Complex Topics Made Simple, Fun, and Engaging
Dr. El uses her unique brand of Straight Talk to make complex topics about Children, Families, Parenting, and Womanhood simple. Her mission is to provide families and service providers the support, information, and tools needed to love and care for children well.
Dr. El uses Straight Talk to teach and inspire learners because she believes high-quality knowledge and information should be accessible, digestible, and usable for everyone.
KEYNOTE ADDRESSES
Experience the vivid storytelling of Dr. El Brown. Through personal narratives, Dr. El
explores concepts of family, team building, and life. Work with Dr. El to bring an element
of excitement, engagement, and authenticity to your next event.
Mama Bear
Dr. El Brown will never forget the day she received word of her preschool aged son's diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. That day, her alter ego, Mama Bear, began to develop and set Dr. El on a course that would change her life for the better. Through Dr. El’s experience of parenting a child with disabilities, she was empowered to make a positive contribution to her son, tens of thousands young children and families, and the professionals who serve young children and their families. Mama Bear is Dr. El's personal story, providing an optimistic view of what some may see as adversity. Through storytelling, Dr. El provides a positive outlook of love, advocacy, and humor as she lives life with her son, affectionately known as SuperDuperKid.
Be the Gift That Keeps on Giving
Through the powerful narrative of the former Head Start student turned founder and CEO of an international
early childhood training, care, and enrichment agency, practitioners will be inspired to the gift that keeps on
giving to the young children and families they serve. As service providers, our time with a family will, at
some point, expire. However, by working to empower and enable families, we live on in their lives for a
lifetime. We are a forever gift.
How to Build a Top Notch Village
Five Keys to Establishing Supportive Relationships
No one is an island. We all need support when navigating the twists and turns of LIFE. Through storytelling
and real-life experiences, Dr. El walks attendees through her journey as she learned the life lessons needed
to develop the strategies and tools to develop her Top Notch Village. Learn how to build your own Top
Notch Village to support you through parenting, family and life.
The Power of a Parent
The Real MVP
Parents are a child’s first teachers and greatest advocates. Through a powerful narrative, Dr. El Brown, a
former Head Start student turned founder and CEO of KinderJam, an international early childhood training,
enrichment, care agency, highlights the power of a committed parent. Dr. Brown’s story serves as a
motivating force and call to action for parents of young children.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Provide your team with high-energy and engaging workshops to assist your team in developing the knowledge and skills that support the betterment of your team’s engagement with children, families, the community, and each other.
FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
Strengthening Family Partnerships:
Engaging Families of Diverse Young Children
This training analyzes the importance of effective and thoughtful communication, when establishing strong
relationships with families of young children. By integrating the narratives and experiences of parents of
young children, participants will explore methods of establishing a foundation for family or professional
partnerships, built on healthy communication that supports the continued growth and development of
families and their young children. This training uses whole group discussions and small group exercises to
provide strategies to catalyze the necessary collaborative, trusting, and respectful partnerships between
service providers and families to result in desired learning outcomes for young children and their families.
The Power of Words:
Effective Communication and Relationship Building with Families
The message and the messenger matter. Communication is a key component to establishing, building, and
maintaining positive relationships with families. In this training, learners will build skills to effectively
communicate with families. Learners will practice the use of tactful and strength-based written, verbal, and
nonverbal language, when communicating with families to aid in establishing rapport. Learners will make
the connection between a healthy rapport with families and the ease of delivery of sensitive information.
Learners will leave this workshop with a vocabulary that will mitigate potentially contentious conversations
about sensitive matters and preserve positive relationships with families.
Mama Bear:
Engaging Families of Young Children with Disabilities
This training integrates the narratives and experiences of parents of children with disabilities, while sharing
a process, structure, and framework for practitioners to utilize the funds of knowledge of parents to better
engage support and the families of children with disabilities. This training uses whole group discussions
and bilateral exercises to provide strategies to catalyze the necessary collaborative, trusting, and respectful
partnerships between practitioners and families to result in desired learning outcomes for children with
disabilities.
