Realityworks Blog

Early Childhood Programs

Submitted by pressrw on Mon, 02/20/2012 - 10:33

An article in the January/February 2012 edition of Educational Researcher, “What Do Early Childhood Programs Do? What Could They Do?” recently caught my attention. It was a review of the book,  Childhood Program and Practices in the First Decade of Life: A Human Capital Integration (2010).  The book itself analyzes the effectiveness of a wide variety of early childhood programs from prenatal and infancy through early elementary.  The article points out the strengths and gaps to be found in the book. 

The bottom line is that there are many effective and worthwhile early childhood programs happening around the country that are providing a high rate of return to investment. 

Realityworks has successfully partnered with some of the programs included in the book such as Head Start and Early Head Start, as well as programs similar to Nurse-Family Partnerships that involve home visitation. 

Click on the link below to read how Realityworks products are providing powerful hands-on experience in prenatal and parenting education programs.    http://www.realityworks.com/images/Story-ChildrensHomeAidPublicHealthOrgIL-RealCare.pdf 

According to The Pew Center on the States, “The highest quality home visiting programs produce positive outcomes that, over time, yield returns of up to $5.70 per taxpayer dollar spent.”   In March 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which provides $1.5 billion over five years for a state-based early childhood home visitation grant program serving families with young children and those who are expecting children. The law is the first of its kind and calls for states to invest in evidence-based programs in order to be eligible for grant funding.

This month the second National Summit on Quality in Home Visiting Programs was held to provide a venue for the exchange of ideas to connect research with policy and practice. We will watch to see what home visiting researchers, program leaders, and policy makers will share about the latest developments in the field and strategies about how to ensure that home visiting investments are supporting evidence-based models backed by strong policies and embedded in early childhood systems.

We applaud these early childhood programs and the outcomes that the children and parents experience as a result of participating.


To learn more about early childhood and home visitation programs in your state, click on http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=61051. 


 

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Realityworks Trainings

Submitted by pressrw on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 15:18


How confident are you in your Baby program? Are there things you don’t understand, or wonder if you could be doing something different? If you are looking for additional tips, tricks and ideas for how to begin --or put some zing into-- your Realityworks Baby program, consider having a Realityworks trainer come to your site.

With up to 15 participants for a day-long training, you will learn about:



  • Best practices with Baby

  • Programming techniques

  • Incorporating the program into your unit of instruction, such as how much time you have to devote, what you want to cover in that unit, how to get as many participants as possible into the simulation

  • The three curricula that come with Baby: Healthy Choices (pregnancy prevention), Basic Infant Care, and Parenting. Each of these curricula provide 3 solid weeks of student-centered lesson plans that meet many of the Health and Family and Consumer Science standards for education. 

If you have the Infant Health Trio (Drug Affected Baby, Fetal Alcohol Baby and Shaken Baby) and/or the Pregnancy Profile® Vest, we will demonstrate those as well, and will go through the lessons that come with these products.  Incorporating them into your overall program can make it complete unit of instruction around the topic: from pregnancy prevention/family planning, to healthy pregnancy-- fetal development and refraining from drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, to caring for an infant, to ensuring that you keep the infant safe, even when the crying is frustrating.

Realityworks trainers are extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of the RealCare program and have years of experience as high school teachers, using the Baby and all the RealCare products.

On site trainings allow your group to come together to discuss details about how maximize use of the Baby among various classes, and share techniques for keeping it simple. Our trainers have lots of ideas that can make the most of your Baby program.  We even have some fun stories to share from Baby programs around the country.  We tailor the training to your specific needs and timeframe for training.

Perhaps you’ve inherited the Babies from a previous teacher or program person and are not sure how to begin. We can help you with that. Don’t let those Babies sit around. They want to do their job and are waiting for you to get the program going. It’s not difficult. Give us a call and we’ll get those Babies moving—helping you make a life-long impact on your students or clients.

