KidsCoinsInitiative

KIDS COINS® HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Kids Coins® Productions, would like to take this opportunity to propose a

Community Outreach Partnership and sponsorship program to provide services to parents with challenged children. The NAEC and Kids Coins® Program Initiative will provide training and implement support groups, service plans and program tools available to families. This will include a Community Outreach component preparing young children to become skilled emotionally prepared young adults.

Purpose:

To implement a comprehensive service orientated program, hands-on training and consulting through the distribution and implementation of The Kids Coins® Life Skills Program, to parents, teachers and adults who are responsible to teach, discipline and guide young children.

To provide support, basic Life Skills training, positive reinforcement, good ideals and structure to pre-kindergarten and school aged children under the age of eight.

To inspire adults in character building, emotional development, behavior management, positive creative play, motivational rewards and structured daily activities and tasks for young children.

To strive to reduce expulsion while increasing the successful fostering of the social-emotional development of children enrolled in child care programs, pre-schools, schools, or who are at home with caregivers or parents.

What The Kids Coins® Initiative can provide:

Partnership and team support
Observation and follow-up
Demonstrations and workshops
Individual service plans and parenting classes
Hands on training to parents, caregivers and teachers who provide for and/or teach young children, including, but not exclusive to children who are behaviorally challenged, have special needs or are developmentally delayed

Workshops and training for directors, staff and volunteers
Distribution of Kids Coins® Programs at discounted rates, providing a system that promotes the ability of children to engage socially and emotionally
Improvement of home and child care environments by including a well structured daily program of responsibilities, tasks and activities
Encouragement for the emotional well-being of care givers and parents
Live entertainment, story telling, motivational songs, programs and group activities
Fund raising efforts to raise corporate community sponsorship

As a prevention program:

Children need consistency, making it necessary to prevent the behavior of a child
from expelling them from a stable and nurturing out-of-the-home environment (Partnership Impact Early Care Research Project-Center for Children and Families)

Pre-kindergarten students are expelled at a rate more than three to six times that of their older peers in the K-12 grades. The likelihood of expulsion decreases significantly with access to a behavioral consultant. These programs can significantly improve school readiness and help put children on a path toward continued educational and lifelong success. States should develop alternatives to expulsion for children with severe behavioral problems. These alternatives should include individual behavioral aides than can be supported in a typical pre-kindergarten classroom

Walter S. Gilliam, PhD. "Pre-Kindergarteners Left Behind"

The Kids Coins® Child Development Initiative

Helping Young Children To Succeed

Kindergarten Readiness Component:

Kids Coins® is a preventative initiative designed with children’s cognitive, emotional, and social development in mind. In many ways, the system could be considered a Kindergarten Readiness program, preparing children so that they are ready to meet teacher expectations (e.g., following a posted schedule and being accountable for one’s behavior) and are prepared for Kindergarten curriculum (e.g., emotional awareness, imaginary play and career education focused on the roles people play in the community). Our programs (The Kids Coins® Reward System, The “I'm Feeling Program”, and The “I'm Playing Program”) are designed for home use, but can be adapted for use in daycares, preschools and elementary schools.

The Kids Coins® system is engaging and fun for children and a tremendous tool for parents, caregivers, and educators interested in addressing behavior challenges or enriching their child’s daily routines by encouraging creative play, emotional awareness, and competency in a range of early life skills.

For example, With The "I Can Do It" Coins" (a component of The Kids Coins™ Reward System), a visual aid is provided for children to follow directions, complete their daily tasks, chores and activities.

While use of The Kids Coins® Reward System is initially parent regulated, through consistent use children may begin to regulate their own behavior. Parent testimonials indicate that children have requested to do their chores with phrases like "Mom! It's time to get out our Coins!" Children quickly learn to display their own Coins, play their own motivational songs, and complete their tasks and activities without adult direction.

Emotional Development Awareness:

With the “I'm Feeling Program” children are provided a way to communicate their emotions through tangible images and choices depicted on Coins that represent how they feel.

Career Education:

With The “I'm Playing Program” children select different roles depicted on the Coins (e.g., baseball player, singer, artist, fire fighter). This encourages their engagement in imaginative play and creative thinking as they act out future “careers” that enhance their own talents, gifts and abilities.

Behavior Intervention Component:

While the emphasis is on Kindergarten Readiness, the behavior modification component (the token economy reward system) is appropriate as an intervention for early elementary children who are experiencing difficulty regulating their behavior in the classroom context.

