July 25 • 2019 49
jn
A Sensory Toolbox
Teacher wins grant to help kids with special needs.
E
arlier this year, early childcare
educator Caryn Finkelstein of
Farmington won not her first,
but her second grant from the Terri
Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation.
Finkelstein, who has degrees in
child development and teaching
from Michigan State University and
University of Michigan Dearborn, has
been an early childhood professional
for 27 years, 21 of them at the Early
Childhood Education Center (ECEC)
at University of Michigan Dearborn.
Finkelstein’
s class includes a large
number of students with special needs.
Working with these students through-
out the year inspired her to appeal to
the Terri Lynne Lokoff Foundation for
a grant to work on a pro
ject she has
termed the “Sensory Toolbox.
”
“Teaching 3- and 4-year-olds is
incredibly rewarding and unpredict-
able. No two days are ever the same,
”
says Finkelstein, who is single and
often attends Congregation B’
nai
Moshe in West Bloomfield, where her
mother is a member. “The respon-
sibility to help tiny humans become
empathetic and caring members of a
community is immense.
”
Finkelstein adds that she spends a
great deal of the day helping students
solve social problems, learn how to
work together as a group and talk
about how actions affect others.
“Sensory play is so important in
the classroom,
” Finkelstein said. “The
materials in this toolbox will help my
special needs students, but all the chil-
dren will benefit.
”
Finkelstein’
s goals for the toolbox
are to help students develop body
awareness and regulation of emotions.
“Many of the materials in the Sensory
Toolbox will assist the children in
calming down when big emotions
overwhelm them and help them iden-
tify a range of moods and emotions.
“Special needs children can go to
extreme feelings very quickly and if
they can learn to manage these feelings
in a play situation, they can use the
things they learn when they do get
angry or upset,
” she adds.
The toolbox will include timers,
weighted pillows and neck wraps,
kinetic sand, instant snow and differ-
ent strengths of therapy putty, among
other things.
Caryn’
s mother, Paula Finkelstein,
feels supporting early childhood edu-
cators is more important than most
people believe and credits the Terri
Lynne Lokoff Foundation for provid-
ing support to this community.
The foundation was founded in 1987
following the death of early childhood
educator Terri Lynne Lokoff in a car
accident the year before. Her family set
up the nonprofit to honor her memory
and “fulfill her efforts.
”
“The Terri Lynne Lokoff Foundation
is the only organization nationwide
that recognizes early childhood edu-
cators,
” Finkelstein says. “They really
make an effort to support, recognize
and reward teachers that don’
t get a lot
of credit or pay.
” ■
LEFT: Caryn Finkelstein at the grant ceremony this spring. RIGHT: These “emotion faces” are an
example of what will come from Finkelstein’
s Sensory Toolbox.
JESSIE COHEN JN INTERN
COURTESY OF THE FINKELSTEIN FAMILY
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