Apples for Children

Help APPLES for Children celebrate Provider Appreciation, a national recognition of the important role child care providers play in our families, communities, and economies. Child care providers care for our children while families work - and teach children important skills.

Sponsor an I-Care PREMIUM Membership for one or more child care providers - which gives them a year of workshop discounts and access to members-only resources.

To learn more about APPLES for Children's services, watch the videos and read the story below!

Two - year - old Nicholas goes to a family child care home each day while his Mom and Dad go to work. Nicholas' Mom and Dad found child care by using the LOCATE: Child Care search service at APPLES for Children. LOCATE: Child Care is a computerized database of all state-regulated child care programs in Washington County. They used the web-based search option to find a list of programs near their home, then called each child care provider until they found the best match for Nicholas.

Nicholas was having some difficulty getting along with two of the other preschoolers, and began hitting, biting and kicking the other children. The family child care provider talked to Nicholas' Mom and Dad, and together they decided they needed some help to see what might be causing Nicholas' challenging behaviors.

The family child care provider called APPLES for Children, and Kelly Unger, an APPLES for Children staff member, observed Nicholas at his child care program. Kelly noticed several things, and asked the family child care provider and Nicholas' Mom and Dad to complete a developmental screening tool. The screening tool indicated that Nicholas' language skills were delayed, and Kelly recommended that Nicholas' Mom and Dad contact the Birth - Five program at Washington County Board of Education to see if he would qualify for speech and language services.

When Nicholas plays with the other children in the family child care home, he is learning valuable skills - such as how to get along with other children, and how to manage his emotions. Kelly was able to help the family child care provider understand that Nicholas' language delays were getting in the way of his ability to communicate his needs to the other children. The whole team - Kelly, the family child care provider, Nicholas' Mom and Dad, and the Birth to Five program - helped Nicholas learn other ways to communicate with the other children while he also developed his speech and language skills.

Nicholas will now be ready to continue learning the important social, emotional, and language skills that will enable him to be ready for school in a couple of years. Without Kelly's intervention services, Nicholas could develop negative social and emotional patterns, continuing to use violence to meet his needs. And since language skills are the foundation for later reading and writing skills, Nicholas could have also needed special education services when he entered school.

APPLES for Children offers resources such as these to the adults who care for and educate young children. We refer adults to the many others in our community who also care about the future of young children.

When you donate to APPLES for Children, you help us expand our services to even more children, families, caregivers and teachers. Together, we can improve children's lives, one caring adult at a time.