PROGRAM INFORMATION . . .

     

Profile of EvenStart Children    

Early Childhood Education / Special Needs Overview    

Our Philosophy of Care & Treatment:      

Children's Stories

     

Professional Expertise

     
         
   
Profile of EvenStart Children
   
  The EvenStart program is designed specifically for children demonstrating vulnerability and risk associated with poverty, childhood trauma, attachment disorders, physical/sexual abuse, and neglect of basic human needs. The types of impoverished background of the children that we serve, are sometimes associated with prenatal and perinatal conditions such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), cocaine addiction, prematurity, and failure to thrive, which compounds the effects of a compromised environment on a child’s development. Beginning life with these health
and developmental problems
further limits the child’s ability to handle the stresses associated
with a sometime chaotic home environments. These realities effect the types of experience a child has. This is turn, can adversely effect brain development.		 At EvenStart, we focus both on the child’s development and the family’s resources
as a whole.
 
     
Early Childhood Education / Special Needs Overview  
 

The effects of a traumatized start in life, on child development, especially in the first three years of life, are well documented by Dr. Bruce Perry as an internationally recognized authority on children in crisis (http://www.childtrauma.org/CTAMATERIALS/incubated.asp ).

Traumatized children may experience
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
resulting in increased muscle tone,
increased temperature, increased startle response,
(i.e., a constant ‘fight or flight’ syndrome).
Such children have no resting heart rate,
decreased sleep regulation and
decreased cardiovascular regulation.

Difficulties in regulating a child's physiological state are associated with emotional and behavioral problems. The children we serve at EvenStart are easily upset and often unable to calm themselves (i.e., self-regulate). If they experience inconsistent caring strategies in their homes, they are further limited in their ability to develop emotional and behavioral control. When their lives are inconsistent, they have difficulty developing stable concepts of cause-and-effect.

The EvenStart Preschool program is a stable place where they can experience consistent and rewarding interactions. It is designed to proved a safe, predictable, and supportive environment.

  
   

Our Philosophy of Care & Treatment:
Our Children's Stories

Pages 14-19
 Program Guide

  
 

Our Philosophy of Care & Treatment:
Professional Expertise

Pages 10-11
Program Guide

 
   
   
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Rev. January 2005
Content Copyright 2001-2005,
EvenStart For Children's Society - Charitable Organization #88763 6132 RR001