For more information on our customer training call 1-800-262-3806. 

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AMAZED by the Teen Maze

Submitted by pressrw on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 14:20

We recently discovered a really great youth event that communities are hosting around the country.  It is called Teen Maze.  Teen Maze is set-up to walk students through a ‘virtual life’ to show how choices and consequences will affect their future.  The goals for the students are to graduate and attain a job without becoming pregnant or getting sexually transmitted diseases.  Students follow a script that shows the choices they make and leads them through pretend situations.  Some have to experience consequences of engaging in sexual behavior and must live out the situation of becoming a teen parent or having an STD like Aids.  Some have healthier choices and can move through graduation and acquiring a successful job.  Along the way they may also lose friends to jail or even death in deadly accidents from drinking and driving. 

Communities and schools have been putting on this life-sized interactive maze for youth for many years.  We discovered one community acting it out on YouTube and wanted to share how amazing we thought it was!


We would love to know if any of our followers or customers have events like Teen Maze.  Please share how your school or community has effectively shown students how choices they make effect their lives!

Where will Realityworks be this month?

Submitted by pressrw on Fri, 02/10/2012 - 15:42


We are excited to be on the road and visiting customers face to face this month!  We will be making a stop on the East coast and a stop on the West coast to showcase our interactive experiential learning tools. Look for the Realityworks booth at the 2012 Annual Conference of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and at the Educating for Careers Conference. 

Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
The conference theme is Improving Maternal and Child Health across the Life Span: Acting Today for Healthy Tomorrows.  AMCHP will be at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC on February 11-14.

We will be displaying our programs at booth #30 in the exhibit hall February 12-14.  At our booth we will be displaying our evidence-based programs including our new Total Parenting Experience Packages. Stop by our booth at any time during the conference for your chance to win a Kindle Fire! 

We are also happy to be partnering with Go Beyond and AMCHP by sponsoring the 2012 Maternal and Child Health Graduate Student Scholarship. Please join us in congratulating Aimee Rebecca Eden of Tampa Florida as the winner!


Educating for Careers Conference
The Educating for Careers Conference is an annual three-day professional development event surrounding career technical education (CTE).  The Conference is in Sacramento California at the Sacramento Convention Center on February 13-15.

We will be displaying all of our interactive educational simulations at booths 221 and 222. Products include the evidence-based RealCare Baby infant simulators, RealCareer Business Education Simulations and the NEW RealCareer Welding Simulation. Realityworks’ award-winning programs give realistic learning experiences and help you bring learning to life through simulation technology. 

If you are at the conference, stop by our booth to register to win an Apple iPad 2!


 


 

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Announcing the 2012 RealCare Video Contest!

Submitted by pressrw on Thu, 02/09/2012 - 14:15

Realityworks, Inc. is excited to announce the 2012 RealCare Video Contest!  The contest is for all  RealCare Program users in the US.  By entering you have the chance to win one of three prizes of up to a $1,000 donation to your organization or school. 

Anyone who is interested must create a video showing how the RealCare Program has made a difference in the lives of your participants. To be eligible, the school/organization must have a RealCare Program and both participants and instructor(s) must appear in the video. 

Entries must include the following throughout the video:


•             Which school/organization and classes use the RealCare Program


•             How the RealCare Program has changed lives


•             Share experiences and attitudes about teen pregnancy, parenting, and child care, etc.


All submissions are due April 16, 2012.  Entries will be initially judged by number of views and the number of stars (ranking) per video.  The top five most-viewed and highest-ranked videos will be the finalists for the contest. These five finalists will then be judged by a Selection Committee that will choose the first, second and third place winners. The first place winner’s school or organization will receive a $1,000 donation; second place will receive a $500 donation; and third place will receive a $250 donation.
For more information on the RealCare Video Contest visit http://www.realityworks.com/realcare/videocontest.asp  or call Realityworks at 800-830-1416.

Here is a great example of a student video!