The Kids Coins® Reward System:

When parents use the Kids Coins® Reward System at home, it reinforces the classroom management efforts of the teachers and provides a consistent message to the child about appropriate behavior. The program facilitates parent-child conversations on the topics of adhering to a schedule and following directions while keeping the emphasis on encouragement for positive behaviors/tasks, rather than on punishment for negative behaviors. The focus is on positive redirection; showing kids all the things they CAN do.

"Gold Coins" represent the completion of the task or activity, as "I Can Do It Coins" provide a series of tangible choices. Children can be directed and encouraged into their own decision making and direction following process.

"Gold Coins" can be eliminated as "I Can Do It" Coins can direct and structure activity. "I'm Playing Coins" and "I'm Feeling Coins" can be included in the reward system (e.g., children earn Gold Coins for creative play and for choosing their feelings).

Expulsion and at-risk children:

Research indicates young children are being expelled from Preschool Programs and Kindergarten, and that children exhibiting challenging behaviors are at risk. Our system benefits educators and providers by helping to eliminate classroom and group disruptions that make it difficult to teach and care for children. When a child is acting out in a structured group environment it is likely thatsimilar behavior is taking place in the home. If a program is followed that refocuses on positive behavior and daily routines, children may be more likely to be able to follow direction in the classroom.

Character Development:

As children learn positive behavior techniques and to follow directions, their manors can be improved. Caring and sharing, turn taking, patience through work effort, acceptance and tolerance for their own actions and the actions of others, can be added features to our system.

Kids Coins^® Productions, Inc.

Hope for children:

Our hope is that through the Kids Coins® program, we (parents, caregivers, teachers, social workers) are able to decrease the number of children who enter elementary school with behavior problems that interfere with their ability to learn and their teachers’ ability to instruct. For children who are already exhibiting behavior challenges, we hope to offer positive redirection on appropriate behaviors/tasks so that the problem does not follow them into adolescence.

Disclaimer:

There was no gender, race, or religious intent in the designing of The Kids Coins™ programs. Should Help Source or any other organization/company be interested in incorporating The Kids Coins™ Programs into their future plans, we would be willing to allow the altering of some of the facial features and skin tones on the Coins in order to better address the issue of multi-cultural diversity. As with any of our Coins, pictures, or images, “Religious” Coins can be omitted from the program. Kids Coins™ is an open and flexible company and would be happy to customize our programs to secure a licensing agreement.

Kids Coins® Children's Curriculum and Media Programming Proposal

Dedicated to the empowerment of children through the distribution of quality educational materials, methods and entertainment

Overview

To produce and distribute educational materials for pre-school through second grade levels that teaches character building life skills presented in an educational fun and entertaining colorful format using imaginative Kids Coins® Characters and art that engage children in positive ways.

Purpose / Goal

To create, produce, teach and sell developmentally appropriate quality, multi-media education materials for the purpose of empowering children to be successful everyday.

Mission

To teach children "they can do it" everyday, through the integration of brain-based learning techniques that teach children responsibility, behavior ethics, character building skills and career education while enhancing literacy (reading-thinking-learning and listening) and diversity.

Curriculum

To produce an engaging and fun educational curriculum created for teachers that will supplement existing curriculum and programs.

All materials will help students make real-world connections beyond the classroom.

All curriculum and media programming will be based on educational recommended material, meet the standards of The "No Child Left Behind Law", and The Six Pillars of Character, six core ethical values from the foundation of The Character Count! Youth-ethics initiative. These include:

• trustworthiness • respect • responsibility • fairness • caring • citizenship

All education materials produced will include the best teaching practices and strategies including the Multiple Intelligences teaching practices of Howard Gardner and will stimulate children's talents and gifts including music, dance, art, sports, feelings, mechanical and sensory, and visual and auditory techniques.

All materials will reinforce basic literacy skills dealing with colors, matching, size, sequencing, numbers, shapes, directionality, sounds and letters.

Executive Overview:

Kids Coins® Productions welcomes partnerships to bring a new approach to providing positive life skills learning programs to children, families, educators, child development professionals and caregivers.

While the possibilities are endless, the key to enhancing public awareness to the challenges of the current social and private issues of the development of children is effective educational, value-based, fun and creative programs.

With The Kids Coins® program, adults are given necessary "tools" to provide quality child care methods and practical teaching that is easy for everyone and fun for children. Children learn responsibility, structure and good behavior.

Kids Coins® Productions is on the cutting edge of wholesome educational and entertaining programming that meets the challenges of behavior related, child/adult relationship issues. Using a wide range of visual aides and motivational music, our programs help in leading the way to new ideas for helping children grow today, as the market for innovative product lines are created.

