Early childhood quotes

God didn't use a mold when he made me. I'm a freehand baby!  - Anonymous

A child has a bigger picture and an untold story too. They may be worried, anxious, stressed, sad, or concerned. They may not have the words to express how they are feeling. Their behaviour and actions is their way of dealing with their story.  - Easy Peasy Kids

Early childhood assessment

Measuring and assessing children, especially young children, is a highly controversial topic. School boards and governments are calling for accountability in education and often use standardized testing to achieve this. Most standardized tests are not a good assessment of skills that don't fall under the academic heading. Looking at a child holistically means that all areas of development be looked at. Howard Gardner has developed nine intelligences (Berger, 2012). Each child is stronger in some and weaker in others. Most children excel in one specific intelligence. Assessment should include all the intelligences so that a well rounded snapshot of the child can be developed.

In the UK, the public education system has implemented an assessment called the Early Years Foundation Stage profile. This profile is a checklist that focusses on three main areas of development; communication and language, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development. This system relies heavily on observation and recording the observations. It appears to give a broad range of information to teachers and parents about a child's development.

References

Berger, K.S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth
       Publishers.

The Foundation Years. (2012) Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage (EYFS) 2012.
       Retrieved from http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/early-years-foundation-stage-2012/

Divorce

I have been very lucky in my life as have my family and friends. We have not had to deal with any major stressors in our early lives. Recently though, my sister has finally decided to divorce her husband. My nephew is 7 years old and is dealing with the breakup of his parents marriage. The back story for this is important. My sister and her husband were on the point of splitting up 8 years ago according to my mother. Then they got pregnant. They were living in Mexico at the time. My brother-in-law is Mexican. My nephew was born there. He was a difficult baby and developed an intolerance to lactose in breast milk. Before he was 1 year old, the family moved to Canada. My sister went to work and her husband stayed home with my nephew. All of these factors put stress on the marriage as did the personalities of the people involved. My nephew reacted to the stress in the house. He was a difficult eater and learned early to play his parents against one another. Now that his parents have been apart for almost two years, his emotional turmoil has eased somewhat. He still has to deal with parents who do not work together very well but he is visibly less stressed. Research has shown that staying together for the sake of the children causes more harm than good. If the marriage is going to break up, then sooner is better.

Air pollution is a global problem and is proven to contribute to health problems. In young children air pollutants can also cause changes in behaviour. Beijing, China is one the worst offenders when it comes to air quality. In January, Beijing has had 20 days of hazardous levels of pollution. The government has recently called for stricter controls for emissions to come into effect in 2017. They have also required domestic oil refiners to upgrade. These measures should help future generations.

References

Bloomberg News, (2013,  Feb 7).  Eye-stinging Beijing air risks lifelong harm to babies. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-06/eye-stinging-beijing-air-risks-lifelong-harm-to-babies.html

Li, J. (2006). For the sake of the kids: divorce and children's behavior problems. Conference Papers - American Sociological Association

Immunization

I chose immunization for my topic this week. This topic has been in the news in the last year because of controversy surrounding possible side effects of getting children immunized. I firmly believe that all children should get immunized. Why take a chance that a preventable disease could harm your child? Small pox was eliminated because of immunization. Other diseases like polio are extremely rare in the US because people are vaccinated against it. The CDC argues that by vaccinating we are protecting our future (www.cdc.gov/vaccines).

Immunization has been in the news recently as well because of attacks on workers administering a polio vaccine in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where cases of polio still occur. Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other two. The vaccine is 99% effective if a full course of 4 doses is administered. The Pakistan workers were going house to house to vaccinate the children who live there. Gunmen fired on teams in 4 separate attacks. Six people died as a result with others injured. It is believed that the Taliban are responsible. They have stated that they believe the vaccination program is an espionage effort by the USA. India has recently announced that they will start a polio eradication campaign this year. More than 170 million children under the age 5 will be immunized. I find it hopeful that countries are taking this seriously. There is no need for children to suffer from this disease.

I will use this information to encourage parents to immunize their children. I have many cultures in my classroom and this means different attitudes towards immunization. Learning about how vaccines work and the success rate means that I can confidently recommend that parents participate when they ask for my advice.

References

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines

Birth

I have chosen to have no children of my own. My sisters both live about 4000 km away so the only birth I have ever been present for was my own. I obviously have no memories of the event. My mom has always teased me that it was the first and only time I was early for any event. My dad told me I was born in a snowstorm. I was born in a hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. I am the oldest child in my family so for my parents it was a first. My dad was with my mom for the delivery. My mom and I stayed in hospital for 2 or 3 days. From the lens of child development birth is an important step. The bond between mother and child is begun. In my case, the stereotypical family was created. Parents always count toes and fingers, make sure the nose and eyes are placed properly, and see that all the body parts are present. Even in this age of images in utero, seeing is believing.

I now live in the Netherlands. I have heard many birth stories from my colleagues here. They all gave birth at home with a midwife. Their husbands were part of the process and they were up and about within hours of the birth. Although the birth itself is never without worry, work and pain, a home setting gave these moms a relaxing place that was familiar to them. I don't believe that either way of giving birth is better than the other. I think it is a choice a couple should make. In some births, the older siblings are also present and part of the process. In terms of future development, I think the bonding with the parents is more important than the actual birth except in cases that have complications. When there are complications, I think medical care is vital in shaping the path the child's development will take.

Code of Ethics

From the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct I chose:

To create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster children's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development and that respect their dignity and their contributions.

This is important to me because many children who come to me have recently experienced a big change such as moving to a new country. The family is often isolated at the beginning. For these children and families as well as the ones who have been here longer, it is important for the classroom and the school to be safe and predictable. 

Code of Ethics

From the DEC Code of Ethics I chose:

We shall use individually appropriate assessment strategies including multiple sources of information such as observations, interviews with significant caregivers, formal and informal assessments to determine children's learning styles, strengths, and challenges.

This is important to me because many of the children that I work with seem to struggle with learning. In reality they are able to do more than they can show because of a significant language barrier.