When I Think of Child Development …

• Physical changes
• Social changes
• Emotional changes
• Behavioral changes
• Understanding each child as an individual
• Achievements
• Obstacles
• Learning new things
• Health issues
• Psychosocial needs
• Resilience
• Empathy and Moral Development
• Brain Development
• Fine and Gross motor skills
• Language Development
• Education
• Play
• Developmental Delays
• Special needs
• Peer pressure

These might be just words but these are all words that I associate with child development. Childhood is a wonderful time in life for most, and is full of learning, fun, play, development, and social interactions both with school and play. I think that children express their emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, joy, fear, love, worry, etc. I love being a preschool teacher because I love to see them learning on a daily basis and to see them develop cognitively, socially, and emotionally. I love to hear their laughter and help them learn how to deal with distress. I think childhood is a time of learning how to deal with our emotions and how to deal with other's emotions. It is a time of constant change, and understanding the world around them.

video of my 10 year old niece from this summer

a fun video of my niece Emily from this summer

Testing for Intelligence

Over the course of this week, the readings, video, and research on standardized tests I have come to the conclusion that not all tests are created equal. Throughout my childhood I remember having to take tests and remember how much I struggled with tests. I don't know if this stress is normal or hereditary, but it is something that my mom struggled with too. I feel that testing can be stressful and it is not for everyone, especially those with learning disabilities. I don't think it is fair to say how intelligent a person is based on their test scores. I never had a learning disability that I knew of, but I can't imagine how difficult it would be to someone who does have one. If I had to chose how successful a student is in school I would definitely look at a more holistic approach. I would base their intelligence on what they know about the world around them, and what kind of smarts they have based on their experiences. I know that in most schools tests are based on what is taught out of a book, however if this is not interesting to the child because they cannot relate to it and do not retain the information because it doesn't have meaning to them, then they fail that part of the test. I think that each child comes from a different family and each child is exposed to different environmental factors. I think that a child that lives in a ghetto, they will learn more how to protect themselves and their families, and even start work earlier and taking care of their parents and possibly siblings. It is not fair to say that the child that is exposed to this and does not have the time to do homework or think about what they are learning in school, is not smart because they don't achieve in math, science, and reading. I really think that a child should be tested in what they know based on their world around them.

Also, I think that more tests should be verbal, because sometimes it is harder to put on paper what you know. I had a teacher once in college test me verbally and I aced the test, but the other ones that I had that were written I did not do so well. I think that people are better to speak what they know, and the teacher could then know that the child is learning, and then will be able to see that they deserve a better grade. This would be a very good way for children with learning disabilities to verbalize what they know as their disability might hold them back.

I looked online various websites that talk about tests that are done in other countries, and it sounds like most of them are doing the same standardized tests that we are doing here in the US.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html was a website that talked about Shanghai being the highest ranking country for Program for International Student Assessment, a test known as PISA. Another really interesting website that relates to children with learning disabilities is http://www.helpguide.org/mental/learning_disabilities.htm

