Aleta Lymon
(The Basics Sullivan)
Sullivan 180 Presents…
TAKE FIVE!
October 19, 2021
This week we had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Aleta Lymon, Family & Community Liason with the Fallsburg Central School District and host of our up-coming workshop on October 21, ‘The Basics Sullivan’. Dr. Lymon speaks to us about how she became involved in The Basics and why it’s so important for our Sullivan County parents, grandparents, and all caretakers of children ages 0-3 to learn. Dr. Lymon will be leading a workshop on ‘The Basics’ this Thursday – this workshop is FREE and open to all individuals who care of children ages 0-3 (register here: Sullivan180.org).
Sullivan 180 Presents…
TAKE FIVE!
October 19, 2021
This week we had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Aleta Lymon, Family & Community Liason with the Fallsburg Central School District and host of our up-coming workshop on October 21, ‘The Basics Sullivan’. Dr. Lymon speaks to us about how she became involved in The Basics and why it’s so important for our Sullivan County parents, grandparents, and all caretakers of children ages 0-3 to learn. Dr. Lymon will be leading a workshop on ‘The Basics’ this Thursday – this workshop is FREE and open to all individuals who care of children ages 0-3 (register here: Sullivan180.org.)
Aleta Lymon
(The Basics Sullivan)
Transcript of Interview with Dr. Aleta Lymon
October 19, 2021
Amanda Langseder:
Hi, I’m Amanda Langseder, and welcome to Sullivan 180 Presents…. Take Five! Our guest today is Dr. Aleta Lymon, the Family and Community Liaison for the Fallsburg Central School District. Welcome Aleta, and thank you so much for being here!
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
Thank you so much for having me, Amanda.
Amanda Langseder:
Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about your role at Fallsburg?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
So, as you mentioned, my name is Dr. Aleta Lymon: I am the Family and Community Liaison for the Fallsburg School District. I work with the administrators, guidance counselors, social workers, and anyone else that works with a student. I am the advocate for the student to make sure that we increase student learning in every aspect of the learning. So I work with everyone to pull it together for the student.
Amanda Langseder:
That’s great. So let me ask you, because we’re getting ready for this BASIC Initative Training on October 21st at 3:30 at the CVI building. How did you first hear about the BASIC Iniative?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
So it’s really weird. I went to a conference in Albany back in 2018 and Dr. Ronald Ferguson was doing a presentation on “the Achievement Gap”. So I’m watching him and I’m listening to everything that he’s saying in his presentation. And I thought “this guy… he just sounds so amazing!” Not just the sound, but all of the information that he’s providing. He’s done a lot of research! So when I came back to Sullivan County, I searched him, and I just read everything that I could find about him. And that’s how I found out that he was one of the creators of the Boston BASIC. So I wanted to get him here to Sullivan County.
Amanda Langseder:
Please tell us a bit about what the BASIC is, and why do you think it’s important for Sullivan county?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
So the BASIC is an initiative where the goal is to “improve school readiness and literacy in children aged zero to three”. And this is to get the children ready for kindergarten. It has these little strategies that you do with the kids. And these strategies are very basic. They’re what parents try to do every day, but some may not do them on a consistent basis because of their work schedule, or because of other things that are going on in their life. They just don’t spend a lot of time with their kids if they’re working all day. So if they have the weekends, that’s when they’re Back to the BASICs. But if grandma has the children after school, or if grandma has the kids during the weekend, we’re trying to get the BASICs to be consistent for the child. So it’s important for us to train as many people in Sullivan County as we can, so we can implement the BASICs in their homes for this age group of children. Again, I said zero to three. It’s just before they get into pre-kindergarten. So we’re training them every day with whomever they’re with. And then, when our children come into pre-kinderegarden, they will have more skills.
