Assessing Children

For many years early childhood educators have been discussing problems with curriculum and teaching methods in terms of developmental appropriateness. Part of the problem for developmental appropriateness is related to the assessment of young children.

The purpose of assessing a child may be to:

• determine progress of a developmental achievement
• make appropriate decisions
• diagnose a learning problem
• help in curriculum decisions
• serve as a basis for reporting to parents
• assist a child with assessing his or her own progress

The decision to assess a child should be discussed with the parent, teacher, and any other staff member that needs to be involved. The group may or may not the child to be assessed, but the group should keep in mind the importance of the child receiving early intervention if necessary. Assessment is an important aspect of teaching and learning. In early childhood the focus should be on building the child's confidence and desire to learn. Assessments provide information on the learning progress of the child.

I know that at the school I work at the teachers use 2 different types of assessments. One of the assessment tools is used to measure the child's social and emotional behavior. This assessment will let the educator and parent know if the child have any behavior problems. The other test is to determine if the child is developing at the appropriate age. The child can score pass, rescreen, or refer. If a child is scored a rescreen the teacher have 60 days to rescreen the child and if the child scores a rescreen again or a refer the child must be referred for special needs services. If a child score a refer from the initial test the child is automatically referred to the local public school for further evaluations for special needs services. The parent have the right to refuse the child being referred. If the parent determines that there is nothing wrong with their child and do not want them referred the parent will have to sign documentation stating he or she do not want their child referred. What happens with this child? The child will not receive services that he or she may need and when this child does transition to public school and the problem was never addressed this child could get lost in the system and fail all test. This child could end up being labeled and placed in a remedial classroom. This is why I stress to my parents the importance of getting their child assessed at an early age and to start the services before the child transition to public school. For example, I have a child in my program who was referred for his speech, the mother said that there is nothing wrong with her sons speech and refused to have him evaluated. This year the same issue came up and the little boy's speech has gotten worst. The mother still refuse to have him evaluated and she said that they told her mother the same thing about her and she speaks fine. This is not true because I have conversations with this parent often and I can barely understand what she is saying most of the time.

The part of the world I chose to research is Africa. Developing milestones can be different depending on your cultural. In many countries in Africa Western tests are used to assess children. Western test are not culturally appropriate for some African populations and cannot assess if those children are developing normally. For example, activities such as preparing breakfast or using a utensil may be frightening to a African child living in a rural area. These children are not use to using forks or knives while eating. Some of these children may have never seen a book and it would be difficult for them to pass an assessment that ask them to pick objects that match. Test being culturally sensitive have been an issue in America as well for many years. Some people believe that some test are bias and do not assess all children in the world.

Reference:
Refining the milestones: assessing child development in Africa. Retrieved from: http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2010/08/11/refining-the-milestones-assessing-child-development-in-africa/

http://www.waldenu.edu

Consequences of Stress on My Childhood Development

During my childhood I experienced much stress. I was not raised in a lavish community and my parents were not rich. My mom has a high school education and my father has only a 5th grade education. I do not come from a well-educated family. My parents did the best with what they had and they made sure that all of us did not miss out on the opportunity to the best education. We all graduated from high school and some even college. Whether it was occupational or professional all 5 of my parents children have a degree. To get where we are today we had to deal with life stress. We grew up in poverty and violence. We had food on our table, a roof over our had, and clothes on our back but it did not come easy for my parents. Many of friends did not know that some of my clothes came from the second hand stores and stores like Walmart or Target. My mom had to get what she could afford. Many of friends never knew my mom had to go stand in the free cheese line, when the government would pass out free cheese and butter. There was violence in my neighborhood, but not like it is today. There were incidents when there was shooting on my block and my neighbors were killed. I was ready to move and I did not want to live in that area anymore. I remember begging my mom and dad to move to a different neighborhood because I was scared to walk out the front door. I learned to pray and I prayed everyday. We finally moved when I was in high school and I was very excited and grateful. Life is not easy and even though one may have access to more money or come from a well-educated family does not mean they do not have stress either. I know some people that may have had everything they wanted and they were very unhappy. Their parents may have not gotten along or there may have been drugs involved with the family as well. I know my friends use to do things to get their parents attention, such as drugs or some form of bodily harm. It is sad that children have to have any stress, a child life should be stress free and easy.

