My Connections to Play

When I was a child, I remember playing all day long. I would go to a daycare during the day and we would play dress up and climb on the rocks outside pretending to be good guys and bad guys. The best days were when the caregivers would let us take the dress up bin outside. We would use costumes and pretend to be cops and robbers and princesses and doctors. At home, I lived in a condominium that owned many acres of woods and trails. Our families would let us roam the woods as long as we were back by dinnertime. I remember my mom telling me many days to "go outside and don't come back until it's dark". The most fun I had was simply exploring- it was really cool to find old (broken) tree-houses, bottles, old tires, and other 'junk' in the woods (it felt like we were discovering it). When I was very young, I remember my family would let me go outside to play as long as I stayed within a certain distance (we used an old rock-wall as a boundary) and I would ride my bike and my scooter and run around and play with the other kids in the condo's. I learned so much from this unsupervised play, it really built a foundation for me to be a confident person and to trust myself and my abilities- I have fond memories of getting stuck in mud, of breaking my arm falling off a bicycle, and other things that weren't fun at the time but taught me lessons about myself. Play taught me about myself and about my interests and skills and helped me make sense of my world.
Unfortunately, nowadays, play has changed a lot. Parents are so afraid to even send their children outside because it is so risky nowadays. Moreover, a lot of people live in areas where there are few play spaces for children (a lack of open woods, a lack of playgrounds, etc). Though we had PlayStation's and other types of screen media when I was a child, we did not use them like the children today use them. I babysat a young child for several months who would use his Nintendo from the time he got out of school to the time he went to bed. I think we are seeing more and more of this type of play as well as structured activities in the lives of young children. Childhood and play is definitely not the same as it used to be. Play was essential to my life, and I hope that it can regain its value as a central focus in the lives of children today and in the future.

Relationship Reflection

There are many people in my life with whom I have positive relationships. Below, I identify five people with the most positive relationships to me and describe the aspects of the relationship that characterize it as positive. I also detail the factors that help those relationships remain strong.

1. Rich- my fiance. I maintain a strong partnership with him because we have open communication and we live together so we see each other every day. We share a common vision for our future and have committed to this vision. We work together to achieve many things, including taking care of our animals and house. He and I maintain our relationship by doing new things, making sure we have humor, and spending quality time doing things together and enjoying the company of one another. We share a strong relationship because we communicate not only about our wants but also our emotions.

2. Rachel- my friend. Though we live far apart, we maintain a very strong relationship. We began our relationship in school where it was reciprocal; we worked together in a childcare classroom twice a week, and as we experimented doing things wih the children, we learned how to be in sync with the children. We recognized our personalities as complimentary, me being intrinsic, and her, extrinsic, and used this to our strength in the classroom. As we engaged the children together, we developed a closeness and appreciation for one another. We began helping each other with schoolwork, and the relationship blossomed from there. She is now my best friend and soon to be Maid of Honor. She and I have a well-developed sense of one another's personality and we just 'mesh well'. We maintain this relationship despite the long distance even when we do not see each other for long periods of time. It seems that we pick up where we left off no matter how long it has been.

3. Ali- my friend. We met because we have similar family circumstances and she and I understand one another's emotional experiences. We grew up together, which is something I cannot say of any of my other strong relationships and looking back at our teenage years together, I think of all the fun positive things that we experienced together. I think this is one of the strengths of our relationship- we have fond memories of growing up together.

4. Jess- my coworker and friend. We share a partnership because we work in a 'pod' together caring for young children. Her toddler room is next to mine and they are separated by a walk-through kitchen. We partner with and support one another in practical ways (covering bathroom breaks, sharing materials, passing children when we hit ratio) and other ways, like offering emotional support, sharing advice, and sharing our home lives with one another. We have spent time at one another's house. This relationship thrives because I see her every day and we can talk during our breaks and, briefly, on the playground. This is a positive partnership because we support each other emotionally inside and outside of work.

5. Kelsey- my coworker and friend. This is a very strong partnership because we too are friends and coworkers. Moreover, we went through the same bachelor's program, completing our degrees just one year apart. Kelsey and I were friends at school and I developed a type of partnership with her then because we helped each other with homework, especially with classes I had already been through as she was completing them. In turn, Kelsey was a listening ear for me during my transition from knowing nothing about children to becoming a confident teacher. Kelsey and I strengthened our partnership when I invited her to my workplace to complete her final practicum, and later helped her get a job at my childcare center. Even now we are strong partners because we discuss, in a safe relationship, work related issues and support one another and be reflective through ethical challenges.

