Supporting Children Who Are Homeless & Highly Mobile

1. Supporting Children Who Are Homeless & Highly Mobile And homeless near a thousand homes I stood, And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food” -William Wordsworth

2. Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness • 1.3 million children are homeless in the course of a year • 40% of the nation's homeless population are made up from families with young children • 42% of homeless children are under 5 years of age • 15% of those are enrolled in pre-school

3. Families Experiencing Homelessness • Families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. • More than 85% of homeless families are headed by single mothers. • The average homeless family is comprised of a young mother and her two young • children, most of whom are below • the age of 6 years. • Children who are homeless & highly • mobile face problems enrolling and • participating in school because they • move frequently.

4. Definitions of Homeless Children and Youth • Lack fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence • Share housing (due to loss or hardship) • Live in hotels, motels, trailer homes, campgrounds, emergency or transitional shelters, abandoned in hospitals, awaiting foster care • Primary nighttime residence not designed or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation

5. Definitions of Homeless Children and Youth • Live in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus, or train stations • Unaccompanied youth (youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian) • Migrant children who qualify as homeless because of their living situation

6. Supporting Children Who Are Homeless & Highly Mobile What has been your personal experience? Share a story about a family you have known that was in a homeless or highly mobile situation.

7. Reducing Barriers for Families Experiencing Homelessness • Early Identification • Timely Enrollment • Educational Stability & Continuity • Family Involvement

8. Early Identification • Form partnerships with community agencies • Network with child care and preschool programs • Build relationships with school district homeless liaisons • Maintain open channels of communication with existing families

9. Enrollment Solutions • Priority status in order to begin services as early as possible • Right to enroll without birth certificate or immunization records

10. Educational Stability & Continuity • Transportation to shelters and transitional living facilities • Right to attend the same program for the entire duration of homelessness

11. Family Involvement Parents and guardians need to be provided with meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children.

12. Parental Options and Involvement • Fully inform parents and guardians of… • enrollment options and eligibility requirements • options for transporting their children • options for service delivery • identifying their child’s strengths and needs • Initial Assessment & Screening • Setting Curriculum Goals • Progress Monitoring & Frequent Feedback

13. Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards • WMELS provide a common language and guidance for families, professionals, and policy makers around early childhood education and care. • WMELS draws attention to all the domains of a child’s learning and development. • The following slides briefly review all of the developmental domains and the performance standards that correlate to them. • Consider the standards in the context of the homeless child.

14. Reducing Barriers to Children’s Success • Physical Health & • Development • Social/Emotional • Development • Language & • Communication • Approaches to Learning • Cognition & General • Knowledge

15. Developmental Barriers:Physical Health & Development • Nutrition, clothing, and shelter may be inadequate. • Living arrangements make it difficult to get enough sleep and exercise. • Children often have poor health and insufficient medical care.

16. Physical Health and Development Considering each of the following Performance Standards, share some possible strategies that support children’s physical health and development.

17. Physical Health and Development • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • A.EL.1a Demonstrates behaviors to meet self-help and physical needs. • Sleep • A.EL.1b Demonstrates behaviors to meet self-help and physical needs. • Dressing • A.EL.1c Demonstrates behaviors to meet self-help and physical needs. • Toileting • A.EL.1d Demonstrates behaviors to meet self-help and physical needs. • Eating • A.EL. 2 Demonstrates behaviors to meet safety needs. • A.EL. 3 Demonstrates a healthy life style.

18. Motor Development • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • B.EL.1a Moves with strength, control, balance, coordination, locomotion, and endurance. • Purpose and Coordination • B.EL.1b Moves with strength, control, balance, coordination, locomotion, and endurance. • Balance and Strength • B.EL. 2 Exhibits eye-hand coordination strength, control, and object manipulation

19. Sensory Organization • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • C.EL. 1 Uses senses to take in, experience, integrate, and regulate responses to the environment.

20. Developmental Barriers:Emotional Development Every day children who are homeless or highly mobile are confronted with stressful, often traumatic events.

21. Emotional Development Considering the following Performance Standards, share possible strategies that support children’s social and emotional development.

22. Emotional Development • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • A.EL. 1 Expresses a wide range of emotions. • A.EL. 2 Understands and responds to others’ emotions.

23. Self-Concept • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • B.EL. 1 Develops positive self-esteem. • B.EL. 2 Demonstrates self-awareness.

24. Developmental Barriers:Social Development Children in homeless situations often lack positive relationships with adults & peers. High mobility makes it difficult to form friendships.

25. Social Competence • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • C.EL. 1 Demonstrates attachment, trust, and autonomy. • C.EL. 2 Engages in social interaction and plays with others. • C.EL. 3 Demonstrates understanding of rules and social expectations. • C.EL. 4 Engages in social problem solving behavior and learns to • resolve conflict.

