Through the Healthy Development Services program, C3 offers general development classes for parents and children and behavior classes for parents only. Classes are specific to the age of the child and are offered weekdays as well as some evenings.
Developmental classes offer parents and children the opportunity to learn about typical development and practice developmental skills within a small group setting. Classes meet once a week for six weeks and each session will last for one hour. Each class focuses on one area of development and will include parent-child interactive activities guided by a developmental or assessment specialist, and supported by a developmental services aide. A variety of activities and opportunities for interaction will be included in each session to help each child practice skills in the developmental area(s) where they need support, as well as in areas where they excel.
Our specialized behavior classes help parents to better understand and respond to their child’s behavioral patterns. For example, our classes include topics such as understanding your child’s individual temperament, sibling rivalry, and how to effectively use time outs and reward systems.
All of our classes are listed below:
Baby Steps
Caregivers long to provide the best possible care for their newborn baby. Baby Steps is designed to help caregivers learn valuable strategies and identify the necessary supports to do so. This interactive group covers a range of topics, including understanding your baby’s cues and how to respond to them, building a stronger bond with your baby, and learning Infant Massage techniques to help your baby relax and sleep. This class also focuses on helping caregivers develop self-confidence in caregiving and providing opportunities to connect with other caregivers. The group is available for caregivers and their children from birth up to 15 months (or prior to walking) as well as for expectant caregivers.
Infant Time
Parents often have concerns about their child’s development or may want information about what to expect from their little one. In this interactive group, parents will receive information about typical child development and have opportunities to learn from each other. Facilitators will model activities that promote social/emotional, cognitive, language, and physical development. The emphasis will be placed on activities that can be incorporated easily into daily family routines. Parents will be given opportunities to practice these activities and to learn new tools and techniques for enriching their infants’ development. Links to resources in the community will be made available to parents.
Toddler Time
Every toddler is unique and develops at his or her own pace. Your toddler is growing and developing in many areas all at the same time. Physical development and expressive language skills are easy to notice. However, social/emotional development and cognitive development can be more difficult to observe. It is our goal that you will learn to appreciate your child’s individual timetable and see how the strands of development are intertwined all along the way. You are your child’s most important teacher and your child is learning all the time. Play is how your child learns about the world. This class emphasizes creating a sensitive, responsive relationship with your child to enrich and support the learning process.
Preschool Time
Preschoolers’ development happens holistically. Physical development, cognitive and language development, and social/emotional development are all happening simultaneously and are intertwined and dependent upon each other. As your child’s most important teacher, you can enhance and support your child’s physical, cognitive and social/emotional development during everyday moments. This class focuses on creating opportunities for learning every day in normal daily activities and routines to support your child’s increasing independence and school readiness.
Steps to Understanding Your Child’s Behavior
C3 behavior specialists facilitate interactive classes for parents which focus on the domains of social-emotional development in children ages 0-5 to encourage further understanding of their child’s behavior in the context of his or her development. Within the class, parents identify a target behavior and develop useful strategies to improve these behaviors, with the goal of having more positive interactions with their child.
Strategies include setting limits, consequences, routines, rules, family communication, and appropriate choices for children. Parents will learn about how to help their child best communicate his or her emotions, how their child’s temperament affects their behavior, and how to help their child build a positive relationship with peers.
Each class series consists of five classes, once a week, for 90 minutes. After the first five classes, parents have the option of taking a second series, for a total of 10 classes.
Behavior Consultation
C3 behavior specialists are available to meet one on one with parents about their child’s behavior. These consults can be offered as additional support during or after a parent participates in our Steps to Understanding your Child’s Behavior classes, or on their own. Behavior specialists work with parents around potty training, sleeping difficulties, picky eating, sibling rivalry, aggression, defiance, and tantrums, in addition to a number of other behavioral concerns common within children ages 0-5.
Consults typically last 45-60 minutes and are offered weekly or biweekly.