Being reflective through ethical challenges is an incredible strength that I developed through relationships which are essential in work with families (especially in developing partnerships with families). I strongly believe that the most important lessons I learned from my undergraduate program did not consist of knowledge or skills but rather dispositions- the dispositions I developed early in my work with children are my strongest assets as a teacher and they stem from relationships with my peers. With Ali, my relationship encouraged reflection as we were able to share experiences of growing up together. We continue to reflect on these experiences and learn from our errors even now. Reflection is one way I work toward becoming a better teacher- I think about the things that happen with the children and families in my care and I work toward providing best-practice interactions with them. Reflection is an asset of mine, and I began to develop this skill through strong early relationships and partnerships.

Professional note of thanks

To Laguadia,
I want to thank you for your contributions to the class over the past eight weeks! It was a pleasure to respond to your discussion board posts and your blog. You offered some great ideas and insights about early childhood development and I really appreciate that you discussed outside scholarly resources and your own experiences, like your sisters' children's births and your friend who gew up in poverty. Well done on the last eight weeks and I hope to see you in future courses!

To Evelyn,
Thank you for your contributions to the discussion boards over the past two months. A few times you and I presented and discussed differing opinions and ideas and it was a pleasure to have those discussions with you. Thank you for using outside scholarly resources and contributing to my knowledge through the discussion boards. Best of luck to you in the rest of your career at Walden and beyond.

Testing

Assessment and evaluation in early childhood education has a variety of benefits. Assessment can support young children on a grand scale, like in program planning and research, and on an individual basis, like when children are diagnostically evaluated or identified for health and social services (Wortham, 2012). It also helps with accountability standards for schools, teachers, and individual students (Wortham, 2012). Assessment of young children began with Johann Pestalozzi and the child study movement, where children began to be seen as individuals rather than "pre-adults" (Berger, 2016; Wortham, 2012). It evolved as programs like Head Start and federal legislation for children with disabilities attempted to level the playing field for children. According to Wortham (2012), testing should use multiple sources of information, benefit the child and improve learning, involve the child and family, and be fair for all children. Wortham also outlines 9 principles for assessment of young children:
Assessment is ongoing
Assessment focuses on progress
There is a contextual framework for understanding the results
Methods of assessment are appropriate
Assessment includes scaffolded experiences
Assessment involves familial input
Assessments are tailored to a purpose
Major decisions do not rely on assessment results alone
Follow-up occurs after red flags are indicated in assessment.

One major concern about testing in the modern era is its influence on program funding (Fair Test, 2003). Fair Test (2003) suggest that testing young children should result in stronger teaching practices and not serve as an evaluative method. Another concern is fairness- again and again traditional testing, standardized testing in particular, proves to be inadequate for children of cultural and linguistic diversity (Wortham, 2012). The child is a holistic being, and the principles for assessment outlined above help educators and other professionals design, implement, and execute testing that shows a more holistic picture of the child and serves positive purposes that support young children and families.
I was interested in learning more about how testing of young children occurs in England. I learned that a program called National Curriculum Assessments began in the 1990's where children are tested at ages 7, 11, and 14, and has been revamped this year (Richardson, 2016). These tests focus on reading, math, spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and are described as rigorous and face stark criticism among parents, with some families even staging a walk-out of school in response to the updated standards (BBC, 2016). Ethical challenges exist in England too, where the highest performing schools on the Sats (the National Curriculum Assessments) are ranked and published (BBC, 2016). Teachers in England are advocating for a change in policy- they say the tests are too hard (Richardson, 2016). According to Richardson (2016), some of the teachers are wary that the updates to the testing process involve teachers grading their own children’s tests with little guidance on the scoring process. These tests, like many in the United States, focus on only certain aspects of development. In my opinion, these standardized tests are not appropriate for young children and certainly should not inform school ranking or funding. The testing process in England is remarkably similar to that in the United States, and we face similar ethical issues about what makes a test reliable, how to test children, and the purpose for testing children.

References

BBC (2016, May 16). Primary tests: What are the changes? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/education-35907385

Fair Test (2003). Head Start letter. Retrieved from http://www.fairtest.org/nattest/Head_Start_Letter.html

Richardson, H. (2016, April 29). Primary tests in England too hard, say head teachers. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/education-36160158

Wortham, S. C. (2012). Assessment in Early Childhood Education (6^th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Poverty