Strength-Based Observations:
Using Positive Language When Communicating to and About Children
Dr. El will walk learners through her personal experience of advocating for her son, who is on the autism
spectrum. Her constant goal is to ensure the words that surround her son support the development of a
strong belief in himself and his capabilities. By applying a strength-based approach to our communication
to and about children, we highlight their unique abilities and identify the areas in which improvement is
necessary for continued positive growth. During this training, participants with learn to ensure the words
used with and about children promote the development of an emotionally healthy and confident person.
This training is also beneficial for families.
The ABC's of Engagement:
Understanding the PFCE Framework
This training includes three modules – Starting with the End in Mind, Let’s Break It Down, and Putting It All
Together. During this intensive training, learners will identify the desired positive outcomes for children and
families. Then, the participates will deconstruct the Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement
Framework to best understand the tool. Finally, the learners will pinpoint strategies that can be applied to
their practice to work towards positive child and family outcomes.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
DEI for the Early Childhood Education Setting:
Acknowledging and Embracing the Diversity of the Families We Support
This training includes three modules – Cultural Competence, Supporting Diverse Young Learners, and
Relationship-Based Competencies (RBC) to Support Diverse Families. The learners will examine the
concept of cultural competence – the ability to acknowledge and understand cultural diversity, respect a
family’s beliefs and practices, and value cross-cultural communication. The learners will participate in
exercises to explore self-awareness, while developing an understanding of the impact of implicit and
unconscious biases on young children and their families.
This new knowledge will be integrated with instructional and engagement strategies for application in the ECE setting to ensure sensitivity, respect, and understanding when engaging with young children and their families.
The training culminates with an exploration of RBC 2 to prepared practitioners to best understand and support a family’s needs and make individualized and appropriate decisions with the family. This training is a practice in the exploration and development of the self-awareness required to engage and support diverse young children and their families. This training is customizable to best fit your organization’s need.
DEI for the Work Environment:
Different People Working Together to Help Families WIN!
Respect among colleagues provides an important foundation for a successful and harmonious
workplace. This training begins with a detailed needs assessment to identify specific organizational and
employee challenges, to be addressed during this customizable workshop. Your team will examine the
importance of inclusion and respect, to drive the behavioral change needed to cultivate a safe and inclusive
work environment for your diverse team. Together, we will work with your team to empower them to become
comfortable identifying, evaluating, and resolving common workplace challenges to build a winning
organizational culture.
Friendship Numbers:
Introducing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to Young Children
Just like adults deserve respectful, safe, and inclusive work environment, children deserve the same from
their learning and play environments. This training offers developmentally appropriate strategies and talking
points to introduce the ideals of inclusion and social justice to young children. This training includes a readaloud
book, song, and activities that can be incorporated into your learning environment.
PARENT WORKSHOPS
There is a learning curve in parenting. While parents often are made to feel that they should know exactly what to do and when to it, parenting is not an intuitive process. However, access to high-quality, and easily digestible information child development and healthy parenting practices can lead to life-long positive outcome for diverse
families and their children.
Learning Through Love, Life, and Play Series:
This workshop series provides caregivers with information, tools, and strategies to
assist them and easily implementing developmentally appropriate learning activities until
their family’s daily routine. The participants will learn about developmental milestones
and learning standards for specific stages of development. Then, discuss and examine
how to identify, create, and provide rich learning experiences that support whole child,
healthy growth and development.
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– Learning Through Love, Life, and Play: The Infant Years (Birth – 18 months)
– Learning Through Love, Life, and Play: The Toddler Years (18 months – 3 yrs old)
– Learning Through Love, Life, and Play: The Preschool Years (3 – 5 yrs old)
– Learning Through Love, Life, and Play: The School Age Years (5 – 9 yrs old)
– Learning Through Love, Life, and Play: The Tween Years (9 – 12 yrs old)
I am Your Champion:
Becoming Your Child’s Greatest Advocate
Parents and caregiver serve a voice to and for their children. This workshop will equip families with the knowledge tools and strategies needed to develop the skill of serving as their child advocate in learning and life. Effective advocacy for a child not only fosters space for the growth today. But, also, fosters space for a child’s development of confidence and self-advocacy skills, tomorrow.
Healthy Tree, Healthy Fruit:
Self-Care for Parents and Caregivers
As parents, we spend much of our time and energy caring for our children. However, we must remember to recharge our batteries and take care of ourselves to ensure we have the energy to give our children the best version of ourselves. This workshop will offer parents and caregivers tips, strategy, and permission to nurture themselves so they are better able to nurture the children they love and care for each day.
