"My Connections to Play"

          As a child we would spend hours exploring leaves, rocks, sticks , water and clay down at the creek.

           Coming from a family of 8 children there was always someone to play basketball with.

 My father was a wheat farmer so as young children we spent hours playing in the wheat trucks.

This picture reminded me of the times we would play in the driveway and use objects to pretend we had a  house and a neighborhood.  We would drive our tricycles on our made up roads.

PLAY QUOTES

"In childhood there is no distinction between play and work (Almon, 2002)"
"Pretend play requires extended uninterrupted time periods to develop complexity (Berger, 2002)"

HOW PLAY HAS CHANGED:
Forty years ago children used their imaginations more to play.  I lived on a farm and we made our own intertainment with whatever materials we could find in nature and we were able to spend hours without being interrupted.  Today, children have more electronic games and toys that do not allow them to use their imaginations or get as much physical activity, as well as less unstructured play.

We still play with board games, have yoyo's, balls, dolls, jacks, stuffed animals and wheeled vehicles, but the difference today is that we have video games, electronic games and such resulting in less cognitive thinking skills, less imagination and less physical activity.  I hope we can get back to more natural playscapes and reconnect with yesterday.  In the book, Last Child In The Woods Richard Louv states that, "direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for physical and emotional health of children and adults.  Play is just as important for adults as it is for children. 

INTERESTING STATISTIC:
Out of 15,000 school districts surveyed in 1999, 40% were eliminating recess or cutting back on it.  Only three states require recess and 10 recommend it (NYT).  

   

Child Development and Public Health

I chose the topic of SIDS because it seems to be a hot topic and one that is still unresolved.  Since I work one on one with child care providers we try and educate and pass on any new information that comes out on the topic.  We also bring speakers in to speak about it.

I looked at SIDS (also called cot death or crib death) around the world and found that New Zealand had the highest incidence while Asia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland have fewer cases.  In the Netherlands in 1971, two pediatricians at a conference presented the benefits of prone sleeping positions for babies.  Mothers then switched from their traditional habit of putting babies to sleep on their backs and by 1986 the cot death rate (which had been very low) had tripled.  Yet it was the Netherlands that started the first 'back to sleep' campaign in 1989, and their Sudden Infant Death rate fell by 40 percent.

In New Zealand some research suggests that the reason for cot death is extremely toxic nerve gases that form a certain fungi that gets into the mattress.  Other researchers dispute this view, however, after they implimented matress wrapping where a thin plastic coating is wrapped around the matress, rates have fallen 48 percent.  In conclusion, it appears that there are many views out there about the causes but nothing definite.  I say if what other countries are doing is working to lower incidence then keep doing it.

When I Think of Child Development.....

The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."       Montessori

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world".     Maria Montessori 

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men".     Frederick Douglass

Testing for Intelligence?

On the subject of viewing children holistically I believe that tests should cover much more than acedamic skills such as reading and mathematics.  Children have many learning styles and they should all be included in intelligence tests.  If a child learns through hands on experiences and seeing, then expecting that child to listen to instructions without giving concrete handson relationships is not teaching to the whole child and test results will be inaccurate for these children.   

Studies have shown that traditional "IQ" tests work well at predicting academic success but fall short of testing children's "emotional intelligence".  These predictions of success may not only be wrong, but they may create inaccurate expectations for children and their parents.  Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman offers a new concept not only for predicting school success, but future life success.  He suggests that a number of ingredients add up to good "emotional intelligence," including self-control or impulse control, the ability to motivate one's self, persistence, optimism, self-umderstanding, empathy, the art of listening to others.  He feels that children with superior cognitive skills do not always live up to their promise because they do not always possess solid emotional intelligence (Brodkin, A,M. 2010). 

I looked at Europe, specifically Switzerland, to see how children were assessed and found that special agencies in each of the Swiss Cantons were responsible for the investigatory procedures.  The special education needs are mostly identified by medical doctors and early intervention specialists including school psychologists but the final decision is made by the school administrative board.  There is no standard instrument available at this time but orientation on ICF is under discussion. 

I found my research on intelligence testing very informative.  My youngest son has just been tested for the "gifted" program.  Before this assignment I had very little knowledge on the way he was tested, as to whether or not he was tested with the whole child in mind.  I will be a more active participant in his education plan because of this new knowledge I have aquired.

