Advertise on podcast: Early Childhood Investigations

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Retention doesn’t begin when someone is thinking about leaving; it begins the very first time they experience your organization. From the first tour to long-term relationships, every interaction a family or staff member has with your program shapes how they feel, what they believe, and ultimately, whether they stay. In this session, you’ll explore how to intentionally design the full lifecycle experience for both families and staff through the lens of everyday leadership moments. You’ll learn why retention is not driven by policies or programs alone, but by the patterns of interaction that happen across five critical stages of the journey. Using a practical and relatable framework, you’ll identify the “moments that matter” within each stage and uncover how small, consistent actions build trust, connection, and loyalty over time. You’ll also learn how to apply the 5:1 interaction principle to strengthen relationships, increase psychological safety, and create experiences people want to stay connected to. Because retention isn’t a single moment. It’s a journey you design, one interaction at a time. Learning Objectives Participants will be able to: Identify the five key stages of the family and staff lifecycle and the critical “moments that matter” within each stage. Apply the 5:1 interaction principle to strengthen relationships and build trust across the lifecycle experience. Recognize how everyday leadership behaviors influence retention, engagement, and overall experience. Design simple, intentional connection strategies that improve both staff satisfaction and family loyalty. Evaluate current practices to identify missed opportunities and strengthen retention through consistent interactions.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software You’ve worked hard to build a strong program, but getting the right families to find you and take the next step can still feel overwhelming. If your marketing feels inconsistent, time-consuming, or unclear, you’re not alone. Many child care owners know they need a stronger online presence, but aren’t sure how to turn their website and marketing efforts into a system that actually supports enrollment. In this practical, tech-friendly session, Chelsea, a professional web designer, will walk you through a simple five-step marketing system designed to help child care businesses market with more clarity and confidence. With your website at the center, you’ll explore how to create a digital home that builds trust with families, supports your enrollment goals, and connects strategically to tools like email marketing, lead magnets, and content. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how to build a marketing foundation that works together, so they can spend less time guessing and more time using simple, intentional strategies to grow visibility, increase inquiries, and strengthen their business. Learning Objectives Identify five key components of a digital marketing system that can help child care programs increase visibility and attract prospective families. Develop a simple marketing plan that uses a website, email, and content strategically to support enrollment and business growth. Compare digital marketing tools and strategies to determine which options best fit their program’s goals, capacity, and audience.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Every classroom moment carries emotional weight. When a child melts down, refuses, pushes, cries, or shuts down, it’s easy to focus on compliance or quick fixes. But what if behavior is not a discipline problem, but a stress signal? In this dynamic and practical session, you will learn how to shift from reacting to behavior to responding with clarity, steadiness, and intention. Emotionally Responsive Practice (ERP) offers a research-informed, classroom-ready framework that helps you understand behavior through a nervous system lens—both in children and in yourself. You will explore how your own regulation shapes the emotional climate of your classroom and why your presence is often more powerful than your words. You will walk away with a clear three-layer strategy model that moves beyond “What do I say?” and into sustainable practice: Proactive Layer: How you design environments, routines, and expectations to reduce stress before it escalates. In-the-Moment Layer: How you regulate yourself and respond effectively during dysregulated moments. Reflective Layer: How you process challenging situations to support long-term growth and prevent recurring patterns. Rather than offering surface-level behavior tips, this session strengthens your capacity so your responses feel grounded, confident, and developmentally aligned. You will leave with practical tools you can use immediately—and a deeper understanding of how connection and regulation transform classroom culture. Learning Objectives By the end of this session, you will be able to: Understand behavior through a nervous system and stress lens rather than a compliance lens. Recognize your personal stress signatures and how they show up in classroom interactions. Apply the three-layer ERP strategy model (proactive, in-the-moment, reflective) to real classroom scenarios. Use practical regulation tools that can be implemented immediately. Shift from managing behavior to guiding children with connection and clarity.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareWhat if the daily pressures you feel in early childhood education are not a signal to do more, but an invitation to examine the conditions more closely? In this interactive, research-informed webinar, you will step into the role of a “Play Scientist” and test a powerful hypothesis: when pressure increases and play decreases, learning, connection, and well-being are compromised. Through real-world insights, reflective play experiences, and brain-based research, you will explore how the current demands of the field—including compliance, documentation, challenging behaviors, and limited time—are influencing educator well-being, nurturing relationships, and children’s outcomes. Using research and practical data points, this session will examine how stress increases cortisol, reduces patience, and disrupts connection, while play boosts dopamine, supports motivation, deepens engagement, and strengthens learning. Rather than adding more strategies to your already-full workload, this session invites you to challenge your thinking in order to change your practice. You will discover