Child Development in Quotes

"Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today."

— Gabriela Mistral

"How children feel and interact is as important to their competence and success as how well they think. This has obviously very important implications for both how people raise their children, how they care for other people's children, and how we invest public funds. Thinking and feeling go hand in hand. It's not to say that thinking is less important, just not more important."

— Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Brandeis University

I found these quotes at  www.readingrockets.org/books/fun/quotable/ and thought they summed up child development quite nicely. We have learned a great deal about how children develop and what is important during it. We also know that there are many outside influences that can affect and impact development. 

Thank you everyone for another great class and I hope we meet again in another one!

Assessement and Children

I think children need to be assessed as a unique individual and as an individual in comparison to others of a similar age and gender. Every child does not learn the same way; there are different learning styles that make up how a child retains information. Boys and girls are even different as learning goes. I think that birth order has something to do with how a child will function in an educational setting. I see this in two students in our preschool classrooms. One is the youngest of 4 boys in his family and he struggles with sharing and taking turns which is not unusual at that age but it is difficult for him. Another is a girl, youngest and only girl with 3 older brothers who do everything for her and her mom is a teacher. The girl will go to kindergarten next year, she is one of the oldest in the class but watching and observing her, you would not know that. I personally think you have to look at every child as a unique person and assess their skills fairly.

My grandpa was from Germany so I decided to see how they assess children. They use a 6 point marking system with 1 being the highest to monitor student achievement. They also use a medical test and enrollment test to determine if a child has the physical and mental maturity required for school attendance. Assessments are introduced in Year 1 and children must progress through the 6 point marking system to continue their education. They use observation, written, and formal assessments to determine their progress.

Reference:
http://www.inca.org.uk/1436.html.

The Year of Natural Disasters 2011

As I looked over the list of stressors, I realized that although I did experience divorce as a young child of 3, I do not remember much of that time and feeling abandoned. Maybe I have blocked it from my memory but those thoughts and feelings are not there. 


So instead I decided to concentrate on a year of natural disasters that has devastated my community, my state, our country and our world. I am going to begin with my community because my daughter's high school guidance counselor lost her house and farm to a tornado on April 9 this year. We went down to help clean up the day after and the devastation and loss was more than most of us could bear. Her family was celebrating her middle son's birthday (he had turned 4) when they had to run to the basement and watch the tornado move towards their house.It took everything but an old garage. It was a humbling experience to be walking around their farm picking up their lives out of trees, fields, and piles of unrecognizable rubble. Her son's birthday cupcakes sat untouched on the kitchen counter while the rest of the house was gone. Her son has had nightmares since that night and they are almost ready to move back to their home but he is scared another tornado will come and take his toys again.  Many people's lives were destroyed around our area and state that night but we were fortunate that no one lost their lives. Unlike Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin, Missouri.


I cannot imagine how those communities have survived but somehow they have. The tornadoes that have torn apart large cities and the areas that have been affected are mind boggling. The children that witnessed and lived through these disasters will most definitely be impacted their whole lives. Which is why Joplin opened a children's trauma center after the tornado because there has been an increase in mental health cases among the children in Joplin. The concern over post traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression is on the rise in this community as in other parts of the country that experienced tornadoes. 


Japan experienced a double blow of destruction when the earthquake and tsunami hit Ishinomaki, Japan earlier this year. Thirty children of the Kama Elementary School were waiting for their parents to come and get them. Reporters were forbidden to talk to the children and doors cannot be opened for fear that these children will think it's their parents coming.  What a hard realization to have to explain to these children who were brought to school by parents and then wondering what happened to them following both disasters. Post traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, nightmares and other mental health issues are just as prevalent over there as it is here in the United States.


It will take children of these disasters to overcome their fears by talking and having a loving and nurturing adult around them to help them understand what happened and to put their emotions and fears at ease. 




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366898/Japan-tsunami-earthquake-30-children-sit-silent-classroom-parents-vanish.html. 


http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Missouri-opening-childrens-center-after-Joplin-tornado-123983959.html