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

The stressor(s) that I chose to write about was that of war/poverty, the two go hand in hand. I have a very close friend that I have known for around 12 years who experienced the Bosnian war, that I interviewed for this assignment. I had known about her experiences when I first met her, but never really realized how it affected her childhood, or the lack thereof.
When she was 9 years old the war in Bosnia began, she was Muslim and the Serbs were taking over. Most of her friends and family fled as soon as possible, but they endured almost the full length of the war,  2 1/2 years. She said that parents can't even protect you, and its like being in an open field when it's thundering, you know it's going to hit you, but you don't know when. You learn to overcome the fear of death and the only thing you have left is your faith. You become afraid of being tortured and raped. When the soldiers came into her house to take things, you become afraid of being raped. She always prayed that this would not happen to her, and she was very lucky that she didn't.
She said that she didn't really have a childhood, and she grew up really fast. She had survivors guilt, thinking such thoughts as "why didn't I get raped or die?" She said when you live in war, you live in fear. There is no water, electricity, or food. She said that you sell everything in your house just to get food. You can't play outside, because there is gunfire and bombs going off. She and her brother couldn't go to school because the Muslim teachers were fired and the Serbs took over. They slept in a room underground, kind of like a bomb-shelter to keep them safe from the bombs that were constantly going off, one hit her bedroom once, blowing out a window. She said that you have no hopes or dreams, and you live day by day. She said that after her dad left to go to the concentration camp that her mom, brother, and herself snuck to her Aunt's house to sleep, which was five blocks away and very risky because of the spies that surround all of the houses.
Her family had gotten word from a Serb that her father had befriended that her house was the next one on the list to be raped and tortured and they fleed when she was 11 1/2. They had barely made it safely to Croatia where there was a safe place for them to stay for a night till they went to Germany. She still thanks God for her safety and have had many rough times from the stresses that she had to endure as a child.
I look back at my childhood 9-11 and it was very carefree. I had no fears except for a bad grade on a test. I would play with my friends outside, in the streets, or wherever I had liked. I could not have imagined losing my childhood to war. I feel for all those children that are currently living in war, such as Iraq, and Afghanistan or any other war-torn country.

Child Development and Public Health

The topic that I chose to research is family mental health. The reason I chose this topic is because I thought it would be interesting as a preschool teacher and just in general to find out what the link is with families and mental health. The article that I researched is called Resilience and Culture/Ethnicity, Examples From Sudan, Namibia, and Armenia written by Edith H. Grotberg, Ph.D.

This article talks about how confident one feels about themselves, particularly in the area of resilience. it is critical to a child's feelings of confidence, hope, trust, and love, and an ability to seek help and solve problems that are perceived as experiences of adversity.  Three sources of resilience are the following I have, I am, I can. I have is the external supports that cultural/ethnic identity of a child that reflects the supports, values, role models, and limits determined by a cultural/ethnic group. I am is the mental health of a child to that reflects the extent to which a culture fosters identity, self-esteem, empathy, autonomy, altruism, responsibility, and hope. I can is the interpersonal and problem solving skills that children acquire that reflects the extent to which a culture encourages mastery of skills, in communication, problem solving, and management of behavior.

Two methods were used to identify cultural/ethnic similarities and differences in the area of resilience among children. The study showed that families in Namibia and Armenia were traditional, some rich, some poor and the child rearing practices reflected the outcomes of the resilience among the children. The study gave a situation where a nine year old girl named Rita walks to school every day and passes a place where a group of older children stands around. When she passes them the call to her, make fun of her and sometimes push her. She has become so frightened she refuses to go to school any more and tells her mother she is sick. her mother knows she is healthy...
Most frequently used parents' responses that promote resilience:
Sudan: helping the child resolve the problem, encouraging them to resolve the problem by themselves, being a role model in how to resolve the problem
Namibia: calming the girl; talk about what is going on; showing empathy; expressing love; pointing out that school attendance is her responsibility; helping her to solve the problem
Armenia: talks to her mother and shares feelings of fear; mother helps girl solve problem with help; shows child how to deal with situation; helps the child feel safe; encourages child to gradually solve the problem herself, but with support; mother feels the child's pain; calms child and assures her that everything will be alright; showing the girl how much she is loved
Most frequently used parents' responses that prevent the development of resilience:
Sudan: forcing the truth; punishing the girl for lying; leaving her alone to solve her own problem; expecting the girl to hate school, not attend school, or become ill; displaying little emotion of caring or empathy to the girl
Namibia: hitting the girl for lying; forcing the truth; feeling sad and afraid for the girl, but not helping; forcing the girl to go to school
Armenia: mother forces attendance; girl continues to feel fearful; parent does nothing but feels she should intercede; thinks girl believes she is bad, but does nothing to help; girl would learn her lesson and tell the truth after this

The major responses from the three countries that concern mental health and mastery of resilience are:
Mental Health:
Sudan: autonomy, confidence
Namibia: empathy, expressions of love, feeling lovable
Armenia: empathy, expressions of love, self-esteem, feeling lovable, confidence
Mastery:
Sudan: role models, communication, problem solving, seek friends
Namibia: communication, problem solving
Armenia: sharing feelings, share process of problem solving, seek friends

The study concluded that the things that prevented promotion of resilience were:
Sudan: indifference, punishment for lying, withdrawal and illness, wandering streets, sad, angry, and afraid children.
Namibia: parents concerned about their own feelings, punishment, forced attention, no resolution, lose friends.
Armenia: forced attention, no resolution, sees self as bad, must tell truth, punishment, fearful, helpless.

