When I think of Child Development

v  “Children's reading and children's thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion, writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential for good or evil than any other form of literature on earth.” Dr. Seuss

v  You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!”  Dr. Seuss

 v  “Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry.” Dr. Seuss

Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.”
George Bernard Shaw

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
Madeleine L'Engle

 

 

 

To all my colleagues who responded to my post.  I so appreciate all the comments and advise you have given me throughout this course. I am glad I had the opportunity to work with you all. Sophia Marsh

Testing For Intelligence

This week we are talking about children with disability and how it has changed from where children that have challenging capabilities were separate from the capable children. Well children are learning from their environment therefore as an early childhood professional I will need to provide a positive environment to ensure healthy growth such as excellent learning capabilities.   I believe that children are expected to have a learning capability at a young age. For example my 5 year old niece is a kindergarten student that is reading at a first grade level. We will say that she is a smart girl! Well yes, although her mother has been working on her capability to learn new materials as well as how well she process information. She shows great progress and intelligence.

Equally important is education to ensure someone’s success in life. For instance back in 1930s through 1950s parents use to dream of having their son being an educated individual because at that time education was very important to many families and see their children go to the best college. Therefore scientist comes up with assessment to show case children’s ability in school as well as in society and daily communicating ability. It gives them self-worth as well as knowledge. Scientist has been testing children intelligent since the early 1950s at the 4 and 5 grade levels. We still look at how well children handle problem solving on their own. Although it is true that kindergarten level is more like first grade level because children do not just color, sing, and sleep anymore. They are doing basic math, they are learning sight words, and reading short story books. We ask so much of them and for that reason they are growing faster than ever. Children’s roles are changing every day academically, socially, and characteristically.

My finding shows that people all over the world are using assessment test in the school system. For example this is what Skuy, Taylor, O’Carroll, Fridjhon, and Rosenthal (2000) say about performance of black and white South Africa children on the Wechsler intelligence, “The validity of traditional intelligence tests for cultural groups that differ from those for whom the tests were normed has come under scrutiny. This is particularly the case for the previously disadvantaged black majority in South Africa. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) is reportedly a relatively nondiscriminatory test of intellectual functioning. This study compared the performance of 21 black and 35 white third-grade South African children on the K-ABC and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale--Revised (WISC-R) at two schools for children with learning problems. While the WISC-R Verbal and Full Scale IQ of black children were significantly lower than that of whites, there was no significant difference between these groups on the K-ABC. Teachers' ratings for white and black pupils were acceptably concordant with students' performance on the K-ABC but not on the WISC-R. Support is provided for the usefulness of the K-ABC as a relatively nondiscriminatory alternative to the WISC-R for South African children.”

     

Consequences of tress on Children's Development

Quote on poverty:

I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.”
― Neil Gaiman

Poverty

I choose poverty because so many children are living in poverty. We have children living in poverty here in the United Stated because they may have a parent that is on drugs and are unable to provide for them. Third-world countries are most likely to have children in poverty because they do not have enough money or a job. I have never experience poverty, however many children and adult are living in poverty in Haiti, which is where I was born and raised. However there are some families in Haiti that does not have a place or a proper bed to sleep in. according to Wadsworth, M. E. and Rienks, S. L. (2012) when helping children develop skills to cope on their own, we are teaching them to adapt in any environment. Coping with stress can be hard however we can get help to ensure a better environment for the children. I believe poverty will always be around, but we can try to reduce poverty by educating those that in poverty to help them move up to have a job and food to eat on a regular basis.  

Poverty in Haiti

The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, most of Haiti’s 10 million people live on less than $2 a day. The severe economic situation, combined with increased fuel and food costs, the effect of natural disasters and chronic unemployment has placed a serious burden on an already vulnerable population.

The the poorest country in the Americas, most of Haiti’s 10 million people live on less than $2 a day. The severe economic situation, combined with increased fuel and food costs, the effect of natural disasters and chronic unemployment has placed a serious burden on an already vulnerable population.

The maternal mortality rate is 630 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, and child mortality is similarly high at 54 child deaths per 1,000.

On 12 January 2010 a powerful earthquake struck Haiti, leaving as many as 250,000 people dead and affecting millions more.

The earthquake exacerbated an already inadequate health situation, with the collapse of at least eight hospitals and healths in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

A year and a half after the earthquake, more than 670,000 people are still living in temporary camps in spontaneous settlements across the earthquake-affected areas of Haiti.

Where does Merlin work?

