SHARING WEB RESOURCES

The environment that a new life grew up will influence the child's entire life. The mother shares new words with the child, builds relationship and interacts with others. Various types of adversities can affect and destroy the early brain development of the child. When a child adopts a behavior it is difficult to change as the individual gets older. So what happens in the early years of a child matters alot. A child raised in an environment where policy makers are addressing the issues to meet the needs of the child, reduce chronic diseases and have good quality of education, will help in shaping the opportunities that the child will have in the future and help reduce stress in the life of the child. We as educators need to help children from low to middle income neighborhoods by enacting policies that would help meet the needs of the children to lead a quality life. We need to determine how to achieve the outcomes for children, young people and their families. There are restrictions in the access to developmental service for some children thereby creating educational gap. The importance of engaging parents and familiesin decision-making and encouraging their feed back to improve services that was proposed cannot be overemphasized. Combining the knowledge from neuroscience, behavioral and developmental sciences of early childhood programs to help in bridging the gap of achievement in children will be a step in the right direction.

Economists, Neuroscientists, and Politicians as Early Childhood Advocates.

Childhood poverty research and policy center (CHIP) is a complex and multi-faceted body. It brings education, social protection, health, water, sanitation and agricultural changes to poor children and their families as well as recognizing the sensitivity period for developing cognition, physical vitality and personality. We need to inject new life into the current situations of poor children and their families. Poverty is not created by the poor people but it is created by the system that we all built and the source of poverty derives from the decisions and concepts that people have designed, and theories that have been constructed that made up people’s mind set. The child born on the street is the same as the child born in the rich but events in the society would dictate where people would be or end up. We need to think about the capacity of the child and help with their development to give them the right opportunities in life.

         Many decisions about policies to reduce poverty and have better resource allocation are made locally and nationally, however in a world of increasing globalization, available budgets and many policies adopted by national governments are strongly affected by global decisions about trade, aids, and investments

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS

Over 600 million children all over the world live in poverty. Poverty affects the life of a child even if it occurs in the life of a child for a short time. Malnutrition in children can lead to a life-long learning difficulties and poor health and is taking more than a third of children’s life all over the world. UNICEF strengthens and supports children in healthcare, nutrition, social protection, clean water, and education. Companies come together to support UNICEF programs, emergency relief efforts and help advance issues vital to children. Over 17 million American children are at risk of hunger. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 50.2 million Americans don’t get enough food to live active, healthy lives. 17.2 million children or one in four children across the country face hunger throughout the year.  Subsidized housing for children and their families helps them pay for their rent, provides skillful trainings for families so that they can get trained in any profession of their choice to improve their lives and enable them get out of the program as soon as possible. As early childhood educators we need to make sure that the welfare needs of children are met. The main issue about poverty that I have learned in the course of these few weeks is that as an early childhood educator I can make a difference in the lives of children by partnering with some organizations to make sure that children get what they need to live a comfortable and healthy life. We need to help to enact policies that positively affect the development of children in eradicating poverty to make the lives of children better. When we avoid speaking out to eradicate this problem people’s lives will be affected negatively.

www.childhoodpoverty.org

 www.unicef.org

www.usda.gov

www.nyc.gov/acs

Sharing Web Resources

I chose these sites to enable me understand better how to take care of children and their families. The sites are Global Fund for Children (GFC) http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/ (Newsletter: http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/index.php?option=com_civicrm&Itemid=340),  National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) http://nbcdi.org/ (Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/) and the National Head Start Association  http://www.nhsa.org/  (Newsletter: http://www.nhsa.org/news_and_advocacy/advocacy/legislative_eupdate ).

       The vision of the Global Fund for Children(GFC) is to place emphasis on learning and affirming diversity that enriches the globalized world.  They believe in the potential of every child in a healthy and positive light. The vision of the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) is to improve and protect the quality of life for children of color and their families by giving every child a chance.  With early childhood education as the focus, child welfare, elementary and secondary education, and health to better the lives of children and their families are also given consideration. Finally, the National Head Start Association (NHSA) has a vision to voice out their opinion about every vulnerable child in Head Start and support the whole child, the family and the community as well as ensure that all vulnerable children and their families have what they need to succeed.

