Early Childhood Insights From Around the Globe

Unfortunately I did not have luck making contact with any of my global contacts, still to this day.  For this week’s blog I have reviewed the Harvard website on Global Initiatives to gain some insights about early childhood systems from around the globe.  Below are some is a summary of some new things I have learned.

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/

There are many programs that I have learned about while reviewing the Developing Child website at Harvard University; specifically global initiatives.  I have included a brief description of these programs, taken from the website and then gave a brief summary of my insights about what I learned about programs from around the world.

Brazil is working to make child development better by focusing on the science of child development and making sure that policy makers understand the science.  Preparing leaders to leverage the science of healthy development in the design and implementation of innovative policies and programs that reduce preventable disparities and promote greater well-being for all Brazilian children.

Canada- Saving Brains Program

A program of Grand Challenges Canada, Saving Brains seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. The Center on the Developing Child supports a dynamic learning community of Saving Brains grantees to help them advance the impact and scale of their work within global contexts.

CHINA: ASSESSING CHILD MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS IN SHANGHAI

This project aims to assess the mental health needs of children and adolescents – a first for China. Blending qualitative and quantitative methods, it seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of the current status of services, information on barriers to care, an improved understanding of local epidemiology, and a roadmap for future services and research development.

The Shanghai Education Commission has agreed to fund and move forward with intervention projects based on the assessment study’s initial results.

Based on all of the information that I have read, I have come to the conclusion that each of these countries is focused on developing the child in a positive manner based on scientific research and development.  They are using proven scientific research to help guide their early childhood programs.  Brazil is focused on making sure that their policy makers understand the science behind child development.  Makes sense to me!  Canada is focused on the child’s crucial brain development from the moment that a child is born into this world.  They understand that it is absolutely crucial for any child that is born into poverty, that their brain development can be negatively impacted in the first 1,000 days of their life.  They are working to make sure that they are protected via the “Saving Brains Program”.  China is very focused on the mental health needs of their young children.  Mental health is such an important factor to consider when looking at child development.

I have learned that in the United States, while we are moving forward in the right direction in some areas of child development, we clearly need to take notice of what are neighboring countries are focusing on.  We need to advocate for our children to policy makers and educate them on the science behind child development.   Child development is not testing, drilling and teaching to the needs of the government.  Child development is a science and we cannot change the way in which science intended children to learn and develop.  What we can do is educate ourselves and our leaders so that we can make the changes that are necessary for us to catch up to the rest of the world.  More structured and rigid academics are not the answer.

www.zerotothree.org

I have been researching the zerotothree.org website and organization.  I have to honestly say that the entire website is relevant to me and my current professional development.  I am working towards becoming a NYS certified trainer for early childhood care and I would also like to become an instructor for undergraduate students in the field of ECE.  Zerotothree provides information that is extremely important for all new, aspiring and current educators to be aware of.  The website is so detailed and is always current!  There is an abundance of information on training, development, teaching, early childhood care, maltreatment, as well as public policy and ongoing efforts to help the field.

The zerotothree.org website is full of different articles, studies and publications that provide amazing information about research and issues in the field.  One resource I came across really hit home and made me aware of something that I was not aware of.  Infant-Early childhood Mental Health Issues are a lot more common that I thought.  10 states have put new laws and practices into place to help advocate better and fight issues related to I-ECMH.  I wonder and it makes me sad to think that we have to deal with children at such a young age suffering from mental health issues.  If you are interested in reading the publication you can find it here: http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/pdf/nurturing-change.pdf

One insight that I gained in regards to policy makers is that zerotothree has quite the extensive relationship with policy makers.  It is one of their top priorities to work with policy makers to make the lives and education of infants and toddlers nothing short of the highest quality.  You can find an entire section on the website dedicated to Public Policy and it is very clear that the Policy Makers are aware of the zerotothree organization and our very supportive of them.  Another amazing resource I found and read on the site can be found here: http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Policy_Guide.pdf?docID=8401

This is an entire document that is dedicated to Infant and Toddler Policy.  There is some amazing information in this document and I really respect what this organization is doing on a daily basis to advocate for our young ones.  I would love to work for them!

