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/

Getting to Know my International Contacts

Poverty in India

For this week’s assignment, I am yet to receive a response from my conversational partner. I have therefore decided to look at poverty in India through Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center (CHIP) website www.childhoodpoverty.org.  India is the second most populous country in the world with an estimated 1.03billion people in 2001. Over the last five decades the government of India has made efforts to alleviate poverty through liberalization of the economy, targeted programmes, land and tenancy reforms, participatory and empowerment based approaches and the provision of basic services. Despite these efforts, the absolute numbers in poverty remain very high. The social services sectors face major challenges of providing education for about 33million children from poor families,  dealing with communicable diseases, malnutrition, maternal and perinatal illnesses.

Childhood Poverty in India.

India has an estimated 400million of its population to be children from 0 to 18years.  They account for 20% of the world’s out of school children, it has the largest number of working children and serious gender discrimination. The reason for gender discrimination is a perception that boys are permanent members of a family while girls are only temporary members. The on-going gender discrimination leads to lower rate of school attendance among girls, less exposure to the outside world, and emphasis on domestic skills. This situation made life very difficult for many indian children especially the girls.

Action to Address the Situation.

Three main anti-poverty programmes in India are - Rural Employment Creation and Infrastructure Development Programmes; Self-Employment; and Food Subsidy Programmes. All these three have been subjected to reform in recent years to ensure better targeting and coverage. The largest food subsidy programme is the Public Distribution System, which is explicitly targeted towards the poor. Integrated Child Development Services Programme (ICDS) is the largest programme specifically targeted at children in the 0-6 age group. It is a centrally sponsored scheme covering all states. However, more needs to be done.

In conclusion, I will suggest that Indian should emulate what China has done. Remove all the cultural barriers, abolish gender discrimination, support gender equality in employment and birth control. Lack of foresight on the part of government and culture barriers are the main causes of poverty. When there is increase in population and the infrastructures are not increased it is bound to bring poverty. These approaches reduced China’s poverty rate drastically.

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center (CHIP) Findings:

Findings from CHIP website about what works to reduce poverty are as follows:

1.      Maximising the potential of growth-oriented policies for children in poverty requires substantial investment in social infrastructure, particularly universal basic education and comprehensive social protection - preferably before major liberalisation takes place.

·         One effective form of redistribution is cash transfers for poor families - income supplements and minimum guaranteed incomes tend to have the greatest poverty reduction impacts. Programmes that integrate cash transfers with other key services are likely to have the strongest impacts on child wellbeing. Cash transfer refers to financial subsidy to indigenous poor homes.

·         The relationship between poverty, population trends and childhood poverty is very context- and culture-specific. Overall, the poorer the country and the higher the fertility level, the more beneficial the effects of decreasing fertility rates for children's wellbeing. However, policies aimed at reducing population growth should be implemented alongside wider development programmes in order to achieve substantial improvements in childhood wellbeing.

·         Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes can make a substantial contribution to the quality of especially vulnerable children's lives and provide safe childcare for working parents. Substantially more resources are needed if ECD is to make a greater contribution to the wellbeing and development of poor children.

 

Reference

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org

 

CHILDREN IN DETENTION

THE GLOBAL END IMMIGRATION DETENTION OF CHILDREN CAMPAIGN
Going through the Early Childhood Australia (ECA) website, the above heading caught my attention. On a further search, I get to understand that the International Detention Coalition (IDC) lunched a global campaign this year to stop the growing trend of children immigration detention by governments. It is on record that children fleeing abuse, poverty, human trafficking and war are locked up simply because they do not hold the needed documentation. Evidence has shown that immigration detention has devastating effects on their physical, psychosocial and cognitive development. Not to talk about the educational setback. Hence, all involved must be stopped. IDC estimates hundreds of thousands of children are placed in detention yearly in places like Australia, Greece, Israel, Malaysia South Africa Thailand and United States of America.

Some refugee children of Burma standing behind bars with other detainees in a crowded detention cell in Mae Sot, Thailand.

