February 7, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, you will hear from Helping Hands Preschool principal Heather Mix, some of her staff, and a parent with students who attend the preschool to learn more about the program and the services provided.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome to the next episode of The Hive.
(00:18):
Be in the know stories about Middina City Schools.
I'm Amy Busby, Director of Community Relations for Middina City Schools, and your host for
this exciting new journey.
This podcast is a space where we'll dive into stories, successes, and challenges that make
Middina City Schools a special place to learn and grow.
We'll bring you new episodes at least once a month, packed with updates, celebrations,
(00:43):
and conversations that matter to our students, staff, and community.
These episodes will live on our Middina City Schools YouTube channel and other outlets
where you get your podcasts.
Today, we will be discussing Helping Hands Preschool at Heritage, the district's dedicated
preschool program.
Heather Mix, the principal of Helping Hands, and Christina Hines, and Jenny Almer, our
(01:06):
teachers at the preschool, and Hilary Hayes is our special guest, parents of students
here at Helping Hands.
So thanks for joining me on this episode.
Okay, so we are going to just get an overview of Helping Hands Preschool.
(01:31):
Heather, if you can talk to us about what the mission and vision of Helping Hands is,
and also maybe highlight the school's commitment to early childhood education and development.
Sure.
Thanks for having us on the podcast today.
So Helping Hands Preschool is a preschool program that we provide mandated preschool
(01:52):
services to children that are three to five years old with delays and also to students
who are typically developing in the same classrooms.
Here at the preschool, we're typically a student's first school experience, so we want that experience
to be really positive for the families and the children that are here.
So we strive to make sure that we do a student-centered learning environment here at the
(02:17):
preschool, and we want the children to love coming to school and learn and really instill
in them that enthusiasm for learning and create that partnership with families to help them
meet their goals.
And that's a very important point that you make is that it's important to instill lifelong
(02:41):
learning at an early age.
Can you talk a little bit about the program structure?
What does the daily schedule look like and explain maybe a little bit that the school
day is actually divided in two?
Yeah, absolutely.
So at Helping Hands Preschool, we currently have eight classrooms here that we have an
(03:02):
AM session and a PM session.
And each of these classrooms has a balance of children with disabilities and children
who are typically developing up to 16 kids in a classroom.
So our program is in session during the school year from August to May, and we run Monday
through Thursday.
Our AM session, we run from 8.45 to 11.30, and our PM session runs from 12.30 to 3.15.
(03:27):
And during the day, they do a lot of the normal preschool things.
They have a circle time.
They have snack.
They do play time.
They do recess centers.
So learning activities all mixed in with the fun of learning.
So one of the special things about preschool is that preschool licensing does require us
to offer a continuum of services.
(03:48):
And then a lot of people don't realize that.
So here at the preschool, we're actually fortunate to be able to offer that entire continuum
here in one building for children who qualify for special education services.
And that includes the inclusion with typically developing peers.
So here at the school this year, we have one general education classroom.
(04:09):
We have three integrated classrooms and three intensive needs classrooms and nine special
education classrooms.
And then we also have an itinerant teacher who goes out in the community and is able
to see students out in the community who qualify for special education services.
And so with that, students, how did students typically arrive at school?
(04:34):
Are they come with their parents?
Is there busing services?
So our students that qualify for special education services are eligible to ride the bus, but
our students who are typically developing peers are transported by their parents.
So we have a combination of car riders, bus riders, walkers, daycares bringing students.
(04:54):
So Heritage is the new home to helping hands preschool.
And you were formerly part of the North Rebellion Mentory family.
And so maybe talk before we get into your staff, maybe talk a little bit about the building
and kind of the process that you went through this last summer.
(05:15):
All right.
So the building underwent renovations over the summertime and it was a quick turnaround,
but we were able to get 12 classrooms, individual classrooms built here in the building.
This building, if you're not familiar with Heritage, was an open concept building.
There was no walls.
There was no doors.
We now have walls and doors and 12 classrooms.
(05:37):
And we have a lot of space to be able to provide services such as PT group and OT group and
hunts and PTO events that we have a PTO now all throughout the building and the space for
us to grow, which is really helpful because we've seen an increase in students qualifying
for special education services every year since I've been here.
Talk a little bit about the state mandates when it comes to typical peers and how those
(06:02):
mandates have changed.
Right.
So the state wants as many typical peers in our program as possible.
So they want to see more general education classrooms and more integrated classrooms.
Sometimes our students need to have a little bit more support and they need to have more
paraprofessionals in the room and maybe that gen ed setting is not necessarily the best
(06:28):
placement for them.
