A Great Quote

"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure."
~Emma Goldman, author 

The Value of Assessment

I am a proponent of viewing children holistically and realizing that they are complicated little human machines and when one thing is amiss it is wise to take a look at the whole child, including physical, emotional and mental functioning. Unfortunately, I believe that this is done far less than it should be done.

I think assessment is important for potential learning disabilities such as ADHD, autism and dyslexia. Without assessment, children, under the current system, are not able to get the additional help that they need such as an individual education plan. It is important for some children to have additional accommodations, such as taking a test in a resource room, where there are no distractions. Other accommodations might be seating a child toward the front of the class or providing additional sensory stimulation, such as swinging on a swing set during the school day. I have a family member who went through assessment for four years before the professionals got to the bottom of the learning issues this child has. This young student wouldn’t have been doing nearly as well in school as they are doing without all the assessment tools that were used and as a result, an individual education plan to implement address the learning issues.

I chose to look at the way Canadian children are assessed for learning disabilities. It seems somewhat similar to the experiences I hear about in the United States. According to (Langlois, 2011), ideally, the assessment begins with your child's classroom teacher reviewing with you your child's schoolwork, report cards, and the results of any general tests administered in the school. If there is reason to think that your child has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the teacher might also suggest a medical assessment by a pediatrician. Medical assessments within the public health system can be arranged through your family doctor. Academic assessments by an educational psychologist employed by the school board are also publicly funded. However, there may be a long wait, anywhere from five months to two years. Parents may decide to arrange and pay for a private assessment (fees range from $800 to $1,500). The faculty of education at a nearby university or the child development clinic at a hospital may offer subsidized assessments. The Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, with over 60 chapters across Canada, can provide a list of recommended psychologists. If you choose this route, ensure that the school agrees to recognize the private psychologist's findings (Langlois, 2011).

My only real concern with assessment is that it tends to label children. That is a double edged sword. Labels are needed to gain the education support that is necessary. However, labels can also erode a child’s self esteem and be a reason why children are teased and shunned by other children. Even with the potential negative impact, I believe the good in having assessment as a tool outweighs the potential harm.

Resource

Langlois, C. (2011). Kids living with learning exceptionalities. Canadian Living. Retrieved from http://www.canadianliving.com/family/kids/kids_living_with_learning_exceptionalities.php

The Many Faces of Poverty

I chose to write about poverty because it is so prevalent and childhood poverty can lead to a lifetime of biosocial and emotional issues. It’s a reality that affects children in the United States as well as in other countries.

My older, half-sister, has vivid memories of living in poverty as a child and teenager. She is a generation older than I am and she is now seventy-four years old. I also have two other half-siblings who are seventy-two and seventy-three years of age. My mother had three children in two years and nine months and was widowed when they were just four, five and six years old. Their father, my mother’s first husband, was killed in world war two. Our mother was in her mid 20’s with three very young children and no income to support them. This was in the early 1940’s and there wasn’t any aid to dependant children programs or anything similar at that time. There were no food stamps or assisted housing programs. Though in my growing up years I would not describe my mother as a strong person, when I hear about stories from my sister’s generation and the way they managed on very little money, without a father, I see my mother as a very strong and courageous woman indeed.

Once her husband was buried the United States government offered her a one time payout of $2,000.00, which must have seemed like a fortune to a penniless widow in the 1940’s. The other option was to get $37.00 monthly for the rest of her life. She chose that small monthly installment. When I asked her why she told me that she felt she could depend on that small monthly check, regardless of how small it was, she knew she would be getting it for the rest of her life. In the long run it was a good decision because the payout was far greater over her lifespan. Still, that was her only income for awhile. My mother and her children went without basic necessities for awhile until she landed a job baking sweet rolls and pastries for the train’s cook car. She would have to wake up in the middle of the night and walk through the North Dakota snow and be at work at four in the morning and bake for a few hours before she could come home and get the kids ready for school. I cannot even imagine how difficult this must have been. She was lucky that she had the wonderful baking and cooking skills she had. She learned them from her parents, who owned a restaurant in Minnesota, when she was a young child. Charles Lindberg used to come into the restaurant to eat on a regular basis when my mother was a child and he even took her up for a plane ride before he made his famous flight!

I believe the way poverty affected my sister was that it gave her an appreciation for how different life could be. She scrimped and saved as a teenager from her babysitting jobs to put herself through secretarial school. She didn’t have much food to eat while at school, only what our mother sent back to school with her each week, after she had returned from the weekend. She landed decent jobs in her 20’s and 30’s. In her 30’s and beyond she began treating herself to things she never had, yet at the same time she was vigilant about saving money for a rainy day. She allowed herself the gift of travel and helping others out financially now and then. At age 74, now retired, she lives rather modestly, yet comfortably. She spends money on herself now and then, which I find to be very healthy since she went without nice things for so long and she is entitled to enjoy the fruits of her labor now. She also is generous in giving to me, my siblings and others in need. She continues to save, even through retirement. I really think she felt the effects of not having enough when she was young, and it has greatly influenced the way she lives today.

