Love In The Time of Kindergarten.

Source: http://callmefluffy.wordpress.com/2014/09/07/22/

By Khatia Esartia

In 1984 I spent one year behind bars of a Kindergarten. To say that I hated it is an understatement. I was marginalized as one of the ‘republic’ kids and my teacher plainly hated me and made us take naps every day. I don’t mean like curled up on a mat with a pillow under your head and a blanket to cover you type of naps. I am talking about strip down to your underwear in front of everyone, change into pajamas in front of everyone, and get into your bed and sleep on command for two hours. I did everything I could to get out of those naps. I lied to my teachers about my dad having to come pick me up before nap time. I involved my mother, my grandparents, imaginary relatives. Basically I ran through the family tree before I too was shoved into the ‘nap’ room. It wasn’t the nudity I was so scared off, it was the other little overdeveloped girls (who has boobs at age of 6????) who would point at my flat chest and laugh.

Read more.

Creating Trauma-Informed Classrooms

NCFA Releases Adoption Advocate No. 75 | Creating Trauma-Informed Classrooms

With another school year beginning, it is important for teachers and school administrators to understand the impact of trauma, abuse, neglect, and other risk factors in a child's history that can affect his or her ability to learn and feel safe and connected in the classroom. In the September 2014 issue of NCFA's Adoption Advocate, co-authors Casey Call, Karyn Purvis, Sheri R. Parris, and David Cross share the results from different schools employing Trust-Based Relationship Intervention® (TBRI®), and emphasize the power of safe, nurturing relationships in the classroom—particularly for children from "hard places."

Read more: http://www.adoptioncouncil.org/files/large/4b9294d4e0fc351

Webinar: Parenting Teens with FASD. Register Today!

NTI Upstream 2014 Webinar Series

Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders 

Register Today. Space is Limited!
Webinar #4:  Parenting the Adolescent with FASD

This session will offer first-hand experience of parenting an adolescent with FASD. The webinar, facilitated by Dr. Ira Chasnoff, will feature Carole Hurley, a single adoptive mother of two who is raising both an adolescent and a younger child with FASD. Information will include how she handles day-to-day struggles and where she goes to find assistance. This is an excellent opportunity to ask direct questions about raising children with FASD and to learn from her experience.

In 2013, Carole became the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.  She is Chair of the State Bar Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, Chair of the Travis County Child Protective Services Board, and is a member of the Texas Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Prevention Task Force.  Her most important job, though, is being Kara and Emma Hurley's mom.

Register here:

Presented by Ira J. Chasnoff, MD and Carole Hurley

August 14, 2014, 1:00-2:00 p.m. CDT

Q & A 2:00-2:15 p.m. CDT

Price: $19.99

Brought to you by:

Now Available on DVD

2014 Webinar #3: Sexual Development & Sexuality in Adolescents with FASD

FREE SHIPPING through August 8th, 2014
Buy Now

2014 Webinar #2: Adolescents with FASD: School and Academic Functioning
Buy Now

2014 Webinar #1: Neurodevelopment in the Adolescent with FASD
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2013 Webinar Series
Buy Now

About the NTI Upstream 2014 Webinar Series 

The 2014 NTI Upstream webinar series, Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, will explore various facets of physical and emotional development of adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The series will include in-depth explanation of how FASD adolescents' basic neurobehavioral deficits - neurocognitive, self-regulation, and adaptive behaviors - are demonstrated in behavior. The development of youth with FASD will be compared to the expression of "normal" adolescent development (social, search for independence, consequences of behavior, executive function, etc.).

Please visit www.ntiupstream.com for more information!

Bus Attendant Accused of Breaking 5-Year-Old Autistic Boy's Arm - Seriously?!

Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/bus-attendant-accused-breaking-5-old-autistic-boys-153000123.html

"Children with special needs are inherently more vulnerable to abuse than their typically-developing peers. They may be physically or cognitively less able to defend themselves. They may be less able or unable to communicate that abuse has taken place; they may be in a classroom full of kids who are less able or unable to communicate that abuse has taken place."  This story makes my heart feel as if it were physically crushed.   Have your children witnessed or been victims of abuse or bullies and if so, how did you manage it with the school?

Read the full story.

School's In Session!

4 Keys to Help Your Adopted Child Thrive at School

Live Webinar

Tuesday
September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

Can't make it on the 17th?
Don't worry, we're recording the webinar! Register for the live event and the recording will appear in your account as soon as it's available.

Each school year can bring a new set of challenges to adopted kids, no matter how old they are. Facing new school projects and explaining adoption to new classmates can bring on different feelings as children grow.

Join us for a webinar featuring adoptive mom and adoption therapist Judy Stigger, LCSW and Carmen Knight, an internationally adopted person and teacher who works with many adopted kids.

Judy and Carmen will share both professional advice and personal experiences to help parents:

• Understand what questions, concerns and capabilities children have at different ages/stages
• Respond when projects or classroom discussions trigger adoption related questions
• Gain insight into what to do when going to school and getting homework done is a battle
• Educate teachers and school staff about all types of diversity: racial, blended families, adoption and more.

