented as well as local resources to share with parents. 

Show Me Yours and I’ll Show You Mine!
(Understanding and Responding to the Sexual Behavior of Children) 

Learn about healthy sexual development in children and adolescents, how to recognize signs that may be case for concern, and how your responses to these behaviors are effective tools in preventing the perpetration of child sexual abuse.  This overview is also suitable for parents, teen helpers, and youth leaders of all ages.

So How Do I Get Them To Read My Newsletter?

Bring newsletters you receive (good and ??) to critique.  Learn practical tips for creating an exciting publication, one that will be read, not recycled.  Great session for association staff, too.



To Market, to Market


Learn practical ideas to build and maintain your child care business.  Many cost little or no money.  We’ll brainstorm for more ideas.


Understanding and Responding to the Sexual Behavior of Children

Part 1:  Discuss why kids become abusive and how it can be prevented.  We'll consider adult roles, risk factors, deficits, attitudes, thinking patterns, and cultural concerns to define goals for healthy sexual development.


Part 2:  From a very young age, children are exposed to high levels of sexual messages that put them at risk. Further your understanding of children’s early sexual behaviors, explore basic assumptions about sexual learning and how to respond, and define universal goals for healthy sexual development.


Wakanheza Project

Learn how to reach out in stressful situations to be supportive and lend a hand. Learn tools that work for you in any environment to reduce tension and barriers that lead to harsh or even abusive words or actions. Bring teen-age helpers who are or want to be leaders, e.g., faith groups, scouting, schools.


The Six Keys:    Strategies for Promoting Children’s Mental Health in Early Childhood Programs

                                                                                                                     ~ written by Cindy Croft

 

CDA Content Area 3: Social Emotional Development
CDA Content Area 8: Principles of Child Growth and Development


(From the Center for Inclusive Child Care)


“A child’s emotional strengths or weaknesses will fundamentally affect how she perceives the world around her and thereby impacts how she will develop socially, physically, and cognitively, as well as in an overall sense of well-being” (p. 7 Croft).


What’s All the Fuss About a Child's Emotional Development?

    ~Key 1   Early Childhood Mental Health: Why Your Role Matters!

In this workshop, participants will discover ways in which their early childhood role can nurture the emotional development of young children through interactions, practices, and modeling in order to build secure attachment relationships. Participants will examine what mental health means in young children and discuss specific strategies for providing consistency, responsiveness, and security in an emotionally healthy setting

 

How Do We Give Children a Good Start? 
    ~Key 2   Know the Key Emotional Milestones


This seminar focuses on the important emotional milestones caregivers can help children achieve as the foundation for positive mental health.  This class will discuss how to use social and emotional development checklists to identify where children are in their development and look at strategies to support them as they progress to the next social/emotional milestone.


    ~Key 2   Emotional Development: Acquired Skills Needed by All Children

This seminar, based on the work of Dr. Bruce Perry, will describe the six acquired skills needed by all children for positive emotional development including attachment, self-regulation, affiliation, awareness, tolerance, and respect.  Participants will examine strategies for achieving success for children’s skill development in each of these core areas.

Why Do Children Act the Way They Do? 
    ~Key 3   Understand How a Child is "Wired"


This seminar focuses on the important emotional milestones caregivers can help children achieve as the foundation for positive mental health.  This class will discuss how to use social and emotional development checklists to identify where children are in their development and look at strategies to support them as they progress to the next social/emotional milestone.

How to Teach Children to Know Their Own Engines
    ~Key 4   A Look at Your Environment

Do you see children who struggle with their emotions? This workshop will examine specific strategies for promoting self-regulation skills in young children through environmental supports in the early childhood setting and how impulse-control relates to their positive mental health.  Participants will have the opportunity to explore key characteristics of the physical and emotional environment that can encourage children to learn to identify and express their feelings through everyday activities. 


Supporting Resilience in Children

    ~Key 5   The Little Engine That Could!


This seminar examines characteristics of resiliency and its key relationship to children’s mental health.  Participants will explore the role resiliency plays as a critical factor in how children who are at risk will handle stress, react or adapt to negative situations, and overcome obstacles in their emotional growth.   Participants will develop practical strategies for improving their environment and programming to enhance and support resiliency in young children. 


Making and Keeping Friends

    ~Key 6   The Importance of Friendship Skills

This seminar will examine the important relationship between mental health and social development.  Participants will explore key ‘friendship skills’ and social competencies needed for children to be successful in their social relationships.  Strategies will include how to use activities to promote prosocial skills to avoid aggression and build self-esteem in all children.