 

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National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month

Submitted by pressrw on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 11:05

February is National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month.   The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) leads the observance of this event.  “NASBHC is passionate about school-based health care because they know SBHCs are the best way to keep students healthy and in the classroom.”  The theme for this year is “Sharing Our Stories.” 
 
For many years, Realityworks products and program have successfully been used in school settings.  School-based health care centers, high schools and middle schools, community groups and public organizations partnering with schools are all implementation models that have proven successful.   We’d like to share some stories with you on the successful use of the RealCare Program to help prevent pregnancy prevention and keep students in school.
 
http://www.coppin.edu/our/News.aspx?author=tjones&story=20110930152617
 
Cripple Creek Victor School District
 
Child and Parent Center Vicksburg MS
 
To celebrate National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month, follow the link below to find many useful resources to help you tell your own success stories!
 
http://www.nasbhc.org/site/c.ckLQKbOVLkK6E/b.7887067/k.FF83/Awareness_Month_2012.htm

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Calling all potential bloggers!

Submitted by pressrw on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 13:34


Realityworks is looking for guest bloggers!

Do you have an interesting way of sending out your RealCare Baby infant simulators? 

Ever wanted to share some of your student stories with your peers? 

Have an opinion on industry news?

Have you come up with your own lessons that make your classes really hit home?

We have the perfect place for you to share these experiences!  The Realityworks Blog is looking for guest writers for 2012.  You can write on any professional topic that interests you and that you think will benefit your peers!  We are looking for 500-1500 word submissions with photos, web links or videos.  If you are interested please submit your blog or send questions to pressroom@realityworks.com.

“Piensalo Bien” Project – "Think Well" Project

Submitted by pressrw on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 10:17

Children International introduced the “Piensalo Bien” project, with the goal to support teenage pregnancy prevention projects through practicing with Baby Simulators.  For this project the institution received a generous donation of 13 baby simulators for part of their international donations.  The first stage of the project involved training of the institutions personal.  The activity was facilitated by Yolanda Melendez, General Director of Realityworks for Central America, Panama, Dominican Republic, and South America.  The second stage will be the training of 250 youth of “Cuerpos de Salud de Jovenes of Children International” in Dominican Republic. 





 

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Education and Health Budget Signed into Law

Submitted by pressrw on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 09:15

Congress recently finalized the federal education budget for the 2012-13 school year. On December 23, 2011, the President signed H.R. 2055 into law, which includes education and health funding for fiscal year 2012 through September 30, 2012.

Programs that received increases include:



  1. Title Funding – more than $60 million increase

  2. IDEA – more than $100 million increase

  3. Head Start – more than $424 million increase 

Programs that received the same funding level as last year include:



  1. Investing in Innovation

  2. High School Graduation Initiative

  3. 21st Century Community Learning Centers

The Committee for Education Funding has outlined all federal education funding categories and created a chart with more specific information. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/zWuHXT

This same budget also included funding for most key health programs that aim to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. 

According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, the health budget includes:



  • Funding for the Office of Adolescent Health Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) at just under $105 million, including at least $75 million for Tier 1 grants and at least $25 million for Tier 2 grants

  • Increased evaluation funding for TPPP from $4.5 million to $8.5million

  • An additional $5 million for competitive grants for abstinence education

Realityworks products may qualify, in some cases, to be purchased using the above funding sources.  For more information visit the Realityworks Funding Center at http://www.realityworks.com/funding/titlefunding.asp

Stay tuned for more information on federal funding for education and health as things unfold in 2012.

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Hands-on interaction in parenting

Submitted by pressrw on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 10:36

The Cumberland County Cooperative Extension Centers in North Carolina give teens a hands-on look to parenthood with a program they call, “Baby Think it Over.”  They use RealCare Baby infant simulators to help teens experience firsthand what it would be like if they had a baby today. 

The center created a great video to show exactly how their program is working:  http://youtu.be/XiBOAMutsvQ


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