When I Think of Child Development

“Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love. Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children.”
 By Rosaleen Dickson



Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.”
By. Robert L. Evans



I would like that thank everyone for you support this past 8 weeks. If it wasn't for the motivation from you all I really dont think I would have been able to finish this class. Because of you I am able to continue my journey knowing that the this is just the beginning and something new and exciting. I would like to wish you all well and alwys keep your heads up and strive hard at whatever you sat out to do. Remember that the children are our future and no child should be left behind. 

Testing for Intelligence

In my opinion I feel that a ways to test for intelligence in a child can be done in several ways. Below I have listed a few of them ways: Not saying that all these test will work on every child to figure their intelligence level but this is what scientist feel is some ways an educator can test.  I am sure that in some parts of other countries they have their own way of testing, but you never know they may use some of the similar methods, but they testing may not be done exactly how it would be done here in the U.S.  due to technology. At the end of the day my big deal is that you must be able to have " TIME" to dedicate to the child in order to be able to accurately assess them in any way. I feel that time is the essences of all things.
Reading Comprehension:
Reading comprehension assessments are the most common type of published reading test that is available. The most common reading comprehension assessment involves asking a child to read a passage of text that is leveled appropriately for the child, and then asking some explicit, detailed questions about the content of the text.
Language Comprehension
Language comprehension can be assessed in basically the same way reading comprehension is assessed. With language comprehension assessment, however, the child should not be expected to read any text. Everything from the instructions to the comprehension questions should be presented verbally to the child.
Decoding
Decoding skill is measured through the child’s ability to read words out of context. Isolated words are presented to the child one at a time, and the child is asked to say the word aloud (this is not a vocabulary test, so children should not be expected to provide meanings for the word). The words selected for a decoding test should be words that are within the child’s spoken vocabulary, and should contain a mix of phonetically regular and phonetically irregular words.
Linguistic Knowledge
Linguistic Knowledge is the synthesis of three more basic cognitive elements -- phonology, semantics, and syntax. Linguistic knowledge is more than the sum of it's parts, but it does not lend itself to explicit assessment. A child may have a grasp on the more basic cognitive elements, but still have trouble blending these elements together into a stable linguistic structure. If a child appears to have a grasp of the more basic cognitive elements, but is still having difficulty expressing themselves or understanding others, it is likely that the child has not yet managed to synthesize those elements.




Reference
www.sedl.org/reading/framework/assessment.html

Hurrican Katrina

                                                                    My Katrina Babies

 I think that Hurrican Katrina impact on a lot of people, but I can remember very clearly I was just clocking in at work when I saw the breaking news on television. The first thing I thought about was one of my best friends that was pregnant and lived right by the Superdome. I instantly called and called and got no answer and then I called her mom that was in Pasagula, Ms that wasn't far from New Orleans and couldn't get in touch with her either. At that moment I began  to panic so desperate calls for depserate meeasure and I called her child's father and thankfully I was able to get in touch with him and he told be some disturbing news, but at the end everything was okay.
 As time went on I found that when the storm hit it knocked every line of communication out no matter what at then right when I began to calm down I paniced again because I knew my best friend was pregnant and she didn't know what was going on or what was going to happen and was stressing to the 100th power and that was the last thing she needed to be doing.
As time continue she was able to get out of New Orleans and was able to go to Texas with the remaining of her family and receive the medical attention she needed. She was very shaken up and became depressed and stressed because of what she experienced and of her lost that she actually went into premature labor and at this time she was only 7 months close to delivery but not close enough because she had already been experiencing complications previously. It seemed that now because of her life-threatening experience my best friend thankfully got birth to a healthy child, but she wasn't mentally stable to care for the child. She had stay hospitalized for 5 months while her mom and her child's father cared for the child. It got to a point she was not herself and she would have thoughts of suicide because she didn't know what to do. The only thing I could think about was the child that she had just brought into this world and the lack of motherly love the child would receive if  she continued down this road of destruction. I knew that the child would receive love, and nurture and be cared for but, it is nothing like a mother's touch. I think that because the child was just an fetus during this time she would still experience some biosocial, cognitive, and psycosocial development at she began to get older especially if she would have found out the fatal thoughts her mom had about suicide after the disaster but prayfully her mom came to and realize what was important to her.



                                                                         
                                                                                   My Guina Friends
I am sure there are other parts of the world that experience worst things than a natural disaster like Africa. I have a friend that is from Guina and she has 2 young children and I can remember times she has talked to me about the lack of food supply, and diseases that was in her country and how her coming to the United States was the only option she had for her and for her children. She knew that if she would have stayed that she would have had the burden of finding proper nutrition for her children, find medical attention, and also the proper education. Even though her mom is still over there she feels this is the best decision she made.