My best friend growing up suffered from poverty. Her mom had Multiple Sclerosis and was unable to work. Since her father was not in her life and they did not had any close family, they survived on assistance programs. I know they were eligible for WIC benefits and then later were on disability income. They also used local resources like food pantries and thrift programs (which provided other services like Christmas gifts and reimbursement for summer camps). Even still, they had little food, were always extremely tight on money, and made every effort to get by. They did things like cut laundry sheets in half, planted a huge garden every year, and picked up cans from the side of the road to sell. My friend would mow people's lawns all summer and babysit any time she was available. This economic hardship had a lot of impact on her and her family, which included affects to each domain. There are obvious biosocial effects, including malnutrition, but also, for this family in particular, a tighter maternal bond. They relied on one another more than any materialistic endeavor. Cognitively, my friend learned to cope with 'less' than others. She developed skill-sets and dispositions that I do not have that relate to her growing up in a family that often had inadequate shelter and food, moved houses quite often, and sometimes lived out of their car for short periods of time. Psychosocially, she coped with the influence of stress and a sense of what she describes as "never feeling grounded" which relates to having to move so often because they were short on rent. Poverty has staggering effects on children in my community and others.

In South Africa the effects of poverty seem tragic and surreal. As much as half of the country's population suffers from poverty, and even despite the fact that they have sufficient food resources, many of those in poverty also suffer from food insecurity (Machethe, 2004). Machethe (2004) points to skewed distribution of income while Aliber (2003) implicates the detrimental effects of HIV, AIDS, and other diseases and viruses as main contributors to these statistics. South African News (2006) illustrates the life Khanyi Dlomo, whose family cannot afford for her to attend school, and despite laws against it, has been turned away by schools. South African News describes the slums in Khanyi's hometown as being lined with the mansions of the rich and of another location, Khayelitsha, where nearly everyone lives below the poverty line in shacks or brick structures that do not have running water and has become the epicenter of crime in the area. In this town, the effects of poverty include disease, food insecurity, inadequate safety, and pollution, among others. Though the effects of poverty are prominent and harmful, there exists differences in experiences cross-culturally; the experience of my childhood friend differs greatly from the experience of Khanyi in South Africa.  

Aliber, M. (2003). Chronic poverty in South Africa: Incidence, causes and policies. World Development, 31(3), 473-490. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net

Machethe, C. L. (2004, October). Agriculture and poverty in South Africa: Can agriculture reduce poverty. In Paper presented at the Overcoming Underdevelopment Conference held in Pretoria (Vol. 28, p. 29). Retrieved from http://www.psu.edu

South African News (2006, July 2). Poverty in the land of affluence. The Southern Times. Retrieved from http://southernafrican.news/2006/07/02/poverty-in-the-land-of-affluence/

SIDS

I chose to explore the topic Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). This topic is meaningful to me because when I was working at an Early Head Start Program, I had to advocate for safe sleep practices because the teachers in the infant room were placing very young children on their bellies to sleep before they were able to roll over. The recommendations for safe sleep are still reaching caregivers and parents- we need to advocate for education on this topic. I know a mother who lost her son 20 years ago to SIDS and it’s obvious the level of devastation this can bring to a family- Fraser, Sidebotham, Frederick, Covington, and Mitchell (2014) suggest that each and every SIDS death is a tragedy for the family, the professionals caring for the child, and for the community as a whole. I think there can be more public health policies that will continue to lessen the impact of SIDS on our society. I explore the phenomenon of SIDS in New Zealand, which has been reduced by a variety of preventative strategies.

According to Moon, Horne, & Hauck (YEAR), SIDS is the leading cause of death of infants (1 month to 1 year) in developed countries. The cause of SIDS is unknown, but is thought to be a combination of risk factors rather than one single cause. Moon, Horne, & Hauck (2007) point to recent studies that suggest babies are at risk for SIDS if they sleep on their bellies or on their sides, are exposed to smoke, and sleep with soft bedding or on soft surfaces. This research has led pediatricians to recommend safe sleep practices, like placing babies on their backs to sleep and removing soft materials, which have reduced SIDS deaths by 50-90% (Moon, Horne, & Hauck, 2007).

In 1991, a national cot death prevention program was established in New Zealand that put forth recommendations that infants should sleep on their side or their back, that women should breastfeed if possible, and that babies (prenatally and within the first year of life) should not be exposed to cigarette smoke (Mitchell, Brunt, & Everard, 1994). It also suggested that sleeping in the same bed as parents may, too, be harmful. According to Mitchell, et. al (1997), the program quickly found success- the number of infants sleeping on their bellies was reduced from 43% to less than 5%. This decrease is linked with a decrease in the number of SIDS deaths in New Zealand after the inception of the prevention program (Mitchell, et. al, 1997).

