Presentations

June 01, 2011

The early learning atmosphere in Ontario includes a number of significant policy changes that have created new opportunities and new challenges. Examples include moving the jurisdictional responsibility for early learning and child care to the Ministry of Education, a new regulatory body for early childhood educators, the expansion of degree programs in early learning, the unionization of early childhood educators and a blend of the teaching and early learning profession.

The 8th Summer Institute on Early Childhood Development addressed how these changes impact early learning professionals and focus on relationships amongst families and professionals that involve practitioners, colleges and universities, professional associations and government.

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Presentations

Open Remarks

Jenny Jenkins and Olivia Nuamah

• Summer Institute 2011 - Welcome and Introduction (Video)
• Welcome to the Summer Institute (PDF)
   

Research to Inform Development of Effective Public Preschool Programs

Ellen Frede and Steve Barnett

• Summer Institute 2011 - Ellen Frede and Steve Barnett (Video)

• Research to Inform Development of Effective Public Preschool Programs (PDF)

   

Panel Discussion: Building Minds for Collaboration

Carl Corter (facilitator), Jenny Jenkins, Janette Pelletier, Sue Makin, and Patricia Chorney Rubin

• Summer Institute 2011 - Building Minds for Collaboration (Video)
• How do we provide children with the skill for collaboration? (PDF)
• Building Minds for Collaboration (PDF)

 

Securing the Future for our Children: Preschool Excellence Initiative

Linda Lowther

• Summer Institute 2011 - Securing the Future for our Children (Video)
• Securing the Future for our Children (PDF)

 

Children, Their Families and Community Supports: What the Research Tells Us

Jenny Jenkins and Janette Pelletier

• How do we provide children with the skill for collaboration? (PDF)
• Children, Their Families and Community Supports: What the Research Tells Us (PDF)

 

Merging Early Learning Knowledge and Practice: Lessons from the Ground

Patricia Chorney Rubin, Early Learning Teams

• Bruce/WoodGreen Early Learning Centre A Toronto First Duty Site (PDF)

 

Public Health & Early Childhood Education: Partnership Possibilities Through Child & Family Centres

Sue Makin

• Partnership Possibilities through Child and Family Centres: Public Health and Early Childhood Education (PDF)

 

Panel Discussion: Moving the Vision Forward Through Local Leadership

Jane Bertrand (facilitator), Elaine Baxter-Trahair, Anne Biscaro, and Catherine Fife

• Summer Institute 2011 - Moving the Vision Forward (Video)
• City of Toronto: Service and System Integration (PDF)
• Growing the 18 Month Strategy: A pilot project in a Niagara Falls Family Health Team (PDF)
   

Closing Remarks & Awards Presentation

Michael Cooke and Patricia Chorney Rubin

• Summer Institute 2011 - Closing Remarks and Award Presentation (Video)

 

Posters

• Externalizing Behaviors in Children In-care: The Role of Child-welfare Workers and Foster Families (PowerPoint Download)
  Connie Cheung, Deborah Goodman, George Leckie, Jennifer M. Jenkins, Heather Prime, and Mark Wade
• Can we work together? Preliminary findings from an examination of ECE and teacher dynamics in full-day early learning-kindergarten (PDF)
  Ainsley Gibson and Janette Pelletier
• What Children’s Sharing can Teach us about their Understanding of Rational Numbers (PDF)
  Cate Gulyas, Zack Hawes, and Shauna Kochen
• The Developmental Progression of Rational Number Understanding Using the Number Line (PowerPoint Download)
  Stephanie Hanson, Diana Chang, Michelle Chee, Niki Dowlat Singh, Allison Musson, and Joan Moss
• Tom Goes To School: An Interactive Board Game (PDF)
  Melanie Mancini and Jamie Morris
• Ecological Determinants of School Readiness: A Longitudinal Study (PowerPoint Download)
  Mark Wade, Dillon Browne, Heather Prime, and Jennifer Jenkins

April 27, 2011

Cindy Blackstock is the Executive Director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, an Atkinson Charitable Foundation Fellow and has recently joined the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Blackstock will share her advice and knowledge on how every person can make a difference in the lives of thousands of First Nations children in under two minutes.

November 10, 2010

A small percentage (10 to 15%) of typically developing children exhibit stable fear responses and wariness to unfamiliar and familiar stimuli from infancy through childhood. These children are cautious and reticent in social interactions and have been characterized as temperamentally shy and socially withdrawn. In a series of studies over the last 15 years, we have shown that temperamentally shy children display a number of distinct psychophysiological responses at rest and in response to social challenges. These patterns are evidenced across a range of biological measures and contexts, making some of these children vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

On November 10, 2010, The Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology and the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development hosted a colloquium featuring Louis Schmidt, PhD, Director, Child Emotion Laboratory, Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University. Dr. Schmidt focussed on the origins, development course and outcomes of this temperamental style. He discussed how work on the phenomenon of temperamental shyness informs basic theory regarding brain‐behaviour relations and practice regarding the management of fearful children within the family and educational settings.

May 27, 2010

Presented by Zeenat Janmohamed, Janette Pelletier, and Carl Corter at the AECEO conference, May 27, 2010.

May 03, 2010

Measuring and monitoring quality in early childhood and care programs can help to inform research, policy development, and program practice. The following research papers discuss measures of quality and help us think about initiatives in the early learning sector to improve program quality, focus on relevant indicators of quality, and how to improve social and development outcomes for children.

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Presentations

• Early Childhood Education Programs in Quebec: How Can we Raise the Bar? (PDF)
  Christa Japel
• Monitoring Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care Programs (PDF)
  Michal Perlman
• Tulsa to Toronto: Lessons Learned from Assessing Early Childhood Environments and Outcomes (PDF)
  Deborah A. Phillips
• Managing Quality City of Toronto - Operating Criteria (PDF)
  Petr Varmuza
• Monitoring quality in early childhood education programs: A bunch of W’s and one H (PDF)
  Michal Perlman

 

Videos

• Carl Corter and Charles Pascal - Measuring Quality Symposium
• Michal Perlman - Measuring Quality Symposium
• Petr Varmuza - Measuring Quality Symposium
• Christa Japel - Measuring Quality Symposium
• Deborah Phillips - Measuring Quality Symposium

January 08, 2010

In partnership with Invest in Kids, Better Beginnings, Better Futures and Toronto First Duty, the Atkinson Centre facilitated this one-day event focussing on the implementation of With Our Best Future in Mind. Topics included service integration, parent/community involvement and the Community Vitality Survey.

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Presentation

• A Child and Family System for Ontario: Prenatal to 12 Years (PDF)
  Charles Pascal
• Our best future: transforming vision into action (PDF)
  Jim Grieve
• Vital Communities, Vital Support (PDF)
  Carol Crill Russell
• Better Beginnings, Better Futures: A Comprehensive , Community-Based Prevention Program to Facilitate Successful Transition to Primary School and Beyond (PDF)
  Ray DeV. Peters
• Better Beginnings, Better Futures: Partnerships with Service-providers and Parents (PDF)
  Geoff Nelson & Marck Pancer
• Toronto First Duty - TFD (PDF)
  Carl Corter & Janette Pelletier
• Toronto First Duty: Parents, Community, and Integration (PDF)
  Toronto First Duty