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