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Guides, articles, and tools for educators, families, and anyone who cares about young children.
Guides, articles, and tools for educators, families, and anyone who cares about young children.
A plain-language guide to understanding the framework and how it can help you connect with your child.
Read more →When a child hits, hides, or shuts down - they’re telling you something. An introduction to Emotionally Responsive Practice.
Read more →A comparison of three strengths-based approaches to supporting autistic children.
Read more →Not your typical supervision. A guide to understanding reflective practice and why the parallel process matters.
Read more →How personal teddy bears become emotional anchors that transform classroom culture.
Learn more →Tips for early childhood programs on collecting and sharing data that makes invisible work visible.
Coming soonA relationship-based, play-centered methodology developed by ConnectEd Circles to cultivate emotional resilience, psychological safety, and community connection in early childhood environments.
Identity formation and belonging
Recognition & healthy expression of affect
Curiosity-driven exploration
Trust & secure caregiver attachment
Predictable psychological holding spaces
A comprehensive facilitator’s guide built around the belief that “teachers need what children need.” Grounded in the SPIRIT of BEAR Circles, it includes sample circle agendas, facilitation prompts, bibliotherapy guides, and attunement practices.
The manual outlines a four-phase rollout: Foundational BEAR Circles → Coaching Circles → Monthly Check-ins → Sustainability Circles that train the next generation of facilitators.
Inquire About This Resource →A practical, half-year implementation matrix guiding teachers through integrating the BEAR Program into their classrooms step by step.
A proprietary planning architecture that moves educators away from rigid, compliance-based lesson plans toward a fluid, constructivist, inquiry-driven mapping strategy rooted in child interest and family “Funds of Knowledge.”
Educators plot a central conceptual node (a topic driven by child interest) and map 7–10 secondary nodes representing potential paths of exploration. Family Funds of Knowledge surveys are explicitly reflected in this web, ensuring curriculum remains culturally relevant and grounded in the lived experiences of the community.
The sprawling web is distilled into broad longitudinal projections for the semester, ensuring that the theoretical possibilities maintain a cohesive narrative arc over time.
Educators review the 7–10 conceptual ideas and purposefully select 2–3 specific intentions for the upcoming month. Selection criteria require that the chosen ideas have concrete, observable connections to the play and work currently unfolding in the classroom.
For each monthly intention, educators use a structured matrix to plan the rollout: selecting specific classroom materials, formulating verbal and non-verbal provocations, identifying community co-thinkers to invite, and engineering the physical environment to support the exploration.
ConnectEd Circles offers expert COSP facilitation in both English and Spanish. Our team has developed an extensive library of customized visual and textual assets to help caregivers navigate complex attachment dynamics.
The Secure Base - where caregivers support a child’s outward exploration: watching over them, delighting in them, helping them, and enjoying them.
The Safe Haven - where children return for comfort: welcoming them, protecting them, comforting them, and helping organize their feelings.
A comprehensive 40+ page interactive manual featuring the COSP Learning Pyramid. Includes vital inter-session reflective prompts (“Where is my child on the Circle?” and “What is my child feeling?”) designed to translate theory into daily parental observation.
Synthesized, highly accessible summaries for all eight COSP program chapters - designed for parents (focusing on the “Big Idea”) and facilitators (focusing on “Key Facilitation Moves” and the “Tone to Set”).
Hidden in Plain Sight demystifies the myth of perfect parenting. Being With teaches emotional containment - staying present with a child’s intense feelings rather than rushing to fix them. Shark Music explains how unresolved caregiver trauma creates “background noise” that distorts how we read a child’s cues. Rupture and Repair normalizes relational fractures - teaching that repair is what builds durable security.
The BSWK directive guides caregivers to maintain necessary authority while projecting profound emotional warmth - completely avoiding the traps of being “Mean, Weak, or Gone.” High-impact visual callouts developed by our team make this principle immediately actionable.
All COSP resources available in English and Spanish. Contact us to learn more →
ConnectEd Circles has developed an extensive library of clinical handouts, family guides, and practitioner tools. Resources are available through inquiry - we’ll share the right materials based on your specific context and needs.
Asheville/Buncombe diagnostic and occupational therapy provider directory for families with children 0–3. Lists CDSA, TEACCH, Matone, CReATE, and OT providers with Medicaid status noted.
Request this guide →Expanded version covering ages 3–5, including ADHD assessment information, IEP evaluation process, and school district contacts. Essential pre-diagnosis navigation tool.
Request this guide →Expanded resource map covering diagnostics, therapies, insurance and cost, bilingual support options, and typical wait times for families with children under five in Buncombe County.