how small, intentional moments of play can restore engagement, support regulation, and transform classroom dynamics without requiring extra time or additional resources. The conclusion is clear: play is not an extra; it is essential. You’ll leave with a renewed perspective and practical strategies to play smarter, not harder, boost your impact, and reconnect with the joy and purpose of your work. Learning Objectives Participants will be able to: Examine how current pressures in early childhood education, including compliance, documentation, challenging behaviors, and limited time, affect educator well-being, relationships, and child outcomes. Describe how stress and play influence the brain, including the impact of cortisol on patience and connection and the role of dopamine in motivation, engagement, and learning. Recognize how decreases in play can compromise regulation, connection, and deeper learning for both educators and children. Identify small, intentional moments of play that can be embedded into daily routines without requiring additional time, materials, or resources. Apply practical “play smarter, not harder” strategies to support engagement, regulation, classroom connection, and educator joy.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software You’ve said it before: “They’re not listening.” “They’re overreacting.” “They know better than this.” And yet, the behavior keeps showing up. What if the behavior is not about defiance or choice at all, but about a nervous system that needs something different than what we are offering? In this session, you’ll learn how to differentiate between sensory-driven and emotionally driven behavior so you can respond in ways that support regulation instead of escalating the moment. We’ll walk through the nine sensory systems and explore how they show up in the classroom, often in ways that are misunderstood or mislabeled. You’ll begin to recognize the patterns beneath the behavior and better understand what a child’s nervous system may be communicating in real time. From there, we’ll shift into practical, in-the-moment strategies you can use right away to support regulation, connection, and learning. This work is not just about children. As educators, your own nervous system plays a critical role in how you respond, teach, and connect. You’ll leave with tools to support not only your students, but also yourself and your team, helping the classroom feel more manageable, connected, and sustainable. Learning Objectives Participants will be able to: Differentiate between sensory regulation needs and emotional regulation needs in real classroom moments. Recognize how the nine sensory systems influence behavior in children and adults. Identify behavioral patterns that may point to underlying nervous system needs. Use practical, in-the-moment strategies to support regulation, strengthen connection, and reduce escalation. Reflect on how their own nervous system shapes their responses to children, colleagues, and classroom stressors.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Every time a staff member leaves, your program starts paying — long before you post the job opening. The obvious costs are easy to see: advertising, background checks, onboarding, training hours, and classroom coverage. The real cost reaches much further. Turnover can mean overtime, leadership time pulled away from enrollment and operations, stressed classrooms, lost family confidence, delayed growth, and months of reduced productivity while a new hire gets up to speed. So the question becomes: do you track it? Join Kate Woodward Young and Carrie Casey for a session that helps child care leaders view staffing decisions through a business lens. Kate and Carrie will break down the financial impact of hiring, training, developing, and retaining staff — including the often-overlooked cost of director turnover and the time it takes a new leader to bring a program back to full strength. Participants will explore how to make smarter decisions about raises, performance bonuses, credentialing, onboarding, and staff development. Rather than asking only, "Can we afford to invest in our team?" this session asks the more important question: "What is it costing us when we do not?" Leaders will leave able to put real numbers to the cost of turnover, weigh a retention investment against the cost of replacing an employee, and build a clearer financial case for keeping the right people. Learning Objectives By the end of this 90-minute webinar, participants will be able to: Calculate the total cost of replacing one staff member, including direct hiring expenses and indirect costs such as overtime, classroom coverage, and lost productivity. Identify the hidden costs of director and leadership turnover, including the time required for a new leader to return a program to full strength. Compare the cost of a retention investment — such as a raise, performance bonus, or credentialing support — against the cost of replacing that employee. Formulate a financial case for a specific staff investment decision using program-level turnover and time-to-productivity data.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareReady to go beyond the basics? In this second session of the series, we’ll explore advanced strategies to support children’s social-emotional development through character education, creative expression, and culturally responsive practices. Join Brian J. Puerling, MS, NBCT, nationally recognized author, PBS Innovative Educator Award recipient, and early childhood leader, as he shares practical tools to deepen your SEL approach. Drawing from decades of work with diverse learners, including roles with Sesame Workshop and Chicago Public Schools, Brian will guide you in designing inclusive environments and crafting sustainable classroom practices. This session builds on the foundation of Webinar 1. If you missed the live event, we encourage you to watch the recording of Part 1. Together, these two sessions offer a comprehensive framework for fostering SEL in the digital age. Key Takeaways: Apply practical strategies to teach character and guide conflict resolution.Nurture creativity as a critical element of SEL.Design inclusive, culturally responsive environments for all children.Create your own action plan to bring SEL practices to life in your classroom.