Researc Around the World

From Early Childhood Australia (ECA) website, one current research topic is school readiness and children transition. This is very important because most times, starting school can be stressful for children, the school buildings are bigger, there are more children and the incoming pre-schoolers are the smallest, the classrooms are more formal with more rules they are not familiar with. To make a decision about school readiness, we may consider the following:

Language skills: communication is used to engage with and teach the children. Each child needs to be able to follow instructions and understand what teachers are saying, as well as being able to communicate well with teachers and other students.

Physical well-being: a child who has a disability or a chronic illness may have difficulty with some aspects of schooling. This does not automatically mean they are not ready for school but any physical or functional limitations need to be considered.

Motor co-ordination and skills: children need co-ordination skills to allow them to dress and undress, unwrap lunch, use a pencil and scissors, and participate in other activities that require eye, hand and motor co-ordination.

 Concentration and emotional adjustment: each child needs to be able to socialise and play with his or her classmates. They also need to be able to deal with the structured nature of a more formal learning environment, such as being able to focus on tasks, follow directions and instructions from teachers, cope with transitions, and understand the rules.

Independence: children need a range of skills so that they can cope with minimum adult supervision. This includes going to the toilet by themselves, dressing, and being able to follow a structured classroom routine.

Secondly, one new insight I gained from visiting ECA website is that Researchers in the United States have studied 112 children with the aim to evaluate autistic children over time. Their results have been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The study found that 34 children who were diagnosed with autism in early childhood, no longer functioned with their autistic symptoms in school-age or early adulthood. Improvements were made in their language, face recognition and social interaction, though repetitive behaviours were still recorded. However, experts have cautioned that results of this study cannot conclude any ‘cure’ for autism and further research is needed.

 

Research that Benefits Children and Families - Uplifting stories

                                                   

My heart goes out to parents that are struggling with any kind of developmental disorder in their child. I am concerned about Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Autistics Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ADD is a general term normally used in describing individuals that have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder without the hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. The terms ADD and ADHD are often used interchangeably for both those who do and those who do not have symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsiveness (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorder). These individuals may have trouble paying attention, finishing tasks, or following directions. They may also easily become distracted; appear forgetful, careless and disorganized; and frequently lose things (Berger 2009, p. 328).  ASD is used to describe any of several disorders characterized by inadequate social skills, impaired communication and unusual play (Berger 2009, p. 328).  Many experts and parents believe that artificial colors and preservatives in food make the symptoms worse. The treatment for these conditions is usually medication plus psychotherapy (Berger 2009, p. 328). The medications usually come with side effects and there seems to be so much frustration on affected parties in keeping up with the routine. Berger (2009) reported that about 10% of all children have ADD.

If  I have the knowledge and the means, I will carry out research on possible causes of these disorders and generate alternative ways of treatment that will not be too demanding on both the children and parents. Understanding the causes and broadcasting the knowledge will stop the increase of children with this condition. The alternative treatment will also guide parents and children in helping the ADD, ADHD and ASD children deal with the frustration involved in their daily lives.  

 References

Dell, E. Y., & Shultz, S. M. (2009). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Has diet therapy taken a place at the table?. Journal Of Consumer Health On The Internet, 13(1), 93-102. doi:10.1080/15398280802675088

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth

Edition, Text Revision) DSM-IV. Washington, D.C. 2000.

Russell A. Barkley, PhD. Taking Charge of ADHD. Guilford Press. 2005

 

My personal research journey

 












During my Early Childhood Development course, I went to a school for an observation assignment. I met a six years old child that would not join others to play during break. When I asked him why he was not playing, he told me that play is for unserious children, that his parents told him not to play in school and his teacher confirmed his story. The teacher explained that he scores high in academic works but can hardly relate with his peers, does not function effectively in school’s social activities. This got me thinking about other parents I see that stops children as young as toddler stage from playing. In fact one of my friends boldly told me that her toddler girl will be a failure academically if she continues playing freely instead of learning letters now.

The general topic I will like to look at is Early Childhood Development in areas of social development and language development. I will like to look at the impact and influence of play on social development of children. Another issue that bothers me is how parents and children of expatriate communities manage language development and adjustment. I am an expatriate in South East Asia where I have noticed that many children have to deal with three languages in their daily lives. The official language of the country (Brunei Darussalam) is Malay, the communication language of the international schools that serve the expatriate children is English and many of the children from different nationalities come with their mother tongues. I will like to research on how to help children, parents and workers adjust to this complex situation. Hence my two subtopics are:

1.      Correlation between play and social development among pre-schoolers.

2.      Ways to foster bilingual children to learn English as the international language while maintaining their mother tongue amongst expatriate children.

