Early Childhood Education Commons^™

“Reading Is Everywhere:” A Case Study Situating Children's Book Distribution Within The Literacy Practices Of Somali New Mainers, Rachel C H Groenhout

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Somalia has a long and rich oral literacy tradition of poetry, proverbs, and songs, while Somalia’s print literacy history has been significantly disrupted by colonization and then the Somali Civil War. Many Somalis have fled the country since the start of the civil war in 1991, and an estimated 10,000 Somalis have made a new home in Maine. When Somali citizens relocated to Maine, they were exposed to Maine’s Raising Readers children’s book distribution program. Raising Readers distributes high-quality, age-appropriate, English-language children’s books during pediatric well-child visits to foster family literacy interactions and children’s emergent literacy skills.

This study explores …

Evaluating Services For New Mainers Community, Hibo Omer

Student and Trainee Scholarship

Mission: Sandcastle Clinical & Education Services: we decided that children with special needs would no longer be separated and that our classrooms would be composed of a mixture of children. Sandcastle’s goal was and still is to this day that children graduating from our program at age five, who had special needs, would transition directly into a regular classroom and not be segregated from their peers. We are proud to have been on the cutting edge of inclusion, and proud to be educating children to be open minded, with open hearts.

Vision: Sandcastle was the first early childhood education program …

Restraint And Seclusion In Schools: Understanding The Keeping All Students Safe Act (Kassa), 2018-2019 Cohort Of New Hampshire-Maine Leadership Education In Neurodevelopmental And Related Disabilities (Nh-Me Lend) Program Trainees

Policy Analysis

The use of restraint and seclusion for managing children’s behaviors in schools has led to physical and psychological harm, and, in the most extreme cases, even death. For more than a decade, the level of research and concern regarding restraint and seclusion in schools has grown. The experience of being restrained and secluded in school can be traumatizing and life-altering, particularly for children with developmental, mental health, or intellectual disabilities. While adults and children in mental health and correctional facilities are protected by law from the unnecessary use of restraints and seclusion, no federal law protects our children in schools. …

The Relations Between Anxiety Symptoms And Friendships In Adolescence, Phoebe Welcome

Honors College

Anxiety symptoms can often be experienced as a silent struggle in adolescence, as many anxious adolescents do not exhibit outward symptoms. Identifying adolescents who are struggling with subthreshold anxiety symptoms can be even more difficult. As adolescence is a time where friendships become primary sources for emotional support, youth who experience anxiety symptoms and associated distress may have trouble navigating close relationships with peers. The current study aims to investigate the relations between adolescents’ anxiety symptoms and their friendship functioning, as well as the impact of their anxiety symptoms on friends’ emotional adjustment. Data were taken from a larger project …

Partnerships Promoting A Culture Of Inclusion In Maine's Early Childhood Workforce, Linda Labas

Poster Presentations

This poster session highlighted the Maine UCEDD’s role as a statewide resource and collaborative partner in advancing inclusive practice in Maine’s early care and education system. It covered the delivery of a continuum of supports for inclusion; examined collaborations that create systemic impact; and reviewed the services needed to increase knowledge, skills and application of practices to improve the quality of early care and education settings in Maine.

Reaching Local Community With The Message Of Developmental Milestones And Early Identification Of Autism, Hope M. Duncanson

Poster Presentations

This poster presents project activities for a pilot program for effectively distributing Learn the Signs, Act Early materials to a small study group in a community in Maine.