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareReceiving a citation can leave even experienced child care leaders with a lot of emotion — and even more questions. What exactly was cited? When did that become a rule? Was the regulation interpreted correctly? Should the finding be accepted as written, clarified, or discussed further based on additional information? Join Ronnae Williams, The State Lady®, for an inside look at how licensing decisions are made, what consultants are evaluating during inspections, and how to respond professionally when findings are documented. Drawing on her experience as a former licensing consultant, Ronnae will help participants better understand licensing reports, identify common areas of misunderstanding, and determine appropriate next steps when concerns arise. Participants will leave with practical strategies for addressing citations, strengthening compliance systems, and communicating effectively throughout the process. Learning objectives: by the end of this 90-minute webinar, participants will be able to: Interpret a licensing report to identify the specific regulation, practice, or observation being cited. Describe what licensing consultants evaluate during inspections, investigations, and follow-up visits. Determine whether clarification, corrective action, or additional documentation is appropriate following a citation. Apply professional communication strategies to respond to licensing findings and strengthen compliance systems.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareChildren need movement to develop their bodies and brains; so, let’s embrace the bending, twisting, and wiggling! Join Stacy Benge, author of The Whole Child Alphabet: How Children Actually Develop Literacy, to uncover how fine motor function depends on stable gross motor skills.  You will explore ways to intertwine physical experiences throughout the day to offer fun, engaging, and meaningful experiences that support the development of both.  You will discover how to design a play environment that encourages movement and physical development. Leave with the confidence of knowing and explaining that the foundations of literacy and future reading and writing begin on the playground.   After this session, you will be able to: · Identify the importance of physical development in the lifespan and academic growth. Discover the developmental stages of physical development, including gross and fine motor, brain development, crossing the midlines, and the internal senses.  Understand the intricacies of physical development and how it supports future handwriting Create a learning environment centered around child-led play to promote physical development.  Evaluate practices moving forward that support physical development, including sharing information with stakeholders and advocating for child-led play.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareStep into the world of storytelling and discover its transformative power in early childhood education. In this heart-centered, inspiring session, you’ll explore how storytelling can do far more than entertain - it can uplift, empower, and connect. In this webinar, storytelling expert Kate Shelley will help you uncover how the simple act of sharing stories can become a powerful tool for supporting children’s communication and language development, building social-emotional skills, and offering hope - especially for children with special needs and disabilities, as well as those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Whether you're working to strengthen relationships, encourage resilience, or promote inclusion, storytelling offers a bridge between hearts and minds. Through thoughtful reflection and real-life examples, Kate will guide you to see storytelling as a vital practice in your toolkit - one that can improve life chances, promote equity, and remind us all of the magic we hold when we listen, connect, and share. Join us for insight and inspiration - and walk away ready to use stories to make a lasting impact. By the end of this session, you will be able to: Describe how storytelling supports communication, language, and social-emotional development in young children. Identify ways to use storytelling as a tool for inclusion, especially for children with SEND or those facing disadvantage. Explain how Tales Toolkit has promoted resilience and supported children’s developing confidence and independence. Reflect on how storytelling can contribute to long-term outcomes and life chances for all children. Feel inspired to create story-rich environments that bring joy, connection, and hope to your daily practice.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareEarly childhood educators are the foundation of quality programs—yet high turnover, wage inequity, and inconsistent compensation remain persistent challenges across the field. This webinar examines how structured salary scales can transform ECE workforce stability by creating transparent, equitable pathways for teacher compensation. Designed for program directors, administrators, and early education leaders, this session pairs the evidence on fair pay structures with practical, immediately applicable guidance for building a salary scale—whether you're starting from scratch or refining an existing structure—along with realistic strategies for funding it over time. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Describe the research linking structured salary scales to improved teacher retention, reduced turnover costs, and greater pay equity across race, gender, and credential levels. Design a draft salary scale framework for their own program, including credential- and experience-based steps and transparent placement criteria. Identify at least three funding strategies — including grants, public investments, and blended financing — to sustain competitive compensation over time.