Early Childhood Symposium_March_2019_protected

BRIDGE TO SUCCESS
100 N. ELM ST.
2ND FLOOR

WATERBURY, CT 06702
(203) 754 0040

Early Childhood Symposium, 2019

Background
On March 8, 2019, Waterbury Public School, Waterbury School Readiness, Team Inc., and Bridge to Success
organized a symposium for early childhood providers. Half (50%) of the attendees were preschool or kindergarten
teachers and another quarter (26%) were paraprofessionals or teacher assistants, 11% were professionals who
frequently interact with children (e.g. clinicians) and 12% were at a leadership level. The vast majority (91%) of
attendees was female and a few (9%) were male. Most attendees (72%) identified as non-Hispanic White, 12% as
Hispanic, 10% as non-Hispanic Black/African American, and 5% of the participants identified with another
race/ethnicity.

There were three sections to the day:

I. Circle of Security Training (DCF)
II. Pyramid Model Workshop (Consultant)
III. Resilience Screening and Discussion (BTS)

Circle of Security Parenting (COS P) training

Slightly less than a third (29%) of the participants Familiarity with Circle of Security Parenting
had heard of COS P before. There were only a
handful of people (9%) who had received a formal I was trained as a COS P facilitator and ran 4%
training on COS P. The majority of participants (or currently run) parents groups 5%
either agreed (50%) or strongly agreed (48%) that
they learned something new during the COS P I was trained as a COS P facilitator but 16%
presentation. Seventy-two percent (72%) strongly never ran any parents groups 7%
agreed that the families they serve could benefit
from COS P. All but 1% of the participants strongly I heard about it but never had any formal
would recommend the COS P training and/or training about it
presentation to their colleagues.
I think I have heard about it

Not at all I don't know what it is 67%

Pyramid Model Workshop n=55 Pyramid Model

Of the 90 attendees completing a post survey, 95% said that they
attended the training on the pyramid model. Almost everyone
(strongly) agreed that they learned something new (94%) and the
presenter was engaging (98%). Before the training, 22% of the
attendees thought that the pyramid model had three or fewer tiers,
after the event. As the picture on the right shows, the model has
either four or five tiers, depending on how you count the tiers.
After the event there were only four people (5%) who thought the
pyramid has three tiers or less. This indicates that attendees
increased their understanding of the multilayered interventions
for children’s socioemotional learning.

Resilience Screening

More than a quarter (28%) of all attendees felt only a little familiar with
Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). Yet, all experienced
working with children with multiple challenges (e.g. lack of concentration,
children acting aggressively, having limited verbal abilities, etc.). However,
after lunch attendees split up in a group attended a session on curriculum
and a group (about 80 people) attending the screening of the documentary
movie Resilience. While 29% of the attendees at the screening had already
watched the movie, all learned something new: two thirds (68%) strongly
agreed and one third (32%) agreed. Similar numbers learned something new from the table talks (63% and 37%,
respectively). Of the 25 people writing a qualitative answer to what they found most valuable of the day, 68%
mentioned the resilience screening and training on trauma.

Trauma

Traumatic experiences of the child(ren) Only 5% of all attendees said they had not worked with children who

the attendees worked with have had at least one traumatic experience in their life. As is shown

Health concern of child 75% on the left, most attendees had worked with children with various
Not enough to eat 65% traumatic experiences. In some cases, an attendee may have worked
Incarcerated caregiver 65%
Threats at home 61% with a child who experienced multiple traumas and in some cases the
Separated from caregiver
61% attendee may have worked with multiple children with a single

Health of parent 60% traumatic experience. The

Evicted from home 53% table on the right displays the Resources mentioned
Violence in community 53%
Violence at Home 46% percentage of attendees who knows 3< resources 42%
Sexual abuse/assault DCF 59%
Caregiver died 28% indicate they have worked
Violence at school Parent/caregiver 10%
Natural disaster 26% with at least one child Medical staff 23%
Social worker
n=57 (multiple answers possible) 21% experiencing the specific Teacher 18%
19% trauma. 34%

Attendees were asked if they could name three resources for children 20%
experiencing trauma. At the beginning of the event (n=60), 42% was able to 43%

do and this rose to 59% at the end of the event (n=54). Not only were more 37%
54%

38%
54%

people able to mention resources, they also mentioned more unique and Pre (n=60) Post (n=54)

specific resources, as the figure on the right shows.

Number of ACEs of attendees Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)

19% 42% Fifty-seven attendees answered questions on their own Adverse
12% Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Nearly half (42%) of the attendees
said they did not have an ACE. While a quarter had one, 12% had two
26% ACEs and a fifth (19%) had three or more traumatic experiences
0 1 2 3 or more growing up. There is a stark difference between people identifying as
White (n=40) who had average ACE score of 0.95 and people of color
n=59 (n=16) who had an average ACE score of 2.38.

General satisfaction

All (100%) attendees (strongly) agreed that the event was well organized and 98% (strongly) agreed it was relevant
to their work. In the verbal feedback attendees mentioned that they would like to see more event like this, more
events like this in the community, and more time spent on each of the subjects.

“Thank you for all the sessions- well worth attending each!”
(Attending pre-school teacher assistant)