I have a commitment to influence the world of children positively but I understand that I can only succeed via collaboration. Therefore, I am completely open to any insight, ideas, resources, feedbacks and suggestions to my topics. Any kind of support will be appreciated.   

 

Final Blog Assignment

Hi Friends and colleagues,

It has been a wonderful 8 weeks of collaboration. I sincerely appreciate my Professor (Dr Myers Joyce) , classmates, colleagues and other international partners. To Magdalene and Abioye, I bless God that Nigeria has people like you and hope that your passion to improve the world of children will continue to burn. Now, I am better informed about many issues affecting early childhood care and education and through the resources and international collaboration; I have learnt how other countries tackle theirs. Except for few countries that are having challenges like war and poverty, most countries have come to agree that early years care and education is fundamental and critical for productive adulthood. However the common challenge is cost, access and quality. Australia is indeed taking great strides in realizing their vision of professionalizing the industry and I hope that other countries will emulate them.

I am particularly delighted to hear from one of my mentors that Nigerian federal government is sponsoring training in early childhood. This is indeed a welcome development. Many developing countries like Nigeria are still at the level of getting competent workforce that can implement the appropriate practice.

I have also been exposed to many opportunities in this field and I intend to utilize then to positively influence the lives of children. Thanks to networking and collaboration……… One goal I foresee for the field is to professionalise us and possibly have a universal standard in the very near future. Finally, I look forward to when the public can appreciate the difference between baby sitting and early childhood profession. Our communities can only appreciate the difference through experience. I believe in a just world for all children, I believe in our future.

An update from last week.

I received a response from one of my mentors who is currently doing a PHD in early childhood. Her replies to last week’s questions are as follows:

Issues affecting early childhood in Nigeria are – Dearth of professionals in the field, Non-implementation of the country's Integrated Early Childhood Development and Education (IECD) curriculum, Non-participation of government in the operation of Early Childhood Education (ECE), Operation of ECE by quacks and absence of standard in the operation of the program by private operators.

Moving forward: The federal government is making effort to sponsor as many people as possible that are willing to undergo training in the field through Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Operate a non-profit organization (NGO) that will monitor grassroots implementation of ECE.

Hopes and Dreams: Finally, I hope to become a renowned specialist in the field, and be able to float one of the most outstanding NGO on the implementation of ECE programs.

Once again, thank you all. I wish you merry charismas and an equitable quality service to all children. I love you all. In the spirit of Christmas please watch this video, it’s thrilling. We are the reason for the season.

 

 

Getting to Know your International Contact - part 3

Bite off only as much as you can chew” Gambia’s Government Policy on Early Childhood.

 This week, while waiting for my conversational partner’s feedback, I visited UNESCO website. The topic “Bite off only as much as you can chew” caught my attention as a new insight in my early childhood studies. This is a statement by Gambian government in defence of its proposed program called Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD). Presently, IECD comprise of programs for 0 to 2years (to be run in clinics and private care centres) and Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD centres) for children aged 3 to 6 and will be situated within primary school premises. The age 3 to 6 programs will be managed solely by the Government while the private sector will be responsible for 0 to 2 years programs.  The ECD centres will have nothing to do with academic works. It will be purely developmental curriculum and will be managed by primary school teachers that will be trained on early years development. In Gambia, official primary schooling begins at age 7.

I found having an ECD center very interesting because one of my professional goals is to help parents in the area of development in early years. Every now and then I observe ignorant parents do what they considered best for themselves and their children without knowing that it is detrimental to the children’s development. I will like to have such a center that will focus on development of early years. I equally believe that if early childhood professionals should focus on children development first…… instead of education, we can be more of a specialised service that is different from teaching. I will definitely follow up to understand how to set up such program.

 Another insight is a statement on children’s right to childhood from International Institute for Educational Planning (part of UNESCO).

“Childhood is not considered as stage of transition to adulthood, but as a moment of life with value itself”

This statement is very appropriate. Many parents seem in a hurry for children to move to adulthood. I met a woman that sent a child of 8years plus to secondary school jumping primary 5and 6. And I when I confronted her, she said she wants her kids to be adult as soon as possible. I was dazed at what matters to some “Parents”. Government (especially developing countries like mine) should educate the public on the importance of childhood and possibly enact a law that prevents parents and guardians from forcing children into adulthood for their own selfish interest. When these children are grown, the impact of not being a child during childhood will definitely affect everybody directly or indirectly..

