New Inclusivity Webinar Resource - Part 1

In a recent blog post (the first in a series of three) on IFLS' Keeping Up with Kids blog, Leah Langby shared a great webinar resource from U-Kentucky's Human Development Institute. Entitled "More Than Welcome: Libraries serving families of young children with disabilities", the webinar contains practical tips as well as a downloadable guide, and assessment tool.

Leah writes:

• Libraries are already doing a LOT of things well!
• There is a gap in other opportunities for kids with disabilities in rural areas, and libraries can fill that gap! You don’t have to have specific programs or tons of space and money in order to make your programs and spaces more inclusive of kids with disabilities and their families.
• The team created a wonderful self-assessment tool: Inclusive Library Spaces and Programs Self-Assessment to check out.

In this first of three blog posts, Leah goes on to summarize the tips from one of the key areas that the webinar covers. You can read the full first post here [Serving Families of Young Children with Disabilities. Langby, Leah. Keeping Up with Kids blog. August 26, 2024].

To access the final two Keeping Up with Kids summary posts on this webinar, please stop here.

Inclusive Youth Spaces and Services Webinar Recording Now Available

 Jeni Schomber, DPI Public Library Consultant, shared the following in her DPI Youth Services Weekly Reminders and Resources July 25, 2024 newsletter.

More Than Welcome: Libraries Serving Families of Young Children With Disabilities – webinar recording

Are you interested in serving ALL children in your communities? Are you wondering how you might make your spaces, programs, and services more inclusive for children with disabilities and their families? This webinar recording is a culminating product of the IMLS-funded (LG-246297-OLS-20) Services for Children of All Abilities in Libraries: An Exploration (SCALE) project. The webinar was designed to convey how libraries can be more than just welcoming for families of children with disabilities. A customizable flyer (for your library programs and services) and an Inclusive Library Spaces and Programs for Young Children self-assessment are both available on the webinar recording site on YouTube.

Tuesday Tips: Free Webinar on Serving Kids with Disabilities

Sam Jones is the Youth Services Librarian at the Beaver Dam Public Library. She shares tips to make your job easier in her Tuesday posts.

Free Webinar: More Than Welcome: Libraries Serving Families of Young Children with Disabilities 

Here is an opportunity for a free webinar through the University of Kentucky. The webinar will be April 26 from 1-3 pm on Zoom. If interested, you can register here.

"Public libraries provide rich learning opportunities for ALL young children and their caregivers. This interactive webinar, a culminating product of the Services for Children of ALL Abilities in Libraries: An Exploration (SCALE) project, will identify how libraries are currently serving families with young children with disabilities through spaces designed for play and social interaction, through programs that offer fun and interactive learning experiences, and through partnerships intended to address the interests and needs of families within and beyond the physical library. Join us to learn how libraries are working to be more than just welcoming for families of children with disabilities." 

Helpful Autism Resource

Kristine Millard is working on her MLIS at UW-Madison as well as managing a lab that studies early language development in toddlers with autism. Periodically, she shares resources relating to developmental disabilities that you might find useful.

Recently, one of my colleagues shared a link from the National Autism Association on spotting the early signs of autism with me. The email arrived just before my lunch break, and I fell down a rabbit hole looking at other resources on that page. The one that struck me most includes tips for families who don't know when to approach their pediatrician with developmental concerns. There's a nice, printable chart called Spot ASD by Three families can go through and then share with a medical professional for further evaluation. 

If someone asks you for information on developmental guidelines, this could be a useful tool in your repertoire, or even a link on your website. We know as librarians we cannot give medical advice, but we can offer a list of developmental expectations. Because specific diagnoses can be particularly daunting for caregivers, it may also be helpful to have resources for typical development in the same area. Caregivers may then be able to browse physical brochures and flyers, or weblinks to find more information.

Lemons Out of Lemonade

Image by Rachel C from Pixabay

When presenters were - very unexpectedly - unable to make their program session two weeks ago at the ALA Annual Conference, the audience did something remarkable. They did the program themselves! 

The topic was accessibility and inclusion for children with disabilities and their caregivers. 

In this ALSC blog post, conference blogger Sara Beth Coffman wrote: "The room was prepared well for such an event, with ASL interpreters and on-the-fly closed captioning (which was excellent, by the way) simultaneously available. Upon realizing the presenters would not be arriving, a few intrepid leaders took the mic and suggested we use the time anyway, offering to tap into the collective wisdom in the room. What followed was an inspiring and truly remarkable session, full of ideas, insights, and an amazing sense of community and solidarity.

As we all began to realize what a gift this potential misstep had turned out to be, a special energy took over: someone circulated a piece of paper to gather emails for further sharing; someone else created a shared doc for distributing resources; questions were asked and answered, the mic moving around and through the room for over an hour."

The rest of the post is full of resources, links and recaps of some of the ideas and info that the librarian attendees shared with each other. Stop here to read the full post.  [Toward Inclusion and Equity for Young Children in Public Library Programs. Coffman, Sara Beth. ALSC blog. June 25, 2022.]

I think we can say that the pandemic has taught us far more than doing Zoom and make-and-take kits programming!

What’s Early Lit for Kids Who Can’t See?

Over at the ALSC Blog earlier this month, Jill Rothstein addressed how to bring early literacy to children with low or no sight.  She highlights the importance of promoting early independent reading and writing in Braille, as well as considering pictures as spacial information to be decoded.

I found Rothstein's adapted activities for the 5 key practices (reading ,writing, singing, playing, talking) helpful in thinking about how to bring these practices into my library.  In particular, the information on obtaining or creating tactile books seems to be a budget-adaptable option to better serve children with low or no vision.

Read the full article HERE.

Serving Children with Disabilities in Libraries: A Beginner’s Guide

Where should I begin?  This can sometimes be the most challenging part about developing library services to children with disabilities.  Fortunately, while there isn’t a one-stop-shop when it comes to expanding your knowledge in this area, there is a plethora of resources out there that can help you on your journey to becoming an advocate for children with disabilities.  Basically, what that means is that the first step is to learn.  And we are in luck, because Renee Grassi over at the ALSC Blog has compiled some of her favorite resources for creating better service to children with disabilities.  Check out the full list HERE.