What I think about Child Development

Things that should be measured in middle childhood would be cognitive development, physical development,, social development

cognitive developmental- Brain development needs to be measured in order to help children cognitively in middle childhood. The reasons for this would be the child would be able to retain more information, have more control over their actions. The child should also be able to be adaptable to new situations.

“II. INFORMATION PROCESSING .

A. Brain development contributes to two basic changes in information processing.

1. Increase in information-processing capacity. A fairly rapid decline in time needed to

process information occurs during middle childhood.

2. Gains in inhibition. Inhibitory control-the ability to resist interference from irrelevant

information makes great strides during middle childhood.

B. Attention .

1. During middle childhood, attention becomes more controlled, adaptable, and planful.

2. Selectivity and Adaptability . a. Through the elementary years, children become better

at deliberately attending to just those aspects of a situation that are relevant to task goals. b.

Older children can flexibly adjust their attention to the momentary requirements of situations. C.

Attention strategy development follows a predictable, four-step sequence: 1) Production

deficiency-preschoolers fail to produce strategies when they could be helpful. 2). Control

deficiency-young elementary school children fail to control, or execute, strategies effectively. 3).

Utilization deficiency-slightly older children apply strategies consistently, but their performance

does not improve. 4). Effective strategy use-by mid-elementary school years, children use

strategies consistently, and performance improves.

3. Planning. a. School-age children scan detailed pictures and written materials for

similarities and differences more thoroughly than do preschoolers. b. On complex tasks, schoolage children make decisions about what to do first and next in an orderly fashion. C. The

development of planning illustrates how attention becomes coordinated with other cognitive

processes. d. Attentional difficulties are at the heart of the problems of children with attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder , a disorder in which children have great difficulty staying on task,

act impulsively, and may be hyperactive.

C. Memory Strategies .

1. Memory strategies are the deliberate mental activities we use to store and retain

information. “ (http://psych.ku.edu/dennisk/CP333/Cognitive%20Middle.pdf )

Physical development

Physically the child should be gaining weight, have bladder control, should be at their age appropriate weight and have age appropriate small and large motor skills. Without being measured these could be signs of juvenile diabetes, rickets, abuse or neglect. Loss or non-retention of small and large motor skills could be signs of delays.

“Growth slow in middle childhood, and wide differences in height and weight exist.

• Children with retarded growth due to growth hormone deficiency may be given synthetic growth hormone.
• Proper nutrition is essential for normal growth and health.
• The permanent teeth arrive in middle childhood. Dental heath has improved, in part because of use of sealants on chewing surfaces.
• Malnutrition can affect all aspects of development.
• Obesity, which is increasingly common among U.S. children, entails health risks. It is influenced by genetic and environmental factors and can be treated.
• Concern with body image, especially among girls, may lead to eating disorders.
• Because of improved motor development, boys and girls in middle childhood can engage in a wide range of motor activities.
• About 10 percent of schoolchildren's play, especially among boys, is rough-and-tumble play.
• Many children, mostly boys, go into organized, competitive sports. A sound physical education program should aim at skill development and fitness for all children.
• Many children, especially girls, do not meet fitness standards.”(http://psych.ku.edu/dennisk/CP333/Cognitive%20Middle.pdf )

“Children want to do things by and for themselves, yet they need adults who will help when asked or when needed."(http://psych.ku.edu/dennisk/CP333/Cognitive%20Middle.pdf )

• Social Emotional Development - I always say in social emotional that it is better to use this skill than memorize information. In order to succeed in life a person has to have social skills. They need to be able to work out problems and to have autonomy.
• Seven to nine-year-old children of the same age and sex help each other:
  • have fun and excitement by playing together,
  • learn by watching and talking to each other,
  • in time of trouble by banning together,
  • by giving support in time of stress, and
  • understand how they feel about themselves.
• Children need guidance, rules, and limits.
• They need help in solving problems.
• They are beginning to see things from another child's point of view, but they still have trouble understanding the feelings and needs of other people.
• Many children need help to express their feelings in appropriate ways when they are upset or worried.
• They need more love, attention, and approval from parents and you than” criticism.”(http://www.nncc.org/child.dev/mid.dev.html )

In what ways are school-age children assessed in other parts of the world? (Choose a country or region of the world for which you have a personal affinity. I wanted to compare American Middle Childhood to African forager Middle Childhood. The assessments are different because these children are being judged on their productivity instead of their social skills and how much they know.