Merlin has three project sites in Haiti: Two in the Ouest Department (Port-au-Prince and Petit Goave) and one in the Nord Est (Ounaminthe).

What work are you doing?

Merlin is working to make sure that vulnerable communities receive the vital health care they need, and to strengthen Haiti’s shattered health system.

In particular Merlin’s clinics and mobile teams work on health education, treating and preventing cholera outbreaks, maintaining sustainable health care and strengthening the local capacity.

How many people are you treating?

Merlin has treated 47,986 patients in clinics in Port-au-Prince, 31,658 patients in clinics in Petit Goave and over 5000 cholera patients across Haiti.

Article links:

 http://www.merlinusa.org/where-we-work/haiti/?gclid=COCjp9_QlbUCFcFxOgodZTsACQ

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6151435/k.B1C9/Haiti.htm

http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2012/07/stress-mechanism.aspx

 

Child Development and Public Health

I chose Mental Health of family because it means a lot to me to learn about family structure and how it can change a child’s life. The article that caught my interest was Family Structure and Children’s Physical and Mental Health. This article talks about family structure and how it affects children upbringing. They talk about children that live with a single-mother, grandparent, foster parents, etc. I was raise by both a single-mother and grandparent. I believe I was healthy as we as loved by my family. They said children with both biological parents are in better health than children not living with their biological parents.  Well sometime it is all about the value the parent is promoting to the child. Children need love and support as well as guidance to direct them in the right direction. One thing that I agree with is that children from household with parents that educated are most likely to have better physical and mental health than children where the parents are unable to provide.

I was a little bit surprise to read about children taking care their of their parent  illness. This information will not impact my future as early childhood professional. However  if I was going  to work in Africa were I will be exposed to unusual experiences such as parents having trouble connecting with their child, or teaching children with multiple learning barriers, then  yes it will be a challenging career as a early childhood professional.

Article link: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/26/2/549.full

 

South Africa's children caring for parents with Aids

Article link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jun/22/hiv-aids-child-carers-south-africa

Interviewing more than 7,000 people in some of the country's poorest townships, they are studying the mental health and education of a generation of South African children who are growing up caring for relatives with HIV and Aids.

The two-year study, involving 35 field staff, including local managers, interviewers and volunteers, is working to build a huge pool of data that will inform social policy not only for South Africa, but for other countries with high rates of Aids and HIV around the world.

Shockingly, so far, the research suggests children who live with Aids-sufferers have as much psychological distress as those who have been orphaned by Aids. "It's because of the stigma that comes with having HIV in the family," Cluver says. "Kids report being gossiped about, and teased, and having people scared to touch them."

The early findings show that about 40% of kids in Aids-sick homes are missing or have dropped out of school, compared to 22% in homes affected by other illnesses, and 5% in healthy homes. Almost a third of the young carers – sometimes as young as eight – report carrying out intimate care, such as washing sick people, helping them go to the toilet and cleaning their wounds.

"The kids aren't passive victims – they're kids just like all others, wanting to be Beyonce or Usher. They're so excited about the World Cup that when they chose pseudonyms for their stories to be reported in our research, half of them used football players' names," Cluver says. "They worry about the same things as first-world kids – one 13-year-old girl cried throughout her interview because kids at school were calling her 'baboon face'."

 

My Childbirth Story and Around The World

Lanika and Sophia My child birth experience was watching my niece and my god-daughter being born. It was the happiest day ever. I remember this day as if it was yesterday. My cousin and I were laying down talking when she said I am going into labor. I remember my mother telling my cousin to go back to bed because it’s too early to have my beautify niece Lanika. Watching that baby coming out was amazing; at that moment I had all kind of emotional feelings running through my body. Now all I think of is having my own child. Ten years later my husband and I still don’t have any children as yet. I choose to talk about this experience because it was an experience I will never forget. I had the opportunity to be in the room with doctor and nurses where my cousin was giving birth to her first child. A birth of a child started by two people that love each other as they come together to create a person, and several years later that child is going to do the same thing as their parent and create a person on their own. Child birth changes the parents’ life forever. The impact childbirth has on child development is the changing process from child to adulthood.   Most childbirth story I come across is similar in every other countries as well as the United States. The story I chose is not the same as my experience, but learning about another countries is informative. The different between the stories I chose is that in the United States where we live as middle class citizens. My cousin gets to give birth in a private hospital. The minority women in Haiti do not have the some privilege during childbirth. In fact most of what I read from this article I already knew. Haiti is a poor country but if you have money you can live like a king. Although half the population is very poor, they still find a way to have healthy babies.