Request this guide →A parent guide based on Catherine Faherty’s work. Covers the 4-stage journey from transition objects to communication systems, with a 5-week implementation roadmap for daily routines.
Request this guide →Step-by-step parent guide for creating object schedules at home. Covers snack time, bath time, and bedtime routines using First/Then and “All Done” concepts. Two versions available.
Request this guide →A practical, compassionate guide for supporting autistic children through the toileting process - addressing sensory sensitivities, routine predictability, and communication strategies specific to toilet learning.
Request this guide →A 7-part parent guide rooted in Circle of Security principles. Covers Shark Music, Uninvited Guests from the past, Everyday Translation, and staying connected under pressure.
Request this guide →COS principles adapted for neurodivergent preschoolers. Uses the “race car brain” metaphor and focuses on the Going Out/Coming In rhythm specific to high-energy, dysregulated children.
Request this guide →“The Anchor in the Storm” - a comprehensive COSP adaptation for families parenting neurodivergent children. Addresses the unique attachment dynamics that emerge when a child’s nervous system requires constant co-regulation.
Request this guide →A raw, authentic-voice guide for parents tackling the hardest parts of caretaking - their own ghosts, their own shark music - while parenting a child whose needs push every edge. Honest where most guides are reassuring.
Request this guide →A research-grounded, non-judgmental guide to screen time for families of toddlers. Focuses on the relational context of media use rather than simple time limits.
Request this guide →A curated list of affirming community resources for LGBTQIA+ families and the early childhood educators who support them. Reflects ConnectEd Circles’ commitment to queer-affirming, anti-oppressive practice.
Request this guide →Step-by-step classroom coaching protocol: Arrive & Observe → Find One Moment → Join the Teacher → Support Thinking → Offer One Small Idea. With the 3-Part Anchor (Notice → Join → Make Meaning).
Inquire about access →Detailed narrative vignettes covering toddler drop-off, pre-K play, nonverbal communication, aggression, withdrawal, and trauma play - with coaching responses and reflective questions for each.
Inquire about access →Teacher onboarding document: Why Teddy Bears, How to Begin, Welcoming Bears into the classroom community, Living with Bears as daily practice, and Reflective Invitations for deeper integration.
Inquire about access →A clinical distinction educators need to make: this handout clarifies the difference between dramatic play and traumatic play reenactment, with guidance on when to observe, when to join, and when to redirect.
Inquire about access →A post-interaction reflection checklist for bear-based play moments. Structured to take under 5 minutes and designed to build the habit of noticing relational dynamics without adding to educator burden.
Inquire about access →Full 8-session COSP facilitator guide adapted for home visits. Each session includes flow, key concepts, reflective prompts, and between-session practices - adapted for Child First and similar home visiting models.
Inquire about access →Defines the Notice → Join → Make Meaning framework with both a Teacher Lens and a Coach Lens. The foundational clinical tool underlying all BEARS coaching interactions - used independently or alongside the Facilitator Guide.
Inquire about access →A coaching handout explaining the relational and clinical rationale for using teddy bears as therapeutic tools - the “why” behind the practice, in accessible language educators can share with skeptical colleagues or administrators.
Inquire about access →A family handout for public playgroup and library program settings. Helps facilitators introduce the BEARS concept to caregivers who are new to the approach in community (non-classroom) contexts.
Inquire about access →Eight chapter handouts for parents: The Circle, All the Way Around, Being With, OK and Not OK, Shark Music, Hands on the Circle, Rupture and Repair, and Good Enough. Designed as take-homes for each group session.
Inquire about access →Complete professional development package description. Outlines four components: Workshops, Coaching Labs, Ongoing Support, and Sustainability - with clear deliverables, timelines, and investment information for each phase.
Request program details →A summary of the scalable model for embedding BEARS across a center or school system. For directors and coaches who want to build internal capacity to sustain the program beyond the initial training period.
Request program details →All resources are shared based on context and need. There is no generic download link - we want to make sure you receive the version that’s right for your situation.
Request a Resource →Organizations and tools we regularly recommend to families and educators.
National nonprofit with resources on infant and toddler development, policy, and practice.
Home of the Circle of Security parenting program - find groups, trainings, and resources.
Professional development and resources grounded in the emotionally responsive approach.
Evidence-based autism intervention that trains parents to be their child’s best play partner.
Resources, training, and technical assistance for implementing the Pyramid Model.
Local Smart Start partnership serving Buncombe County families and early childhood professionals.
NC’s hub for infant mental health workforce development and IMH-E® endorsement.
We’re happy to point you toward the right tools, trainings, and supports for your specific needs.
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