Amanda Langseder:
I think it’s so important for Sullivan County that we implement the BASICs because it sounds like we have a lot of kids that are coming to preschool, and they are not ready. Is that true?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
That is absolutely true. And it’s to no fault of anyone, but I think that if we have something that we can do to fix it and to raise the awareness, it will help everyone across the board. And the other thing that I wanted to say to you, Amanda, is that closing “the achievement gap” is important. So the whole basis of the BASIC Initiative, is the question… “Can love close ‘the achievement gap'”? All of the things that we’re discussing in this training, it’s all about love. It is all about love! You’re working with the child. As you know, it may not seem like a lot, but you’re maximizing the love. You’re reducing stress. You’re comparing things. You’re exploring, you’re pointing, you’re counting. You’re telling them the colors, they’re learning the colors. Most of them are not even talking yet. So by you consistently doing this, not just you, but whomever, the caregiver is, it’s going to help this child grow and sprout. And when they become pre-kindergarten learners, they will walk in with some skills and knowledge and they will grab onto the extra stuff that they’re going to learn once they get into pre-K.
Amanda Langseder:
Absolutely for us, this is a Health Equity Program. This is leveling the playing field so that everybody starts off on the same foot: with the same skillsets. How can others support the growth of the BASIC syllabus?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
If we have partners involved, let’s say the Department of Motor Vehicles: they have a running screen in their lobby area. There’s a video that can run consistently while people are waiting to be seen, or even if they’re in there for three or four minutes, they can catch a part of this. These are activities that can be done with these young children, between the ages of zero and three. So any place that has a television where we can have them run the video would be awesome. I know down here at the Benjamin Cosar Elementary School, we did that. We run the video consistently on the screen so that parents could see it. Especially on Parent Night, it was always running. So I think that’s Fabulous!
Amanda Langseder:
That’s a great idea. I think there’s lots of locations throughout Sullivan County where we could have the BASICs playing. And I think there are a lot of other partners and families and caregivers that we hope to be with us on October 21st. So I like to send people to www.Sullivan180.org to learn more about the training so we can all be together. Is there anything else that you’d like to share?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
I think this is fantastic and I appreciate the opportunity. I’m so happy that Dr. Ferguson came and shared this with us. It was just amazing to sit and watch him, and the videos that we’re going to see in the training: they’re going to raise the awareness of everyone. They’re going to love it. They’re just going to love it! It’s going to give them more ideas on how to successfully do certain things that they’re already doing. So I think that’s great.
Amanda Langseder:
It’s so simple. It’s so BASIC! ,But it’s going to make all the difference. So thank you so much for being here with us today, Aleta, and for helping us with training on October 21st. I know we’re going to have a great event. Thank you so very much.
Amanda Langseder:
Thank you.
Transcript of Interview with Dr. Aleta Lymon
October 19, 2021
Amanda Langseder:
Hi, I’m Amanda Langseder, and welcome to Sullivan 180 Presents…. Take Five! Our guest today is Dr. Aleta Lymon, the Family and Community Liaison for the Fallsburg Central School District. Welcome Aleta, and thank you so much for being here!
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
Thank you so much for having me, Amanda.
Amanda Langseder:
Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about your role at Fallsburg?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
So, as you mentioned, my name is Dr. Aleta Lymon: I am the Family and Community Liaison for the Fallsburg School District. I work with the administrators, guidance counselors, social workers, and anyone else that works with a student. I am the advocate for the student to make sure that we increase student learning in every aspect of the learning. So I work with everyone to pull it together for the student.
Amanda Langseder:
That’s great. So let me ask you, because we’re getting ready for this BASIC Initative Training on October 21st at 3:30 at the CVI building. How did you first hear about the BASIC Iniative?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
So it’s really weird. I went to a conference in Albany back in 2018 and Dr. Ronald Ferguson was doing a presentation on “the Achievement Gap”. So I’m watching him and I’m listening to everything that he’s saying in his presentation. And I thought “this guy… he just sounds so amazing!” Not just the sound, but all of the information that he’s providing. He’s done a lot of research! So when I came back to Sullivan County, I searched him, and I just read everything that I could find about him. And that’s how I found out that he was one of the creators of the Boston BASIC. So I wanted to get him here to Sullivan County.
