VORT Corporation      Product Listing      Online Store      Customer Service      Distributors Products      NICU / Pediatrics      Early Intervention      Early Childhood      Headstart      Preschool      Special Education      Parenting Products by Age      Premature      Birth to Three years      Three to Six years      One to 14 years	HELP Training Workshops conducted by Barbara Kuczen, Ph.D. On-site workshops are available for Early Intervention, Early Childhood, Head Start, Special Education, and Autism programs. Each workshop is individualized to meet program needs and uses hands-on activities, games, and humor to cover: detailed procedures for using HELP as a curriculum-based assessment methods for effectively implementing and coordinating the use of HELP with parents, teachers, assistants and clinicians techniques for incorporating HELP with the use of exciting approaches such as assistive technology, PECS, social stories, work sampling, video learning, and structured teaching. Comments from the field: "Best training I ever attended" Odessa, TX "I found that HELP would definitely cut down on my paperwork." Gatlinburg, TN Frequently Asked Questions: How do we arrange the training? Contact Dr. Barbara Kuczen directly at 312-642-1906 or call VORT (888-757-VORT) for more information. How will scheduling training benefit our program? Participants in previous trainings have reported that learning how the HELP products work together and how to use them efficiently and effectively has made staff more productive and improved the quality of services to children and families. In addition, after staff have learned how to appropriately credit the HELP curriculum-based assessment, they often report feeling much more confident in their work. What is the cost? Dr. Kuczen's normal fee for a workshop is $1,500 plus travel and overnight expenses. Booking early helps to keep the cost of airfare down. Programs will also need to purchase sufficient HELP materials for each participant. What is covered in the one-day training workshop training? Each workshop is individualized to meet program needs and uses hands-on activities, games, and humor to cover: Detailed procedures for using HELP as a curriculum-based assessment Methods for effectively implementing and coordinating the use of HELP with parents, teachers, assistants, and clinicians Techniques for incorporating HELP with the use of exciting new approaches such as assistive technology, PECS, social stories, work sampling, video learning, and structured teaching Who should attend? Staff in early intervention, Evenstart, Head Start, special education, and autism programs - including teachers, assistants, coordinators, directors, clinicians, and transition specialists. What are the qualifications of the trainer? Dr. Barbara Kuczen combines expertise in child development and adult education, as well as first-hand experience with children and families. She has taught early childhood courses and coordinated graduate programs at the university level. She has served as the Early Childhood Coordinator for a small, as well as a very large, school district. She has worked as a Head Start Consultant in a six-state region and has conducted hundreds of workshops and training sessions on HELP and other assessment and curriculum materials. Barbara is a recognized expert on parenting issues and is the author of several books. Her workshops are lively, informative, and entertaining. A copy of her curriculum vitae is available on request. We really want the training, but I'm not certain we can afford it. Any suggestions? Some programs organize cluster trainings, in which several agencies share the costs. Some local professional organizations have taken the initiative and organized training for their area or region. In some cases, state offices of education have helped to fund the training. How many can attend one workshop? Dr. Kuczen has conducted training workshops with as few as six people, and as many as two hundred. The needs of the individual program are the prime factor in determining the number of participants. However, optimally the group should not exceed fifty. Some programs arrange to train subgroups of staff on different training days, thereby enabling the training content to be tailored to the specific interests of those in attendance. What materials do we need to provide? Prior to a workshop, a Program needs to purchase directly from VORT: one copy of the HELP Strands for each participant. If the workshop is focused on meeting the needs of children from birth to three years old, the HELP Strands for birth to three (Product # 158K) should be provided to each participant. If the workshop is aimed at children three to six years old, then HELP Strands for Preschoolers (Product # 358K) should be provided to each participant. If your prgram covers ages birth-six years, then each participant should receive both HELP Strands booklets. one copy each of the Inside HELP (Product # 159K,) HELP at Home (Product #156K) HELP Activity Guide (Product # 152K,) HELP for Preschoolers Assessment and Curriculum Guide (Product # 359K,) and HELP for Preschoolers at Home (Product # 356K) for display and participant review. Do we need to provide a special room set-up? The workshop can be conducted in any appropriately sized room with comfortable chairs and a writing surface for participants. What audio-visual materials do we need to have on hand? Dr. Kuczen will bring her own computer and projector to display the training slide show. Programs should provide a head table, screen, electrical outlet and extension cord, and flip chart. What might the day look like? Most programs begin with a thirty to sixty minute registration and coffee service. Mid-morning there will be a break, followed by a thirty to forty-five minute lunch. Mid-afternoon the group will be given a break. The training takes five to six hours to complete. How are lunch and breaks typically handled? Depending on resources available, most programs provide coffee and rolls in the morning. Serving lunch on-site is usually better than sending people off-site. Some programs provide lunch, others advise participants to bring a bag lunch. At some trainings, soft drinks and cookies are served during the afternoon break - but this practice is certainly not necessary. A few programs have done a "potluck" for breaks and lunch, or staff have volunteered to provide refreshments. Our program is unique. How can we be certain that the presentation will meet our specific needs? Prior to the training, a front-end needs analysis will be conducted via telephone conference. Key issues and expectations will be identified at this time. Also, during each break and at lunch, Dr. Kuczen will briefly confer with the training organizers to determine if the training is on target or needs slight modification or shift in focus. How is payment made? Following the training, Barbara will send you a statement of expenses and fee, which you can submit to your accounting department. Is follow-up available? Some programs have requested a second follow-up training. However, Dr. Kuczen is happy to respond to email and telephone questions from any participants.
		Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Email VORT HELP, Hawaii Early Learning Profile, and VORT are registered trademarks of VORT Corporation. All VORT website pages © 1997-2008 VORT Corporation. All rights reserved.