Submit your questions for us here or by tweeting them to @adoptiontweet using #ALPschool13

Live Webinar Details

Tuesday, September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

PLEASE NOTE: If you purchase the certificate option, your certificate will be available upon successful completion of a post test. The post test will be in your Adoption Learning Partners account after the live event.

The audio for the live webinar can be heard over the phone or through your computer speakers. If you choose to listen through your computer, we recommend external speakers or headphones. If you call in by phone, it is a toll call. There are no refunds or exchanges for the webinar once you have purchased it. If you purchase, but are unable to attend the live webinar, a recorded version will be available in your account after the event. The recorded version broadcasts over your computer speakers

School's In Session!

4 Keys to Help Your Adopted Child Thrive at School

Live Webinar

Tuesday
September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

Can't make it on the 17th?
Don't worry, we're recording the webinar! Register for the live event and the recording will appear in your account as soon as it's available.

Each school year can bring a new set of challenges to adopted kids, no matter how old they are. Facing new school projects and explaining adoption to new classmates can bring on different feelings as children grow.

Join us for a webinar featuring adoptive mom and adoption therapist Judy Stigger, LCSW and Carmen Knight, an internationally adopted person and teacher who works with many adopted kids.

Judy and Carmen will share both professional advice and personal experiences to help parents:

• Understand what questions, concerns and capabilities children have at different ages/stages
• Respond when projects or classroom discussions trigger adoption related questions
• Gain insight into what to do when going to school and getting homework done is a battle
• Educate teachers and school staff about all types of diversity: racial, blended families, adoption and more.

Submit your questions for us here or by tweeting them to @adoptiontweet using #ALPschool13

Live Webinar Details

Tuesday, September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

PLEASE NOTE: If you purchase the certificate option, your certificate will be available upon successful completion of a post test. The post test will be in your Adoption Learning Partners account after the live event.

The audio for the live webinar can be heard over the phone or through your computer speakers. If you choose to listen through your computer, we recommend external speakers or headphones. If you call in by phone, it is a toll call. There are no refunds or exchanges for the webinar once you have purchased it. If you purchase, but are unable to attend the live webinar, a recorded version will be available in your account after the event. The recorded version broadcasts over your computer speakers

School's In Session!

4 Keys to Help Your Adopted Child Thrive at School

Live Webinar

Tuesday
September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

Can't make it on the 17th?
Don't worry, we're recording the webinar! Register for the live event and the recording will appear in your account as soon as it's available.

Each school year can bring a new set of challenges to adopted kids, no matter how old they are. Facing new school projects and explaining adoption to new classmates can bring on different feelings as children grow.

Join us for a webinar featuring adoptive mom and adoption therapist Judy Stigger, LCSW and Carmen Knight, an internationally adopted person and teacher who works with many adopted kids.

Judy and Carmen will share both professional advice and personal experiences to help parents:

• Understand what questions, concerns and capabilities children have at different ages/stages
• Respond when projects or classroom discussions trigger adoption related questions
• Gain insight into what to do when going to school and getting homework done is a battle
• Educate teachers and school staff about all types of diversity: racial, blended families, adoption and more.

Submit your questions for us here or by tweeting them to @adoptiontweet using #ALPschool13

Live Webinar Details

Tuesday, September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

PLEASE NOTE: If you purchase the certificate option, your certificate will be available upon successful completion of a post test. The post test will be in your Adoption Learning Partners account after the live event.

The audio for the live webinar can be heard over the phone or through your computer speakers. If you choose to listen through your computer, we recommend external speakers or headphones. If you call in by phone, it is a toll call. There are no refunds or exchanges for the webinar once you have purchased it. If you purchase, but are unable to attend the live webinar, a recorded version will be available in your account after the event. The recorded version broadcasts over your computer speakers

School's In Session!

4 Keys to Help Your Adopted Child Thrive at School

Live Webinar

Tuesday
September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

Can't make it on the 17th?
Don't worry, we're recording the webinar! Register for the live event and the recording will appear in your account as soon as it's available.

Each school year can bring a new set of challenges to adopted kids, no matter how old they are. Facing new school projects and explaining adoption to new classmates can bring on different feelings as children grow.

Join us for a webinar featuring adoptive mom and adoption therapist Judy Stigger, LCSW and Carmen Knight, an internationally adopted person and teacher who works with many adopted kids.

Judy and Carmen will share both professional advice and personal experiences to help parents:

• Understand what questions, concerns and capabilities children have at different ages/stages
• Respond when projects or classroom discussions trigger adoption related questions
• Gain insight into what to do when going to school and getting homework done is a battle
• Educate teachers and school staff about all types of diversity: racial, blended families, adoption and more.

Submit your questions for us here or by tweeting them to @adoptiontweet using #ALPschool13

Live Webinar Details

Tuesday, September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

PLEASE NOTE: If you purchase the certificate option, your certificate will be available upon successful completion of a post test. The post test will be in your Adoption Learning Partners account after the live event.