I chose to research poverty in India, since I have an affinity for this country due to my daughter being adopted from there. I have known for decades that poverty was rampant there but I was surprised by the statistics of the poverty level being as high as it was. Nearly fifty percent of people are living below the poverty line and illiteracy is at forty percent. Child malnutrition is very high in some regions of India (Trickle Up, 2001). I know this first hand because of all the information that was given to us through our adoption process as well as being presented with a very severely malnourished infant.

The good news is Trickle Up is an organization in India who works exclusively with women to help them have a better life by moving them from chronic food insecurity to economic self-sufficiency. This agency combines livelihood training, weekly mentoring and a Spark Grant that helps grow a family’s income. They also have a program that teaches women how to save money and overall how to become self sufficient (Trickle Up, 2011).

Resources

Trickle Up. (2011). Trickle Up India. Retrieved from http://trickleup.org/solution/asia.cfm?gclid=CI6l2fjj1KwCFQZbhwodg0uJqQ

The Importance of Proper Nutrition

The public health issue that affects children that is most meaningful to me is nutrition and malnutrition. I believe that we take for granted that all children are provided with proper nutrition, which isn’t the case. The country I chose was India to report on malnutrition.

India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) needs to undergo significant changes to address the current malnutrition crisis in India, according to a World Bank report. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa, the report says. It also observes that malnutrition in India is a concentrated phenomenon. A relatively small number of states, districts, and villages account for a large share of the burden – 5 states and 50 percent of villages account for about 80 percent of the malnutrition cases (The World Bank, 2005).

This has become a personal topic for me since I adopted a severely malnourished infant from India over a decade ago. It seems that in India malnutrition is prevalent in the poorer areas and many of the non private orphanages. Even if there is knowledge about proper nutrition, there may not be enough food for all the people who need it. I found this to be the case with my adopted daughter. She came to us from India at thirteen and three quarters months of age weighing just thirteen pounds. She came with a bevy of problems that I won’t go into now, but proper nutrition played a big part in allowing her to reach the milestones she was behind in. When she arrived she was very weak and her normally sleek, straight, dark brown hair was red, course and a bit kinky. It looked very over treated by chemicals, but it was the malnutrition causing it.

I feel lucky that I work at a school where nutrition is a top priority. They are very conscious to serve a balanced, organic menu. I will be aware of the effects of malnutrition and what to look for if I find myself working in a different place eventually.

Reference

The World Bank. (2005, August). India's Undernourished Children: A Call for Reform and Action. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/223546-1147272668285/IndiaUndernourishedChildrenFinal.pdf

The Wonderful Forms of Birth!

I have two birthing experiences that I would like to relay to all of you. The first one, who I call "daughter of my body" is Brianne, age 25. The second one, who I lovingly will refer to is "daughter of my heart", is Tessa, age 14. Both are my daughters, both I love equally and dearly. Both were very difficult birth experiences in totally different ways.

I became pregnant with Brianne when I was twenty six years old. I had planned this pregnancy for a couple of years and was delighted to learn I would have a baby. Within the first two months of pregnancy I became very ill due to asthma and at that time smoking in the work place was a common occurrence. This made my asthma even worse. Ironically, I worked for a health insurance company and over 30 people in my office smoked at their desks. I was entrenched in a grey haze. My asthma doctor and ob doctor assured me the baby was getting enough oxygen in spite the cigarette smoke. However, I wasn't getting enough. Instead of providing a smoke free place for me to work, my employer chose to disable me for the duration of the pregnancy. The subsequent few months were better, I enjoyed being home and anticipating the arrival of what I HOPED would be a baby girl. However, all along I had to take several medications to keep my asthma under control. By the last trimester my breathing problems went from being very uncomfortable to very serious. I was monitored constantly. I was on five medications just to breathe, having to set my alarm for waking up every three hours in the night to take medication. I was sent to a genetics doctor which was rare for the mid 80's. He told me all of the medications I was taking were safe for the baby except they could not tell if one of them was or not. However, I needed it, so they kept me on it. There was an unanswered question...would this medication affect my child? Finally my breathing got so severe, that at 36 weeks of gestation they attempted to perform an amniocentesis to see if my baby's lungs were developed enough for delivery. She was fine, but I was in distress. However, all the fluid was behind her body, so they didn't feel comfortable with using the needle, thus the test wouldn't work for me. Instead they gave me large doses of prednisone via IV every few days. It helped my oxygen starved body and would help mature her lungs they said. Back in the 80's they considered full term 40 weeks of gestation so they were concerned about delivering a 36 week fetus. Finally at 36 weeks and 5 days they delivered my daughter via a planned c-section. My pelvis was too small for the normal birthing method and labor would have made my breathing worse. I had an epidural for anesthesia, which only worked on the right side. As a result I had about ten local injections into my left side to get it numb. However, I still felt a lot of sensation in that side, such as tugging during cutting the incision, etc. Finally once she was born, they gave me twilight sedation which sent me in and out of la la land. I kept asking "what did I have?"...hoping it was a girl. It was a girl!!!!!!! My dream come true. I was in the hospital for four and a half days with Brianne, on morphine two of those days and so out of it I really wasn't concerned about the fact that I had a newborn. After just two days of being on morphine I had severe withdrawals which made me miss an entire half day of being a mom while I tried to fight the very uncomfortable sensations. Finally on Christmas Eve morning I brought my new daughter home. She was healthy, I was healthy, and I could breathe without the aid of any medications.

