rippleeffectus

When Jessica Shields Flowers thought about how she wanted to help parents and educators give children better opportunities to develop and flourish, she pictured outward ripples of positive change. So when it came time to open her early childhood education and parenting consultancy in 2008, Ripple LLC was the name the South Carolina Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor selected. The first Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor in South Carolina, Jessica has worked with families and educators across the nation for over 40 years. She works with the South Carolina First Steps 4K program, Spartanburg County First Steps, Childcare Resources of Indian River County, Vero Beach, Florida and has presented at the NAEYC National Conference. She currently travels the country to train and coach educators in public schools, private early care and education centers, and institutions utilizing Head Start and Early Head Start programs to prepare infants, toddlers, and preschoolers for school. Jessica has served on the board of the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, where she helped create the Early Connections program for children ages zero to three, designed to strengthen connections between each child and their “grown-up” while increasing the child’s attention span and cooperation. She has also served on the boards of the Northern Virginia Association for the Education of Young Children and the Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education. Her work at Vienna Baptist Children’s Center is nationally recognized, cited in books including Faith in Children: Stories from Faith-Based Children’s Centers by Legacy of Caring’s Roberta Owens. Jessica also contributed to the Ecumenical Child Care Network’s report Taking the Lead: Investing in Early Childhood Leadership for the 21st Century. She holds a Master of Education degree in early childhood education from George Mason University.