But we want to still have typically developing peers in their classrooms with them.
So we have typically developing peers in our classrooms as those peer models, but sometimes
there's four or five.
Sometimes there are seven, eight, nine peers in those classrooms.
And then so really that's a big reason why we needed to move your classrooms and your
(06:53):
facility to Heritage and this is kind of a repurpose building based on what we needed
to do when we redistricted.
So it's really great that we have still have students here at Heritage helping hands.
So can you talk a little bit about your staff?
(07:14):
Who are your, how does that work?
And I know that you probably have your teaching staff, you have your paraprofessionals, et
cetera.
Yeah.
So we're really fortunate here at Medina to be able to provide these preschool services
here in our buildings and through licensed teachers and paraprofessionals here in our
(07:36):
district.
So all of our teachers have either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree in early childhood
special education.
And some of our paraprofessionals hold associates and bachelor's degrees in some field of
education and some of our paraprofessionals are also taking college classes to work towards
a degree in education or a related field like speech pathology.
(07:57):
We have, each of our classrooms has an early childhood intervention specialist and at least
one paraprofessional in it.
And sometimes based off the needs of the classroom, then there might be additional paraprofessionals
in there.
We also have speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist and physical therapist
here in the building every single day that work with not only our students on IEPs but
(08:20):
also our typically developing students get access to those people, which is really great.
And then we have a school psychologist that is here all the time and she is wonderful
with working with families and explaining the whole evaluation process and coming into
classrooms and helping out.
(08:40):
She's really been a great support for our program also.
So you talk about IEPs, maybe you can explain to our listeners who may not know what an
IEP is, including that, that those, what those letters stand for.
Sure.
An acronym.
Right.
(09:01):
Yep.
Sorry.
In the special education world, we're just used to rattling all those things off.
An IEP is an individual education plan for students.
So I'm actually was going to talk about all of that too.
So in Ohio, special, all school districts have to provide preschool special education
services to children who are identified as having a disability or a delay in one or more
(09:25):
areas.
So when we do these evaluations and we find out they have a delay in speech or they have
a delay in maybe speech and fine motor, then we will develop as a team and that includes
the parents, the family member, will develop an individual education plan, an IEP for the
student to be able to work towards meeting those goals and help get them up to somewhere
(09:50):
closer to age expectancy.
And so what, what is the age that students can enroll in the preschool?
So for our typically developing peers, they can register and start enrolling at three.
We take students who are three, four and five.
And for students who are going to be evaluated or come in with an IEP, we get students kind
(10:13):
of two different ways.
So we have students who have already been receiving services through early intervention,
which is starts can start as young as like birth almost when they, those younger ages
and they get referred to us from early intervention and we start evaluating them around two and
a half and they can start preschool at three.
We also see students be referred by family members or even community preschool programs
(10:39):
and those students can be referred to us anytime between three, four and five.
And can you talk a little bit about the enrollment process because it is a little bit different
than someone coming in registering as a kindergarten student?
Yes, absolutely.
It is quite a bit different.
So for those of you not familiar with preschool, special education services students and qualify
(11:02):
all throughout the year.
So we don't begin the school year full like many of our classes do in other grades or
the teachers do in other grades.
We evaluate kids all year long and that includes in the summer to determine if they qualify
for those special education services.
And if they do qualify, we have to provide them those services.
So we also have a select number of peer spots available and a peer model is a peer student
(11:28):
is a role model student who is three to five years old who demonstrates those age appropriate
skills and language development behavior, social skills and they don't have special
needs of some sort.
So the first step that if you wanted to enroll in the preschool as a peer, you would complete
and return a peer model application which is found on our website.
(11:53):
It's all done electronically.
Then you would just go to our website and you click apply now and your name would go
on the list.
After we receive all of the applications for those peers, we review them and then we may
schedule a peer screening or you may be able to just get enrolled.
It just kind of depends on the time of the year.
(12:14):
So currently we're full for peers for our 24-25 school year, but I still encourage families
if they're interested to enroll because openings can happen at any time and then they get placed
on the waiting list automatically and when an opening happens, then I just make a phone
call and see if they're still interested.
But we will be opening up registration for the 25-26 school year, January 31st of 2025.
(12:40):
So that's right around the corner.
I know.
Time is flying by.
Yes.
So once they do apply then in March of every school year, families get a notification letter
to say whether they've been accepted into the program, whether we're doing a screening,
or if they've been placed on the waiting list.
