Pretend Play: Valentine Cookie Bakery

Pretend Play: Valentine Cookie Bakery:


I can’t take credit for this idea: Valerie from Frugal Family Fun is the genius behind this fun pretend play activity! I was motivated to make these felt cookies because we are in charge of Parents Night Out at our church this Saturday and I needed to come up with some activities for the kids to do. I thought it would be something that the girls especially would enjoy.

I let Big Brother try it out ahead of time and I was so surprised by how much he enjoyed it! Over 30 solid minutes of rolling out felt cookies, using the cookie cutter, icing, and adding sprinkles! He could have cared less about the felt snowman kit I made him, but he loves the cookie shop. Go figure.

Here’s what you’ll need: felt in various colors (we used light brown, red, pink, and white), heart cookie cutters, rolling pin (we used the one that came with our Play-Doh), and pinking shears (or regular scissors).

1. Use a cookie cutter to trace the heart shape on your piece of light brown felt.

2. Carefully use pinking shears or scissors to cut exactly on the traced line. You’ll be using both the heart AND the remaining felt, so you want to keep everything neat.

3. Sandwich some hot glue between two of the hearts to make a thicker, plump-looking cookie (after all, that’s how I like my cookies).  Visit this link for additional pictures and instructions.

Babies Read Lips When Learning to Talk, Researchers Report in Breakthrough Study

Babies Read Lips When Learning to Talk, Researchers Report in Breakthrough Study: Babies Read Lips When Learning to Talk, Researchers Report in Breakthrough Study


Birth to Thrive Online
birthtothrive.thrivebyfivewa.org
When babies learn how to talk they do more than listen to everyone around them, they read their lips, new research suggests.

Foster Kids Need Services, Not More Prescriptions

Foster Kids Need Services, Not More Prescriptions:
By Laura Boyd, Foster Family-Based Treatment Association


New light has been shed recently on the plight of foster youth and too limited application of individualized, clinically assessed psychosocial treatment protocols for these vulnerable youth. While the national child advocacy community and certain leaders on Capitol Hill have been concerned about the over-prescribing and/or inappropriate prescribing of psychotropic medications for foster youth for some time, this conundrum has now been brought front-and-center. The December edition of Pediatrics, the professional journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, published a study of foster youth in one mid-Atlantic state demonstrating the high rate of prescribing of powerful antipsychotic medications for this population. Quickly following, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) published a report with similar utilization rates in five other states. Time Magazine, the New York Times, and most impressively, Diane Sawyer (ABC, 20/20) claimed the public stage to inform America about this crisis among foster youth. In short, foster youth are disproportionately being treated with major antipsychotic drugs instead of the psychosocial, behaviorally tested, evidence -informed clinical treatments that can address and ameliorate their trauma, destructive behaviors, and mental or emotional illnesses. Trauma and behavioral health issues do frequently follow the experiences of abused and neglected youth who are removed from their families for their own protection and well-being. Ironically, a system that medicates and does not treat the underlying clinical issues might itself be accused of 'neglect'?

Beyond the moral question of providing known, effective clinical response to foster youth, there is also a matter of cost and prudent investment of Medicaid dollars and other taxpayer monies. The most frequently prescribed psychotropic medications are Resperdal, Seroquel, and Zyprexa. Responsible medical practitioners know that these drugs are for 1- adults and 2- for treatment of schizophrenia and bi-polar disorders, both of which are rare in the child/adolescent population. What has not been sufficiently stated in this debate thus far is the additional fact that these drugs are among the most expensive of all drugs for mental health treatment. They are expensive, they are not appropriate for the child population, and they do not address the causes of the emotional and development disabilities of foster youth to whom they are prescribed.

The Foster Family-based Treatment Association (the only national association of providers of TFC in North America) is actively engaged in solutions to better serve high-needs foster youth through treatment
services. Treatment or Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) is specialized foster care consisting of intensive behavioral health services delivered in foster homes by licensed mental health clinicians and supported 24/7 by the active participation of highly trained foster parents in the overall clinical plan for high-needs foster youth. TFC is proven to be an effective treatment for children with complex emotional, mental, and physical problems and emphasizes the delivery of clinical services.

FFTA and a broad coalition of 55 child advocacy organizations are urging CMS to publish official guidance promptly to State Medicaid Directors clearly identifying the services integral to TFC and to which custody youth are entitled under EPSDT. The variations across states in their lack of understanding about TFC covered services too often denies foster youth access to services and forces well-meaning physicians to rely on their other 'tool', ie. Medication.

If utilized appropriately by state child welfare entities and state Medicaid administering bodies, TFC is a successfully demonstrated service for addressing the unique and complex trauma and behavior health
challenges of foster youth who are otherwise unfortunately medicated with expensive and inappropriate psychotropic drugs.
The views expressed by guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for Children and Families.