     Two of the sites emphasized on helping children from diverse backgrounds without regard to their demographies.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1

I contacted two people by e-mail for my blog assignment which I am still waiting to hear from them. I listened to some of the discussions from the alternative source, world forum radio, to understand and get better views of professional in early childhood settings. Susan Lyon taught children with learning disabilities and emotionalproblems. Barbara Jones started her school in Maine after working in private sector for 5 years.

References:

The Global Alliance of NAEYC has e-mail addresses for early childhood professionals worldwide:http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance

  World Forum Foundation. World Forum Foundation whose mission is to promote an on-going global exchange of ideas on the delivery of quality services for young children in diverse settings.” http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php 

World Forum Foundation Radio. Includes links to podcasts of conversations with early childhood professionals.
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php 

Part 2



The global funds would enable me to help children from the United States and Nigeria to eradicate hunger and meet some basic needs of children from low income families. The National black child development institute helping with solution to early childhood education. The zero to three, NAEYC (national association for the education of young children ) and national head startassociation are sites that I am familiar  with and able to relate to their aims and values. 



Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Familieshttp://www.zerotothree.org/   (May have to use http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/ )

National Black Child Development Institute/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/ )
National Institute for Early Education Research
http://nieer.org/ 
(Newsletter: http://nieer.org/resources/newsletter/index.php )

The National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/ 
(Review also the position statements: http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements )

My Support

       My husband is very supportive and encouraging of my going to school. He tells me of how proud he is of me studying for my masters. He listens and knows the right question to ask and tries to understand my every emotion. He works all day at his job and still comes back home to help me with the kids and household chores. He tries his best to finish the chores so I can take care of my home work. I don't know what I would have done if I hard married someone else. My husband's support in my life is very glaring to me and I appreciate that help and support. My husband and children keep me energized and helps my stressful behavior not to wonder away all the time.
      The challenge that I imagine is stroke because people suffering from this disease have many face communication challenges, so as a result they would not be able to speak. Some of these people have difficulty understanding words spoken by other people. Their ability to read, write and solve some math problems will be difficult to determine. I can imagine this happening to me, that would make me feel frustrated and aggressive because I would not be able to do things that I once was able to do. Whether we like it or not,when things are not really well with someone people tend to isolate themselves or keep their distance from the person. I know that my family will never abandon or disregard me or my feelings.

My Connection to Play

"Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity."  by Kay Redfield Jamison

"Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted." by Garrison Keillor 

"If a child is given love, he becomes loving...... if he's helped when he needs help, he becomes helpful. And if he has been truly valued at home .......he grows up secure enough to look beyond himself to the welfare of others." by Dr. Joyce Brothers.

While I was growing up I was involved in a dance, children especially girls danced during occassions to make culture become real in ceremonies, and the innocent appearance of children in a dance is always inviting to everyone. Nigerian music has a strong rhythms by using countless drums and percussion instruments which make the atmosphere entertaining, inviting and fun to be around.

When I was growing up story telling was done under a moonlight tree and everybody gathered around and my mother then will tell us stories and make us repeat the story she told yesterday before she would tell us another tale. But this days everybody is busy and not available to tell a story. Our children need those folktales we were told while growing up.  

I also enjoyed knitting, I could make anyting I thought about and every week my mother would buy yarns for us (myself and my siblings) so that could make more of what we wanted and we sold them to make money for christmas or festival that would be coming up.

Play is generally accepted in preschool and is an act of learning. Play enable enables children to play freely in a learning environment. 

I grew up without play in school put I had different types of play at home. The learning environment and method of teaching in Nigeria was has high quality but focused mainly learning memorization. Play has always been in my life because I like reciting lyrics of old musics and compete with my friends and sisters finding anyone that will recite and not make any mistake. I still love listening to music till present. When I was little in a particular market day we came together with our local soup and play card games and I have passed it to my children to have one family night where everyone comes togher and play a board game.                      

Relationship Reflection

      Relationships are important to me because they make me have a sense of happiness, fulfillment or identity. When a child does not have connection or relationship with the parents it affects her health physically and mentally. My father was not physically present when I was growing up because he was studying abroad all throughout my teenage years and I got married the first year I came to the states. My father inspired me a lot to never limit myself and he was always coming for holiday visits, and did not disconnect that fatherly bond. My father passed away in February 2011, since his passing I have felt a void within but still have a family that depends on one another for support and sustenance.