(13:01):
So when it comes to students who enroll as typical peers versus students that need to
be on IEPs, a lot of preschools in town are tuition based.
You can talk about how those fees work.
Yeah.
Our peers do pay a tuition to come to our program.
(13:21):
The cost is $13.80 for the year, so $1,380, and it is paid on a monthly basis.
So they're here for four days a week, two hours and 45 minutes each of those days.
So for about $160 a month, they're getting preschool experience with licensed teachers
(13:47):
and it's a great experience for them.
And maybe you can mention your accreditation too, your five-star.
Yes.
So anybody who's familiar with the step up to quality process, they actually went away
from the five stars just over the summer and now we're considered gold.
(14:10):
So they've kind of changed that up just a little bit, but yes, we have to do certain
things to maintain that gold level and the state puts out all these different requirements
for us.
So we do things like our family education events, which are a great time.
We had our first one, which was yoga and Zumba with kids, and we partnered with the OSU
(14:34):
Extension office for that and they came in and taught the families about yoga and Zumba
and how it's healthy for your body.
And we're doing another one coming up in January, February time and it's going to be STEM with
preschool students.
So those are just some of the things that we are required to offer through the step up
(14:57):
process, but also things that we want to offer because they're great experiences for our
students and families.
So let's kind of switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about curriculum and
activities and I know that Christina and Jenny can offer a lot of great information
to our listeners.
(15:17):
Maybe take a few minutes and describe developmentally appropriate curriculum design and how that
prepares kids for kindergarten.
So we use a program called AEPS and that stands for Assessment Evaluation Programming System
and it goes from birth to age six and it has various sections and it find motor, gross motor,
(15:42):
cognitive, social, emotional, communication, adaptive, and then there's a literacy and
math component.
So we use that as our evaluation system for our students here, all of the students we
see at the preschool.
And so I know that there's activities during the school day that promote the social, emotional,
(16:06):
and cognitive development of our IEP students and our typical peers as well.
So we offer to our students not only the AEPS curriculum which we can tailor activities
for during and for our lesson planning, but we also use the strong start curriculum which
(16:27):
is our social, emotional curriculum and we use Hegerty which is part of our literacy
which they also use in the elementary.
So it starts at our level and it goes up through the elementary level then for the students.
So by the time they get, you know, start kindergarten first grade they're already familiar with
(16:48):
all the components of Hegerty which is very nice.
We also offer something called super speech and so peers and students that are on IEPs
are in groups together and it's just a bonus that our speech therapists offer our students
(17:09):
which is very nice.
Same thing with motor group and OT groups so they work on those gross motor skills and
then the OT is the fine motor skills.
I know for my own children who are older now and grown that was a big bonus for when sending
them to helping hands because they were typically developing however they got the bonus of having
(17:33):
that motor group OT group.
So if they were just on the edge or just on the edge with super speech, those therapists
were there to pull those skills out and maybe tighten them up a little bit for them so that
was very, very nice to have and that we're still offering all of that to students.
Now that's great and I think that while our other preschools in Medina are wonderful, these
(18:00):
are special opportunities that we can offer as a student.
And our Strong Start curriculum covers all the social, emotional feelings and we have
a lesson that we do once a month or sometimes two a month and there's ten of them total
so we spread those out through the school year and we all have Teddy Bears, Buzz the
Bear and he's our little mascot for Strong Start and we do lessons and it covers all
(18:24):
those feelings which are very important for little kids to learn.
Right, right.
The social, emotional part of learning is just as important as the academic part.
So maybe, I think we kind of talked about some of the services that are offered so we
(18:48):
have Hilary Hayes here who is one of the parents that has a child that attends here at Helping
Hands and maybe you can share a little bit about your experience and just provide some
interesting points of view.
(19:09):
Yeah, I actually have two special needs kiddos.
One already graduated through Helping Hands program and is now in kindergarten and my
youngest is now here for his first year.
So it was a really cool transition to see my oldest go from here to kindergarten and
really prepared him for that.
It all started, I guess, through Help Me Grow which is early intervention so that's
(19:34):
how we found out about the program here.
We made that easy transition with both of the kiddos and that's how we found out.
So it's been an awesome experience.
The teachers, the staff, it's amazing.
My kids, like the one now that's here is a fresh three-year-old and he's very active
(19:57):
but his language has developed and improved so much just for the three, four, five months
that he's been here.
So it really challenges them too to just gain the knowledge that they need in order to interact
with peers.
(20:17):
The social-emotional part is very important which he's learned a lot.
