PRIDE

PRIDE Parent Workshops
Child Care Providers 
Physicians

What is PRIDE?

PRIDE (Promoting Resources in Developmental Education) is a collaborative program dedicated to the healthy development of children from birth to age 5, with a special emphasis on earlier identification of those at risk for developmental and behavioral delays. Led by Children’s Hospital at the Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center in partnership with The Center for Developmental Services, PRIDE also works closely with the United Way of Greenville County and other agencies in the Upstate of South Carolina serving children and families.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, between 15 and 20% of children will experience a delay. Unfortunately, more than 50% of them are not identified prior to starting school or at all, and therefore miss out on effective early intervention and treatment. PRIDE addresses this need through its various educational activities for parents and its professional education series for child care providers, and primary care physicians.  Since its creation in 2004, PRIDE has successfully linked collaborating partners with our community’s best resources to address the need for earlier identification of developmental and behavioral delays.

Where is PRIDE?

PRIDE’s program offices are located at The Gardner Family Center for Developing Minds in the Children’s Hospital Outpatient Center on the Patewood campus of Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center.  Our address is:  PRIDE, 200 Patewood Drive, Suite A310, Greenville, SC  29615.  Our telephone number is:  (864) 454-2102.

PARENTS

PRIDE supports parents through a unique and free educational series on called Mind Your Milestones.  These informative cards are mailed to parents at regular intervals from their baby’s birth through age 5. Parents learn not only what milestones their child should be reaching in a certain age range, but what specific activities they can do with their child to promote healthy development. Parents are encouraged to talk to their child’s doctor if they have any concerns about their child’s development.

Did you know…

…15 to 20% of children experience a developmental delay?
…many developmental issues are not quickly or easily recognized?
…early intervention can dramatically improve, and even erase, developmental problems?
…developmentally “on track” kids are happier, make friends easier, and are more likely to succeed in school?

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How to keep your little cub on track:

Odds are, your child won't ever experience a developmental delay. But if your little one does, would you recovnize the signs? PRIDE helps parents take the steps necessary to keep early development on track.

Mind Your Milestones: Specially for children from birth to age five, it’s important to learn what basic developmental skills are age-appropriate.  An easy way to educate yourself?  Register here to start receiving a free set of Mind Your Milestones cards.  You’ll receive a new card every three months during your child’s first year, then every six months until age 3, then annually until your child reaches his fifth birthday.

Observe your child:  Closely monitor your child’s behavior and responses to you and others.  Refer to your Mind Your Milestones cards frequently to keep a mental checklist of what your child should be doing… and when.  Sometimes it’s not what a child is doing, but what he or she isn’t doing that is most significant.  Listen to your instincts – no one knows your child better than you.

Ask your child’s doctor:  It’s only natural for parents to want their children to be “perfect”.  Sometimes, we’d rather ignore small warning signs, hoping they’ll go away.  Keep in mind; it’s in your child’s best interest to speak up if something doesn’t seem quite right.  Voice your concerns with your child’s healthcare provider.  When it comes to developmental delays, early intervention is critical to achieving the most successful outcomes.

Boost your parenting skills:  PRIDE offers a variety of workshops throughout the year based on the principles of Positive Discipline. With extensive research linking healthy child development to effective parenting, it is essential that parents have the necessary tools to nurture their child’s development.

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Current Menu of PRIDE Parent Workshops

Don’t Flip Your Lid!
Conflict Resolution for Families: Holding on to your thinking cap isn’t always easy when parenting. In this interactive class, learn about the brain’s emotional hard wiring so you can decrease personal stress overloads. Equip the whole family with de-escalation tools that push the reset button and teach healthy communication habits and self- calming skills.

Misbehavior Detectives
Understanding The Beliefs Behind Your Child’s Misbehavior: Use your emotions as clues to reveal the main reasons for most misbehavior. This problem solving workshop will help parents take a closer look at misbehavior to develop new long term strategies for teaching children problem solving skills, responsibility and recovery skills.

Coaching from the Sidelines
Encouragement is Key to Discipline Success: Encouragement isn’t just about words. It’s also about actions. Simply put, encouragement empowers children to become capable, responsible team players in the game of life. Through experiential activities, learn the important role that encouragement plays in effective discipline and in teaching life skills to children.

Teach Your Children to Fish
Essential Life Skills for Teaching Independence: Preparing children for real life means teaching them how to do laundry, cook, clean, maintain a car and more. Children who feel capable and genuinely needed misbehave less than children who are pampered. This active learning workshop explores the Significant Seven Perceptions and Skills that promote self-reliance in children and teens, teaches family tools for assigning age appropriate chores and helps parents practice follow-through techniques.

All workshops meet weekly for four weeks. Cost is $10 per person. For a complete training schedule, contact the PRIDE office at (864) 454-2102 or click here to e-mail Reggie Ellison.