 

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001470/147041e.pdf

http://www.iiep.unesco.org/no-cache/en/news/single-view.html? tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1140&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=262

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

This week, I received webwatch newsletter from Early Childhood Australia (ECA). One issue that adds to my understanding of equity and excellence in early child care and education is a press release titled “Collaboration needed in response to growing demand in early childhood”. This press release is from ECA urging support for the proposal to establish a “Child Care Availability Working group”. They believe that this group will help service providers’ deal with the challenges of cost and long delay to access funds through local planning approval process. In the statement of ECA president we must work with all our governments, this issue cannot be solved by anyone working in isolation”. I totally agree that her view should be applied in our localities. She also reminded us that expansion of early childhood services will provide additional jobs and most importantly develop increased number of citizens with positive outlook.

Another issue is the infant and early childhood social and emotional wellbeing conference.  This conference will be held in Canberra, Australia from 30^th October to 2 November 2013. It is planned to be co-hosted by Australian Association for Infants and Mental Health and the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youths. Issues to be discussed include:

1.       Advocating for improved policies for infants and young children

2.      Balancing the skill of people who work with infants and improving school readiness

Obviously a lot of interest and efforts are going into the affairs of young children and this is an indication that the future of our society will be brighter. We must focus on “quality” regardless of setting or provider of services to young children. If we do not implement high quality standard, we risk letting down our generation and unwittingly compromising our security and environmental peace.  I have come to a conclusion that there will always be issues in early childhood field as long as we keep giving birth to children but we must be ready to address them positively as they arise.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"- Martin Luther King, Jr

Note: the following link is for questionnaire on study “professionalising early childhood.  I am sorry if you could not access it last week. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG5TdjRSaDE0ajhkME4tNlF5QUltcFE6MQ#gid=0

 

Reference

Webwatch. (2012). Retrieved http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

 

Knowing Your International Contacts - Part 2

 

In review of Global Child Initiative website I learnt that healthy child development should be viewed as the foundation of economic prosperity, strong communities and a just society. Secondly is educating stakeholders on science of early childhood. Recently a course was organised by center on the developing child for 50 Brazilian politicians, policy makers, public managers and civil society leaders. It is aimed at helping them acquire common knowledge on the importance of early years so that they will be able to apply that knowledge into practice to close the gap between what we know and what we do. This is a good way to educate stakeholders of any country to influence their decision on policies of early years. It is important they have the current knowledge as a guide.

Another insight I will like to share is importance of positive interaction in a developing brain which is called “Serve and Return Interaction”.  This is one of the most essential experiences in shaping the architecture of the developing brain. Young babies naturally reach out for interaction through babbling, facial expressions and gestures and adults respond with the same kind of vocalizing and gesturing. This back and forth process is fundamental to the wiring of the brain especially in the earliest years (www.developing child.harvard.edu). Click on the following video to learn about early experiences and toxic stress effect.  

 

Another critical reason to invest more funds in ealy childhood to give adequate care for all children irrespective of their level of income, race and circumstances.

From Early Childhood Australia website, one issue that is related to excellence and equity is “the National Quality Standard”(NQS). NQS has been developed based on the core ideas of The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)(Belonging, Being and Becoming). This requires educators to show evidence of their practice and philosophies in line with the NQS. It outlines each of the seven areas of NQS to include;

1.      Quality area1 Educational program and practice

2.      Quality area 2 Children’s health and safety

3.      Quality area 3 Physical environment.

4.      Quality area 4 Staffing arrangements.

5.      Quality area 5 Relationships with children.

6.      Quality area 6 Collaboration partnerships with families and communities.

7.      Quality area 7 Leadership and services.

This is expected to be used across the early childhood setting in Australia. It is a good initiative that encourages excellence and it has all the components of an effective program.  

Lastly, I got an email from Dr Margaret Sims, a professor of early childhood carrying out a study on“professionalization of early childhood”. She requested that I circulate the questionnaire to our colleagues. You may participate in the questionnaire by clicking on this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey =dG5Tdj RSaDE0a jhkME4tNlF 5QUltcFE 6MQ#gid=0



reference

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/