Getting started with Serving the Special Needs Community

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.  

World Peace Rose Garden on our walk to the old courthouse

Morning - Wess and Angelica looking quite chipper

WiFi, oh WiFi, where art thou WiFi?

We were working on the blog last night and it was working great until 9:30ish pm when it went down and wouldn't allow us back on. 

We ended up having a (long but great) conversation with Suzanne Flint and others about libraries, training and life.

We will send more blog updates when we get out of training later today. 

Until then try and find the word "Eureka" in this photo.

First day of training

I didn't realize that this Touchpoints Pilot training was limited to a few select libraries - us, San Jose,  San Francisco, Contra Costa, County of Los Angeles, Butte County and El Dorado County - I hope I'm not forgetting anyone else.

We were all crammed around a small room this morning but moved to a larger room later in the afternoon. The morning was full of energy but the afternoon was trying.  Everyone shared their visions for the library and it was very energizing to hear how passionate people were about their work. We broke out into small groups and discussed what we expected from families and community members who entered our libraries. I was part of a group that had 2 opposite views for every answer. We then had to answer what families and community members expected from the library. It was an exercise that I had done at an ELF regional meeting a while ago, but it was still an interesting exercise to sort of stretch our mindsets.

After lunch, we moved into a room in the older courthouse building and had 4 hours of intensive lectures from our Touchpoints trainers. They went over Touchpoints techniques, child development and how we can use the techniques to empower family relationships.

Long day but looking forward to learning more tomorrow!

(Wi-fi is very spotty at the hotel - blogging via my phone which is a pain)

Use your Librarian Superpowers!

Super excited that the training we did today took place at the California State Library building.  We have to walk 6 blocks but it's nice to see where all the magic happens. 

On the way there we saw this beautiful flower but not sure what it is.  Can you name this plant?  It was in front of the Department of Food and Agriculture. 

The rest of the training is taking place in the historic library which now the courthouse.

Rabbits, Birds & Luggage oh my!

Sactown airport is pretty swank with large art pieces, bird cages hanging from the ceiling and mosaics...on to the hotel.

WAM to Sacramento

Team WAM is heading to Sacramento for the "Touchpoints Pilot Library Training". 

Suzanne Flint, with the California State Library and Early Learning with Families (ELF) 2.0 Initiative, has been working with a small group of us to adapt the Touchpoints Training for Libraries.

Our goal this week is to attend this training, bring Touchpoints to RC, and to help be a part of future trainings throughout California.

To help give you a bit of background on what all of this is, we'll share some of our pre-training materials with you -

Who is Dr. Brazleton?

I call him the baby whisperer!


Why early learning?

RC knows quite a bit about Early Learning :).


What is Touchpoints?


Child development is messy - and should be. Children (and everyone around them) "falls apart" (or regress) before a new developmental stage can be reached.

For example - when a baby is learning a skill, perhaps walking - sleeping might be disturbed (certainly will make everyone fall apart)! 

Touchpoints helps to educate providers about child development, where these "fall apart" points might be, and most importantly how to help children and parents during these times.

As a caregiver of young children, how great would be to know that your child might be approaching the walking stage and might not be sleeping. Would it help ease your mind to know that this is a normal stage in development and know how to respond? How helpful would it be to know you might not be getting a lot of sleep coming up and could perhaps schedule a visit for a relative to help?

Touchpoints also teaches how to communicate with families, promote care giver relationships, and  how we can better serve our children and families.

For example,  we recently divided our storytimes into more specific age groups to try and group children by their developmental behavior. We can families by offering developmental tips, choosing toys to highlight children's learning stages for parents, and choosing books/songs/activities for this age group.