The comparison among the three sites concluded that parents and children differ in terms of communication, discipline, and love. The Sudanese encourage a sense of autonomy and confidence. In Namibia parents express love, and make the child feel lovable, and express the need to be responsible. Armenian parents provide a loving, trusting relationship and encourage autonomy but with support, they show empathy and build confidence. Each site focused on communication skills and problem solving. Armenian parents were the best at communicating with each other to resolve problems.

Personal Birthing Experience

Well I have two very memorable birthing experiences...the birth of my two boys now 15 and 13. My firstborn son Ryan was an extremely memorable one, when going into labor with him I didn't know exactly what to expect, so after feeling contractions for about five hours I decided to finally go to the hospital around 4am. I was one week overdue and ready to get this baby out of me, so we drove to the hospital just to find out that I was barely dilated, it was disappointing but the doctor told me that I would be induced which made me very happy. After I was induced they broke my water just to find there was meconium in the water, and luckily I was about to give birth at a hospital that had one of the best neo-natal intensive care units. The doctors warned me that my son would not be able to breath for the first few minutes after birth and that they would suck out all of the meconium from his lungs and then I would be able to hold him. After I had the epidural I wasn't too concerned about what was to come, I felt very reliable on the doctors experiences and everything had gone as planned. After they were able to suck all the meconium from him, they handed him to me and wondered very quickly whose nose he had and checked out all his other very long and adorable limbs. He turned out to have a snort for a while, and a skin disorder but otherwise just perfect!! My youngest son Tyler was a wonderful experience, I knew what to expect when giving birth and the pregnancy was wonderful! I stayed at home a very long time before rushing to the hospital and by the time we got there, he was 8cm dialated and fully efaced. I had a mid-wife with this pregnancy and she was just wonderful! I did not have an epidural with him, just a pain killer, I gave birth to him and when he was born he was just perfect and as there were no complications I was able to hold him right away and bond...it was simply wonderful!

Thankyou!

Thankyou everyone for your support throughout the course!! Its been great getting to know everyone throughout this course through the student lounge, discussions, and blogs!! I had fun and look forward to working with you throughout the remainder of this program!

NAEYC Code of Ethics

The three Ideals that I feel are the most important are:

1-1.1 To be familiar with the knowledge bose of early childhood care and education and to stay informed through continuing education and training.
(because if a teacher or someone else working with kids does not stay informed with new research or studies going on with children they will not know how to best serve them.)

1-1.3 To recognize and respect the unique qualities, abilities, and potential of each child.
(We need to be able to give each child with love and attention and hope that they will be able to succeed in school and life. Each child is unique and special and need to be able to give them the best education possible.)

1-1.5 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.
(Each child needs to have a fair chance in life and in order to do that we need to make sure that all things are taken into consideration. The children need to be able to have a safe environment in order for them to succeed, both at home and at school, and as teachers and advocates make sure we are doing the best job to supply them with the things needed to support them.)

Early Childhood Resources

World Forum Foundation
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php
World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/
Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/about/
National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/
The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/
Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
http://www.zerotothree.org/
WESTED
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm
Harvard Education Letter
http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85
FPG Child Development Institute
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/main/about.cfm
Administration for Children and Families Headstart’s National Research Conference
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
HighScope
http://www.highscope.org/
Children’s Defense Fund
http://www.childrensdefense.org/
Center for Child Care Workforce
http://www.ccw.org/
Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
http://www.iwpr.org/index.cfm
National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/
National Child Care Association
http://www.nccanet.org/
National Institute for Early Education Research
http://www.nieer.org/
Pre[K]Now
http://www.preknow.org/
Voices for America’s Children
http://www.voices.org/
The Erikson Institute
http://www.erikson.edu/