Child development and public health

Breastfeeding
      Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. A lack of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life contributes to over a million avoidable child deaths each year. Globally less than 40% of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed. Adequate breastfeeding support for mothers and families could save many young lives.
WHO actively promotes breastfeeding as the best source of nourishment for infants and young children. This fact file explores the many benefits of the practice, and how robust help for mothers can increase breastfeeding worldwide.
         The reason I chose breastfeeding because I know that one it is the most effective way of bonding with the child, two it can be a healthy way to ensure that the child is receiving nutrition, but the downfall to breastfeeding is that it is an effective way to pass diseases to your child. The feel that with this particular topic this is information that will continue to change as years pass. There will always be way to were doctors try to keep breast-feeding as a number one source of nutrition for the child and it will allow people like myself that doesnt have kids yet to gain more knowledge of the topic and how it can effect the child. 
  However babies who are exclusively breast-fed are less likely to get sick, because breast milk provides them with antibodies against any disease that the mother is immune. Breast- feeding also decrease the risk of many diseases that appear in childhood and adulthood, among them asthma, obesity, and heart disease.
          Breastfeeding in other countries
The world's oldest and still most widely practiced form of birth regulation is breastfeeding. That statement draws much skepticism among ordinary people in Western culture, but it is recognized as still true by professionals in the fields of international demography and infant nutrition because they know how breastfeeding affects both health and birth intervals in primitive cultures around the world. A professor of pediatrics put it this way: "Demographic data recorded prior to the 20th century from birth records all over the world indicate that the average spacing of children was about two years when mother's milk supplied the major source of calories for infants during the first year to 1.5 years of life."
In the West African country of Rwanda, a culture in which there were no contraceptives or taboos against intercourse after birth at the time, there were no differences in the birth intervals of bottle feeding mothers in the city compared to those in the rural areas. On the other hand, among breastfeeding mothers, there were significant differences. Among the city mothers who were already developing patterns of separation from their babies, 75% conceived between 6 and 15 months postpartum. However, in the rural areas, mothers had their babies with them all of the time, and 75% of the rural breastfeeding mothers conceived between 24 and 29 months postpartum. An even more dramatic example of the effects of very frequent suckling is provided by the Kung tribe. (The exclamation point represents a clicking sound.) Anthropologists watched these people with stopwatches and found that the babies and toddlers were nursing an average of two minutes every 15 minutes, and the mothers were conceiving at about 35 months. Such extended periods of breastfeeding infertility are rarely seen in Western culture. First of all, only a few Western mothers nurse that long although their number seems to be increasing. Secondly, there is some speculation that the richer diet of Western women may contribute to an earlier return of fertility. 

My Birthing Experience

                I can remeber just like it was yesterday when one of my good friends told me she was having a baby and she wanted me to be to be the god-mother of her child. It seems like the pregnancy went so fast because one week she had just gotten pregnant and the next week I was getting a call from her child's father that her water broke and they were heading to the hospital. When I got the news of her water braking I stopped everything I was doing, but the funny part is I dont remember telling my boss I would be gone for the remaining of the day.
               When I arrive to the hospital I phone her child's father to see where they were and what was he conditions looking like. All he could do was tell me to hurry and bring my but on because she really wanted me there to experience the birth and she couldnt hold the baby in much longer. After about 20 minutes my god-daughter popped out and said " Hello World" . I can say that this was the happiest moment in my life to where I was able to experience a life being brought into this world and that I was apart of this new celebration. After days passed I would called my friend in the hospital because after she gave birth she kind of became sick and lost a lot of blood, but the doctor would say that she was okay and needed rest, but that was her way of not making me worry about her. At that moment I began to think about the baby's health and would she have any complications but the doctor confirmed that she was healthy. ( What a relief ). I knew whatever was going on with the baby and the mother both would be taken care of and the baby would definitely receive the love, nurture, and care that she needed.
                 Sometimes I sit and wonder about the child births in the island countries and if their medical field is as advance as the United States. I actually think about their religion beliefs as for as how and where they baby should be born, how the baby should be raised, and etc. After researching and talking to former colleagues I gathered that child birth in the island countires happen in the hospital but home births are more dominant. Natural care and feeding is imperative to the mother. They dont believe in to much organic or formuals. Unlike the islands the U.S families are more dominant to having babies in the hospital to where they know they both will be taken care of. U.S. believe in medicine and other procedures to get one healthy. At the end of the day both countires familes will do whatever it takes to ensure that their child is healthy.
                Froms  what I have learned thus far I realized that a child's birth place has a lot to do with his or her development. I have also learned that accorninng to Smidt child development is a duscipline which aims to identify, to describe and to predict patterns in children's growth where growth includes intellectual, linguistic, physical, social, emotional, and behaviorial development ( Smidt, 2009 ).
                  
