EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA – The mission of the Aboriginal Head Start program is to strengthen and prepare the Aboriginal child with the cultural knowledge and emergent literacy skills needed to excel in school and life. April Prescott, the Individual Program Plan and Special Needs Coordinator, and coach and mentor to the teachers on staff, reached out to The Art of Learning Project in hopes that our programs would support this mission.
Prescott explained, “My hope is to make systemic changes. I want to help break habits that have been passed down through generations and to try to halt the epigenetic and intergenerational trauma experienced by these children through learning.”
With a long history as a special education provider, Prescott is especially interested in concepts such as Listening First and Using Adversity as tools to help children who are traditionally on the fringe of the North American education system and often underserved as learners. In addition, she plans to run an Art of Learning book group with the other teachers on staff in order to engage in discussions about current methodologies that are backed by research and founded in a personal knowledge base. She hopes that the staff will develop an understanding that even though our brains are wired the same, we often experience the world differently.