 In a press release May 2012, the ECA then Chief Executive Officer Pan Cahir acknowledged that a compassionate and responsible government must promote and protect the right of children including the ones seeking asylum. Refugee children like every child need healthy development which depends on nurturing and stimulating environment. They need to cope with the trauma of loss, uprooting from culture and relationships. Living such children that are already hurting in detention would only make their condition worse. The ECA is adding their voice to the rest of the world to compel the Australian government to ensure that not one more child is placed in detention in their country. The ECA suggested the following to their government:

1. Families with children and unaccompanied minors should be placed in the community while their claims are assessed. 

2. In the event that an application for refugee status is unsuccessful and families or unaccompanied minors cannot return to their home country, families and unaccompanied minors should continue to live in the community until such time as they can return home.

3. Families should have access to the support they need to care for their children and participate in the community.

It is quite unfortunate that anybody could forget that children are children no matter the circumstances and should be treated with care. These children are very vulnerable and are already exposed to so many challenges. Therefore, keeping them in detention must be abolished. They are victims of circumstances, and I wonder where the Social Justice, Equity, fairness and love go. I sincerely hope that every government will take this issue very seriously. I always hear “children is our future” but the future is here as “children” irrespective of their circumstances. We must take hold of the future now. Optimal development is the right of every child and the appropriate environment must be provided by any responsible government. I like the statement of IDC “We believe that children should be treated as children first and foremost, regardless of their immigration status and wherever they are in the world”.

 For more details on this check the following links:

http://www.theworkcontinues.org/news.asp?id=1757

 http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/early_childhood_news/may_2012_media_release_government_must_act_to_end_child_detention.html

ESTABLISHING PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS

ESTABLISHING PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS

The first person I contacted is Mrs Bimbo Are, the owner of Ajoke International School, Ibadan, Nigeria. During our discussion, I asked her question on issues that are affecting Early Childhood (EC) field. Her response is that government of Nigeria has accepted EC as the foundational education but could not demonstrate the political will to embrace the program wholly. Currently it is in the hands of private practitioners. Individuals run Centres and schools based on what they believe are right for the children. Quality control system is weak for now. Government have managed to allocate 5% budget to education and what gets to EC is not defined. Implementing the agreed standard is not currently practicable. The second person is Jane lee; she is a member of association for Early Child Hood Education Singapore. In Singapore, the reverse is the case because the government is actively supporting EC and higher institutions are being equipped to train caregivers and teachers. She believes that it is only when teachers and caregivers have relevant knowledge about children development that they can function as scaffolding for children.

EXPANDING RESOURCES

 I explored Early Childhood Australia (ECA) website. It is amazing with wonderful resources, especially from their archive called Voice Archive. The mission of this organisation is to advocate and ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the care and education of young children from birth to eight years. They act as knowledge broker linking quality assured EC knowledge and information to those who need it. Government seems to be supporting the organisation as they have Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia as their Patron. One thing I picked from this website is the statement of the incoming CEO Early Childhood Australia, Samantha Page. “The strength of ECA today is the result of many years of hard work”. Therefore, the result to be seen tomorrow must be cultivated today. It is in our hands now.

NEWS LETTER

One newsletter I cherish very well is from zero to three. The newsletter is free for subscription and it is called “baby to big kids”. It provides information about how children grow and develop. It contains research studies covering developments in areas of language, brain, body, cognitive and psychosocial. This can help parents and EC professionals to dictate developmental delays for early intervention. Zero to three is a nongovernment organisation that trains and supports parents and stakeholders in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. In their word “early experience matter”(zero to three).