The audio for the live webinar can be heard over the phone or through your computer speakers. If you choose to listen through your computer, we recommend external speakers or headphones. If you call in by phone, it is a toll call. There are no refunds or exchanges for the webinar once you have purchased it. If you purchase, but are unable to attend the live webinar, a recorded version will be available in your account after the event. The recorded version broadcasts over your computer speakers

Create A Family Podcast

All For You!!

If you are a Hopscotch Family, we have something great to share with you - for FREE! As a proud sponsor of Creating A Family website, our client families are provided FREE access to their vast library of radio podcasts. The library covers a vast range of adoption related topics that you will not find anywhere else. As a bonus, you can opt to receive educational credit hours and a certificate with a password issued to each of our clients - again, free to Hopscotch client families.

To access the adoption learning center on the Creating a Family website:

Hopscotch clients can access the adoption education courses by going to the learning center at http://www.creatingafamily.org/learning-center.html

Each individual will need to create an account with a username and password (see the blue link in the upper right hand corner of the webpage for creating a new account)

Once you have logged in with you individual username and password you'll have access to listen to all the courses - for FREE!

As a sponsoring agency, our clients have access to the quiz/certificate option for each course.   You'll just need to click on the quiz icon next to a particular course listing.  You'll then be prompted for a course password that is unique to Hopscotch clients. You'll need to contact Megan for your password to receive your certificate after completion of each podcast and quiz. Be sure to print your certificate after each podcast quiz.

Here's a podcast sample:

Helping Kids Who Struggle in School

For years parents have followed the Beyond Consequences: A Love Based Approach to Helping Children with Severe Behaviors to help their children at home. But how can this approach be used in the school setting. Our guest is Heather Forbes, co-founder of the Beyond Consequences Institute, author of Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control: A Love-based Approach for Helping Children With Severe Behaviors, and mom to two children adopted as toddlers from Russia. Highlights from this show.

School's In Session!

4 Keys to Help Your Adopted Child Thrive at School

Live Webinar

Tuesday
September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

Can't make it on the 17th?
Don't worry, we're recording the webinar! Register for the live event and the recording will appear in your account as soon as it's available.

Each school year can bring a new set of challenges to adopted kids, no matter how old they are. Facing new school projects and explaining adoption to new classmates can bring on different feelings as children grow.

Join us for a webinar featuring adoptive mom and adoption therapist Judy Stigger, LCSW and Carmen Knight, an internationally adopted person and teacher who works with many adopted kids.

Judy and Carmen will share both professional advice and personal experiences to help parents:

• Understand what questions, concerns and capabilities children have at different ages/stages
• Respond when projects or classroom discussions trigger adoption related questions
• Gain insight into what to do when going to school and getting homework done is a battle
• Educate teachers and school staff about all types of diversity: racial, blended families, adoption and more.

Submit your questions for us here or by tweeting them to @adoptiontweet using #ALPschool13

Live Webinar Details

Tuesday, September 17, 2013
7:00PM Central
Q&A: 8:00PM

PLEASE NOTE: If you purchase the certificate option, your certificate will be available upon successful completion of a post test. The post test will be in your Adoption Learning Partners account after the live event.

The audio for the live webinar can be heard over the phone or through your computer speakers. If you choose to listen through your computer, we recommend external speakers or headphones. If you call in by phone, it is a toll call. There are no refunds or exchanges for the webinar once you have purchased it. If you purchase, but are unable to attend the live webinar, a recorded version will be available in your account after the event. The recorded version broadcasts over your computer speakers

Temple Grandin Interviewed on NPR's Dinner Party

Temple Grandin was interviewed on NPR's Dinner Party last weekend. It was wonderful!

So many great discussion items being discussed in our live chat with Temple Grandin! School, therapies, transitioning to adulthood, etc. We are still chatting it up so click here to join us: http://bit.ly/1806bqL  (If the chat finishes you can still read the transcript of the event in it's entirety via that link!)

Relevant links:

• Sea of Faces Foundation – Financial Assistance
• Senator Mary Landrieu – Adoption and Foster Care

Cash Lovell Stables & Riding Academies: Thoughts from our Ghana Trip

A stream of warm sewage ran through the place. And yet, the children's uniforms, like the beautiful souls wearing them, were clean. Their hair was perfectly tended, their faces lit by excitement and the brilliant white from their eyes and teeth.

They hugged us. Over and over again. They took us by our hands and showed us their school, their library, their classroom, their outhouse, and their prized water spigot.  In a village called La, on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana, we found ourselves. The children called us abruni, which means white man. What do you think of abrunis? I asked them. "Rich and beautiful."

Read more.

Determination and a Love of Reading: From Orphanage to Scholar!

Armen Kazazean with
just a few of the 500 books
he whipped through
this summer.

Armen came home when he was just two years old.  He has easily grown into his family and shares a family passion for reading.  We can hardly wait to see how his determination and love of books will shape his life.  He will do something extraordinary, he’s just that remarkable of a little boy.  Read more…