Caregiving

Formal and informal caregiving is and will continue to be important to help all Texans remain active, vibrant parts of their community. We have a variety of materials and resources for child, adult and military family caregivers, including educational resources and in-person programming.

Related Departments: Nutrition

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AgriLife Extension Military Program

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Military Program focuses on providing educational programs and resources to assist veterans, service members and their families as they face the many uncertainties of life.
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Caregiving

Programs

We offer numerous free and affordable programs on agriculture and natural resources, family and community health, economic health and youth development. We also offer many volunteer opportunities. Browse the list below.
Program

Balancing Food & Play (grades 3rd-5th) was developed to address children’s health issues by developing lifelong healthy behaviors through nutrition, physical activity, and family engagement.

Program

Promoting Early Education Quality (PEEQ) is dedicated to encouraging the adoption of research- and evidence-based practices at all levels of the early education field.

Courses

Course

Promoting creativity in an early childhood setting is critical for the development of children’s brains. Environments, daily interactions, and experiences are all opportunities to promote creativity in young learners. Creativity can be expressed through the visual arts, music and movement, and dramatic arts.

After completing this 3-hour course, the learner will be able to describe the elements of creativity, explain how environments can encourage creativity, examine how the arts can support development across all domains in early childhood, and discuss the different categories of creative arts with connections to the four developmental domains.

Course

Engaging families to become involved in their child’s early care and education sets the foundation for that involvement to continue throughout the child’s schooling. Helping families understand the importance of this involvement is critical. Families may not always understand how important they are in the education process, from early care onwards.

In this two-hour course, the learner will describe strategies for conducting orientations, holding formal meetings with families, discussing ways to support child development at home, encouraging parent involvement, and determining community resources available to help families and their children.

Course

Abusive head trauma is the leading cause of death in cases of child abuse in the United States. This 2-hour course will help you better understand the dangers of abusive head trauma and how to take steps to protect the children in your care from this type of abuse.

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  • Course

    In this course, Early Childhood Educators (ECE) will be provided an overview of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) as they occur in the context of early childhood. ECEs will also be provided with strategies for managing the classroom and behavior of the individual child.

  • Course

    In this course, Early Childhood Educators (ECE) will be provided an overview of social emotional learning in preschoolers with special emphasis on teaching children to learn, regulate emotions and be resilient.

  • Course

    Research indicates that the first three years of life are critical for physical, social-emotional, and intellectual development. You will learn about developmental patterns, the domains of development, practical strategies for encouraging optimal development, and how to recognize signs of potential developmental delays.

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    In this training course, you will learn about cultural sensitivity. We define and describe culture, how cultures differ, dual language learners, pathways to cultural sensitivity, strategies for communicating with families who do not share your language, and strategies to make your setting culturally competent.

  • Course

    Child care providers have a great influence on what infants and toddlers see, hear, touch, taste, feel, and smell while children are in their care. This course examines several aspects of appropriate environments for infants and toddlers, such as health and safety, space and furnishings, learning areas, and more.

  • Course

    Social emotional development begins at birth and continues throughout life. This course will introduce child care providers to the process social emotional development, including key concepts such as temperament and attachment which affect a young child’s ability to develop strong social and emotional skills.

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    In this course, you will learn about healthy brain development. We discuss the importance of responsive interactions and secure attachments, how interactions drive language development, the roles of major brain chemicals, the impact of trauma on the developing brain, and strategies for supporting brain development.

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    Delve into various aspects of language development, how those look in the infant and toddler years, and ways to strengthen that development. You will explore the universal stages of language development. Finally, the various milestones during the first three years will be presented.

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    Circle time, or large group time, is when children come together to learn and have fun, solve problems, and be part of a community. This setting helps children begin to look at the world from the perspective of ‘we’ and ‘ours’. Circle time experiences, transitions and strategies for keeping children engaged are introduced.

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    Classroom management refers to skills teachers use daily to supervise and organize time, materials and activities, while keeping children safe. From the rules and routines to the activities, each component needs to be planned and followed through with children to ensure they are learning through play throughout the day.

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