Fraser, Sidebotham, Frederick, Covington, and Mitchell (2014) identify mandatory child death review as a means for significantly reducing SIDS. By investigating every infant death, more data is collected to influence research for SIDS prevention. In New Zealand, child death reviews are mandatory and receive funding from the government- specific agencies handle the investigations, which are thorough (Fraser, Sidebotham, Frederick, Covington, & Mitchell, 2014). In contrast, the United States investigates only some child deaths because the Federal Law only encourages investigations where child abuse is suspected; though some US states have laws and funding that support child death review, it is not a requirement (Fraser, Sidebotham, Frederick, Covington, & Mitchell, 2014).

This information will impact my future practice because I appreciate the need for advocacy on this topic. If the US adopted federal regulations that mandate and fund child death investigations, or if we had better programs to educate parents and caregivers about SIDS and safe sleep, we might reduce infant deaths even more. I notice posters and brochures at various health organizations around my community and I think my community could benefit from having more of these in a variety of locations. I will also make sure to help parents understand safe sleep practices if it ever comes up in my work.

References

Fraser, J., Sidebotham, P., Frederick, J., Covington, T., & Mitchell, E. A. (2014). Learning from child death review in the USA, England, Australia, and New Zealand. The Lancet, 384(9946), 894-903.

Mitchell, E. A., Brunt, J. M., & Everard, C. (1994). Reduction in mortality from sudden infant death syndrome in New Zealand: 1986-92. Archives of disease in childhood, 70(4), 291-294.

Mitchell, E. A., Tuohy, P. G., Brunt, J. M., Thompson, J. M., Clements, M. S., Stewart, A. W., ... & Taylor, B. J. (1997). Risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome following the prevention campaign in New Zealand: a prospective study. Pediatrics, 100(5), 835-840.

Moon, R. Y., Horne, R. S., & Hauck, F. R. (2007). Sudden infant death syndrome. The Lancet, 370(9598), 1578-1587.

Birth

I don't have any firsthand experience with birth, and I can't ask anyone about my own birth. I chose to discuss a birth story that has been told to me many times. My coworker tried for a long time to have a baby with no success, and at age 39 she decided it was time to try in vitro fertilization. It worked, and her baby was born on Christmas Eve, but with many complications. She was first placed on bedrest three weeks before her daughter's birthday and then had to have a C-Section because her daughter was breech. Going through the struggle of trying to have a child and not being able to was difficult for her. This definitely has affected her daughter's development and their relationship. They have a very close bond and her mother is very protective of her. All the same she is a very loving, affectionate, and nurturing mother. The time, effort (and unfortunately, money) it took to have her daughter has made her more appreciative of her life- she views her daughter as a gift. Her daughter will develop with a strong maternal relationship and a family very attentive to her wellbeing. There was also a strong parent-infant bond when the child was born because it had been such a long time waiting for a child, and so to first hold her baby was a long-anticipated moment.

I was interested to learn more about the birthing practices of Finland because I have heard that they have very low infant-mortality rates and higher satisfaction among parents and families of newborns. Indeed, Callister, Lauri, and Vehvilainen-Julkunen (2000) suggest Finland's success at birthing, evidenced by parent satisfaction and a low infant-mortality rate, is due to the lack of distinction in social class (a uniform birthing procedure), advanced nurses capable of performing births, excellent (and free) prenatal care, and because technology is only used during birth when indicated by evidence and research. During childbirth in Finland, a team of nurse midwifes attends to the process with a physician's consult only when complications arise (Callister, Lauri, & Vehvilainen-Julkunen, 2000).  The woman's autonomy is respected in Finland and her freedom of choice is encouraged (Callister, Lauri, & Vehvilainen-Julkunen, 2000). Hastie (2010) notes that the aesthetic hospital environment in Finland is a great contributor to the Finnish success of childbirth.

I think the birthing process would have looked different for my coworker if she was in Finland. Her daughter's birth involved a lot of technology to monitor the baby because it was such a high risk birth. Perhaps in Finland the circumstances of this birth would have merited the use of these technologies, but even so I don't think it would have been as panicked. Though my coworker is grateful for her experience at the hospital, she describes the experience as chaotic and very stressful. I think in Finland, she would have been encouraged to be more comfortable. I also speculate that there's a greater rate of continuity of care in Finland- such that you know who you expect to deliver your baby well in advance, and you have worked with this nurse or doctor for a period of time. This can help lessen stress, in my opinion, because you have developed trust and rapport with the birthing expert. I think the birth of my coworker's daughter was highly memorable for this new mother, but I think that Finland overall has a more relaxed and effective method for delivering children.

References

Callister, Lauri, & Vehvilainen-Julkunen (2000). A description of birth in Finland. The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 25. Retrieved from Walden Library Databases.

Hastie, C. (2010). The birthing environment. Sustainability, Midwifery and Birth. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/37204809/Sustainability_Midwifery_and_Birth_Hastie_The_Birthing_Environment.pdF