The following trainings are regularly provided by Let’s Grow Together to those working in the Northwest area of Cork City.
Further details regarding the trainings below along with information about additional training opportunities are announced through our social media channels.
Learning Language and Loving It- The Hanen Program® for Early Childhood Educators
In any preschool classroom, the needs of children can be very diverse, and some can be much harder to engage and teach than others. This makes your job as an early childhood educator difficult when you’re trying to make sure that every child in your classroom is given the best possible opportunities for learning.
The Learning Language and Loving It Program was designed to provide early childhood educators with practical strategies for helping all children in the classroom build language and social skills, no matter what their learning and communication styles are.
The Hanen Program provides you with practical, research-based strategies for:
- Promoting every child’s language development using natural everyday activities, routines and play
- Becoming attuned to children’s interests so you can follow their lead, which is known to foster language development
- Adjusting the way you talk to help children develop more advanced language skills
- Promoting interaction among the children themselves
- Facilitating language-learning in pretend play
- Fostering emergent literacy skills
A Hanen Certified speech-language therapist provides the training to a group of up to twenty educators.
The programmes involves 7 intensive group training sessions (17.5 hours in total) in which you learn through a variety of media and by interacting with your fellow educators. You will be provided with user-friendly resources to support your learning. Each participant also has 4 sessions of their interactions with children being videotaped and reviewed with the group leader for feedback.
Newborn Behavioural Observation Training
This training allows the practitioner to support positive parent-baby interactions & relationships by helping parents to observe how their newborn baby is developing and communicating.
Practitioners will become certified to use the Newborn Behaviours Observation tool for babies up to 3 months old.
Community Infant Mental Health Training
This training is the first step into the world of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health for those work work in our community. It allows people from a variety of backgrounds, including Gardaí, teachers, Public Health Nurses, Speech and Language therapists and others, to come together and learn about the early relationships that babies and young children experience.
The training covers areas including: brain development, attachment, emotional regulation, reflection and how to implement changes in our interactions to support positive outcomes for babies and families.
Expressions of interest for this training can be sent to info@letsgrowtogether.ie or call us on 0216010656
Peep LTP Facilitator Training
The Peep Learning Together Programme helps to build strong parent-child relationships by increasing parental knowledge and confidence around supporting their child’s learning and play in day-to-day life.
The programme contributes to children’s social and emotional development; communication and language skills, early literacy and maths skills; and healthy physical development.
The facilitator training equips practitioners to:
- engage and support parents to build on what they already do to enhance their child’s early learning and development, through talking and playing as part of everyday life,
- explore practical ideas, strategies and resources, using the comprehensive and flexible Peep Learning Together Programme,
- deliver universal or targeted sessions with parents and children together, to meet local needs – in one-to-one, group or drop-in sessions; indoors, outdoors or virtually,
- contribute to a smooth transition to preschool or school if appropriate, helping families to feel ready for preschool and school,
- gain a practitioner accreditation unit (optional, see below: level 5 in the Republic of Ireland).
Ongoing support after the training (provided by Peeple in the UK):
- online access to the whole Programme, including 74 child development topics, session plans, handouts etc. (Trained practitioners can also opt to buy a printed Programme Folder containing all the topics.)
- a range of other post-course delivery support
- Optional: Practitioner accreditation unit – £40 + vat per learner, including downloadable portfolio, support sessions, assessment and certification.
Togetherness Training
Participants learn about:
- Early social and emotional development
- The effects that early caregiving relationships and experiences have on brain development
- Attachment, emotional regulation, and reflective capacity
- The impacts of stress and adverse childhood experiences
- Observation skills to use when working with families
- Reflective practise skills
