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Methodology
My lifelong goal to help children through traumatic transitions is the basis for the Katina Woodruff Children’s Foundation. I put my extensive training and life experiences to work in the lives of these little ones. Take a look with me at my specific methods.
Currently I am working with recently arrived refugee and migrant children aged three to twelve, providing one-on-one sessions for children facing particular adjustment challenges. It is rewarding to see children respond who have, to this point, not been able to adapt to their classroom setting nor to their fellow young students. I also observe the current mainstream educational practices implemented with migrant children to form a basis for this individual assistance and provide resources and models for teachers to implement in their own teaching practice.
I also work with these children upon their arrival in their new homeland of Australia both in their own homes and in mine as we participate in language and play activities custom designed to each child’s individual stage of cultural adjustment to Australia. During school holidays (vacation) I am available to work with children who need additional assistance, helping them continue in their cultural adjustment through language and play activities designed especially for them. At the same time, I collaborate with their teachers regarding their holiday development.
As indicated above, I have special concern for migrant children experiencing trouble fitting into society and and peer play situations. I observe their classroom and playground behavior, analyze their difficulties, and implement an individualized play and learning program tailored specifically to their individual developmental stage. Follow-up observation and program adjustments are so very important in this approach.
During my anthropology training, I wrote numerous ethnographies, the longest-running being an analysis of the playground culture created by children in a Brisbane preschool. I am applying this knowledge along with skills developed during my double major in anthropology, and my extensive training in linguistics and psychology to establish play and adjustment activities for children.
For both refugee and migrant children in cultural transition we must first discover their interests. We utilize toys, art supplies, music, play dough, books and age-appropriate group games. Creating play environments with equipment such as toy kitchens, shops, and dress-ups provides the setting for my newly developed "Pretend Play" approach.
For children studying ESL, an emphasis is also placed on role-playing with puppets, multicultural dolls and other toys, by pretending to make these toys speak and communicate. This provides a non-threatening way for children to express feelings they may be reluctant to discuss otherwise, to create and test language patterns for them, and for me to make recordings of their speech for further linguistic assessment.
I also provide training and consultation to other key adults impacting the child's life including educators and social workers.
The Katina Woodruff Children’s Foundation has a clear direction and purpose. We are doing our best to implement the program without outside funding, but the Foundation’s scope will expand considerably when adequate funds for staffing and operation are available. Your assistance will multiply the results we are already seeing demonstrated in the lives of the children for whom this Foundation has been established. I thank you, in advance, for assisting us in reaching this very specific set of needs in the lives of children here in Australia.
- Katina
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