 

Reference

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/voice_newsletter/voice_archive.html

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/

 

MY SUPPORT

On a daily basis as a wife and a student, my support comes firstly from my husband who sponsors my education and helps me emotionally, making sure that I am happy. When many things cluster and tend to overwhelm me, he would always tell me the right things and advises on prioritization. Secondly, I currently live near a local market, which makes it easy for me to get fresh vegetables and fruits. This has made my family and I to eat healthy, utilize our time effectively and the result is that we are rarely sick.  Another support is my closest friend “Kay”, we either see on a daily basis or we talk on phone. We share experiences and listens to each other. This relationship gives me confidence knowing that I have somebody to reason out things with. She can walk into my kitchen and just clean the dish in my sink if she noticed that I am very busy with my academic work. I also send most of my cloths to laundry services. Picking an ironed cloth from my wardrobe to wear saves me time and looking good makes me happy.

I imagined myself being pregnant. The first few months may be challenging. I would need my husband to give me all the emotional support for me to be happy. As usual my friend Kay, will be here for me, drive me to hospital if need be and help prepare food when I am not disposed. The local market will be of immense support because in pregnancy I would need to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables for excellent outcome. I would also consider having a full time house help popularly called “Ama” to live with me and do most of the domestic work. This will give me more time to attend to myself and academic work considering that I may be weak some of the times.

Without a friend like Kay in a new environment, things would have been more difficult. I originated from a country where you can get help easily from your neighbours even unsolicited but here, the culture is different. People here strictly mind their own businesses. I am confident that the challenge of being pregnant would be properly managed with my friend’s support, that of my husband, the local market that is close to me will make things much easier and with the full time Ama, I will meet the demands of pregnancy and my academic works. Without these supports aligning, I may be compelled to suspend my academic work because pregnancy could be very demanding.

MY CONNECTIONS TO PLAY

One of the reasons I chose the field of early childhood is to continuously have contact with children of this age and get their touch of freedom and innocence. They are filled with “freedom”,freedom to speak, laugh, jump, climb, run and swim. As a child I had so much fun playing. I was the last child and my immediate elder brother was 7 years older than me. My play mates were mainly children of my age group in my community. Play was part of our daily activity and almost every night, we would go to the village square for moonlight play. Exceptions are rainy or very dark nights.                                                 

                                                                               

 Pretend play was a great part of my childhood and in my culture we use a lot of beads in dressing. During play we usually make ours with combination of plants mixed with sand and it used to be very beautiful and adults are often amazed at the unique designs we usually form out of these. This groomed me personally to believe in my abilities. I will always play the “director” role which has turned me into the teacher that I am today. “You can't stop the future, you can't rewind the past, the only way to learn the secret is to play.” ― Jay Asher .

 

Social play like “oga”, “ kuoronu nwangwele aka” and  onye na onye”  were always an introductory play for us. We usually choose our team members and it was exciting seeing people fighting to choose me as part of their group. I learnt as a child during play that I am special before becoming adult which gave me a positive mind-set in life

 Another play that was part of my childhood was playing under the rain. Once the weather is changing, we are also getting ready to play outside by changing our cloths to wear a short or nicker for free movement under the rain. It used to be even more exciting during dry season, we would go to the stream to swim and play with water. It was so much fun and I still cherish the moments and wished I can go back.

 

 

The adults around us supported us to play. When our mother wanted us to give her chance to attend to personal things or to visitors, , she would simply ask us to go to the village square and play but today most parents will ask their children to go to their room and play. Play today has shifted from free play to confined play using video games and internet games. I often wish that today’s children will experience what I had. Today’s children are no longer allowed to go out for an unsupervised play due to security reasons. I practically learnt how to live through play. I learnt to manage and collaborate with people through play while building my sense of belonging as well. Recently, I encountered a grade 2 child that did not go for break and when I asked him why he was not playing with other children, he told me that these other children are playing because they are not serious with their studies and that his mother instructed him not to play............... I sincerely felt for him and hoped that such ignorant parents can be informed because access to talent is through play. “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.”  Charles Schaefer

Play is very important for children and also adults. We are indeed blessed to be in this field as it gives us opportunity to play with children. I play a lot with children and it makes my life interesting. Keep playing; it is healthy even as adults. Have a great weekend with this last quote that reminds me of my play life as a child     “The essence of childhood, of course, is play, which my friends and I did endlessly on streets that we reluctantly shared with traffic.”   --Bill Cosby.