Our programs strive to meet the challenge of producing effective, creative, fun programming that will promise to increase public awareness to the social issues that affect children. Kids Coins® Productions is sensitive to the abuse and neglect of children.

The Kids Coins® program has proven to be highly effective, supplementing existing programs, methods and life-style choices used daily in homes and schools. The Kids Coins® program is based on the latest ‘brain-based learning’ techniques.

Developed by health care providers, caregivers, parents, grandparents, teachers, musicians and artists, Kids Coins® help to meet the daily challenges of directing children to become productive future citizens, and are affective tools for the special needs population of children.

What is Kids Coins®?

Kids Coins® is a unique motivational life skills learning program that teaches children responsibility, structure, appropriate behavior, healthy communication, emotional development, social skills, character

building, self-awareness, creativity, positive group play, music appreciation and the development of

talents and abilities.

Kids Coins® have been designed to provide adults with interactive "tools" that help gain the confidence

of children as they are guided in positive ways. The Kids Coins® Programs collectively include seventy (70) 4 1/4 inch circular, plastic, child-safe tokens, pictures, characters, creative play tokens, faces, feelings, activities, tasks, motivational songs, charts, instructions, plastic display, and child-inviting packaging.

Kids Coins® Program components:

All programs and songs are entertaining, fun and educational.

The Kids Coins® Reward System , has been designed to provide daily structure as children learn to complete daily tasks and activities. "I Can Do It" Coins are colorful pictures children choose and display as Gold Coins are earned. "Goldie" represents a friend, "always there to lend a hand", as the final goal of the day is earned and traded for a much prized, anticipated reward.

Children learn to "Try Harder", "There's a Time for Everything", "They Can Do It" and everyone is a WINNER!

The Kids Coins® I'm Feeling Program helps children express their feelings with fun faces.

The Kids Coins® I'm Playing Program helps guide children as they discover 'what they want to be when they grow up'. Creative and imaginative play is encouraged using fun character Role-Playing Coins.

The Kids Coins® Song Collection CD helps to motivate and inspire children with lyrics that encourage children to do well and feel good things.

Why Kids Coins® ?

With Kids Coins®, children are directed in positives ways. They learn to recognizable the images, pictures and characters on The Kids Coins® Coins that represent everything that is important in their lives.

Our company understands and appreciates the desires of parents and professionals to provide children with positive reinforcement

Today’s children are the future and our greatest natural resource
Children spend most of their time at home, in schools and centers, in the care of others and in need of direction and routine

The well being of children is researched and addressed

“Watch the children laugh and sing, as they plan their day,

See the wonder in their eyes, as they grow and play!

Keep an open mind and behold "what there is to see",

In the world of a child when Kids Coins come to be!

Janet LaCroix, creator of Kids Coins®

Company Objectives:

To Teach children responsibility, emotional communication and positive play
To Supply adults with programs that meet the everyday challenges of raising kids
To Provide a new and exciting way for children to learn
To Increase public understanding and a practical approach to behavior challenges
To Help direct future generations of secure and happy children

Company Principles:

To teach children good habits and daily structure
To help children meet daily goals and task completion
To encourage communication between children and adults
To help children understand and develop their feelings
To guide children in valuable life skills at an early age
To build and develop character and provide emotional reinforcement
To guide children in positive ways and encourage positive behavior
To provide a redeeming system rewards
To nurture self-esteem and confidence
To help meet the needs of every family, lifestyle and learning environment
To understand all the things children feel and see
To guide children as they learn they can succeed in everything they do

What is Unique about Kids Coins®?

Kids Coins® brings several aspects of early childhood learning into one fun, easy to use program

Kids Coins® is an educational game for kids and a learning and behavior tool for adults
Kids Coins® programs save parents and educators time and are quickly utilized
Programs support existing programs and career education
They teach children to read and associate with pictures
Kids Coins® provide tangible visual aides
The Kids Coins® Reward System uses proven token economy child development methods
Supports child development research
Provides original and creative motivational music

Proven Model

Kids Coins® began in Michigan with the creators' experience working with special needs and behavior challenged spirited children. A present need to understand children at a basic level was evident in the behavior of young children. With the increasing busy lives of parents, children are experiencing a growth of outside influences generated from activities outside the home. More than 13 million children in the US are cared for daily by someone other than a parent.

Kids Coins® provide structure, routine and focus to help eliminate confusion as communication and bonding are encouraged and reinforced. Children are allowed to be children as they express themselves in better ways.