Daughter of my heart, Tessa, came to me via a very long and difficult East India adoption. I did not give physical birth to her, but I went though birthing pains that equal those of women who go through labor. Foreign adoption is not for the faint of heart from countries who would rather not see their children going to a "Christian" country. We lost one of our adopted children, who died of an illness, while trying to come to the USA. She would have been fifteen this week. We named her Jennika. Whereas we do not know Tessa's exact birth experience, and if we did I would want to talk in generalities here for the sake of her privacy. What I can say is that the birth process in India is very different depending on whether the family is rich or poor. If they are a family of means they might have the baby in a hospital setting that is very sterile and the mother is confined to bed from the very beginning of labor and command pushing is the norm. If a baby is delivered at home they might have a traditional birth attendant and men would be excluded from birth. Women could experience a period of confinement after the birth. Also, many rituals surrounding the birth of the child very likely would take place. Many times if a female was born there would be disappointment within the family. Some of the time these female children would end up in orphanages because they were female, and other times because the family couldn't feed one more child. The newborn might be dropped off in the dark of night or might be brought in by the police.

The Beginning's End

I am happy to say that I have completed the first eight week course of my masters program. I have gained a great deal of knowledge about the early childhood field, but more inportantly, I believe I've gained even more insight into myself. Through the various assignments, I have learned about myself and though that wasn't easy, it was cathartic. I have appreciated having my colleages in this course for their imput, insight and passion for the early childhood field. I especially want to thank Dr. Longo for her skill as an instructor, kind approach and for making a first class very manageable.

Important Ideals

The ideals that are important to me professionally come from NAEYC. The three ideals and their code of ethics that are meaningful to me are the following:

1. To appreciate the vulnerability of children and

their dependence on adults.

2. To recognize and respect the unique qualities,

abilities, and potential of each child.

3. 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.

The significance of the ideals I chose is to remind myself that each child is unique and that I also need to remember that they will look to me for a sense of safety each day that they come to school. I need to keep in mind that I can best serve my young learners by staying current on the latest information related to teaching them and to teach each child at the level they are at cognitively and emotionally. I have the ability to make their learning experience wonderful or miserable. I commit to making it an enriching, happy experience! The quote below sums this up for me.

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”

-Haim Ginott

This is the most important information I take with me into the classroom each day as an early childhood educator.

References

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf

Valuable Resources for Educators

• NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/72033/CRS-CW-5691428/educ6005_readings/naeyc_dap_position_statement.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf
• NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller
• FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~snapshots/snap33.pdf
• Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf
   
• Websites:
• World Forum Foundation
  http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us
  This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the video on this webpage 
• World Organization for Early Childhood Education
  http://www.omep-usnc.org/
  Read about OMEP’s mission. 
• Association for Childhood Education International
  http://acei.org/about/
  Click on “Mission/Vision” and “Guiding Principles and Beliefs” and read these statements.
• 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://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/
• RIE
  http://www.rie.org/
• Reggio Emilia Approach
  www.reggioemiliaapproach.net/
• Reggio Alliance
  http://www.reggioalliance.org/
• PBIS
  http://www.pbis.org/
• Learning Theories
  http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html
• BG Center
  http://www.bgcenter.com/Scaffold.htm

Quotes by Early Childhood Professionals

Quotes by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D.