      My husband is my main confidant because I share my opinions, experiences, and talk to him about everything going on in my life. I have a beautiful relationship with my sisters. They are my friends because we share intimate details of things happening in our lives. My friends at my former job call most of the time to keep in touch with me because of our busy schedules and challenging lifestyles. We most of the time text each other, email and talk on the phone. I always make out time over the weekend to visit my mom and sisters and they do the same as well. Having a healthy relationship keeps an individual happy and health because you have your support system working for you.

      My mother, sister, husband and children are the best friends that I have to assure that I am not alone in whatever I am doing. The cordial relationships that exist between my family members and friends are deeply rooted in the trust we have for each other. Our words happen to be our bond, circumstances notwithstanding
I have learnt over the years that communication is the key to a good relationship. The flow of communication has to take its normal and unhindered course for effective communication

When I Think of Child Development

Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. Quote from John. F. Kennedy.


The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him. Unknown author


In serving the best interest of children, we serve the best interests of all humanity. Quote from Carol Bellamy.


The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man, in every child is the potential for greatness.
Quote from Robert F. Kennedy

If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. Unknown author.


The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential ... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. Unknown author.

Testing of Intelligence

  In measuring the minds and abilities of children, the following main developmental domains are factored in such as biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial domains. Every child is unique. To use a holistic approach in assessing each child's development, needs the application of standardized test and other specific and compelling test. For a test to be used it must meet and satisfy the conditions for validity, reliability, and feasibility. Instances of meaningful and applicable specific test include physical, social, emotional, cognition, and language. For instanc, a child from a troubled household would exhibit some learning dysfunctions. If this child is tested cognitively and passes but is unable to socialize and communicate with his peers then there is an inherent emotional and social inhibited intelligence.
  I am of the opinion that a holistic assessment of the whole child should be more beneficial than using standardized test for assessing children. Standardized test tests intelligence (cognition and communication) mainly. Holistic test will be more inclusive in taking the physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language aspects of the whole person into consideration.
  Another part of the world that I am familiar with is Nigeria. The assessment of school-age children in Nigeria is mainly focused on cognitive developmental domain. By focusing on cognitive developmental domain, the psychomotor and affective/emotional domains are left out of the picture. Recently, there has been improvement in Nigerian educational system that allows the replacement of once a year promotional exam with a 6-3-3-4 continous assessment for cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. This part assessment of the child is also prevalent in other parts of the world. Every effort should be directed towards the holistic assessment of the whole child.
  Therefore, Early childhood educators owe it as a professional duty to help in training and providing qualified and suitable staff to carry on educational works, and sourcing resources and funds to take adequate care of one child at a time. Summarily stated, physical, social, emotional,cognitive, and language assessments are good yard sticks for measuring intelligence other than stndardized tests.

References:
www.cse.ucla.edu/products/guidebooks/wolekid.pdf
www.nieer.org/resources/policybriefs
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hs/faces
www.iaea.info/documents/paper
Adaptive Behavior Scales for Infants and Early Childhood http://www.answers.com/

Impact of Environmental Pollution on childhood development

   Environmental pollution is the contamination of the physical and biological components of the earth or atmospheric system. Environmental pollution affects developed, underdeveloped and developing countries because it is an issue that is facing the world today. Children who are exposed to environmental pollution at any stage of their development exhibit health related problems, infections and diseases. These health challenges lead to deterioration of childhood development. For instance, a child who lives in an industrally polluted area is at higher risk of developing asthma because of inhaled polluted air. There are many aspects of environmental pollution which are detriment to human health, animal, plants, soil, air, and water. The cleanliness of the environment is vital to the survival and reproductive success of living things of which man or a human being deserve or attract major attention.
   The pollution of the environment involves the pollution or contamination of air, water, soil, plant, animals and food, thereby jeopardizing or threatening the lives of human being who solely depend on food processed from the environment to survive. Therefore, environmental pollution is equivalent to poisoning human and other lives leading to reproductive success. A poisoned life would suffer the toxicity of the poisonous substance up to the limit it can withstand and die when it can no longer withstand the toxic substance. Children can manifest many unusal skin reactions and other disease characteristics as a result of the inability of their bodies to convert injurious pollutants into harmless substances.