“ The Aka acknowledges two stages of development corresponding to out notion of middle childhood; mona (weaning-7) and mona bokala and mona ngonda (males and females 8-12 respectively) In the Aka camp. There is nearly always at least one adult present, although this is not dependent upon there being children to look after, where there are few adults around, will they necessarily be a child's parent. Girls spent a mean of 36.8 percent of their time with a same-sex child as one their nearest neighbors, and boys spent about 45.4 percent of the time nearest to one other boy. Aka children performed twice as much work independent of adults than adult-dependent work, excluding childcare and work for villagers. They also spent more time emulating work in play than performing adult-dependent work.” (retrieved from http://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/media/PDF/boyette_hn_draft_6-09.pdf)

Tsunami and children

What I would like to learn more about is the children of the Tsunami. "On December 26, 2004, several areas across the Indian Oceanwere hit by a tsunami that left more than 310,000 people dead
and millions destitute. This catastrophe created concern for mentalhealth (Ashraf, 2005) as well as psychiatric assessments of the survivors,including posttraumatic stress (Chatterjee, 2005; Figueira,
2005; Jarusuraisin & Kesornsukon, 2005) in the aftermath of thetsunami (Maddern, 2005; Stone, 2005). Studies pertaining to theprevalence and epidemiology of posttraumatic stress disorder" According to the journal article it is the social support, family services, family and other emotional support that is helping these children through these traumatic experiences. I want to read more about this and even maybe take a more active role.  B. Bhushan and J. S. Kumar (EMOTIONAL DISTRESS AND POSTTRAUMATIC
STRESS IN CHILDREN SURVIVING
THE 2004 TSUNAMI) I have a special affinity with this because it reminds me so much of 9-11 and the horrible things that happened that day. Post
Traumatic stress is an interest of mine.

When I was a child

When I was a little girl my father was a heroin addict. This is not something that I am proud of or ashamed of. He left when I was 7 and my mother was about 25. My sister was three. We started out to live at my grandmothers house but were soon moved to the city. My mother met someone knew and instead of drugs there was lots of drinking. I grew up listening to my father was a heroin addict and my sister and I were not going to amount to much being children of a junkie. My mother tried but throughout the years things started to get worse. I was hit, kicked and given a certain amount of time to eat my meals before it was taken away. When I 13 I lied on a application to get a job as a bus person but my wages were garnished for my mothers diet pills. These things were the norm to me. I tbecame older still and dropped out of school at 16 and went to night school to get my GED at 17. I had to leave the area but I wasn't sure how. I enrolled in culinary school in RI but left to move to Maryland at 21. These things have hurt me in my present life because I was not allowed to become of a foster parent because of what they said was an abusive childhood but I take anxiety medicine to help me cope. My work  helps me heal. forgiveness and love helps me heal.When you move away from the people who have one perception of you and journey to a place where no one knows you things change. To change as an individual is one of the hardest things a person can do but it can be done.

In my future endeavors in the field of early childhood I want to explore as many outlets or venues in order to support and teach how to raise happy and healthy children. 0-3 are the most important ages to and breast feeding is something that always interested me. I think that in this country there is an uncomfortable atmosphere with the female body and this is not a topic typically explored. When it is in the press this is usually for shock value. "One of the first commercial breastmilk substitutes
was invented in 1867. The product was a mixture of
toasted flour and condensed milk marketed by a
Swiss food company1. At that time, most infants who
were fed breastmilk substitutes did not survive. For
example, in a region of Germany where the majority
of children were fed a mixed gruel of flour and water
to replace breastmilk, fifty percent of infants died; as
a result the infant mortality rate in this region was
four times the infant mortality rate in Norway, where
breastfeeding was the norm2.
When commercial breastmilk substitutes became
more available in Europe and North America, the
practice of breastfeeding began to decline at alarming
rates. As birth rates in industrialized countries
dropped, manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes
sought out new markets; developing countries, with
high birth rates, became an attractive market to baby
food manufacturers. By the end of World War II, many
infant food manufacturing companies were selling
their breastmilk substitutes in countries under colonial
rule in Africa and Asia." (UNICEF: Protecting Breast Feeding in West andd Central Africa)

I  wanted to do my blog this week on breast feeding around the world. I was "lucky enough" to come across the "shocking" picture of the mother on Time magazine and wonder why this bothered everyone so much. Personally, I don't think breast feeding at this age had much value for the child but it would not be the first time that I was wrong. According to the article the mother has 3 boys and has breast fed them all until they were 18 months old. My question is are we so accustomed to our beliefs and ways in this country we are just shocked and appalled that a woman would decide to for her child to take part in a process such as breast feeding at such a late age.