So yeah, it's pretty much, it's been a really good experience.
We love it here.
I don't think a day went by where my oldest didn't want to come to school.
He wanted to come here every day and he still does which is awesome.
It's the same with my youngest now too so I know that he's having fun here, he's learning,
(20:41):
we're seeing Ed at home.
It's been a really nice program where I can just take my kids to and feel good that they're
safe and they're being helped and both of my kids had special services here with Speed
JOT and PT so that's always really nice to get that extra one-on-one help through those
(21:05):
services.
What would you say was kind of your aha moment when your oldest went to kindergarten and just
that transition?
I think it was his first day at kindergarten.
I mean, the program here helped him transition into the school routine.
(21:29):
Although it's only two and a half hours here, it still helped him prepare for that long
day at kindergarten so him coming home and being happy and he went through the routine
of taking off his book bag, taking out his folder.
So they do that kind of stuff here too and it kind of just helps them get into that everyday
routine and then just interacting with peers too.
(21:53):
It's a really cool thing to see that he's doing that.
He had a harder time with it at first but going through this program here, he got used
to it and we're seeing that now in kindergarten too.
I'm so glad that we had him go through two and a half years of preschool here.
There's nothing like the feeling when your kids come home from school and they're happy
(22:17):
and they want to go back to school the next day.
Yes.
Can I add on to that?
The transition, how you said with him being able to transition into kindergarten and how
easy that was, our transition process too I think is so important for these kiddos, especially
(22:37):
for many kids that may be hesitant about moving to a different school and being around different
teachers and different children.
We spend one full day where we meet with the team at the elementary school and we go through
that transition with the family and the team at the elementary school and then we have
a day where we all go and we visit the building and the kids are, it's quieter for them.
(23:02):
They're able to go and see where their classroom is.
They're able to see where the gym and the cafeteria and just at their own pace and their own speed
and be able to, so that they're comfortable.
Then over the summer then the elementary has those days where they can come together and
spend time together and get to know each other before they start.
(23:23):
That transition process I think is so helpful for parents.
It's vital.
I mean, especially for my kiddo, I mean, the transitions are harder for him.
The fact that we got to go for a day and visit the classroom or the kindergarten, the building,
we got to meet some of the teachers and then we actually got invited to go back a couple
(23:43):
more times, just us as a family, to walk around the hallway so he got used to the hallways.
That was awesome.
It was super important for us and it was so simple and easy for us.
It was very appreciated.
In all students get it, not just students that may be on an IP, typically developing students,
so their families are invited to come to that day.
(24:07):
Yeah, that's really important because in the end that makes everyone feel comfortable.
You as the teachers, but also as they move into their new building.
We don't want to let the babies go either.
I know, it's got to be so hard for you guys.
It's hard for me too.
Yeah, it's kind of like a better term passing the baton.
(24:31):
Yeah, it's a big one.
Schools a big one, yeah.
I think I cried during preschool graduation last year.
We all cried.
Preschool graduation, kindergarten graduation, fifth grade graduation, eighth grade graduate
student.
It's a whole thing.
Through their entire lives you will cry at their graduation.
(24:55):
So Heather, maybe you could share a little bit about if people are interested in learning
more or enrolling here in the preschool, kind of how they can get in touch with you.
If you would like to register as a peer student, you can visit our website and click on the
(25:15):
apply now.
That's open for right now for this school year to get on the waiting list.
For next school year that opens up on January 31st.
If you still are maybe interested in seeing if a spot opens for this school year after
January 31st, you can call our direct number is 330-636-4400.
(25:38):
If you have concerns about your child's development and you're wanting to see if maybe they're
delayed a little bit in speech or they could benefit from some special education services
and you can reach out to us and talk to us about that.
We'd be happy to schedule a screening and talk to you about that process.
(25:58):
And then we're located over in the former Heritage Elementary building over on Guilford,
which is 833 Guilford Boulevard.
Yep, and our district website is www.medinabees.org.
And when you're on the site, if you click on the tab at the top that says our schools,
(26:19):
you will find Helping Hands right there.
So great, this has been an awesome conversation and I think it's been a lot of really great
information for two reasons.
One, many people don't know about Helping Hands or the programming and services that
are offered here.
So I really appreciate you guys taking your time to do this and it's just been excellent
(26:45):
information.
So I hope our listeners have found this valuable, especially those families who are looking for
options for their early learners.
To our listeners, thank you for joining us for today's discussion.
We'll see you with more stories, updates, conversations next month.
Until then, stay curious and stay connected.
This is the Hive.