Types of Environmental Pollution:
Air pollution
Water pollution
Soil pollution
Consequences of Air pollution 
- Reduced lung functioning
- Irritation of eyes, nose, mouth and throat
- Asthma attacks
- Respiratory symptoms such as coughing and wheezing
- Increased respiratory disease such as bronchitis
- Reduced energy levels
- Headaches and dizziness
- Disruption of endocrine, reproductive and immune systems
- Neurobehavioral disorder
- Cardiovascular problems
- Cancer
- Premature death
Consequences of Water Pollution
- Typhoid
- Hookworm
- Rashes, ear ache, pink eye
- Respiratory infections
- Hepatitis, diarrhea, vomiting and stomach aches.
Consequences of Soil Pollution
- Causes cancer
- Lead in soil
- Mercury can increase the risk of kidney damage
- Causes headache, nausea, fatique, eye irritation and skin rash.
Effect of Environmental Pollution on Child Development
Cognitive:
- Hyperactivity
- Reduced IQ
Biosocial
- Malnutrition
Psychosocial
- Aggressive
- Self esteem
- Impulsive behavior
- Anti social behavior
Solution to Prevent air pollution
- Elimination of cockroaches
- Construction of more outdoor play
- Reduce traffic congestion
- Dust, pets, smokes and other allergens.
Solution to prevent soil pollution
- Package waste
- Usage of plastic and paper needs to be reduced
- Usage of pesticide and fertilizer needs to be reduced.
Solution to prevent water pollution
- Prevent oil spill
- Preventing the amount of coal burning emissions
- Stop deforestation.
    Conclusively, environmental pollution is an everyday occurence. Human and other lives would continue to function as far as it is possible to detoxicify. At a point when a living thing can no longer detoxify, death is eminant resulting from culmulative effect of pollutants. Life will be worth living when concerted effort is made to reduce environmental pollution and its impacts. Therefore, it is imperative that we raise and nurture healthy children, hence the need to have a pollution free environment as much as humanlly possible.


References:
Berger, K.S. (2009). The Developing Person Through Childhood
www.buzzle.com/articles/ways-to-prevent-air-pollution.html.
www.buzzle.com/articles/ways-to-prevent-water-pollution.html.
www.greenstudentu.com/encyclopedia/pollution

Nutrition and Development

Nutrition is a process whereby food substances are taken in the body for growth and maintenance. Major food categories include carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Malnutrition is the opposite of nutrition and occurs when the body is not deriving enough nutrients from the food intake. Implicated conditions include but not limited to inadequate or unbalanced diet, digestive difficulties, absorption problems, and other medical challenges. Berger, (2009).

     The importance of good nutrition in the developmental milestone of children cannot be overemphasized. Good nutrition is important for the bones, muscles and brain. Eating proper and balanced diet will help the individual to properly develop completely-mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, psychologically and cognitively. Healthy diet help children to grow and learn properly and as a result helps prevent overweight and help the children maintain their weight within acceptable ranges. www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/childnutrition.html

     In developing and undeveloped countries e for example Nigeria, malnutrition is prevalence because of large segment of the population is in abject poverty. Malnutrition will reverse the benefits of proper nutrition. Lack of nutritious food can result from poverty hence people in poverty will exhibit diminished developments – mentally, physically, socially, emotionally, psychologically and cognitively.

     Based on what I know and see happening in Nigeria and U.S.A., I now have the urge to arrange and redirect the surplus nutritious food items from the U.S.A. to the poor and hungry people in Nigeria. Further, I will embark on informing the uninformed regarding available nutritious food resources in the U.S.A. to their benefit. The channels to the resources include the following: wic program, food stamps, family first/temporary assistance for needy families, chip program (the children health insurance program), and free of charge reduced meals in schools.  In light of this understanding I will become a more assertive advocate of balanced diet initiated early in the life of every child. 

 References:

Child nutrition: Medline plus

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/childnutrition.html

www.multimedia.md.iatp.net

Berger, K.S. (2009). The Developing Person through Childhood. New York: worth publisher.                                

