Happy Holidays from the VLS Team! We appreciate all that you do to make the world a better place for children, families, and staff. We are grateful for all the ways that you support military children and youth and strengthen the VLS project. This year, military child and youth professionals have earned more than 559,000 hours of professional development through the VLS. Thank you for your collaboration and for being part of our mission to support high-quality programs across the world!
New Content
In Development: Youth Foundational Track
At the request of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Military Community and Family Policy: Office of Child and Youth Programs, the Virtual Lab School (VLS) team has begun development of a Youth foundational track aimed at professionals working in programs with youth (ages 12–18 years). This track will contain 15 foundational courses with lessons, activities, and resources tailored to youth professionals. DoD and Service leadership have contributed to the development of this track by identifying course titles, topics, and filming priorities as well as reviewing the developed outlines and course content. Thus far, five courses have been fully developed and reviewed by DoD and Service leadership and five additional courses are in development. As part of the development of this track, we have gathered youth-specific video footage from across 10 different installations. This new footage includes interviews with youth staff, program leaders, and experts in the field, as well as 50+ hours of B-roll to support strong practices. The Youth foundational track will be deployed on the VLS website once all 15 courses have been fully developed and approved.
New TPD: Guiding Behavior Through Redirection
Redirecting behavior is essential for enhancing children’s engagement, reinforcing positive actions, and preventing challenging behaviors from escalating. Guiding Behavior Through Redirection is a new Targeted Professional Development (TPD) training module designed for child and youth professionals. This module focuses on using redirection as a powerful strategy to support children’s development and foster positive behavior in learning environments.
Built on the framework of positive guidance and relationship-based support, this TPD explores how redirection can be effectively used to support children as they transition from toddlerhood to school-age years. Child and youth professionals will learn actionable techniques to use redirection as a tool to create nurturing environments that promote growth and help children develop essential self-regulation skills.
Military-affiliated users must be logged in to complete the TPD. Available TPDs can be accessed via the Progress Dashboard.
Selected Content Updates in Q4 2024
The VLS integrates the latest research and best practices into its professional development system on an ongoing basis. Our Content Team reviews new research and updates made to national guidelines. Selected updates over the last three months include:
New Resource Added to Safe Environments
As the holiday season unfolds, a time traditionally focused on togetherness and joy, it’s important to recognize that many families may still be coping with the effects of natural disasters or other past traumas. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network offers valuable resources to support parents and caregivers in helping children navigate emotional challenges and build resilience in the face of adversity. These tools focus on recognizing and processing emotions, learning effective coping strategies, and fostering resilience—skills that are especially vital during uncertain times.
To make it easier to access these helpful materials, a direct link to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s natural disaster resources has been added to the “References & Resources” section in the following lessons in the Safe Environments course:
- Infants & Toddlers, Lesson 7
- Preschool, Lesson 8
- School-Age, Lesson 8
- Family Child Care, Lesson 6
- Training & Curriculum Specialist, Lesson 5
- Management, Lesson 4
For a full list of weather-related emergency resources, be sure to check out the October 2024 Navigating Weather-Related Emergencies announcement.
Continued Review of Focused Topics Courses
The VLS Content Team is continuing its thorough review of the Focused Topics courses to ensure compliance with required accessibility standards. This ongoing effort involves improving lesson content and activities for enhanced accessibility, updating references and URLs to ensure accuracy, and verifying that all videos and interactive elements function correctly. As part of this review, updates have been implemented to the following Focused Topics courses:
Highlights from the Field and Recent Research
January 2025 is National Mentoring Month
Mentorship has been shown to be an effective way to provide guidance and practical support to children, youth, and professionals. Celebrate National Mentoring Month by taking time to recognize the power of mentorship in cultivating personal and professional growth. Whether you’re a mentor or a mentee, this month is an opportunity to appreciate the value of these meaningful connections and the positive impact they have on children, families, and professionals. The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR) has shared a new toolkit for honoring mentors who guide, support, and inspire others, and reflecting on how mentoring fosters stronger communities and better outcomes. You can access these free resources here.
The Thrive Initiative Supports Families and Professionals
The Thrive Initiative at Penn State University offers practical tools, strategies, and resources for families and professionals caring for children and youth. Their supplemental modules for parents and caregivers focus on important topics like adolescent mental health, neurodiversity and autism, and fostering positive sibling relationships. The Thrive Initiative also provides a variety of resources for professionals on partnering with military families and caring for children and youth on their website.
Click here to view supplemental modules for parents and caregivers.
Supporting Infants’ Language Development
Infants are born with the ability to recognize speech sounds, and through consistent exposure and interaction, they gradually develop the skills to understand and produce words. This makes parents, caregivers, and professionals all important influencers of language development. Recently, Zero to Three looked at how child-directed speech, sometimes called “parentese”, can be beneficial to infants’ language development. The article covers several areas of infant language development and offers helpful resources to further build on professional knowledge of infants’ language development. You can read the article on the Zero to Three website here.
FDA Reorganization Makes Information More Accessible
In October 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published changes to the organization of the agency, leading to helpful updates and changes to several webpages. Information on food safety for infants and toddlers is now more organized and accessible for parents and professionals. These changes can be viewed at the FDA website here.