“A family's responses to crisis or to a new situation mirror those of a child. That is to say, the way a small child deals with a new challenge (for instance, learning to walk) has certain predictable stages: regression, anxiety, mastery, new energy, growth, and feedback for future achievement. These stages can also be seen in adults coping with new life events, whether positive or negative.”  (Brazelton, T. Berry, 1989).

“Attachment to a baby is a long-term process, not a single, magical moment. The opportunity for bonding at birth may be compared to falling in love—staying in love takes longer and demands more work.” (Brazelton, T. Berry, 1992)

Quote by Susan Bredekamp Ph.D.

"We are decision makers. As adults caring for children, it is our responsibility to seek out and intentionally plan the best opportunities for children that support their over-all well being and healthy development. Developmentally appropriate practice, commonly known as DAP, is a comprehensive educational perspective that supports optimal healthy development for every child. Understanding DAP - its meaning and intentional practices - is essential in guiding the decisions we make for young children". (NAEYC, Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8, 2009)

Quotes from week 2 Early Childhood Professionals:

“I had a built in passion that it was important to make a contribution to the world.”

(Derman-Sparks, Louise)

“We as professionals in the early child field have an opportunity to shape a child’s life for the better.” (Escobido, Sandy)

A_familys_responses_to_crisis_or_to_a. (n.d.). Columbia World of Quotations. Retrieved October 01, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://quotes.dictionary.com/A_familys_responses_to_crisis_or_to_a

Attachment_to_a_baby_is_a_longterm_process. (n.d.). Columbia World of Quotations. Retrieved October 01, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://quotes.dictionary.com/Attachment_to_a_baby_is_a_longterm_process

NAEYC, Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8, 2009)

Video Program: “The Passion for Early Childhood”

Personal Childhood Web

Due to the dynamics of my family of origin, I don't feel that I had five people in my life that cared about me and took care of me as a child. Only one comes to mind, and that is my half sister, who is a generation older than me. My parents were two generations older than me and not involved in my life. Additionally I dealt with abandonment when I was nine years old. I have moved on from that as much as possible and tried to turn the bad into good by giving back to children in the form of teaching and through adopting my daughter from India. I could wish I could say I didn’t carry the baggage into adult life but I somehow found myself in an abusive relationship and another one that involved a lot of intimidation. As an adult I dealt with having cancer as well. Somehow, I feel that having to rely on myself as a child allowed me to get through these adult challenges and still come out of it intact. So, having said that, I don’t feel I can put my parents in a role of caregiver. I'm sure they did care for me in their own way, but not in a way that a child needs to grow and thrive. I really don't have more than one person to list as a person who cared about me. No teachers stood out either. I was a shy, quiet girl, and kind of blended into the scenery and always did what what I was asked to do at school.

The one person who did care about me is my half-sister, Barb. She is 21 years older than me, and though we never lived in the same house, we did things together a couple of times a month. I would stay over at her house on weekend nights now and then and she would fix my hair and paint my nails. We would eat yummy, child friendly food, the types of treats I don’t remember having at home. Throughout my teenage years she began talking to me about how getting a good education was important and continued to through my college years. I was proud and happy to see her at my graduation last June. At 72 years of age, she is still supporting me in my education. Though she has always been good to me, I would not classify our relationship as close. She is a very private, closed off type of person that has trouble exposing her real self to anyone else.

Here’s a picture of my sister, Barb, and I at my graduation from Portland State University last June.



Out of the Mouths of Babes

Today my co-teacher told me a funny story that I thought was perfect to share with you. When she was teaching older preschool in Colorado she posed a question to her students at circle time one day . The question was "what do you want to be when you grow up?" As you can imagine, she got as many answers as she had students. The funniest response by far was from one little girl who said she wanted to be a senior citizen when she grew up. She then went on to explain the reason behind wanting to be a senior citizen was so she didn't have to work!

Baby Shelley

I am nine months old and a very curious young learner!

A wonderful Quote with a Young Learner's Rendering

This wonderful bookmark was made by the staff and young learners at Helen Gordon Child Development Center in Portland, Oregon. I had the opportunity to work at this child development center as a student teacher for three years while I was working on my bachelors degree. The center is a learning lab on the campus of Portland State University and this bookmark was designed and offered to people who attended a campus open house event. I personally taught the young learners who did the artwork and worked with the teacher who designed the layout! I think the quote is perfect!

Welcome to my first blog about Early Childhood Education



Graduation from PSU - 6/11/2011

Hi everybody, I'm Shay (Shelley), and I'm creating this blog as a way to express my thoughts about my journey of working in the field of early childhood education. I am currently working on my Master's degree in Early Childhood Studies and so I'll be using this blog as a way to communicate with my colleagues and friends. Stay tuned as I continue to make frequent posts here. I welcome you to subscribe and also provide feedback. Talk to you soon!