Child Development and Public Health

The public health topic I chose was immunizations. Immunizations are an important part of a child's well-being. I chose this topic because I just completed a training on immunizations and after I was trained I was able to do a workshop on the importance of immunizations with the clients I serve. I was amazed to find out that many did not know the truth of the importance of vaccinations or immunizations. Immunizations are safe and will protect children against several communicable diseases. Many children may still contract these communicable diseases, but the severity of the disease will not occur if the child has received their vaccinations. Many people have the misconception that the vaccines will protect a child from getting the communicable disease, this is not true. The severity such as loosing a body part or dying from these diseases are least likely if the child is vaccinated. According to the CDC, immunizations is a way of creating to certain diseases by using small amounts of a killed or weakened microorganisms that cause the particular disease. Another belief that people have about vaccines is that they will get the disease. That is not true, even though they are injecting the virus or disease in you that does not mean that you will get it. In the 1990's there was an epidemic of measles. Many children were contracting measles and dying. The Center for Disease Control decided to come up with a vaccine that would help protect children from getting this disease or from having sever reactions to this disease. I remember my school received a letter stating that all children must receive this measles immunization. As a child I did not know what was going, but many Americans were panicking and wanted the government to fix this problem. Today traveling outside of the country is very frequent and the CDC has developed vaccines that are an epidemic in other countries, to control the spread of the virus or disease in the United States. Other countries such as Nigeria does not vaccinate their children. Barely 10 percent of their children receive their routine vaccinations. Limited resources for health services has put these children at risk. There is said to be a polio outbreak in Nigeria because of the scare of the polio vaccine or it is no longer available. 
Immunizations are important to me and my future because it means that if children are not vaccinated and they contract a communicable disease it can spread to me and other adults if we were not properly vaccinated. This could also jeopardize my family if I bring this virus or disease home. A communicable disease that is prevalent now in the US is the whooping cough. The whooping cough has came back because many adults do not know they have it. It is not severe in adults as it is in infants and young children. Many people might say I have this cough I can't get rid of and continue to go to work and spread this disease. Now pregnant women are required to get a vaccine for whooping cough and any adults who are going to be around a newborn is required to get a vaccine. These vaccines are safe and can save lives. I already knew that it was important for my daughter to get vaccinated because I wanted her to be safe and healthy. Young children are more vulnerable for contracting these diseases. Even though newborns have already developed some immunization from these diseases through the mother, the level of immunization is very low and getting immunized will help boost up the level of protection. 

References:

Centers for Disease Control (2013). Retrieved from www.cdc.org

PATH: Immunizaiton in Nigeria (2013). Retrieved from www.path.org 

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Personal Birthing Experiences

The birthing experience I decided to discuss; is the birth of my daughter. My daughter was due on Christmas day, but my doctor wanted to go out of town for the holiday so he wanted to induce my labor. I checked in the hospital 3's  days before the holiday and my baby's due date. The nurse explained to me the process and I prepared myself with the notion that I was about to be a mother in a little while. My parents and siblings wanted to be there, but since they do not get along with my daughter's father they decided to leave and come back later. When the labor pains began I screamed and hollered so loud that the nurses came to my room and asked me to stop screaming so loudly because I was scaring the other patients. I labored for about a day and a half before my daughter was born. The pain was excruciating, but the end results were worth it. The day my daughter was born the doctor came into the room to see how far I had dilated. When he checked I was only 2, so he decided to break my water bag. After he bust my bag, the doctor quickly discovered that my baby had made a bowel movement. The doctor quickly ordered a cesarean section and I was nervous. Even though I was nervous I knew that she had to come out. Laying on the operating table was very scary, but once I heard my baby cry I was really delighted. The nurse showed me my baby and she looked healthy so I was very pleased. My baby had to stay in the NICU for her hospital time. I could not have her in the room with me because I had a fever. It was a rough birthing experience and I would not trade it for nothing in the world. I
My daughter was born weighing 8 pounds and 11 ounces.

While researching birthing experiences in another country, I chose to view the birthing experience of African women. Child birthing classes were absolutely unheard of and unavailable. Women in Africa normally give birth at with or with out another person there. In some cases African women use a hand crafted birthing stool. Women in Africa is supported by the older women in their community and the assist the pregnant woman with giving birth. I found this information to be very interesting and I could not believe some of the videos I watched with the woman laying on the ground and giving birth by herself. After giving birth the woman cleaned herself up and the baby and wrapped the baby around her and went back to work.





 

A Note of Thanks and Support

I would like to thank all of my classmates who followed me on my blog and commented on my post. I truly appreciate your support and I wish everyone well in your continued education. 

Best of Luck

Erica

http://www.waldenu.edu

Growing My Collection of Resources in Early Childhood Studies

NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap

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://community.fpg.unc.edu/sites/community.fpg.unc.edu/files/imce/documents/FPG_Snapshot_N33_EvidenceBasedPractice_09-2006.pdf

Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al. (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42-53.

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

World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/
Read about OMEP's mission.

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

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/

Institute for Women's Policy Research
http://www.iwpr.org/

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.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now-328067

Voices for America's Children
http://www.voices.org/

The Erikson Institute
http://www.erikson.edu/

Journals
YC Young Children
Childhood
Journal of Child & Family Studies
Child Study Journal
Multicultural Education
Early Childhood Education Journal
Journal of Early Childhood Research
International Journal of Early Childhood
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Developmental Psychology
Social Studies
Maternal & Child Health Journal
International Journal of Early Years Education

Additional Resources
Early Childhood at Scholastic Teacher Store
Offers early childhood products for both teachers and young children to meet all your teaching and classroom needs. You'll find picture books, curriculum guides, literacy programs, classroom materials and more!

http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/teacherstore/nav/shops/Fluency%20Professional%20Resources/4294620159

The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies

What is the state of child care in our country? What is the highest ranked state child care center? What can child care resource and referral agencies do for parents looking for quality child care centers in their community? The NACCRRA Web site provides answers to these questions and more. http://www.naccrra.org/

Early Childhood Research and Practice

Offers information about child development and early education for children ages birth to eight. You'll find information regarding best practice, family involvement, and early education policy. http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/index.html

http://www.waldenu.edu

Words of Inspiration and Motivation

Inspiration:
No person has the right to rain on your dreams ~ Marian Wright Edelman

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but ours to win or loose ~ Lyndon B Johnson

Passion:
The passion to make sure that all children were taught in environments  Louise Derman-Sparks

Motivation:
Seeing how involved my parents were it made me want to be involved in education in general ~ Sandy Escobido

Wisdom:
There's more to life than just what's in your neighborhood ~ Raymond Hernandez

http://www.waldenu.edu