 "Breastfeeding is a universal practice in West and Central
Africa. Breastfeeding initiation rates are above 90
percent in all countries (with the exception of Gabon)
and children are breastfed for a long time as reflected
by the fact that the mean duration of breastfeeding
in West and Central African countries is 20
months. However, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding
is lower than in any other region in the world: in West
and Central Africa, only 20 percent of infants younger
than six months are exclusively breastfed, with rates
of exclusive breastfeeding as low as 2 percent in
Chad, 4 percent in Sierra Leone, and 5 percent in
Côte d’Ivoire. However, some countries in the region
have shown remarkable progress in the proportion
of infants younger than six months who are exclusively
breastfed; between 1990 and 2004, exclusive
breastfeeding rates increased from 3 percent to 19
percent in Burkina Faso, 7 percent to 24 percent in
Cameroon, 4 percent to 53 percent in Ghana, 9 percent
to 25 percent in Mali," (UNICEF: Protecting Breast Feeding in West and Central Africa)
Reference
(UNICEF: Protecting Breast Feeding in West and Central Africa)

• Write about a personal birthing experience. It can be your own birth, your child's birth, or one you took part in. What do you remember about the event? Why did you choose this example? What are your thoughts regarding birth and its impact on child development
• My own birth was breach. I have a bald spot on the top of my head from a blood clot and faint scars on my temples from the forceps. I chose this example because I find it interesting that they do not use this method anymore. After reading the question for this blog I called my mother to ask her some of the details. She told me that half of my body was blue from lack of circulation. I was tangled in the umbilical cords while in the womb.
• Choose a region of the world or a country, other than the U.S., and find out how births happen there. Write about what you learned, and the differences and similarities with your experience (in the personal example you provided). What additional insights, if any, about the impact of the birthing experience on development, did you gain from this comparison? Sweden has the highest rate of birth in Europe. In Sweden they get 13 months of leave. Instead of spending only 6 weeks with their child they can stay home for seven months. In Sweden midwives are used throughout the whole process. The rates of C sections are lower. In Sweden it is at 17 percent compared to 31 percent in the United States. The rate for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is also lower. I think the cultural aspects of the two countries is very interesting and where the importance lies in children and the birthing process. I wanted to add a few things about also traditions in China and conceiving a child that I thought were interesting. Lotus seeds are put in the bed of a  new married couple so that they would be blessed with a child very soon. The mother was to talk very softly, only eat meat that was cut into squares. In the first month after birthing the child the mother cannot wash her hair because of migraines, she cannot wash or drink with cold water and cannot read books.
• Lee W  http://www.chinatownconnection.com/chinese-pregnancy.htm

• 
  

  B=Boy  G=Girl

                             WOMAN'S CONCEIVING AGE
  MONTH OF
  CONCEPTION    18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31
  
  January        G   B   G   B   G   B   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   B
  February       B   G   B   G   B   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   G   G
  March          G   B   G   G   B   G   B   B   B   G   B   G   G   B
  April          B   G   B   G   G   B   B   G   G   B   G   G   G   G
  May            B   G   B   G   B   B   G   G   G   G   G   B   G   G
  June           B   B   B   G   G   G   B   B   B   G   G   B   G   G
  July           B   B   B   G   G   B   B   G   G   B   B   B   G   G
  August         B   B   B   G   B   G   G   B   B   B   B   B   G   G
  September      B   B   B   G   G   B   G   B   G   B   B   B   G   G
  Gctober        B   B   G   G   G   B   G   B   G   B   B   G   G   G
  November       B   G   B   G   G   B   G   B   G   G   G   G   B   G
  December       B   G   B   G   G   G   G   B   G   B   G   G   B   B
  