(27:05):
See you in the know, stories about the Dinosaur School.
Hello everyone and welcome to the next episode of The Hive.
(00:18):
Be in the know stories about Middina City Schools.
I'm Amy Busby, Director of Community Relations for Middina City Schools, and your host for
this exciting new journey.
This podcast is a space where we'll dive into stories, successes, and challenges that make
Middina City Schools a special place to learn and grow.
We'll bring you new episodes at least once a month, packed with updates, celebrations,
(00:43):
and conversations that matter to our students, staff, and community.
These episodes will live on our Middina City Schools YouTube channel and other outlets
where you get your podcasts.
Today, we will be discussing Helping Hands Preschool at Heritage, the district's dedicated
preschool program.
Heather Mix, the principal of Helping Hands, and Christina Hines, and Jenny Almer, our
(01:06):
teachers at the preschool, and Hilary Hayes is our special guest, parents of students
here at Helping Hands.
So thanks for joining me on this episode.
Okay, so we are going to just get an overview of Helping Hands Preschool.
(01:31):
Heather, if you can talk to us about what the mission and vision of Helping Hands is,
and also maybe highlight the school's commitment to early childhood education and development.
Sure.
Thanks for having us on the podcast today.
So Helping Hands Preschool is a preschool program that we provide mandated preschool
(01:52):
services to children that are three to five years old with delays and also to students
who are typically developing in the same classrooms.
Here at the preschool, we're typically a student's first school experience, so we want that experience
to be really positive for the families and the children that are here.
So we strive to make sure that we do a student-centered learning environment here at the
(02:17):
preschool, and we want the children to love coming to school and learn and really instill
in them that enthusiasm for learning and create that partnership with families to help them
meet their goals.
And that's a very important point that you make is that it's important to instill lifelong
(02:41):
learning at an early age.
Can you talk a little bit about the program structure?
What does the daily schedule look like and explain maybe a little bit that the school
day is actually divided in two?
Yeah, absolutely.
So at Helping Hands Preschool, we currently have eight classrooms here that we have an
(03:02):
AM session and a PM session.
And each of these classrooms has a balance of children with disabilities and children
who are typically developing up to 16 kids in a classroom.
So our program is in session during the school year from August to May, and we run Monday
through Thursday.
Our AM session, we run from 8.45 to 11.30, and our PM session runs from 12.30 to 3.15.
(03:27):
And during the day, they do a lot of the normal preschool things.
They have a circle time.
They have snack.
They do play time.
They do recess centers.
So learning activities all mixed in with the fun of learning.
So one of the special things about preschool is that preschool licensing does require us
to offer a continuum of services.
(03:48):
And then a lot of people don't realize that.
So here at the preschool, we're actually fortunate to be able to offer that entire continuum
here in one building for children who qualify for special education services.
And that includes the inclusion with typically developing peers.
So here at the school this year, we have one general education classroom.
(04:09):
We have three integrated classrooms and three intensive needs classrooms and nine special
education classrooms.
And then we also have an itinerant teacher who goes out in the community and is able
to see students out in the community who qualify for special education services.
And so with that, students, how did students typically arrive at school?
(04:34):
Are they come with their parents?
Is there busing services?
So our students that qualify for special education services are eligible to ride the bus, but
our students who are typically developing peers are transported by their parents.
So we have a combination of car riders, bus riders, walkers, daycares bringing students.
(04:54):
So Heritage is the new home to helping hands preschool.
And you were formerly part of the North Rebellion Mentory family.
And so maybe talk before we get into your staff, maybe talk a little bit about the building
and kind of the process that you went through this last summer.
(05:15):
All right.
So the building underwent renovations over the summertime and it was a quick turnaround,
but we were able to get 12 classrooms, individual classrooms built here in the building.
This building, if you're not familiar with Heritage, was an open concept building.
There was no walls.
There was no doors.
We now have walls and doors and 12 classrooms.
(05:37):
And we have a lot of space to be able to provide services such as PT group and OT group and
hunts and PTO events that we have a PTO now all throughout the building and the space for
us to grow, which is really helpful because we've seen an increase in students qualifying
for special education services every year since I've been here.
Talk a little bit about the state mandates when it comes to typical peers and how those
(06:02):
mandates have changed.
Right.
So the state wants as many typical peers in our program as possible.
So they want to see more general education classrooms and more integrated classrooms.
Sometimes our students need to have a little bit more support and they need to have more
paraprofessionals in the room and maybe that gen ed setting is not necessarily the best
(06:28):
placement for them.
