Early Childhood Development and Health Services
Education and Early Childhood Development
Family and Community Partnerships
Services for Children with Disabilities
How to Qualify | Central Staff
Income Eligibility Guidelines

Early Childhood Development and Health Services

Head Start’s commitment to wellness embraces a comprehensive health program which includes a broad range of services for children and families.

To promote preventive health services and early intervention by linking children and families to an ongoing source of continuous health care to meet their basic health needs. Health services include

• Physical and Dental Examinations
• Vision, Speech and Hearing Screenings
• Screening for Developmental Concerns
• Hematocrit Screenings
• Nutrition and Growth Assessments
• Mental Health Services
• Extended Follow-up and Treatment

Education and Early Childhood Development

The education program is designed to be responsive and appropriate to a variety of children’s needs and strengths, and to stimulate learning across all domains of development: social, emotional, cognitive and physical.

The Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood provides the basic framework for our curriculum. Our curriculum identifies goals in all areas of development:

Social:  To help children feel comfortable in school, trust their new environment, make friends, and feel they are a part of the group.

Emotional:  To help children experience pride and self-confidence, develop independence and self-control, and have a positive attitude toward life.

Cognitive:   To help children become confident learners by letting them try out their own ideas and experience success, and by helping them acquire learning skills such as the ability to solve problems, ask questions, and use words to describe their ideas, observations, and feelings.

Physical: To help children increase their large and small muscle skills and feel confident about what their bodies can do. 

The learning environment is organized into the following interest areas which provide opportunities for various learning experiences:

Blocks
House Corner
Table Toys
Art
Computers
Sand and Water
Library
Music and Movement
Outdoors

Ongoing assessment provides the vehicle for parents and staff to work in partnership to determine how the program can best respond to each child’s individual characteristics, strengths, and needs.

The program maintains a good balance of active and quiet play, indoor and outdoor activities, formal and informal learning experiences, and individual and group activities.

Nutrition:

The child nutrition program’s primary focus is to promote wellness of the child and family. Head Start children are served a breakfast, lunch, and snack daily. The children and parents are offered the opportunity to receive medical nutrition therapy from the staff dietitian for nutrition consultation for special diets.

Family and Community Partnerships

Family Partnerships

Head Start assist families in goal setting through the family partnership agreement process. Families access community services through individual road mapping experiences. Our program offers parents opportunities and support for growth as they identify and need their own goals. The following opportunities are offered to each family:

Individual Road Map to Services
Referral to Agencies
Social Services Workshops
Family Literacy
Parenting Skills Sessions
Welfare Reform Support Activities
Parent Involvement Training/Policy Council/Leadership Training

Community Partnerships

In order to provide the highest level of services to children and families the East Baton Rouge Parish Head Start Program collaborates with partners in the community.

Services for Children with Disabilities

Since its beginning Head Start has maintained a nationwide policy of open enrollment for eligible children. By encouraging the inclusion of mentally, physically, and socially disabled children in a integrated setting, Head Start’s commitment to "mainstreaming" has been evident since its doors opened in 1965. Children with disabilities and their families receive the full range of Head Start developmental services. In addition, Head Start staff members work closely with community agencies to provide services which meet the special needs of children with disabilities. Services for children identified include outreach and recruitment, screening, professional diagnosis, development and implementation of IEP and transition in the next setting.

How to Qualify:

Child must reside in East Baton Rouge Parish
Child must be 3 years of age by September 30
Applicant must meet age and income eligibility guidelines

To apply for Head Start, you will need the following:

Current Income verification
Up-to-date Immunization Card
Social Security Cards on everyone in the family
Birth Certificate
Documentation of Disabilities (if applicable)
 

Central Staff:

Head Start Director
Assistant Head Start Director
Education Supervisor/Social Services Supervisor/Parent Involvement & Training Specialist
Health Supervisor/Nutrition Supervisor/Disabilities Coordinator
Accountant
Clerical Support
PC LAN Specialist

2009 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States
and the District of Columbia

SOURCE: Federal Register, Vol. 72, No. 27, January 24, 2007, pp. 3147-3148.