Bringing Stories to Life
“Sharing Picture books expands our empathy, introduces us to astonishing art, stimulates our brains, bumps up our IQ, increases our concentration, boosts our vocabulary, helps us with social skills, deepens child/carer relationships and gives us thousands and thousands of worlds to explore” Mary Murphy 2019For further information please contact Suzanne or Tom at Little Voices / ABC Start Right 0874390802
We are hoping there will be training available in using this programme later in 2022.
The BSTL programme also promotes sensory play after story time to extend the learning through other senses like touch and smell.
The BSTL programme also supports sharing rhymes and songs with children, from babies right through to early primary-school age. Nursery rhymes and songs are an extremely important part of children’s learning, language development and education. Research has proven that children who know nursery rhymes well by a young age are better able to develop the skills they need before they learn to read and spell (Morris & Leavey, 2006).
The books chosen for the BSTL programme aim to appeal to children visually, as they are coloured and vibrant, they contain ideas familiar to them such as animals, families and everyday things and because of their good plot structure. They also allow children the opportunity to join-in with the story as they can join-in or re-tell familiar parts because of rhyme, catch phrases and repetition (Murrow, 1989). Books with a repetitive line or theme help children to understand, re-tell and join in with a story. Repetition is used to make stories interesting and engaging for readers and young children find it useful for understanding and telling stories because of its predictability (Tompkins & McGee in Muth, D., 1989). These stories also support interaction during story time proven to improve children language and literacy levels. Reading aloud with children and having a conversation about the story make children active participants.
Story-telling with young children that happens early on in their lives and often, has long-lasting benefits for children. Children make greater progress in language development, pre-reading skills and reading levels when they have been exposed to books and stories early on and often (Bus, van IJzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995).
WE are delighted to be rolling out our Bringing stories to life programme with early years and preschool services in 2022. This year we hope to get to services and meet parents with their children to support Early Years Educators to run family story time sessions in their service.
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Launch of the National Parenting Model
The National Model for Parenting Support Services will be launched by Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman on 27th April - watch the PEIN website and social media for more news!
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Do you ever ask yourself “why does he run away when I try to play?”, “what can I do to help him talk?”, or “what am I supposed to do when she stammers?”
Check out this YouTube playlist of 2-3 minute videos created for parents, grandparents, carers and anyone who works with young children.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsQK32cdMW_ygwiXLtpIu11owvqX8HctB It can be difficult to find easy-to-follow, evidence-based advice and tips. Each video in this playlist is short, straightforward, and can be re-watched whenever needed.
If you find a video helpful or informative you can share the knowledge by sending it to family, friends, and colleagues.
Thanks to feedback from parents and colleagues there will be more videos to come in the future - so watch this space!
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Investigating the mental health and wellbeing of young Arabic-speaking migrants from conflict-affected countries
Migrant children typically experience poor mental health and wellbeing due to their experience of conflict, violence and family separation pre-migration, as well as additional social and cultural challenges in their host countries. The SALaM (Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration) Ireland Study is part of a larger programme called ‘SALaMA’ (Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to America) conducted by Washington University and Qatar Foundation International. This study, based in Maynooth University, is led by Professor Sinéad McGilloway, and assesses the mental health and wellbeing of students aged 13-18 years who have resettled to Ireland from Arab-majority countries, and the supports available to them.
Preliminary findings from a series of interviews conducted with statutory agencies and NGOs who serve Arabic-speaking families, found that a large number of adolescents were often “placed in classes that were age-appropriate with no English, with no understanding of the curriculum.” Some refugees were non-literate in their own language and had limited prior access to education. |
Service providers reported high levels of anxiety and loneliness among children, and poor language skills significantly impacted their ability to integrate and make friends within the community:“These children have been isolated. They've been isolated by the war .. and now they're living in communities and they're isolated. .. it is such a lonely place to be to be in a classroom,and literally not understanding a word.”
Initial findings also suggest that schools are ill-equipped to manage the varying educational, language and socioemotional needs of these students. Furthermore, the pandemic has had long-term effects on these children’s education and language skills, suggesting that they are likely to need support into the future.
Data collection in schools is currently being undertaken directly with students to assess their wellbeing and hear their views of resettlement in Ireland. The findings should help to inform school practices and policies to better support this population in Ireland and elsewhere. Our study is particularly topical and relevant given the current influx of Ukrainian refugees to Ireland, and we anticipate the findings will highlight common barriers to integration and identify appropriate supports to address the health and educational needs of refugee populations both in Ireland and farther afield.
For further information contact Yvonne Leckey 087 698 1922 / https://cmhcr.eu/salam/
Team members include: Yvonne Leckey (Project Manager), Professor Sinéad McGilloway (Principal Investigator), Dr Rita Sakr, Dr Anthony Malone, Jack Horgan, Eman Abusalameh, Alaa Alosh and Penny Quinn. |
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Meet Cliona, the Katherine Howards Foundation's new CEO
Dr. Cliona Hannon is the Chief Executive Officer of the Katharine Howard Foundation and a Chen Yidan Visiting Global Fellow in Harvard University 2021-2022.
Cliona was formerly Director of the Trinity Access Programmes (1999-2021), Trinity College Dublin and a Visiting Fellow and Course Director in Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University (2016-21). She has developed a range of innovative courses to diversify admissions into selective universities and to prepare teachers in socio-economically challenged communities to lead change in their classroom, school and communities. She is an expert on the development of educational outreach and admissions routes for students from under-represented socio-economic groups, which has transformed admissions in Trinity College Dublin, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the UK.
Cliona has a BA (History and Sociology), MA (Development Studies), MBA and a PhD (Sociology of Education). She has published a book on use of the capability approach as an evaluative lens for student development in less advantaged communities. She has also published on the financing of higher education, international admissions policies and leadership in higher education.
She took up the role of Chief Executive Officer of KHF in January 2022. Cliona@khf.ie
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The CES are hosting this event in May following on from their work in Building Connections Strengthening Families. |
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