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

Everybody needs a healthy relationship. Research has shown that every child needs at least one committed adult relationship to develop well. As adult, relationships are as important to me as to a child. I discovered in life that nobody can succeed in isolation. I have come to appreciate that both good and bad relationships actually contributed to my growth today. Some bad relationships really pushed me to show that I am not what the other person perceived me to be. Some of the relationships I value so much are that of My Mother - Christiana Ibe, My Husband- Engr Emmanuel Onuigbo, and My Pastor - Dr Obibi. One thing that is common in these relationships is their demonstration of trust in me. Sometimes I doubt my ability to accomplish a task but they have always encouraged me. They seem to be seeing some strength in me which I do not see. They have made me achieve things that I will look back and marvelled at. My mother taught me early in life that the only way to be a good child is to do jobs in addition to my assigned roles and this has made me to always go beyond people’s expectations. I am naturally a self-starter but sometimes I get stocked at the middle of a task, my husband has always been there to encourage me to continue. My pastor used to give me leadership roles even when I was seeing myself as a beginner. I look back with grateful mind to these great people that help me in journey of life.

Challenges in developing and maintaining healthy relationships.

One obvious challenge is lack of trust. For any relationship to be healthy, we must trust each other. Even when a partner fails, we should trust that the intention was not to fail. Another challenge is ineffective communication: when there is no effective communication, relationship suffers. Assumption is an enemy to healthy relationships and assumption comes in when there is lack of communication.

Special characteristic of these relationships: To my mother I believes that she has my best interest at heart,  to my husband I see myself as him therefor believed he cannot cheat himself and to my pastor I see myself as his project which he intends to accomplish well. All these reasons made me to have absolute trust in them and that allowed the relationship to thrive. As an early childhood  professional the relationships with children and their family is beneficial to children’s development and I have learnt that I need to intentionally build trust  and communicate effectively. Families and school must enter into a relationship to aid optimal development of the child. The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but who we are. Stephen R. Covey. We must model what we want the child and family to be. Trustworthy, honest and open minded.

MY HUSBAND AND I

Quotes about children and Note of thanks

The path of development is a journey of discovery that is clear only in retrospect, and it’s rarely a straight line.” ― Eileen Kennedy-Moore

 There was no need for a term like ‘magical thinking’ in the Golden Age of Man…there was only genuine everyday magic and mysticism. Children were not mocked or scolded in those days for singing to the rain or talking to the wind.” ― Anthon St. Maarten.

I choose these two quotes because of what development stands for and the need to allow children explore, especially in the area of play. I still feel that unstructured or creative play, which is diminishing mostly in the developed world, contributes so much to children development. Its importance should be reemphasised by educators who understand that it facilitates social interaction, higher cognitive development and creativity. 

Note of thanks.

I feel very happy to be in this class and I am particularly grateful to have amazing colleagues with same passion to help our little angels. It was a wonderful time of collaboration these eight weeks. I sincerely appreciate all that contributed to my blog starting from my dependable friends Towanda, Andrea, Jakaila and Keena who have been there for me since the first course. And to you my new friends, Carrie, Jennifer and Maria, your contributions have been meaningful. I pray that we continue to share knowledge for more insight that will help us be the best God expects from us. Once more thank you so much. Vivian.  

TESTING INTELLIGENCE

The whole child is about Biosocial, Cognitive and Psychosocial of the child considered simultaneously. Children intelligence are usually measured in different formats, such as

--IQ tests – focuses on how people perform on standardized tests which are designed to measure skills and knowledge you have already learned.

--Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III)- A test for children that provides separate measures of verbal and performance (nonverbal) skills as well as a total score.
In Nigeria, it is usually, Standardized tests: Designed to measure individual characteristics, Determine development and learning, Plan instruction and Study differences between individuals and groups, for guidance and counselling.