  
                              WOMAN'S CONCEIVING AGE
  MONTH OF
  CONCEPTION    32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45
  
  January        B   G   B   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   B   G
  February       G   B   G   B   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   B
  March          B   B   B   G   B   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   G   B
  April          G   B   G   B   G   B   B   B   B   G   B   G   B   G
  May            G   G   G   G   B   G   B   B   G   B   G   B   B   G
  June           G   G   G   G   G   B   G   G   B   G   B   G   B   G
  July           G   G   G   G   G   G   B   G   B   B   G   B   G   B
  August         G   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   B   G   B   G
  September      G   G   G   G   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   B   G   B
  October        G   G   G   G   B   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   B   G
  November       G   G   B   B   B   G   B   G   B   G   B   B   G   B
  December       B   B   B   B   B   B   G   G   G   B   G   B   G   B

I just wanted to say Thank You

This journey was amazing and couldn't have been done without you

post three ideals contained in the NAEYC and DEC codes of ethics that are meaningful to you, and explain their significance to your professional life.

Professional Collabration
“We shall honor and respect our responsibilities to colleagues while upholding the dignity and
autonomy of colleagues and maintaining collegial interprofessional and intraprofessional
relationships”.
What this means to me is having respect for the people that I work with everyday even though I might not agree with their opinions or attitudes. This is a form a professionalism that is not only seen by parents, upper management and other colleagues but by the children. We are a representation of where we work and the values that we hold. We are entrusted everyday with the lives of their children and to show respect to my colleagues and to keep confidentiality is a reflection of the values that I hold.

Professional development and Preparation
We shall support professionals new to the field by mentoring them in the practice of evidence and ethically based services
It is extremely hard first starting off in this field. Everything that you learn in the textbooks does not always apply to all children. There are things that they forget to teach as with how to handle three hurt children at once or what to do when a favorite blanket is lost at closing time. Anyone with a love of children and a commitment to this field should be taken under the wings over other senior staff to be mentored. They should taught ethically based services such as redirecting and taking to a child on their level. Such as the statement above we are entrusted with little hearts and this should not be taken lightly.

We shall be responsible for protecting the confidentiality of the children and families we serve by protecting all forms of verbal, written, and electronic communication.

I believe that this is one of the most important in the code of ethics. Everything should be kept in the strictest of confidence. I learned this early on in my career. No matter what is said or done we need to protect all children. You never reveal the names or identities of others when things go wrong. This is one of the biggest forms of respect that you could give our parents. You must do this whether you agree or disagree with the outcome of a situation. These children and families must be protected at all costs. This is something that I take very seriously and uphold everyday.


References

Code of Ethics (2009)

We shall demonstrate in our behavior and language respect and appreciation for the unique value
and human potential of each child.


1.We shall strive for the highest level of personal and professional competence by seeking and
using new evidence based information to improve our practices while also responding openly to
the suggestions of others.


I will always try to be trying to seek out new and better ways to improve my craft of teaching. I will make an active effort to seek out knowledge from just not NAEYC but other organizations like this. I will be open to new ideas and suggestions and try everyday to incorporate this into my work as a professional.

2.. We shall serve as advocates for children with disabilities and their families and for the
professionals who serve them by supporting both policy and programmatic decisions that
enhance the quality of their lives.


I will continue to be patient and professional with families whose children are special needs. I will patient and understanding with those that take a little longer to understand and create a curriculum that fits the need of each individual child.

3.We shall build relationships with individual children and families while individualizing the curricula
and learning environments to facilitate young children’s development and learning

I think this falls back to the statement before that each child has a different way of learning and the classroom should reflect this.

I thought this article was interesing so I also included this

By Richard Louv on August 25th, 2011
WANT YOUR KIDS TO GET INTO HARVARD? TELL ‘EM TO GO OUTSIDE!
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First of two in a series

September is back-to-school month, and the chanting begins: Drill, test, lengthen the school day, skip recess, cancel field trips, and by all means discourage free time for (gasp!) self-directed play.

Is that approach working, particularly in science learning? Not so well.

A few months ago, I met with a dozen biology professors at North Carolina Central University. They were deeply concerned about the dramatic deterioration of student knowledge of what’s out there: these students can tell you all about the Amazon rain forest, but nothing about the plants and animals of the neighborhoods in which they live.

When researching Last Child in the Woods, I heard a similar complaint from Paul Dayton, a prominent oceanographer and professor in the Scripps Marine Life Research Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. Dayton is a harsh critic of a trend in higher education, the movement away from traditional biology toward the kind of molecular sciences and bioengineering that can produce products in the lab that can be patented by research universities.

