While in Sactown I had the chance to sit with Ed from San
Jose Public Library and talk about how he and his team have implemented
inclusive storytimes. He was
instrumental in starting the “Inclusive” storytimes at his library and the
videos produced by him and the SJ team are a great introduction for how to get
started with this type of program (
http://sjpl.org/inclusiveservices). He helped answer a few questions I had about
providing this type of resource to the community. Here are some of the things we spoke about:
Question: Are all of your storytimes “inclusive” at San
Jose?
Response: No, San Jose offers “inclusive” storytimes every
other weekend. One nearby branch focuses
on a tactile storytime with crafts and on another week Ed offers an auditory/music
based program. There are 2 inclusive
storytimes per month at 2 SJ locations.
Question: Where did San Jose get the term “inclusive” and
why not have a specific storytime just for children with special needs? Right now there is debate on whether services
of this type should be “inclusive” (integrating people with special needs into
regular storytime and activities) or tailored exclusively for the special needs
community.
Response: “This is a hotly debated topic” however, the Santa
Clara County: Office of Education is trying to create inclusive environments
for children in schools and their initiative stresses this type of integration.
They currently use the term “inclusive” and this is recognized by the special
needs community.
When I told Ed that we try to make all of our storytimes
welcoming and accommodate people of all abilities by providing storyboards
(pictures of what type of activity we are doing and what’s happening next),
fidget toys, and timers he commented that we are doing everything right by offering
these materials and by trying to make families with special needs feel more
welcome.
I also spoke with Carolyn Brooks from El Dorado County and
she gave us a great reference for a potential trainer who helped their library
system create an inclusive storytime.
Robyn Chu (
http://www.ghcot.com/aboutus.html)
helped Carolyn and her team develop a special needs storytime by training El
Dorado staff and creating SenseSational Storytimes (
http://www.eldoradolibrary.org/SenseSational%20Storytime%20Manual.pdf). There is also an 82 page manual that walks libraries
step by step through the process of how to start a sensory/special needs based
storytime. For those of you that don’t know
who Carolyn is, she is the master at bringing organizations together to create awesome
library programs. She is also the first
person to rent a Play and Learn Island™ straight from the showroom floor at
CLA.
Carolyn will be sending us some information and said that
Mrs. Chu travels and gives presentations across the nation. I think our next steps will be to contact the
San Bernardino, County of Education to see what terms they use when reaching
out to the special needs community. We
also want to know what tips they have and if they can help guide us. We want to make sure we are working with the city
and county services to create something that is recognizable and marketed
properly to the special needs community; and that we are doing everything we
can to get educated and informed so we can create the best possible environment
and storytime for patrons in our community.