Tools for Promoting Children's Mental Health in Early Childhood Programs

   
This session will offer ‘tools’ for early childhood educators and caregivers to promote the positive emotional health of young children in their programs.  Participants will look at the practical applications of these necessary skills, including building community within child care, tuning in to each child and helping children understand their own feelings, as well as other key strategies within the early childhood environment.
________________________________________________________________________________________

SURGE:  Supporting Minnesota's "Suddenly Military" Children and Families During
           Deployments and Reunions

The number of families facing the military deployment of a parent or caregiver is growing.  With recent extensions of deployments, many of these families are facing up to two full years of separation.  This has created unique child care needs for children and families in our communities.  When mom or dad or both parents serve in the military and they are called up for service, the children and remaining family members become "suddenly military."  How can professionals support the unique needs of children and families who are experiencing a military deployment?  In this series, participants will receive information on the military deployment cycle, the effects of deployment for children, and tips on how to help children cope with stress, separation, and death.  The second part of the series will cover what happens during reintegration when the solider returns home, examine the stages of reintegration, define reactions and solutions to reunions, and identify methods to support military children and families.  Welcoming home mom or dad is an exciting time for children and families, however, it can be a very stressful time.  This session will explore change and renegotiation of the family roles that are necessary for a reunion to be successful.  Participants MUST attend all sessions for a total of 6 hours.

(This series must be arranged with Julie W. through www.MNChildCare.org.)

Living in the New Normal:  Supporting Children Through Grief and Loss
(LINN™)

Chances are you know someone deployed or that has been or will be deployed in the military.  “Military” refers to all service members, including guards and reserves.  LINN™ encourages families to ensure their children have the tools to weather life’s storms, fosters hometown efforts to support military children, and provides educators and other concerned adults with information to help them support children during times of uncertainty.  This seminar is for parents, education professionals, and child and youth specialists such as librarians, after school program staff, bus drivers, etc. as well as medical professionals.  Though most service members transition smoothly to their lives at home, of critical interest are the implications that some of their transition challenges may affect their children.  Some children and teens may exhibit or model behaviors that are important to recognize and address.  We will discuss behavioral responses to war and combat and provide intervention tools that will help adults work effectively in being an important, reliable, stable, caring, and interested adult for the children and youth going through these experiences.

NOTE 1:  These presentations are focused on the children and their needs during a separation from a military parent.  Due to current world standings, children are experiencing unfamiliar stress that can affect all areas of their lives.  This series is not intended to address personal views of the war.
NOTE 2:  This series is open to everyone.  The cost may be reimbursed upon completion to any respite care provider who serves military families.  Providers must be registered as a respite care site with MN CCR&R to receive this reimbursement.  Pre-registration is required.  To be eligible for any reimbursement, you must pre-register AND contact Julie W. at juliew@mnchildcare.org.

Customized Training

Seminars can be held in your home or center.  You choose the topic and we help you set a date. We can also help you make arrangements to hold a seminar in a public place such as a library, coffee house, or library.  Weekday, evening, and Saturday arrangements are possible. 


You can create your own invitation list so you always know the people in attendance.  Or you can open it to your community and take advantage of the complimentary promotion for your home business or center. 


Call or email today for more information. 


On-Site Consultation or On-Site Training

A consultant can come to your site (family child care home or child care center) and talk with you (individually or in small groups) about space/furnishings, language/learning activities, daily routines, relating with parents, cultural concerns, or children with special needs.  You choose the topic based on what you would like to learn.  You can receive training credit in the comfort of your home or facility.  Day and evening times available.  Invite friends, colleagues, (and even parents!) and host trainings in your home or facility.  No traffic or weather hassles!  Call for details. 

 

If you would like a seminar about a topic you do not see here, please contact us.  We want to be your professional alternative.

 


Professional Learning Alternatives, Inc. is a nonprofit training and advocacy resource for caregivers, parents, and those interested in supporting the development and education of young children.



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Regional Child Care Services/Grants in Minnesota

Child Care Services Grants are available from your CCR&R as of September 1, 2008.  They are to be returned by September 25, 2008.  Check with your local CCR&R for applications and for assistance in completing the forms.  In some regions, you may download them from their web site on September 1st.  If someone you know does not have access to the Internet, advise them to call their CCR&R now to be placed on a mailing list.  This action will slightly speed the mailing process so they have as much time as possible to complete the form and return it.  You may return them by USPS mail or deliver them in person.  Electronic mail submissions are not accepted.  The application forms are different this year.  Be sure to read them carefully and complete every section!  This includes copies of training certificates, bids, pictures, etc. as directed.


CONTACT YOUR LOCAL MINNESOTA CCR&R FOR APPLICATIONS AND ASSISTANCE!