The ethical issues of that process concern him, but what worries him even more is the growing ignorance of nature that he sees in young people.

“In a few years there will be nobody left to identify several major groups of marine organisms,” he said. “I wish I were exaggerating.”

During a later visit with Dayton, we were looking out of his window at the famous Scripps Pier. I asked him if he had ever thought to engaging a nearby high school. Maybe Scripps could bring the students from that school to the pier or even out on the Scripps explorer ships.

“I tried that.” He said one school administrator’s response was, “Oh, no, we’ve become so sophisticated in the teaching of science, that our students don’t have to go outside anymore.”

That attitude is more common than some of us would like to believe.

Last November, two Oregon State University researchers, writing in American Scientist, made the case that “an ever-growing body of evidence demonstrates that most science is learned outside of school.” In “The 95 Percent Solution,” John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking write, “The ‘school-first’ paradigm is so pervasive that few scientists, educators or policy makers question it. This despite two important facts:

Average Americans spend less than 5 percent of their life in classrooms, and an ever-growing body of evidence demonstrates that most science is learned outside of school.”

Falk and Dierking contend that “a major educational advantage enjoyed by the U.S. relative to the rest of the world” is its out-of-school learning landscape, including museums, libraries, zoos, aquariums, national parks, 4-H clubs, scouting, and, I would add, nature centers, state and local parks, and the nearby nature of our neighborhoods. They add, “The sheer quantity and importance of this science learning landscape lies in plain sight but mostly out of mind.” Rather than increasing school time, perhaps we should be investing in expanding quality, out-of-school experiences…”

Emerging research, some of it specific to out-of-school learning, some of it to the impact of time spent in natural environments on cognitive functioning, support that contention. A 2009 report by the National Research Council, Learning Science in Informal Environments: Places, People and Pursuits, “describes a range of evidence demonstrating that even everyday experiences such as a walk in the park contribute to people’s knowledge and interest in science and the environment…”

As for the research on nature experience and learning, that too is expanding. (More about that in Part Two) Many of the available studies describe correlations rather than cause and effect. But parents and educators certainly have enough evidence to act.

Out-of-school educators are already taking action, individually and programmatically. Consider Lori Kiesser’s program, Inside the Outdoors, in Orange County, California, which serves 150,000 children each year with a nature-based STEM education afterschool program. A growing network of grassroots volunteers and professionals, natural teachers and pediatricians work every day at getting kids and their families connected to nature.

Many of us hope that the tide is turning, that educators, parents and young people, too, are becoming more aware of the value of out-of-school experience and self-directed exploration and play, especially in natural settings.

Want your kids to get into Harvard? Tell ’em to go outside.

_____________________________

Richard Louv is the author of THE NATURE PRINCIPLE: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder and LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. He is Chairman Emeritus of The Children and Nature Network.
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Course Resourses

http://www.playbasedlearning.com.au/

http://progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/

I wanted to add these last few sites and movies that I thought everyone would find interesting. I included the book Last Child in the Woods. This book is about how important it is for children to get outside and play. We don't do this enough

This book Raising Cain is amazing. It talks about the difference between raising girls and boys. Before reading this I did not realize how much gender made a difference.

http://drjeanandfriends.blogspot.com/







I also wanted to include www.drjean.org
She is an amazing woman with amazing ideas that really do work. She is my small obsession.

NAEYC. http://www.naeyc.org

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. http://main.zerotothree.org
http://www.unicef.org
http://www.fpg.unc.edu
http://worldforumfoundation.org
http://acei.org
http://www.dec-sped.org
http://www.hepg.org
http://www.cec.sped.org
http://www.erikson.edu
http://www.acf.hhs.gov
http://www.wested.org

“Adults find their voice as a result of doing this work; they reclaim and heal things that happened in their childhood that maybe no one helped them work with when they were younger. The passion to create a safer more just world is there.”

I really really love this

"Instead of playing house, I wanted to play teacher. I would place my dolls in a row and I would pretend to be the teacher. As I grew up I wanted to continue to be a teacher, I had a built in passion that I wanted to make a real contribution in the world. To fix all the injustices in the world." (Louise Derman Sparks)

"I'm not here to save the world, I am here to make a difference in the community that I am working in."(The Passion for Early Childhood)