Group items tagged

"The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) recently released a report reviewing the knowledge base related to the use of technology to support the practice of early childhood practitioners who work directly with children and families. The report, Uses of Technology to Support Early Childhood Practice, is accompanied by three related research-to-practice briefs: Instruction and Assessment Brief Parent, Family and Community Engagement (PFCE) Brief Professional Development and Informal Learning Brief"

"When we think of apps for kids, we often think of games for either entertainment or learning. But apps aren't limited to just games or books-apps can provide important social, emotional, and physical experiences too. Family Time with Apps is designed to help parents better understand the variety of ways that apps can support children's healthy development and family learning, communication, and connection. The guide aims to show parents how to find the best apps that fit your child's needs, provide tips on how (and why!) to use apps together, and highlight even more resources that will make the process of selecting apps less overwhelming, and more fun."

"The purpose of the Use of Technology to Support Head Start Practice project was to review the knowledge base related to the use of technology to support the practice of early childhood professionals who work directly with children and families. The results were intended to fill a knowledge gap regarding what technologies are currently available to early childhood programs; how practitioners are using these technologies; and the barriers to and facilitators for practitioner use. The review examined three topic areas of interest: 1) instruction and assessment; 2) parent, family and community engagement (PFCE); and 3) professional development and informal learning. It also outlined both the facilitators and barriers to effective technology use in early childhood settings."

"Doodlecast is a unique drawing app that records your voice as you draw. Play back your drawing and export it to share with friends and family. Visit the Doodlecast for Kids support page to see the app in action. The Doodlecast For Kids App comes with more than 20 drawing prompts - simple questions designed to give kids a starting point. Kids can choose from one of the prompts or start a drawing from scratch. The app records the entire drawing process along with audio from the microphone to create videos up to three minutes long. The videos are as fun to watch as they are to create and Doodlecast makes it easy to share them with friends and families."

"The Joan Ganz Cooney Center has conducted a national survey of more than 1500 parents of children ages 2-10 to find out how much of children's media time is devoted to educational content, platform by platform, age by age.  Learning at Home: Families' Educational Media Use in America is the first comprehensive analysis of parents' experiences with the educational media their children use: "

"Program Goals * Conduct research studies, develop data-based training programs and demonstrate evidence-based models in order to establish best practices for families and their infants, toddlers, and young children with disabilities (or those who are at risk for developmental disabilities) * Institutionalize the outcomes of our research, training, and demonstration activities within typical systems of care by translating research into practice * Provide opportunities for students from Jefferson School of Health Professions to learn and experience best practices as part of their pre- and post- professional training experiences. "

"The Tots 'n Tech Research Institute (TnT) is an inter-university collaboration between Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), Philadelphia and Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe. TnT's mission is to provide up-to-date information and resources about adaptations, including assistive technology, to use with infants and toddlers for states, Early Intervention providers of all disciplines, and families across the country. In order to achieve this mission, TnT provides technical assistance to states to help them enhance the use of adaptations with infants and toddlers and conducts a national research program about use of adaptations and assistive technology (AT). "

"My PlayHome is a doll house for the iGeneration. Imagine a doll house where your child can use everything, even the closets, TV and shower. Where you can fry an egg and feed the family pizza. Where you can pour drinks, blow bubbles and turn out the lights."

"Young children are increasingly using tablets (as well as smartphones and other devices with touch screens) in early education settings and with family members. This raises important questions, such as when and how these devices can be used with young children."

"Toontastic is a Creative Learning tool for the iPad that empowers kids to draw and animate their own cartoons and share them with friends and family around the world."

"Yet, despite rapid growth in society's use of digital technology, many children in low-income families in the United States are not able to access and use technology in the same ways as their more-advantaged peers. This means they have fewer opportunities to learn, explore, and communicate digitally, and fewer chances to develop the workforce skills they will need to succeed in later life. Early childhood education can play a valuable role in ensuring that low-income children can access technology and learn how to use it. However, there are a number of important issues that need to be addressed."

" In the AT world, mobile devices such as iPods, iPads, and iPhones are providing new and exciting options to access a huge array of applications.  This blog site is devoted to the use of these devices, highlighting apps that are particularly relevant to young children and school-aged individuals with disabilities, their families, and their instructional teams."

Greta and Abbie's article

"Too Small to Fail worked with the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education (ED) on a suite of resources that can help enrich children's early language experiences beginning from birth. There are tip sheets for families, preschool teachers, and infant/toddler teachers and caregivers, as well as a fact sheet that highlights the evidence behind the benefits of being bilingual and embracing children's home languages."

"Assistive Technology The SEEDS Workgroup on Early Education Technology (SWEET) was created in August 2005 to address one of the seventeen topical areas identified by early intervention staff throughout the State of California. The purpose of the SWEET is to connect California's early intervention programs and families to Assistive Technology (AT) resources for young children with disabilities."

"ONLINE COLORING BOOK PAGES You can save your interactive online coloring pages that you have created in your gallery, print the coloring pages to your printer, or email them to friends and family. These coloring pages are fun and they also help children develop important skills such as color concepts, the names of the 192 colors, eye-hand coordination, picture comprehension. These skills form the foundation for early learning success No java, flash or applet is necessary to load our online coloring pages. The pages load immediately so you can start coloring immediately. If you would like to save your gallery of pictures on TheColor.com you can do so by registering for our site. We will never spam our users as we are COPPA; compliant so open an account start coloring online for free Toda"

"Create personalized children's stories instantly. Turn any time into story time. It's free. 1. Add the details about your children and family -- what do your kids call Mom? Dad? Grandma? 2. Tell us what kinds of stories your kids like. 3. Have new personalized stories based on your child's age and interests delivered to you automagically."

Books are displayed, read aloud and signed "This is your website. It's got lots of great books to see in sign language and subtitles. Hearing family and friends can listen to the stories too. You can all watch together! We'll add more books. So keep coming back to see what's new. Tell your friends … click on the windows… explore…and have FUN!"

"Last night we led a round table on Twitter about a topic of interest to us: Apps and Autism. It was a thoughtful discussion about how iOS devices, particularly the iPad, have transformed the lives of many autistic children. Parents and special educators gathered together and talked intimately about the magical effect technology has on the autistic children in their lives. The group stressed improvements in independence, communication and life skills, as a result of their using apps, all leading to improved quality of life for a child and family."