Amanda Langseder:
Please tell us a bit about what the BASIC is, and why do you think it’s important for Sullivan county?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
So the BASIC is an initiative where the goal is to “improve school readiness and literacy in children aged zero to three”. And this is to get the children ready for kindergarten. It has these little strategies that you do with the kids. And these strategies are very basic. They’re what parents try to do every day, but some may not do them on a consistent basis because of their work schedule, or because of other things that are going on in their life. They just don’t spend a lot of time with their kids if they’re working all day. So if they have the weekends, that’s when they’re Back to the BASICs. But if grandma has the children after school, or if grandma has the kids during the weekend, we’re trying to get the BASICs to be consistent for the child. So it’s important for us to train as many people in Sullivan County as we can, so we can implement the BASICs in their homes for this age group of children. Again, I said zero to three. It’s just before they get into pre-kindergarten. So we’re training them every day with whomever they’re with. And then, when our children come into pre-kinderegarden, they will have more skills.
Amanda Langseder:
I think it’s so important for Sullivan County that we implement the BASICs because it sounds like we have a lot of kids that are coming to preschool, and they are not ready. Is that true?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
That is absolutely true. And it’s to no fault of anyone, but I think that if we have something that we can do to fix it and to raise the awareness, it will help everyone across the board. And the other thing that I wanted to say to you, Amanda, is that closing “the achievement gap” is important. So the whole basis of the BASIC Initiative, is the question… “Can love close ‘the achievement gap'”? All of the things that we’re discussing in this training, it’s all about love. It is all about love! You’re working with the child. As you know, it may not seem like a lot, but you’re maximizing the love. You’re reducing stress. You’re comparing things. You’re exploring, you’re pointing, you’re counting. You’re telling them the colors, they’re learning the colors. Most of them are not even talking yet. So by you consistently doing this, not just you, but whomever, the caregiver is, it’s going to help this child grow and sprout. And when they become pre-kindergarten learners, they will walk in with some skills and knowledge and they will grab onto the extra stuff that they’re going to learn once they get into pre-K.
Amanda Langseder:
Absolutely for us, this is a Health Equity Program. This is leveling the playing field so that everybody starts off on the same foot: with the same skillsets. How can others support the growth of the BASIC syllabus?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
If we have partners involved, let’s say the Department of Motor Vehicles: they have a running screen in their lobby area. There’s a video that can run consistently while people are waiting to be seen, or even if they’re in there for three or four minutes, they can catch a part of this. These are activities that can be done with these young children, between the ages of zero and three. So any place that has a television where we can have them run the video would be awesome. I know down here at the Benjamin Cosar Elementary School, we did that. We run the video consistently on the screen so that parents could see it. Especially on Parent Night, it was always running. So I think that’s Fabulous!
Amanda Langseder:
That’s a great idea. I think there’s lots of locations throughout Sullivan County where we could have the BASICs playing. And I think there are a lot of other partners and families and caregivers that we hope to be with us on October 21st. So I like to send people to www.Sullivan180.org to learn more about the training so we can all be together. Is there anything else that you’d like to share?
Dr. Aleta Lymon:
I think this is fantastic and I appreciate the opportunity. I’m so happy that Dr. Ferguson came and shared this with us. It was just amazing to sit and watch him, and the videos that we’re going to see in the training: they’re going to raise the awareness of everyone. They’re going to love it. They’re just going to love it! It’s going to give them more ideas on how to successfully do certain things that they’re already doing. So I think that’s great.
Amanda Langseder:
It’s so simple. It’s so BASIC! ,But it’s going to make all the difference. So thank you so much for being here with us today, Aleta, and for helping us with training on October 21st. I know we’re going to have a great event. Thank you so very much.
Amanda Langseder:
Thank you.
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