Managing just one child can be challenging. Meanwhile, child care providers such as Scribbles Center for Learning in Bloomington handle anywhere from three to 20-plus children in one space at a time, and it’s not uncommon for those youngsters to have behavioral issues, Director Leanne Macrowski said.
Biting, for example, “tends to be one that primarily comes up over the years in various age groups,” Macrowski said. In addition to other behaviors including “explosions when they get upset or hitting or throwing toys, things like that, that become a problem in the classroom or a safety concern in the classroom.”
When these issues arise, Macrowski and her staff can often handle them. Other times, they call The Baby Fold in Normal, which houses six mental health professionals designated to help in these child care settings as part of a statewide program called Caregiver Connections.
Observation and support
The Baby Fold's consultants serve Livingston, McLean, Ford and DeWitt counties — which have around 400 child care providers combined. Cris Hawk is the program supervisor for the area and before a recent promotion, spent several years as one of the early childhood mental health consultants focused on McLean County. She said the consultants help the child care providers manage the children.
“We support them in helping them understand the social-emotional pieces behind those kids and what they're communicating through their behaviors,” she said. “They are trying to tell us something and we just have to translate it.”
As a mental health specialist in the child care setting, Hawk said she — and now her subordinates — are flies on the wall, observing the environment and keeping tabs on the students’ behavior to see when they might act up so that they can provide feedback to the providers later.
“So that when they come across a similar child in the future, that they don't need us as much,” she said. “They have the tools and the resources to go, ‘This is familiar. I wonder if I can use the same techniques.’”
While most situations focus on an individual child, Hawk said consultants may also help in full classrooms. She said it’s all about getting the providers what they need. Consultants may directly intervene in certain situations, but the role is meant to aid the providers in doing the work themselves.
“We're looking at, how do we help that teacher teach social-emotional for the whole classroom?” Hawk said. “How do we help that teacher learn her own stress management and self-regulation skills so that she can do the work in a more effective way?”
Parents of youth are frequently involved since Hawk said it’s important to have all hands on deck in identifying and addressing situations. Since behaviors often arise in both settings or may be triggered by both settings, Hawk said speaking with parents helps to get a fuller picture.
However, many parents and caregivers may not even be aware of the Baby Fold’s program, Hawk added, since they are typically looped in only when their child is having issues.
A unique and helpful opportunity
Despite most of the work occurring behind the scenes, Macrowski with Scribble said The Baby Fold has played a vital role at the early learning center. She could not recall when the partnership started, but she said staff have become more aware of overall best practices surrounding behavioral tools and tactics, including sensory methods.
“All of us have sensory issues to a different extent,” she said is one thing she personally has learned from Hawk. “It may not be a diagnosis of a sensory processing disorder specifically, but it may be something that will impact that child one way or the other, positively or negatively. So being more aware of those types of things has definitely helped.”
Scribbles has added more sensory tools to its space since Hawk started consulting with the center, Macrowski said, including balls and a swing in the gym.
Hawk also helps Scribbles meet student needs by building staff confidence, Macrowski said, adding that the care received pre-K has a trickle-down effect on the youth as they continue to grow and advance to K-12 schooling.
“It is key to try to get to children early so that we're making that impact happen,” she said.
Following COVID-19, Katie Stelle-Mardis of Katie’s Kids Learning Center in Normal, said there has been an “influx in kiddos with various social behaviors of not being able to actually engage in play or be able to have respectful play.” The Baby Fold has helped ease the burden on providers with the increased caseload, Stelle-Mardis said.
“We're grateful to have this as an opportunity, just as another support for us in our field,” Stelle-Mardis said. “I feel like this is a field that oftentimes gets kind of missed in areas of support, and this has been really huge for our community to have Cris and others be able to support our staff and children.”
At the Baby Fold, Hawk said she and others are equally grateful to receive state funding for the program. In recent years, she said funding increased and The Baby Fold was able to double the number of mental health specialists serving its counties from one to two. Hawk said the additions have been valuable since needs have also doubled.
“The supply and demand is always going to be there with any with our field in general,” she said. “I think everyone would say, ‘Yes, we would love more expansion’ — and we are also super grateful for continued funding. So that is where we're at right now.”