The environment of children is improved as the permanent positive effect is proven by long and short term use of the programs.

A secular program, Kids Coins® takes the spiritual well being of children into consideration, no matter what their beliefs or faith.

The Kids Coins® Playland Show

The Kids Coins® Playland Show is a live musical family entertainment show based on the principles of the Kids Coins® program. Included are friendly characters that are role models, guiding and teaching children how to do well.

Miss Joyful and Mr. Music (the creators of Kids Coins®) are real people that inspire children. As they entertain, they teach how to use Kids Coins® while performing songs from the fun Kids Coins® Song Collection.

The Kids Coins Playland Show will:

Teach, inspire, entertain and engage
Display positive messages and educational lessons
Provide a quality show with memorable, fun material and characters
Provide a visual demonstration of the Kids Coins® program
Act as a resource and role model for parents and educators
Improve public awareness to current child development issues
Reinforce positive public image for sponsors
Provide fund raising support for non-profit organizations

Testimonials

Experts:

"Kids Coins provide a fun, engaging way for children to develop internal cues to guide their decision making process and help them to understand the impact of their actions, while giving adults a common frame of reference to discuss needs and expectations. Nurturing children into people of integrity is more challenging today than ever. Kids Coins makes it fun and meets the needs of the growing demand for quality programs.

-Sally Bacchetta, BS Webster, NY writer/psychologist/consultant-Kids Coins™ Productions

Child Development Experts:

“Kids Coins is a complete program. Parents know what they need to do to direct children, but do not do it. The Kids Coins program puts it all together for them. These are good ideas and ideals, the Coins are cute and fun and the program is inexpensive. This program is excellent for children and parents.”

- Alison Wimmer, B.S., Program developer, Human Services, National Association of Child Development

Professionals:

“Great job on this program! The Kids Coins Show was our best attended Kids Club events ever! The show was engaging, entertaining ,displayed good values and positive messages, was a quality production and enjoyed by the children”.

- Peggy Hayes, Marketing Director, Twelve Oaks Mall, Novi, MI

“The Kids Coins Show teaches children how to be good, have fun with their feelings and know what they want to be when they grow up. This is a great show”.

- Metro Parent Magazine, Southfield, MI

“It was a pleasure to have you on our show. My boys, aged 3 and 6 love Kids Coins! Kids Coins encourages children to learn new skills and changes their behavior. The programs give parents that struggle with their children to accomplish tasks something to motivate them with. Research shows these programs work for children making them mentally healthier and happier. Children identify the emotions they are feeling and change their behavior to earn a Coin. Kids Coins helps busy parents."

- Pallas Hupe, Parent 2 Parent, Fox 2 News

"Kids Coins is an excellent program for children! I have been a preschool teacher since 1986, and I have never seen anything like Kids Coins, or any program that covered so many area s of child development. The Kids Coins Show was educational and very entertaining. The children were enthralled with the music and the program and continue to ask for the materials and songs. This was a professional production.

- Rita Stone, B.S. pre-school teacher, Head Start

“Kids Coins has provided a way to deal with problem behavior as children love to have their jobs laid out and can't wait to receive their stars and Goldie and to sing the motivational songs. Without Kids Coins, problem children would have been removed from m y program , as I had exhausted all known techniques.”

- Susan Kelly, owner, WeeWalkers Daycare, Milan, MI

Professionals/Parents:

"As a child development major and Kindergarten teacher, I pray Kids Coins gets in the right hands as it could be a real blessing to many families and organizations.”

- Missy Muzjakovich, B.S., Kingsley, MI

“You have created a great tool! I have 5 children under five years who just adore Kids Coins! They look forward every day t o se e what is planned out. The descriptive and creative pictures provide a consistent routine and set a standard of expectations and positive reinforcement. They love the music and play it over and over again”. THANK-YOU!

- Kim Green, B.S. , Brighton, MI, Special education teacher and adoptive mom

“I have been working with Janet LaCroix who worked for many years with abused children and as a nanny. My company manufactures many products and I helped her produce an incredible learning tool for children. My son is 3 years old and Dr. Dobson's 'Dare To Discipline…Raising a Strong-Willed Child' was my only saving grace until I used Kids Coins. The change in my child was IMMEDIATE! I have been amazed and blessed by this program. It is the most incredible thing to see it work!