My advice is that children assessment be tailored to a specific purpose and should be reliable, valid, and fair for the purpose, policies should be designed to recognize that reliability and validity of assessments increase with children’s age, both content and the method of data collection should be age appropriate and be linguistically appropriate, recognizing that to some extent all assessments are measures of language. Additionally it is important to know that the younger the child, the more difficult it is to obtain reliable and valid assessment data and some conventional assessment should be postponed until children are older than 8.

Finally, conduct the assessment in a setting familiar to the child, Develop rapport with the child before beginning the session to relax them, liaise with parents on this and consider separate method for challenged children. Also note that intelligence comes in different ways and one test cannot measure it all.

CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Stress can be defined as tense, anxious feeling you get when you are faced with difficult decision that requires the person’s response.  While stress is the feeling we have when we are under pressure, stressors are the things in our environment that we are responding to. Examples of stressor includes, war, racism, natural disaster, violence, disease, hunger, isolation and environmental pollution.  However, what is stressful for one person may not necessarily be stressful for another. Our experience of stress is greatly influenced by how we interpret and label our experience. In order to feel stressed, you must interpret the environment as some sort of threat or as requiring some change or adaptation on your part (www.nic.edu).

 As a child that was born some years after a 3 years civil war in my country, during my childhood the impact of that war was obvious around our environment. I noticed that many children that were born during and after the war were not able to start school at appropriate age and starvation was ravaging the communities. Many businesses could not reopen several years after the war because people lost their properties and capital to the war. The situation affected me personally as my parents could not afford a photographer’s bill for 3months and 1years birthday pictures which was the family tradition for my older brothers and sisters. My mother told me that their primary need was to feed us and send us to school and paying for baby pictures was considered unnecessary luxury they could not afford.

NATURAL DISASTER IN ASIA AND AFRICA
Some countries in Asia and Africa have experienced natural disasters such as Japan tsunami, Indonesia earthquake, Kenya and Ethiopia and Somalia drought and Uganda flooding. During such disaster, families’ home are destroyed and they lose many of their possessions, including vital supplies such as clothing, cooking equipment, bedding and medicines. A child’s few precious possessions such as toys or school supplies are also likely to be lost. Such traumatic circumstances may undermine a family’s ability to protect children from abuse and exploitation. Pregnant and nursing women, and those with small children, are particularly vulnerable. Women and children account for more than 75 per cent of displaced people following natural disasters and vulnerability of women and child refugees to sexual violence, both during transit and in refugee camps, has been extensively documented – (UNICEF UK Climate Change Report 2008). Following the Asian tsunami in 2004, World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern that children in the region were particularly vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of exploitation, as many more women than men appeared to have died. One reason for this was thought to be that many mothers attempted to rescue their children and end up losing their lives and the children they attempted rescuing.

EFFECT ON CHILDREN

This situation definitely pose challenge to child’s development, ranging from poor nutrition, poor education , exposure to disease, lack of medical care and psychological effect such as shock from the trauma.  A study of children examined both before and after a flood disaster in Bangladesh to test stressful events role in the development of behavioral disorders in children showed that the prevalence of aggressive behavior increased from zero to nearly 10%, and 45 of the 134 children who had bladder control before the flood (34%) developed enuresis.  Click on this link to hear a child discuss her experience: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jan/25/haiti-earthquake

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO MINIMIZE HARM
UNICEF United Kingdom in their Climate Change Report 2008 is suggesting that a different approach to development be used, which is to ensure that the impact of climate change on child health and survival is taken into account when developing policies and programmes.  Secondly, schools should take on important role in educating children and their families about their local environment, livelihood security, adaptation, hygiene and other health protection strategies.  In an increasingly fragile environment, all children will need the knowledge and life skills that education can bring if they are to understand, adapt to and cope with these natural disasters.

UNICEF UK Climate Change Report 2008 from http://www.crin.org/docs/climate-change.pdf

http://ftp.iza.org/dp6354.pdf

M S Durkin, N Khan, L L Davidson, S S Zaman, and Z A SteinThe effects of a natural disaster on child behavior: evidence for posttraumatic stress. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1694881/