But we want to still have typically developing peers in their classrooms with them.
So we have typically developing peers in our classrooms as those peer models, but sometimes
there's four or five.
Sometimes there are seven, eight, nine peers in those classrooms.
And then so really that's a big reason why we needed to move your classrooms and your
(06:53):
facility to Heritage and this is kind of a repurpose building based on what we needed
to do when we redistricted.
So it's really great that we have still have students here at Heritage helping hands.
So can you talk a little bit about your staff?
(07:14):
Who are your, how does that work?
And I know that you probably have your teaching staff, you have your paraprofessionals, et
cetera.
Yeah.
So we're really fortunate here at Medina to be able to provide these preschool services
here in our buildings and through licensed teachers and paraprofessionals here in our
(07:36):
district.
So all of our teachers have either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree in early childhood
special education.
And some of our paraprofessionals hold associates and bachelor's degrees in some field of
education and some of our paraprofessionals are also taking college classes to work towards
a degree in education or a related field like speech pathology.
(07:57):
We have, each of our classrooms has an early childhood intervention specialist and at least
one paraprofessional in it.
And sometimes based off the needs of the classroom, then there might be additional paraprofessionals
in there.
We also have speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist and physical therapist
here in the building every single day that work with not only our students on IEPs but
(08:20):
also our typically developing students get access to those people, which is really great.
And then we have a school psychologist that is here all the time and she is wonderful
with working with families and explaining the whole evaluation process and coming into
classrooms and helping out.
(08:40):
She's really been a great support for our program also.
So you talk about IEPs, maybe you can explain to our listeners who may not know what an
IEP is, including that, that those, what those letters stand for.
Sure.
An acronym.
Right.
(09:01):
Yep.
Sorry.
In the special education world, we're just used to rattling all those things off.
An IEP is an individual education plan for students.
So I'm actually was going to talk about all of that too.
So in Ohio, special, all school districts have to provide preschool special education
services to children who are identified as having a disability or a delay in one or more
(09:25):
areas.
So when we do these evaluations and we find out they have a delay in speech or they have
a delay in maybe speech and fine motor, then we will develop as a team and that includes
the parents, the family member, will develop an individual education plan, an IEP for the
student to be able to work towards meeting those goals and help get them up to somewhere
(09:50):
closer to age expectancy.
And so what, what is the age that students can enroll in the preschool?
So for our typically developing peers, they can register and start enrolling at three.
We take students who are three, four and five.
And for students who are going to be evaluated or come in with an IEP, we get students kind
(10:13):
of two different ways.
So we have students who have already been receiving services through early intervention,
which is starts can start as young as like birth almost when they, those younger ages
and they get referred to us from early intervention and we start evaluating them around two and
a half and they can start preschool at three.
We also see students be referred by family members or even community preschool programs
(10:39):
and those students can be referred to us anytime between three, four and five.
And can you talk a little bit about the enrollment process because it is a little bit different
than someone coming in registering as a kindergarten student?
Yes, absolutely.
It is quite a bit different.
So for those of you not familiar with preschool, special education services students and qualify
(11:02):
all throughout the year.
So we don't begin the school year full like many of our classes do in other grades or
the teachers do in other grades.
We evaluate kids all year long and that includes in the summer to determine if they qualify
for those special education services.
And if they do qualify, we have to provide them those services.
So we also have a select number of peer spots available and a peer model is a peer student
(11:28):
is a role model student who is three to five years old who demonstrates those age appropriate
skills and language development behavior, social skills and they don't have special
needs of some sort.
So the first step that if you wanted to enroll in the preschool as a peer, you would complete
and return a peer model application which is found on our website.
(11:53):
It's all done electronically.
Then you would just go to our website and you click apply now and your name would go
on the list.
After we receive all of the applications for those peers, we review them and then we may
schedule a peer screening or you may be able to just get enrolled.
It just kind of depends on the time of the year.
(12:14):
So currently we're full for peers for our 24-25 school year, but I still encourage families
if they're interested to enroll because openings can happen at any time and then they get placed
on the waiting list automatically and when an opening happens, then I just make a phone
call and see if they're still interested.
But we will be opening up registration for the 25-26 school year, January 31st of 2025.
(12:40):
So that's right around the corner.
I know.
Time is flying by.
Yes.
So once they do apply then in March of every school year, families get a notification letter
to say whether they've been accepted into the program, whether we're doing a screening,
or if they've been placed on the waiting list.
(13:01):
So when it comes to students who enroll as typical peers versus students that need to
be on IEPs, a lot of preschools in town are tuition based.
