Monterey Herald Interview with El Brown, KinderJam Founder

El Brown, third from right, founder of the KinderJam program in 

Monterey, joins a parachute game with KinderJam instructor Suzanna Vik,

 standing at right, and her class of youngsters and moms at Hilltop

 Community Center in Monterey. (DAVID ROYAL/The Herald)

Military mom's KinderJam program a hit in 5 countries

El Brown nominated for spouse of year

By CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS 

Herald Staff Writer

With her family unit intact, military wife and stay-at-home mom El Brown didn't notice anything amiss with her 17-month-old son: He was playful, active, energetic.

Then her husband was deployed to Iraq in 2008. A month later, she noticed Ricky II, as she calls her son, wasn't even making attempts to utter words.

"We were on a play date, and the little ones would say words like 'juice,' 'please' and Ricky II wasn't even making any attempts to speak or mimic the words I was saying," Brown, 36, said. "And it was just me and my baby. This just can't be happening. I had nobody to bounce any ideas off. It was a rough time."

Eventually, Brown's professional training as an educator kicked in and she realized Ricky II — eventually diagnosed with a form of autism — may have a special way of learning. Because he was an active child, Brown began teaching him words with music and pantomime.

And KinderJam was born.

Brown, founder of the interactive program for preschoolers, was nominated for 2012 Military Spouse of the Year, an international competition organized by Military Spouse Magazine.

It is a crowded field. There are five candidates per branch of the armed forces: Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, National Guard and Coast Guard. Candidates are nominated based on their commitment to help military families and the winner is the person who garners the most online votes.

Brown, a Monterey-area resident since 2006, is excited about the possibility of winning the contest as a tool to promote early childhood education.

"I've been working with 1,700 families here, but with this title I could have an in with other bases. It would open doors," she said. "Monterey is a very small military community. I could branch out to Fort Bragg or San Diego, where they have a large military population."

At first glance, KinderJam may seem like just fun exercise for tots — the program promotes "learning by playing and wiggling," according to its website.

But Brown sees it as a vehicle to empower parents. Not only are they their children's first teacher, but for military families on the move, parents are the constant in their lives. And it is important they know the educational vernacular so they can communicate with teachers and other educational experts.

"Although we love our children and we need to celebrate them, we also need to have information in our head" that will click if something isn't right, Brown said.

Born and raised in Florida, Brown earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Florida A&M University. She was teaching in the Atlanta public school system when she was recruited to teach at a U.S. naval base in Japan — which gave her a glimpse into what children in military families need. In Korea, her next assignment, she met Ricky Brown, the Army soldier who would be her husband.

"We were only engaged 12 days," Brown said. "He proposed and we found out he was going to Iraq."

With her husband's deployment, she began moving around as well. She moved to Colorado and Oklahoma, and eventually landed in Monterey, when her husband came to study at the Naval Postgraduate School.

It was a month after her husband returned to Iraq that Brown noticed their son wasn't attempting to communicate.

"Although I'm a mom, I'm also an educator. When my son started not meeting his benchmarks, I knew from my prior training something wasn't right," she said.

Brown began using exaggerated gestures and growls to impersonate animals. Then she would say the word: Lion. Bear. Ricky began using simple words.

She discovered "he can use words," she said. "I just have to make it interactive."

Later, Ricky II was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

At a play date, one of the mothers suggested Brown start a class for military families. Soon, civilians started trying to "sneak" into her classes, Brown said. When families began to be deployed, mothers inquired: How did I start a KinderJam where I'm going? Where do I sign up to learn how to lead a KinderJam?

"Now we have 15 classes in five countries," a beaming Brown said. "Thailand, Japan, Turkey, Singapore and the U.S."

Cathy Nyznyk, director of the Monterey Peninsula College Child Development Center, has known Brown as a student, parent and educator, and calls her a "natural."

"The child's learning is very visible to her," Nyznyk said. "She has a natural ability to hone in on what situation is going on with children."

KinderJam "is lively, it's fun," she said. "We want children to feel good about their bodies. With childhood obesity (so prevalent), we want them to move more."

After a three-year stint as an operations research analyst at NPS, Maj. Rick Brown is being reassigned to Fort Belvoir in Virginia, so the family is leaving in a few weeks. It will be bittersweet, El Brown said, because they have family back east but Monterey feels like home.

"Ricky II was born at CHOMP. This is where I started my business," she said. "It will always be a special place."

Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or cmelendez@montereyherald.com.
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