Additional Resources:

Office of Child Support Enforcement
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs
School Menu
http://www.schoolmenu.com/
Big Brothers Big Sisters
http://www.bbbsa.org/
Gurian Institute
http://www.gurianinstitute.com/
National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch
Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/

Week 4 Words of Inspiration and Motivation

"Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." Jean Piaget

"The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done." Jean Piaget

"If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men." Maria Montessori

"It became my lifelong work with early childgood education and passion to make sure all children were taught in environments and ways that truly nurtured their ability to grow and develop into their fullest ability." Louise Derman-Sparks

"We as professionals in the early chilldhood field have an opportunity to shape a child's life for the better." Sandy Escobido

Personal Childhood Web

My Mom, my first and still my most nurturing and caring person in my life. Not only did she help mold me to become a caring and loving person, she also taught me to be respectful and successful. I always have and always will look up to her for being a model to be a great person, teacher, and parent. As a child she always made me feel confident in the way I looked, and acted by letting me be unique and always telling me how beautiful I was (and still does!).

Me at age 7 (I think), looking beautiful in my own unique way! I came outside dressed up like this and said "Mommy don't I look beautiful?", and my mom's response was "Oh yes you do look beautiful!".

My MomMom was another very influential person in my childhood. She always made me feel very special, whether it was making me lunch which consisted of either lettuce, cheese, and mayo sandwiches or liverwurst sandwiches, or playing games with me and teaching me to play solitaire I felt that she truly was invested in my well-being. She always had special snacks for us too, which made her the best grandmother ever!, and she let us spend the night and sleep on her recliner! which was a very special treat for me. We used to watch Creature Double Feature on  Saturday mornings, and then eat her very soggy french toast! LOL! I loved everything about her! She and my Grandpop used to take us to the ice cream shop and let us sit on her lap in the car (looking back, that was so dangerous). She was very laidback, and took her time doing everything! I love and miss her very much!

My sister Michelle. She is three years older than me, but I always have looked up to her to see what kind of person I wanted to be. As a younger sister I was probably pretty annoying to her, but she tolerated me and occasionally let me play with her and her friends. Growing up she would usually let me tag along with her whether it would be to tell knock-knock jokes with and make silly noises on the tape recorder or as I got older going to the mall with her. I loved to watch her put on her makeup and do her hair. I spent hours trying to figure out how to do it, and then when I figured out how I wanted to look just like her. I would occasionally "borrow" her clothes and jewlery without asking her, and when she found out she would be upset, but never be too mad. I loved her fun-loving style and still do.

Here we are back when I was probably 11 and she was 14.

My Dad, Albert aka Big Al. He was the one I looked up to for my musical talents. He was and still is the one that was always listening to music, loved music, and educated me in music. He was a big fan of oldies music and always was playing his 45's and usually pretty loud! He loved (and still does) dancing, and loved dancing with my sister and I. Our song was "Chantilly Lace" in which he would pick me up, and spin me around upside down. Another cool thing that he did (even though he had back problems) was be the community pool carnival ride...he would pick up all the kids in the pool and throw them, all my friends thought that was cool.

Other influences in my life consisted of teachers, who truly invested their time in me and making sure that I succeeded in school and life. I loved all those special sunday school teachers too, who made sure that I felt special! I really felt like they truly cared about me and wanted to spend their time to help me.

Favorite Children's Book

Favorite children's book is kind of a hard one for me, but I would have to say any Doctor Suess book. I really like "Are you My Mother?" and "Green Eggs and Ham". I also really like "Where the Sidewalk Ends"(Shel Silverstein)but since I have gotten older I really like the Harry Potter series too.

Quote

Great quote from my handy dandy Teacher's Little Book of Wisdom (Bob Algozzine) is #65 "Show children how much you love them - first with words, but more with actions."

Early Childhood Studies Blog

My very first blog ever! Kind of exciting...we will see how this goes!
Yes, these are my boys