- Holly How, Vulcan Information Packaging

"Kids Coins has motivated my children to better behavior! I have seen dramatic long term improvements. I love that Kids Coins is so versatile for children with different goals, personalities and ages. As a pediatric speech language pathologist, I can say Kids Coins would be a great tool for OT, PT & Speech therapists or others who work with special needs children."

-Christine Goll, Fort Myers, Florida

About Kids Coins® Productions

Kids Coins® Productions is family owned and operated since May, 2003. We use the latest child development research in the development and creation of our programs. We create, produce, and distribute custom motivational programs and music for children that are high-quality, colorful, imaginative, inspirational and fun and easy to use.

Children, parents, grandparents, caregivers and educators are benefiting from the new and unique, innovative Kids Coins® programs that are changing daily life in positive ways. Every program is measured for usage and effectiveness.

Kids Coins® began as a vision from the creator, Janet LaCroix.

The vision was to help children and families grow and learn in today's complex world. Her desire is to help lead the way in new, wholesome, consistent, fun methods and programs that guide, encourage and build relationships between children and adults. Her experience working in public and private environments with behavior challenged children, inspired her to create Kids Coins®.

Janet wrote all programs and music, and Gary LaCroix produced, arranged, engineered, sang, and performed all instrumentation on The Kids Coins™ Song Collection CD. Janet and Gary are a husband and wife team, performers and professional musicians and wrote and produced their own shows for public performances. Janet has written numerous songs for children and the healing of families including theme songs for The Michigan Southeastern Adoption and Foster Care Effort, and the North Oakland Medical Center Foundation. Gary produced and arranged, and Janet wrote the music for The Michigan D.N.R. Millennium Education Project teaching Michigan history and nature appreciation in elementary schools.

Janet worked in schools for the developmentally disabled, as a health care provider for Oakland County Community Mental Health in Pontiac, Michigan and Training and Treatment Innovations of Berkeley, Michigan, and as a nanny in private homes, working with special needs and spirited children and in music ministry.

Her focus and insight led her to help behavior challenged children. She states that there appears to be a systemic social and private wide-spread challenge in the very best of homes and schools. She has observed that children from all environments, incomes and religious backgrounds, all display a need to communicate and to be understood. Her desire is to encourage children and adults with positive, non-threatening, easy and fun, entertaining and educational ways to learn to cope with the demands of daily living.

Mark Herrick , illustrator of Kids Coins® is well known for his creation of Buck Wilder Books, and Illustrator of Rock America for Edco Publishing.

Kids Coins® Mission Statement

Kids Coins® is dedicated to supporting families and teachers in their desire to grow well adjusted and secure children. We value wholesome environments for children and uphold a nurturing learning experience. We hold high the well-being of children and value them as future citizens, parents and leaders, providing quality programs that inspire goodness. We value positive role modeling, dedication and sacrifice in guiding, teaching and caring for children and promise to inspire them to be proud of their accomplishments. We promise to uphold the dignity of every child with encouragement and praise no matter what their faith or background. We dedicate ourselves and our hearts to helping children visualize their world as they learn and grow.

Every day is a new day with "Kids Coins® !

Picture a world of well-being and light-heartedness where children have fun learning daily routines that develop good habits. Take a peek into their active minds and hearts. Inviting Kids Coins® into the home or classroom will simplify "Life's Lessons" in a child's' rapidly changing world. The colorful pictures, faces, and characters of the Kids Coins Collection help to open the minds of children to the unlimited world around them. Children learn to adjust to structure and routine in easy ways, making chores a "fun game of rewards."

A little time with Kids Coins® every day will benefit children with endless possibilities. As children look at, play with, sing and learn to read the names and words on the Coins, the messages of the Coins begin to appear. A child who is anxious, will begin to calm down. A child who is shy, will find her talent. A child who had difficulty finding his way, will find happiness and take pride in earning rewards.

The Kids Coins® gift to children is to believe in themselves in a new and different way.
Kids Coins® Productions is dedicated to reaching the hearts of all children by helping them to see and understand with pictures, songs and feelings. We want to help open the world to them, and watch them grow in their own special ways. Bringing all the things together that represent their day, we desire to guide children through the ins and outs of their lives, being there when they need a helping hand. "Goldie" was created to be the steadfast friend, always there to help. We feel there is a "Goldie" in all of us.

Our desire is simply to love children. A pat on the back, a kiss on the cheek, a hug that says, "well done, my little one!" How wonderful it is to see them reach their goals, and how pleased they are to earn their rewards! That's what we are all about- loving children and helping them grow. Happy children make happy adults, and happy adults make happy children.

Come join the fun and have a

Great Kids Coins Day!!!