This is some information on Childbirth from another Country

Article Link: http://www.pih.org/issues/pages/womens-health

Family planning

Family planning is among the most effective tools for reducing maternal mortality. Women who receive education and contraceptive options are more likely to delay childbearing, have fewer children and reduce their risk for obstetrical complications. Nevertheless, 50 percent of all pregnancies worldwide are unplanned or unwanted, accounting for nearly 300,000 new pregnancies every day.

Women in poor communities too often lack access to family planning tools. Clinics are too far away, user fees are too high, and transportation costs are beyond their means. Making family planning available and affordable to the poor worldwide would save the lives of more than 100,000 women every year.

In Haiti, each of PIH’s clinics has a full-time nurse trained in sex education and reproductive health counseling. Staff in Haiti has been offering free condoms and contraception for over 15 years. In 2003, we began training and mobilizing community health workers who specifically promote family planning and women’s health. These ajans fanm – women's health agents in Haitian Creole – travel throughout the countryside, teaching people about sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and contraceptive methods. They also distribute condoms and oral contraceptives and refer pregnant women to clinics. This successful model is being replicated at PIH sites in Rwanda, Malawi and Lesotho.

Skilled obstetric care for pregnancy and childbirth

Each year 52 million births occur without help from a skilled attendant in developing countries, and 35 percent of pregnant women have no contact at all with health personnel before delivery. Yet potentially fatal complications occur in 15 percent of all births. Because of this, it is critical that women deliver in or very near facilities capable of providing basic emergency obstetrical and newborn care.

At PIH’s clinics in Haiti, high-quality obstetric care for pregnancy, childbirth and emergency complications is available to all pregnant women. Each of our 12 facilities has a fully-functioning women’s health clinic staffed by a professional midwife. These clinics are supported by 6 full-time obstetrician/gynecologists who work across our sites.

Staff works with matrons and traditional birth attendants to ensure that pregnant women receive the safest and most efficient obstetric care possible. At the women’s health clinic at Rwinkwavu Hospital, in rural Rwanda, specialized nursing staff are trained in prenatal counseling and delivery as well as family planning.

In June 2009, PIH Lesotho began training specialized community health workers to educate and accompany pregnant women to health centers, ensuring they receive care from skilled health professionals. In 2010, 70 percent of reported deliveries in PIH Lesotho’s Bobete Health Center catchment area occurred at the Health Center, a 350 percent increase in facility-based deliveries. Learn more about PIH Lesotho’s Maternal Mortality Reduction program.

Preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV

Ninety percent of the 2.5 million children living with HIV became infected during childbirth. So did the vast majority of more than 300,000 children who die of AIDS each year before reaching the age of five. Yet a simple and effective treatment for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) has been available since 1994.

In 1995, PIH began providing antiretroviral treatment for PMTCT to HIV-positive pregnant women in rural Haiti. Since the PMTCT program was introduced, the HIV infection rate of newborns born at PIH clinics has fallen to levels rivaling those in developed countries. This model for prevention has since been expanded to Rwanda, Malawi and Lesotho.

A Note of Thank you and Support

v  Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music. ~William Stafford

v  Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. ~Neil Postman,

 

 

 

 

 v  “[Kids] don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.”  By Jim Henson,

 

 

 

  v  “Literature is a textually transmitted disease, normally contracted in childhood.” By Jane Yolen

 

 

 

 

 

 

v  “Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.” - Dr. Seuss

 

Meaningful Core Values and Ideals

 Naeyc Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment

 

My goal is to help children and families in the early childhood field. I selected some core values and ideals that I believe will be an asset to my professional career as an early childhood educator. I will appreciate and recognize the children achievements and their families support to the early childhood field. In fact I will put the core values and ideals into practice at my childcare center as well.

Core values

 

v  Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle

v  Appreciate and support the bond between the child and family

v  Respect diversity in children, families, and colleagues

v  Recognize that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust and respect

Ideals

 

v  To base program practices upon current knowledge and research in the field of early childhood education, child development, and related disciplines, as well as on particular knowledge of each child.

v  To use assessment information to understand and support children’s development and learning, to support instruction, and to identify children who may need additional services.

v  To be familiar with the knowledge base related to working effectively with families and to stay informed through continuing education and training.

v  To develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve.

v  To welcome all family members and encourage them to participate in the program.

v  To provide the community with high-quality early childhood care and education programs and services.