Child Birth in Nigeria

       There have been alot of maternal mortalities, injuries, infections or diseases during childbirth in Nigeria. Majority of child bearing women fall within the low socioeconomic status. Therefore, the lack of health care for the mother and the developing fetus is a predominant feature.        Prenatal care is not usually provided and post conception folic acid is not readily administered. Another challenging area of concern is that health is not adequately monitored during the three trimesters. Many unhealthy mothers and developing babies abound. Some mothers give birth in homes, sometimes with the assistance of nurse midwives. Some women give birth on their way to the hospital, as a means of last resort. Consequently, avoidable and preventable complications, diseases, and deaths occurs
        In the U.S. A there is generally available adequate health care for all people in all socioeconomic classes. The informed make the most efficient use of available health care. These are lacking in Nigeria. In the U.S.A. the government provides adequate health care. The government does not provide health care in Nigeria. For a patient to be attended to, that patient must make reasonable amount  and monetary deposit. Without money there is no care in Nigeria.

Birth of My Niece

     This is a story about the birth of my niece. My sister taught that she was going to have the baby the next day which was supposd to be 23rd of June but labor started on the 22nd of June 2010 at 8am. She came from my country (Nigeria) to have the baby in the U.S. She was in my parents house when the labor started and she was home alone, so she called 9-1-1. She said that she was in deep pain when she got to the hospital but she has dilated enough, so they had to give her epidural and that was when I arrived to witness the birth of my niece. The nurse kept on monitoring the heart beat of the baby and how wide she has dilated, until it was time to deliver the baby. The nurse told her to stay in a position that will be easy to deliver the baby. The baby's head was coming out inch by inch and finally the entire body came out at 12:10pm on that same day on a sunny afternoon. They asked me to cut the umblical cord then the doctor brought out the placenta. The other nurse took the baby and cleaned her up and took her to the nursery. I stayed with my sister while the doctor was stitching her up from the cut she sustained when she was having the baby. After everything they cleaned her up and sent her to a room.

Ideals - Professional codes of ethics

1. I understand the unique individuality of every person. Each individual is capable of accomplishing certain   task better than others when presented with favorable conditions and circumstances. With openness to operate engaged individuals will be delighted to reach for their untapped potentials for full engagement of activities that will be productive.

2. Working with children and families calls for group dynamism. Every member of a group counts towards the groups collective success therefore I will ensure that each child in my care is fully integrated irrespective of differences in culture, language, ethnicity, and family structure.

3. In any given class some students will be fast, moderate, and slow in accomplishing their task. It will be helpful to use a fair minded assessment approach to determine areas of strength and weakness to pave the way in improving areas of challenges.

Resources for the week

Early childhood educators help children and families partner with the media, and also partner with professionals
NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. htttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdt

Network of teachers or Early Childhood  Educators
World Forum Foundation
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php

World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://omep.org.gu.se/English/about_OMEP?

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/about/

                           Books
             



                                                                Quotes
"The events of childhood do not pass but repeat themselves like seasons of the year". Eleanor Farjeon

" A teacher affects eternity;  he can never tell where his influence stops". Henry Adams

Quote from Dr. Stanley Greenspan

"Regardless of the history of IQ tests in the family, If I see nurturing, warm, interactive people who read emotional signals well and interact well, usually I see happy, competent and bright children." Dr. Stanley Greenspan

Quote from President Lyndon B. Johnson

"Poverty must not be a bar to learning and learning must offer an escape from poverty."

"Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time."

"There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves."

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose."
President Lyndon B. Johnson

Quote from Janet Gonzalez-Mena

"Part of being who you are has to do with feelings, which means you'll have a wide range of emotions---not just constant sunshiny happiness." Janet Gonzalez-Mena

Quotes From Professionals

"The passion to make sure that all children where taught in environment and in ways that truly nurtured their ability to grow and to develop to their fullest ability."   Louise Dermon-Sparks

"When I go to this parents meetings and see parents learning how to speak to policy makers, learning how to write letters, learning how to tell their stories and share their voice that is what make me motivated regardless of all the challenges going on."  Sandy Escobido

"All education really is a civil right issue because the right to what we think about in relationship to a child, childhood lives you to an optimum life experiences."  Renatta M. Cooper

"At a very young age I realized that families need support." Leticia Lara  LCSW