References:
www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/earlycld/ea500.htm
Brodkin, Adele.  Scholastic Parents. using your head and your heart 
www.who.int/classifications/icf/en
            

Week 4 Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

The stressor that I chose was the affects of war on children's development.  I haven't really been through any of these stressors myself, nor do I know anyone who has been through any of these.  I may have been exposed to some minor chaos and violence while growing up but I don't feel like I can put my situation on the same level as those who severely deal with this to the extreme on a daily basis.  I can somewhat relate to some of the effects of PTSD as I have dealt with symptoms for some years now from the effects of a tramatic event as a child.

I chose the region of Afghanistan to focus on the effects of war on children.  PTSD is high due to family violence caused by high levels of stress stemming from the war.  Other issues stemming from war is:  displacement, lack of food, interruption of school, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance behaviors, mental disorders, and increased levels of arrousal.  More common side affects of PTSD include:  guilt, depression, anxiety, poor appetite, difficulty concentrating, difficulty relaxing, aggressive outbursts, poor interactions, fear of darkness, and strong effect on emotional development.  There are 35,000 street children due to the war in Afghanistan with 25,000 children dying of malnutrition.  Every 3 hours a child is blown up due to hidden mines, 7 out of 10 children have lost parents and 72% have lost relatives since the war began (Dev Psychopathol. 2001).  I found much more information on bio-behavior consequences of war on chidren's mental health, growth and development at http://www.internetandpsychiatry.com/

I couldn't find much on the efforts to minimize harm to children except groups such as UNICEF having a Polio campaign in addition to helping with nutrition, water sanitation, obstetric care and provisions for non food issues.  The United Nations has also brought immunization campaigns to the region. 

 

  

Child Development and Public Health

The topic that I chose was Nutrition/malnutrition because according to research, children need to have their basic needs met  before they can focus on education and other secondary issues.  In the beginning of my research I initially was interested in access to healthy water, but as I read articles I found that all six public health measures were interrelated.  One led to another which made it a toss up as to which one I decided to research.

 I found that Peru had the highest rate of malnutrition in Latin America with 40 percent of children under 5 having malnutrition.  Water was a secondary issue, it is usually collected, hauled a long distance, and stored until it is consumed.  Water gathered in this way is vulnerable to contamination between its source and its point of use.

I have learned that there are many factors that impact children's development all over the world and they all need to be addressed.  Determining which is the most important is the question.  In the evidence from my readings this week I think you have to focus on  the health of the mother and unborn child as all of these would have an impact on a healthy pregnancy.  I am definately more aware of the broader span of public health issues than I was before I did my research.   

Childbirth experience

 All four of my births had memorable moments.  My first was 4 wks early with only minor complications and mild postpartum depression.   My second was quite memorable as I had to go by ambulance as we were escorted by the police.  Needless to say I had anxiety issues during the birth process as I delivered only 20 minutes later upon arrival to the hospital.  After my sons birth I was afraid to go through another birth so we did not plan on having any more children.  Well, 14 years later I found out I was pregnant and was in shock.  I had a lot of fear, stressors and anxiety with this pregnancy and I did have early preterm contractions from about 4 months on.  My third son was born about 3 wks early but was healthy.  My fourth son was my toughest pregnancy as I was on partial bedrest toward the end because of pre-eclampsia.  He was born healthy and my largest child.  I had expectations to deliver in water with all of my births but my babies were born too quickly.  I considered home births but was afraid of possible complications.  I was also very adament about having drug free births so I was able to have my children without any medication.
I chose to tell about these births because I feel as though I had experienced some of the incidence that were mentioned in the book.  It was also facinating to read about possible reasons for early births and low birth like two of mine had.  I didn't realize that low birth rate, father support, exhaustion and other stressors could have such an impact on child development.
I chose the Netherlands to find out how births happen there.  I found that they have the highest mortality rate in Europe as they have 10 deaths per 1,000 compared to 6-7 per 1,000 here in the U.S.  In contrast, 30 percent of their births are at  home, while about 1 percent are born at home in the U.S.  In addition, midwives are their primary care and they are sent to an Obgyn as their secondary only if complications arrise.  In the U.S our primary care is with an Obgyn.  I really didn't realize how normal world wide homebirths were as compared to the seemingly normal hospital births here in the U.S.  I also didn't realize how many midwives were used in other countries.  It has given my a lot of insight.