You can talk about how those fees work.
Yeah.
Our peers do pay a tuition to come to our program.
(13:21):
The cost is $13.80 for the year, so $1,380, and it is paid on a monthly basis.
So they're here for four days a week, two hours and 45 minutes each of those days.
So for about $160 a month, they're getting preschool experience with licensed teachers
(13:47):
and it's a great experience for them.
And maybe you can mention your accreditation too, your five-star.
Yes.
So anybody who's familiar with the step up to quality process, they actually went away
from the five stars just over the summer and now we're considered gold.
(14:10):
So they've kind of changed that up just a little bit, but yes, we have to do certain
things to maintain that gold level and the state puts out all these different requirements
for us.
So we do things like our family education events, which are a great time.
We had our first one, which was yoga and Zumba with kids, and we partnered with the OSU
(14:34):
Extension office for that and they came in and taught the families about yoga and Zumba
and how it's healthy for your body.
And we're doing another one coming up in January, February time and it's going to be STEM with
preschool students.
So those are just some of the things that we are required to offer through the step up
(14:57):
process, but also things that we want to offer because they're great experiences for our
students and families.
So let's kind of switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about curriculum and
activities and I know that Christina and Jenny can offer a lot of great information
to our listeners.
(15:17):
Maybe take a few minutes and describe developmentally appropriate curriculum design and how that
prepares kids for kindergarten.
So we use a program called AEPS and that stands for Assessment Evaluation Programming System
and it goes from birth to age six and it has various sections and it find motor, gross motor,
(15:42):
cognitive, social, emotional, communication, adaptive, and then there's a literacy and
math component.
So we use that as our evaluation system for our students here, all of the students we
see at the preschool.
And so I know that there's activities during the school day that promote the social, emotional,
(16:06):
and cognitive development of our IEP students and our typical peers as well.
So we offer to our students not only the AEPS curriculum which we can tailor activities
for during and for our lesson planning, but we also use the strong start curriculum which
(16:27):
is our social, emotional curriculum and we use Hegerty which is part of our literacy
which they also use in the elementary.
So it starts at our level and it goes up through the elementary level then for the students.
So by the time they get, you know, start kindergarten first grade they're already familiar with
(16:48):
all the components of Hegerty which is very nice.
We also offer something called super speech and so peers and students that are on IEPs
are in groups together and it's just a bonus that our speech therapists offer our students
(17:09):
which is very nice.
Same thing with motor group and OT groups so they work on those gross motor skills and
then the OT is the fine motor skills.
I know for my own children who are older now and grown that was a big bonus for when sending
them to helping hands because they were typically developing however they got the bonus of having
(17:33):
that motor group OT group.
So if they were just on the edge or just on the edge with super speech, those therapists
were there to pull those skills out and maybe tighten them up a little bit for them so that
was very, very nice to have and that we're still offering all of that to students.
Now that's great and I think that while our other preschools in Medina are wonderful, these
(18:00):
are special opportunities that we can offer as a student.
And our Strong Start curriculum covers all the social, emotional feelings and we have
a lesson that we do once a month or sometimes two a month and there's ten of them total
so we spread those out through the school year and we all have Teddy Bears, Buzz the
Bear and he's our little mascot for Strong Start and we do lessons and it covers all
(18:24):
those feelings which are very important for little kids to learn.
Right, right.
The social, emotional part of learning is just as important as the academic part.
So maybe, I think we kind of talked about some of the services that are offered so we
(18:48):
have Hilary Hayes here who is one of the parents that has a child that attends here at Helping
Hands and maybe you can share a little bit about your experience and just provide some
interesting points of view.
(19:09):
Yeah, I actually have two special needs kiddos.
One already graduated through Helping Hands program and is now in kindergarten and my
youngest is now here for his first year.
So it was a really cool transition to see my oldest go from here to kindergarten and
really prepared him for that.
It all started, I guess, through Help Me Grow which is early intervention so that's
(19:34):
how we found out about the program here.
We made that easy transition with both of the kiddos and that's how we found out.
So it's been an awesome experience.
The teachers, the staff, it's amazing.
My kids, like the one now that's here is a fresh three-year-old and he's very active
(19:57):
but his language has developed and improved so much just for the three, four, five months
that he's been here.
So it really challenges them too to just gain the knowledge that they need in order to interact
with peers.
(20:17):
The social-emotional part is very important which he's learned a lot.
So yeah, it's pretty much, it's been a really good experience.
We love it here.