Poverty in the United Kingdom

I have not had any luck, as I have still tried even this past week, make any connections with professionals from around the world.  I did get a few emails to actually work and go through but I have now not heard back from anyone.  I am kind of disappointed because I was looking forward to being able to develop a professional relationship with an educator from another country.

During the summer of 1999, I was fortunate enough to teach abroad in the United Kingdom for 6 weeks.  I even emailed some of the teachers that I had the pleasure to work with while I was there but I did not hear back so am wondering if they are no longer in the school that I worked at.  With that being said, I am doing the alternative assignment of reading about poverty and sharing some insights that I learned about.  I chose the UK because I have been there, taught there, and would like to know more about the children that live there.  I did not really learn as much as I would have liked to while I was there.

UNICEF UK is a strong supporter of breastfeeding, child education and child rights.  They spend a lot of time, training and money making sure that children know their rights and that they are educated in an environment that allows them to flourish. 1 and 5 people in the UK live in poverty even though they have the 6th largest economy in the world.  13 million people in the UK to not have the means to live a comfortable lifestyle. UNICEF along with an organization called OXFAM work together to make life easier in the UK for people who are living in poverty by advocating, bringing awareness to people about the problem, and working with policy makers to end poverty.  Based on the information that I found and read, it sounds as though the UK as comparable poverty issues to what we have in the United States.  One program that UNICEF sponsors in the UK is the Children’s Rights Partners program.  This program together UNICEF UK and local government to ensure all children have the same opportunity to flourish.The main mission and philosophy of the program is to put young children first and to make sure that all children have what they need in life.

Sharing Web Resources

http://www.zerotothree.org

ZERO TO THREE is a national, nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development (zerotothree.org)

One thing that really caught my attention on the website is how many organizations that zerotothree supports.  One of the big one’s is military families.  There is an abundance of resources available from zerotothree to help military families cope as well as resources for others who are dealing with children that have parents deployed.  This is so important and I have had a lot of experience working with military families.  Children don’t understand what is going on and need a lot of help with transitions and care.

ZERO TO THREE is proud to support military and Veteran families. We work to increase awareness and collaboration throughout military and civilian communities so that professionals who work with parents and children can more effectively care for babies, toddlers, and their military-connected families. Our board books developed for toddlers, our informative booklets for parents, and our professional guides all focus on strategies to help strengthen the resilience of our babies and toddlers in military and Veteran families so they will have a strong start in life.

One of the major issues that zerotothree focused on this week is screen time for young children.  I received an email with a downloadable flyer that explains the common myths about screen time.  All screen time is not negative for young children but should be content appropriate, be time limited and parents or caregivers should attempt to be involved so that they can help the young children make connections to the world around them as the learn from the content (zertothree.org)

Click to access 5-myths-infographic.pdf

http://www.icrichild.org

International Child Resource Institute is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the lives of children and families around the world. We focus on early childhood care and education, children’s rights, empowerment of women and girls, maternal/child health, and grassroots community development. ICRI believes that we should only go where we are invited, and all of our programs advance local leadership and promote community collaboration. Since ICRI was founded in 1981, we have developed or operated over 300 programs in over 50 countries, all with the goal of empowering the village to raise the child (www.icrichild.org)

25 different countries and/or organizations have blogs that are linked to the International Child Resource Institute.  Each blog has the latest work that that country or organization is currently involved in as far as world child advocacy.  One of the current blogs posted by New Zealand discusses a world forum that will be occurring in early 2015 and a conference that will be the first of its kind

Architects, landscape architects, educators, and environmental advocates will gather March 11 – 14, 2015, to explore high-level universal principles necessary in designing effective and inspiring indoor and outdoor spaces for children.

They expect to have representatives from 25 different countries at this forum.