26. Developmental Barriers:Language and Communication Children may be exposed to a limited vocabulary and primarily “casual register” form of speech. Their experience hearing and using “formal register” may be very infrequent.

27. Language and Communication Considering the following Performance Standards, share possible strategies that support children’s language and communication development.

28. Listening and Understanding • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • A.EL.1 Derives meaning through listening to communications of • others and sounds in the environment. • A.EL.2 Listens and responds to communications with others. • A.EL.3 Follows directions of increasing complexity.

29. Speaking and Communicating • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • B.EL.1 Uses gestures and movements (non-verbal) to communicate. • B.EL. 2a Uses vocalizations and spoken language to communicate. • Language Form (Syntax: rule system for combining words, • phrases, and sentences, includes parts of speech, word order, and • sentence structure) • B.EL. 2b Uses vocalizations and spoken language to communicate. • Language Content (Semantics: rule system for establishing meaning of words, individually and in combination) • B.EL. 2c Uses vocalizations and spoken language to communicate. • Language Function (Pragmatics: rules governing the use of • language in context)

30. Early Literacy • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • C.EL. 1 Shows an appreciation of books and understands how print • works. • C.EL. 2 Develops alphabetic awareness. • C.EL. 3a Develops phonological awareness. • C.EL. 3b Develops phonemic awareness. • C.EL. 4 Demonstrates the use of strategies to read words. • C.EL. 5 Uses writing to represent thoughts or ideas.

31. Developmental Barriers:Approaches to Learning Children experiencing homelessness often lack the skills that help them to learn. Children may be so overwhelmed by all the stimuli in their environment that they find it difficult to focus.

32. Approaches to Learning Consider the following Performance Standards and brainstorm possible strategies to support approaches to learning.

33. Curiosity, Engagement and Persistence • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • A.EL. 1 Displays curiosity, risk-taking and willingness to engage in • new experiences. • A.EL. 2 Engages in meaningful learning through attempting, repeating, experimenting, refining and elaborating on experiences • and activities. • A. EL.3 Exhibits persistence and flexibility.

34. Creativity and Imagination • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • B. EL. 1 Engages in imaginative play and inventive thinking • through interactions with people, materials and the environment. • B. EL. 2 Expresses self creatively through music, movement and art.

35. Diversity in Learning • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • C.EL. 1 Experiences a variety of routines, practices and languages. • C.EL. 2 Learns within the context of his/her family and culture. • C.EL. 3 Uses various styles of learning including verbal/linguistic, bodily/kinesthetic, visual/spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

36. Developmental Barriers:Cognitive Skills Children who are highly mobile may experience cognitive delays and lack the academic skills that other children their age have acquired.

37. Cognition and General Knowledge Consider the following Performance Standards and brainstorm strategies to support cognitive development.

38. Exploration, Discovery and Problem Solving • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • A. EL. 1 Uses multi-sensory abilities to process information. • A. EL. 2 Understands new meanings as memory increases. • A. EL. 3 Applies problem solving skills.

39. Mathematical Thinking • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • B. EL. 1 Demonstrates an understanding of numbers and counting. • B. EL. 2 Understands number operations and relationships. • B. EL. 3 Explores, recognizes and describes, shapes and spatial relationships. • B. EL. 4 Uses the attributes of objects for comparison and patterning. • B. EL. 5 Understands the concept of measurement. • B. EL. 6 Collects, describes and records information using all senses.

40. Scientific Thinking • Performance Standard • During the early childhood period, children in Wisconsin will show evidence of developmentally appropriate abilities in the following areas: • C. EL.1 Uses observation to gather information. • C. EL.2 Use tools to gather information, compare observed objects, and seek answers to questions through active investigation. • C. EL.3 Hypothesizes and makes predictions. • C. EL.4 Forms explanations based on trial and error, observations, and explorations.

41. Access to Special Programs and Services • Special Education • Medical Home • Mental Health Services • Dental Health Care • Even Start • Programs for Dual Language Learners Provide opportunities to access…

42. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction • Lara Kain • Lara.Kain@dpi.wi.gov • Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program • P.O. Box 7841 • Madison, WI 53707-7841 • http://dpi.wi.gov/homeless/

43. Contact Information National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) Diana Bowman, Director Helpline: 1-800-308-2145 Email: homeless@serve.org http://www.serve.org/nche U.S. Department of Education McKinney-Vento Program www.ed.gov/OFFICES/CEP

44. Additional Organizations • National Coalition for the Homeless www.nationalhomeless.org • National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty • www.nlchp.org • National Association of the Education of Homeless Children and Youth • www.naehcy.org

45. Supporting Children Who are Homeless and Highly Mobile