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CHILD CARE PROVIDERS

Many early childhood educators say that they are sometimes the first people to raise concerns regarding a child’s development, but often feel uncomfortable voicing these concerns to parents, and are unaware of the community resources available to the families.  PRIDE supports child care providers in Upstate counties by partnering with local agencies to offer formal training in early child development including appropriate developmental milestones, identification and assessment of developmental delays in young children, parent-teacher conference strategies and positive discipline techniques to use in the classroom.   PRIDE offers public trainings throughout the year, as well as the opportunity for on-site custom trainings.   PRIDE’s child care trainings are certified by the South Carolina Department of Social Services and satisfy current continuing education requirements for area providers and are taught by SC Master Certified Child Care Trainers.

The classes are:

Developmental Milestone Toolkit Training (Parts 1 and 2)
(5 hours of Growth and Development CEU’s)
PRIDE’s Developmental Milestone Toolkit Training is the only one of its kind in the state of South Carolina. Especially designed for providers caring for children from birth to age 5, this basic class teaches child care providers how to identify developmental delays, how to create developmentally appropriate environments,  and strategies, resources and support for sharing concerns with parents if a developmental delay is suspected.  All participants receive a comprehensive toolkit containing developmental milestone guides based on the new SC Early Learning Standards, community resources for parents and other developmental information for their classrooms.

Advanced Training (Parts 3 and 4)- Assessment of Young Children
(5 hours of Professional Development CEU’s)
Pre-requisite:  Developmental Milestone Toolkit Training, Parts 1 and 2
The advanced training provides participants who have completed the basic toolkit training with a greater understanding of appropriate assessment of a young child's development and multiple strategies in sharing these findings with a parent. Based on the book, Six Simple Ways to Assess Young Children  by Sue Gober, participants perform observations on children, take anecdotal records, assess developmental stages and practice the three phases of a parent conference.

New for 2008-2009!
Positive Discipline for Child Care Providers
(5 hours each of Growth and Development, Curriculum and Guidance CEU’s)
As a professional childcare provider, you want to create an environment that is inviting and nurturing for children as well as encouraging for your adult staff.  You want to find ways to form a partnership with parents in their children’s development.  Simply put, you want to provide an all-around quality childcare experience at every level.  Positive Discipline for Child Care Providers is a 3-session, 15 hour course which satisfies 5 hours each of continuing education requirements in growth and development, curriculum, and guidance. Positive Discipline offers a practical program that provides workable solutions to many of today’s toughest child care issues based on the nationally-recognized Positive Discipline curriculum.  Participants learn to…

• Create  a setting where children can laugh, learn and grow
• Support healthy physical, emotional, and cognitive development in all children, including those with special needs
• Encourage parents to establish a partnership with you and provide the same kind, firm limits and respectful environments at home
• Uncover support and learning opportunities for yourself and your fellow co-workers

Call the PRIDE office for classes scheduled in your area or to request information about on-site training at (864) 454-2102.

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PHYSICIANS

Early identification of developmental disorders is critical to the well-being of children and their families. It is an integral function of the primary care medical home and an appropriate responsibility of all pediatric health care professionals. In 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its policy statement on developmental surveillance and screening. The recommendations call for developmental surveillance to be incorporated at all well-child visits. In addition, a standardized developmental screening test should be administered at 9-, 18- and 30- month visits. Current detection rates of developmental disorders are lower than their actual prevalence, which suggests that the challenges to early identification of children with developmental disorders have not been overcome.

Primary care physicians are of obvious importance in developmental screening because they have a unique perspective on a child’s health and development and see him at regular intervals.   However, physicians cite several barriers to screening, including limited time, lack of reimbursement for screening, and the lengthiness of most screening tools.  Research shows, though, that without a screening test, 70% of children with developmental disabilities are not identified in the primary care visit.  Informal screening methods, such as asking parents if they have concerns about their child’s development, fail because only 2% of parents have been found to affirm such vague and frightening questions.

PRIDE supports primary care physicians in reducing or eliminating these barriers by providing physician resource guides to use in their practices.  These guides include the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) screening test.  This tool, developed by Frances Page Glascoe, PhD, has 10 short questions and can be completed in less than two minutes by the parents.  It has nearly 80% sensitivity and specificity in correctly identifying children with developmental delays.  In addition, the guide includes reimbursement coding procedures, supporting documentation and validation of other screening tools, and comprehensive community resource information and referral sources.

PRIDE also provides PEDS tool training and support to primary care physicians.  Staff members are available for consultation on cases in which the physician has questions on development or sources for referral.  Additionally, educational programs are offered to other medical professionals on evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment and available community resources and support for families. For more information or to schedule an office training, contact PRIDE at (864) 454-2102.

PRIDE enlists the key adults in a child’s life– parents, child care providers, and primary care physicians –to ensure healthy physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.  Our goal is to ensure early identification of developmental delays by building a greater awareness of developmental milestones through education, increasing access to developmental evaluation, treatment and intervention and linking our community to services that provide support and assistance.

PRIDE is funded in large part by The Duke Endowment as well as through local grants, corporate contributions, revenues generated by its educational programs, in-kind donations from its partners, and the United Way of Greenville County.  For more information on how PRIDE can assist you, contact Program Coordinator Jane Witowski at (864) 454-2104 or jwitowski@ghs.org.

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