                  

Code of Ethics

DEC code of ethics  

1. We shall continually be aware of issues challenging the field of early childhood special education

and advocate for changes in laws, regulations, and policies leading to improved outcomes and

services for young children with disabilities and their families.
( This code is meaningful to me and my professional development because each and everyday we as early  childhood professionals we are going to deal with special education children and their families and it is imperative that we stay abrased on the changes that comes about that will allow us to better serve them.)
2.We shall demonstrate in our behavior and language respect and appreciation for the unique value
and human potential of each child.
( This code is meaningful to me because that success of a child development is communication)

NAEYC code of ethics
1. To be familiar with the knowledge base related to working effectively with families and to stay informed
through continuing education and training.
( This code is meaningful to me because I feel that if you care able to continue to receive various trainings and education you will be able to be more meaningful in the children and families that you come across)
2. To develop relationships of mutual trust andcreate partnerships with the families we serve.
( This code is meaningful because I feel that trust is essential to a healthy relationship)

Course Resourses

Part 1: Position Statements and Influential Practices

• NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/53029/CRS-CW-4465393/educ6005_readings/naeyc_dap_position_statement.pdf
• 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://www.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://www.fpg.unc.edu/~images/pdfs/snapshots/snap33.pdf
  
  Note: The following article can be found in the Walden University Library databases.
• 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.
  Use the Academic Search Complete database, and search using the article's title. 

Part 2: Global Support for Children’s Rights and Well-Being

• 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://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php
    This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the video on this webpage 
  • World Organization for Early Childhood Education
    http://www.omep.org.gu.se/English/about_OMEP/
    Read about OMEP’s mission. 
  • Association for Childhood Education International
    http://acei.org/about/
    Click on “Mission/Vision” and “Guiding Principles and Beliefs” and read these statements.

Note: Explore the resources in Parts 3 and 4 in preparation for this week’s Application assignment.

Part 3: Selected Early Childhood Organizations

• 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/main/about.cfm
• 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//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
• Institute for Women’s Policy Research
  http://www.iwpr.org/index.cfm
• 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.preknow.org/
• Voices for America’s Children
  http://www.voices.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=22807
• The Erikson Institute
  http://www.erikson.edu/
     

Part 4: Selected Professional Journals Available in the Walden Library
Tip: Use the A-to-Z e-journal list to search for specific journal titles. (Go to “How Do I...?”, select “Tips for Specific Formats and Resources,” and then “e-journals” to find this search interface.)

• 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

MY RESOURCES

• http://ccf.tc.columbia.edu/ National Center for Children and Families: Advancing, Policy, Education, and Development
• http://www.youthvillages.org/
• Spotlight on Young Children and Families by Derry Koralek

• “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

• “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.”

Words of Inspiration and Motivation

 

                                                        

Building positive identities and a respect for differences means weaving diversity into the fabric of children's everyday lives. Working with families is an important first step in helping children accept, understand, and value their rich and varied world. This is an excerpt from Janet Gonzalez-Mena,M.S article on Teaching " Diversity" A Place to Begin.

                                                             

Zigler publicly criticized the program for not living up to its promise. Quality was so low in some centers that they should be closed, he announced in a headline-making statement. More needed to be done for kids besides rapidly expanding a program that didn't have sufficient quality controls. This taboo-breaking criticism led to tougher standards for Head Start centers and an effort to give more than lip service to developmentally appropriate care for disadvantaged children. This is an excerpt that was taken from an interview on Edward Zigler Ph.D on how he wasnt gonna just settle for anything when it came to the Head Start Standards.

 According to Louis Dermon Sparks Professor Emarities, Pacific Oak College, CA. " My passion is to make sure that all children are taught in environments and ways that truly nurture their identity to grow and develop to their fulliest ability." 