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareLeadership in early childhood education is deeply emotional work. Every tone you use, every decision you make, and every reaction you have quietly shapes your school’s culture. In this powerful session, you will explore how your nervous system state, decision-making pace, and stress responses directly influence staff morale, clarity, and performance. Leadership breakdown rarely begins with incompetence—it begins with capacity strain. When expectations exceed emotional and structural capacity, pressure replaces presence, reactivity replaces reflection, and culture begins to erode. In this webinar, you will learn how to recognize the early signs of overload in yourself and your team—and shift from survival-based leadership to sustainable, capacity-aligned leadership. You will examine what it means to lead from regulation rather than urgency, reduce invisible decision load, and coach staff through moments of dysregulation without absorbing their stress. By integrating Emotionally Responsive Practice (ERP), leadership psychology, and capacity-based thinking, you will leave with practical tools to design systems that absorb pressure instead of transferring it. If you are ready to move from managing stress to designing for stability—and from reacting under pressure to leading with clarity and intention—this session will provide both the insight and the strategies to help you do it. Learning Objectives By the end of this session, you will be able to: Understand how your nervous system state influences staff performance, morale, and school culture. Identify signs of personal and organizational capacity strain before breakdown occurs. Apply practical regulation tools during high-stakes leadership moments. Use ERP principles to guide coaching conversations with dysregulated staff. Identify structural shifts that support an emotionally responsive, capacity-aligned school culture.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareYou’ve been there. You prepare for a coaching conversation, choose your words carefully, and still, something doesn’t land. The teacher shuts down, gets defensive, or nods along without any real change. It’s frustrating, and it can make even the most dedicated leader question their impact. In this engaging and practical session, you’ll learn how to turn those moments into meaningful opportunities for growth. You’ll explore why resistance happens — and, more importantly, what to do about it in real time. Through relatable scenarios and real-world language, you’ll build confidence in navigating difficult conversations with clarity and care, and learn how to shift teachers from resistant to reflective. Together, we’ll move beyond compliance-driven feedback and into coaching that builds trust, reflection, and ownership. You’ll walk away with specific phrases you can use, simple frameworks to guide your approach, and strategies to help teachers feel seen, supported, and motivated to improve their practice. Whether you’re coaching a new teacher who lacks confidence or a seasoned educator who resists change, this session will meet you where you are. You’ll leave with tools you can use immediately — because effective coaching isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about knowing how to ask the right questions, in the right way, at the right time. If you’re ready to shift your coaching from frustrating to effective — and finally see it stick — this session is for you. Learning Objectives Explain the underlying reasons teachers may resist feedback and how resistance shows up in coaching interactions. Apply effective, strengths-based coaching language and questioning techniques to reduce defensiveness and increase engagement. Analyze real-world coaching scenarios to determine the most effective responses for promoting reflection and growth. Design a practical coaching plan that addresses a current challenge and supports sustained improvement in teacher practice.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareGet ready to play as you learn to speak infant and toddler! Explore how intentional language during play helps infants and toddlers build meaning, connection, confidence, and a lasting love of learning. Grounded in play-based neuroscience, this workshop examines the powerful relationship between adult expressive language and the ways young children process, understand, and respond to the world around them. Participants will look closely at how language supports child-led play, self-exploration, and early problem-solving. The session will introduce different types of prosocial play and explore how specific phrases can nurture curiosity, creativity, and communication in developmentally appropriate ways. Through a linguistic lens, participants will also examine common habits in adult language, consider how young children interpret what they hear, and identify more effective ways to communicate during everyday interactions. Based on The Talking Triangle Framework from Talk to Them Early and Often, this session brings theory to life through modeled examples, video clips, and ready-to-use sentence starters that participants can immediately apply in the classroom or at home. Educators will leave with a practical approach to using language during play in ways that support cognition, strengthen early identity, and foster deeper connection in the first three years. Learning objectives: Explain the difference between receptive and expressive language in preverbal infants and toddlers. Name three types of child-led play and describe their early learning benefits. Identify five sentence starters that support connection, encourage curiosity, and cultivate creative thinking in infants and toddlers. Apply intentional language strategies by generating developmentally appropriate phrases for everyday play and interactions.

RESOURCES Watch the full webinar hereJoin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every weekCheck out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management SoftwareEarly childhood educators are often expected to give endlessly—to children, families, and programs—while their own well-being is rarely prioritized. For program leaders, this raises an important question: How are the adults in your program really doing? In this webinar, Dr. Cathi Miller—professor, consultant, and host of the podcast Developmentally Inappropriate with Dr. Cathi—is joined by Dr. Keena Mosley, an ECE professor and leadership coach, to explore how administrators can champion strong educator communities that transform program culture, reduce burnout, and support long-term teacher retention. Participants will examine how intentional leadership practices can foster belonging, collaboration, and resilience. Through reflection and practical examples, administrators will learn strategies for cultivating supportive educator communities within their programs, creating environments where teachers feel valued, connected, and able to thrive alongside the children they serve. By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to: Examine the relationship between educator well-being, professional connection, and teacher retention in early childhood programs. Apply leadership practices and program-culture strategies that reduce educator isolation and support staff well-being. Implement practical leadership strategies that strengthen educator communities, prevent teacher burnout, and promote long-term sustainability.