Getting to Know Yourself as a Parent:
Exploring Your Beliefs About Parenting and Child Rearing
We are a combination of all of our lived experience. These lived experiences shape our believes and influence how we parent and care for our children. This introspective learning experience offer parents and caregiver the opportunity to explore their values and beliefs regarding parenting and child rearing.
The Power of Words:
Using positive and Strength-Based Language to Communicate with Children
Our words as parents and caregivers become our children’s inner voice. Therefore, it is essential to surround our children with word that foster development of a strong belief in themselves and their capabilities. During this learning experience, participants will explore the use of strength-based language and learn 5 strategies to use in everyday life to ensure the words used with and around their children promote the development of an emotionally healthy and confident person.
I Control Me:
Developing Self-Regulatory Skills in Children
Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behavior and your reactions to feelings and things happening around you. Self-regulatory skills assist children in navigating experiences they encounter with the world around them. Children develop self-regulation through warm and responsive interactions and relationship.
They also develop it by watching the adults in their lives. Participants will learn strategies to support the development of self-regulatory skills in their children.
This is Us:
Developing Your Family Culture and Values Statement
Creating a family culture and values statement can be a meaningful way for your family to come up with values that are important to your household. During this workshop the participants will explore and examine their family’s way of doing and being, values, roles, and goals. Then, develop a framework to create a shared family culture and values statement with the members of their family.
We All Have Emotions:
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
Children experience the same range of emotions that we do as adults. When talking to your children about their feelings, go beyond the typically used emotions of happy, sad, and angry. Children with higher emotional intelligence are better able to pay attention, are more engaged in school, have more positive relationships, and are more empathic. Participants will explore the 5 characteristics of emotional intelligence and learn strategies to support the development of emotional intelligence in their children.
Guidance is Love:
Reframing the Concept of Discipline
This learning experience examines the difference between guidance and discipline. Guidance refers to advice or information that helps a child resolve a problem or difficulty. Discipline refers to the practice of training a child to obey rules, using punishment to correct disobedience. The difference between guidance and discipline is engagement. Guidance is engagement-focused and learning-focused. Participants will methods of offering guidance with managing the behavior of children.
Finding and Using Your Voice:
Effective Communication with Teachers and Service Providers
It can be intimidating at times to communicate with teachers and service providers, when advocating for your child and family. This workshop provides skills to strengthen a parent of caregiver’s ability to communicate their child’s needs to service providers. Effective communication assists in the establishment strong and productive
family/service provider relationships. Families are the experts on their child. This learning experience empowers parent to communicate that expertise and supports the development of skills and learning strategies that enable parents to successfully collaborate with service providers and work together to ensure their child maximizes his/her personal potential.
I am Resilient:
Navigating Daily and Family Stressors
It this workshop, participants will identify causes of stress in their daily lives and positive ways to cope with frustration. Additionally, the participants will develop strategies for helping children deal with stress. This learning experience assists participants in identifying their responses to stressful situations and creating a plan to manage daily stressors.
Building a Top Notch Village:
Five Keys to Establishing Supportive Relationships
No family is an island. We all need support when navigating the twists and turns of LIFE. During this workshop, participants will identify the category of people they need on their team and what type of supports would be
most relevant to their family. Every family deserves a Top Notch Village of support. This learning experience empowers families with the skills to recognize and utilize the support resources in their family and community.
Navigating the Hidden Responsibilities:
Parenting a Child with Disabilities
Parenting requires support, skill, and information. Parenting, while raising a child with disabilities requires all of that and then some! This workshop will explore the “and then some” – the hidden responsibilities of parenting a child with disabilities. Hidden responsibilities are the tasks that the world doesn’t see because they are hidden; embedded into the experience of parenting a child with disabilities. Hidden responsibilities are extra tasks and thoughts parents and caregivers of children with disabilities must to employ during the day to ensure their home, life, and child remain
balanced. The focus of this workshop is increasing the capacity of families as they support the needs of their children with disabilities. This learning experience will examine the roles of families, community, and service providers within the child and family’s community. Then, further assess how to partner and collaborate with the people and resources within your community to assess in navigating the hidden responsibilities of parenting a child with disabilities.