                                                 

This is a quote that I found motivational and I felt passion behind it. I got this quote from Kimberly Salah "Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world."
- Maria Montessori

 

Personal Childhood Web

Me and My Family

Grandma Emma

                                                                Me and Sorority Sisters

                                                                 

                                                           Me and Grandma Chicken

As a child growing up I have had a few people that has come into my life that has really done a lot for me and that has made me the person that I am today. They have given me the love, care, nurture, that I needed to be the rounded and humble person that I am. I am going to give you a little incite on who some of these people are but Im gonna name a few ( hahaha). The 1st person that I am going to name is my mentor Carla Wells. I got introduce to Carla in my adolence years when I attended Girls Inc. She use to always have " Girl Talk" with me and show me things and really played that big sister role in my life because I am the only child. Carla attended Tennessee State University and pledged AKA while a student there. She use to always make sure that I stayed on top of my studies in school and to carry myself as a young lady at all times and stayed out of trouble. As I got older and attended college I followed Carla footsteps and pledge AKA. When I join her organization she was so proud of we both shared tears of joy. 2nd person Coach Danny Joe Young. He was my high school track and field coach. O.M.G.. He taught me so muchhh other than discipline, dedication, determination, and hardwork he planted in me and other teammates the real definition of " HARDWORK". Coach Young use to call himself "My white Daddy". But he cared for each and everyone of his athletes like his own child. He told us realistic stories for his past teams about how he didnt want us to turn up as stastic of teenage pregnacy of drug abuse. He wanted us to make something of ourself and let us know that anything worth having is worth working for. My 3rd, 4th, and 5th all fall together which is the most influential people. 3rd My mother, 4th My father, 5th My grannies.  These last thress people taught me how to be humble, taught me how to love. Now all 3 of these people of course babied me to the upmost, the all taught me to always get an education and to finish whatever I start and taught me responsibility and if it came down to it they all disciplined me accordingly. NOW here comes where everyone is different. my mom showed me  motherly part, shoe taught me to cook, clean, manners, respect, she taught me its okay to cry when yo hurt, its okay to tell people how you feel as long as u are respectful about it. She taught me how to walk in heels and how to sit in dresses, she always was there for me to talk to but that goes for my father as well and they both were all concerned.
My father " DADDY" of course I am a daddy's girl. The bond we always have had and always will be sports. Its odd but my dad me alot just by being active with him in sports. I never understood at that time, but now everything is clear. Every now and then he would always tell me " I dont ever want to see you with a nothing man" ( im sure you can figure the real words out..hahaha).  My daddy is the quiet type but when it came to sports it would always start a heart to heart conversation. With that I learned that my daddy would alow my mother to play her role and he would be the background singer, but at any moment he would step up and express himself.
 My grannies how to be a good ol' country gal. Taught me the real meaning of hard work in the garden, in the yard, picking plums or peaches. Snapping snap beans, picking greens cooking from scratch. They taught me not to judge and always kept me out of trouble.
 From all of these people little bits and pieces have stuck with me throughout life and I soemtimes now find myself refelecting on the influences they have had on me and it motives me when i'm feeling down, depress, or even wanting to give up. At the end of the day they all taught me to KEEP GOD FIRST NO MATTER WHAT I DO.

Children can really brighten your day

Its odd that on the other day I had a crazy day I work. So when I got home all I wanted to do was sleep. I didnt work out, use the phone or anything. My cousin called because she just turned 12 and said " Rena I wanna invite you to my b-day dinner on  Saturday". I know its not a lot but my cousin is so shy and she barely ask for anything. The  put a big smile on my face and before I knowed it I told her  yes. I realize that me being around kids is another way to take me to another world. Just to observe how innocent they are, how they play together, sing little songs, no care in the world tjey just having fun and laughing makes me wonder at what point do they get krupt. Thats how I look at my younger cousin and hopes   she never gets krupt. But I can say that she is definitely in a loving and caring family that supports her 110%

Just reaize

Is it me or this blogging this is kind of fun. It almost is reminding me of facebook. I think if it wasn's for my class I wouldn't have never started blogging.

Feeling good Feeling Great

Well today I'm feeling pretty good for the most point. No complaints having a good day at work and everything is pretty calm and stress free. I had a talk with my best friend to help me clear up some things that was going through my head that I was confused about. At first I was thinking maybe he was just saying this because he was a guy and all guys sticks together, but once I applied what he said to me I had a clear mind. I realy helps to talk your problems out before they get the best of u

Well

I have no specific title for this blog, but thisone is kind of personl I had an experience today and I realize that at first when you are blinded by a situation you find out in that time heals all wounds but, once you are brought to the light sometimes it takes an argument to come out for someone to realize how they really feel and with that being said your wounds begin to heal... "" SIGH""

1st day of school

Well today is the first day of classes for me and I must say that I am very excited becuase I am very motivated to finish up. It has been a long time coming for me so this is one thing I must accomplish. One thing I have to remember is to stay on top of my classwork and not fall behind. I thing one thing that will help me is to keep outside distractions where they are and put myself on a schedule as if i was taking classes on campus...