I don't think a day went by where my oldest didn't want to come to school.
He wanted to come here every day and he still does which is awesome.
It's the same with my youngest now too so I know that he's having fun here, he's learning,
(20:41):
we're seeing Ed at home.
It's been a really nice program where I can just take my kids to and feel good that they're
safe and they're being helped and both of my kids had special services here with Speed
JOT and PT so that's always really nice to get that extra one-on-one help through those
(21:05):
services.
What would you say was kind of your aha moment when your oldest went to kindergarten and just
that transition?
I think it was his first day at kindergarten.
I mean, the program here helped him transition into the school routine.
(21:29):
Although it's only two and a half hours here, it still helped him prepare for that long
day at kindergarten so him coming home and being happy and he went through the routine
of taking off his book bag, taking out his folder.
So they do that kind of stuff here too and it kind of just helps them get into that everyday
routine and then just interacting with peers too.
(21:53):
It's a really cool thing to see that he's doing that.
He had a harder time with it at first but going through this program here, he got used
to it and we're seeing that now in kindergarten too.
I'm so glad that we had him go through two and a half years of preschool here.
There's nothing like the feeling when your kids come home from school and they're happy
(22:17):
and they want to go back to school the next day.
Yes.
Can I add on to that?
The transition, how you said with him being able to transition into kindergarten and how
easy that was, our transition process too I think is so important for these kiddos, especially
(22:37):
for many kids that may be hesitant about moving to a different school and being around different
teachers and different children.
We spend one full day where we meet with the team at the elementary school and we go through
that transition with the family and the team at the elementary school and then we have
a day where we all go and we visit the building and the kids are, it's quieter for them.
(23:02):
They're able to go and see where their classroom is.
They're able to see where the gym and the cafeteria and just at their own pace and their own speed
and be able to, so that they're comfortable.
Then over the summer then the elementary has those days where they can come together and
spend time together and get to know each other before they start.
(23:23):
That transition process I think is so helpful for parents.
It's vital.
I mean, especially for my kiddo, I mean, the transitions are harder for him.
The fact that we got to go for a day and visit the classroom or the kindergarten, the building,
we got to meet some of the teachers and then we actually got invited to go back a couple
(23:43):
more times, just us as a family, to walk around the hallway so he got used to the hallways.
That was awesome.
It was super important for us and it was so simple and easy for us.
It was very appreciated.
In all students get it, not just students that may be on an IP, typically developing students,
so their families are invited to come to that day.
(24:07):
Yeah, that's really important because in the end that makes everyone feel comfortable.
You as the teachers, but also as they move into their new building.
We don't want to let the babies go either.
I know, it's got to be so hard for you guys.
It's hard for me too.
Yeah, it's kind of like a better term passing the baton.
(24:31):
Yeah, it's a big one.
Schools a big one, yeah.
I think I cried during preschool graduation last year.
We all cried.
Preschool graduation, kindergarten graduation, fifth grade graduation, eighth grade graduate
student.
It's a whole thing.
Through their entire lives you will cry at their graduation.
(24:55):
So Heather, maybe you could share a little bit about if people are interested in learning
more or enrolling here in the preschool, kind of how they can get in touch with you.
If you would like to register as a peer student, you can visit our website and click on the
(25:15):
apply now.
That's open for right now for this school year to get on the waiting list.
For next school year that opens up on January 31st.
If you still are maybe interested in seeing if a spot opens for this school year after
January 31st, you can call our direct number is 330-636-4400.
(25:38):
If you have concerns about your child's development and you're wanting to see if maybe they're
delayed a little bit in speech or they could benefit from some special education services
and you can reach out to us and talk to us about that.
We'd be happy to schedule a screening and talk to you about that process.
(25:58):
And then we're located over in the former Heritage Elementary building over on Guilford,
which is 833 Guilford Boulevard.
Yep, and our district website is www.medinabees.org.
And when you're on the site, if you click on the tab at the top that says our schools,
(26:19):
you will find Helping Hands right there.
So great, this has been an awesome conversation and I think it's been a lot of really great
information for two reasons.
One, many people don't know about Helping Hands or the programming and services that
are offered here.
So I really appreciate you guys taking your time to do this and it's just been excellent
(26:45):
information.
So I hope our listeners have found this valuable, especially those families who are looking for
options for their early learners.
To our listeners, thank you for joining us for today's discussion.
We'll see you with more stories, updates, conversations next month.
Until then, stay curious and stay connected.
This is the Hive.
(27:05):
See you in the know, stories about the Dinosaur School.
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