Looking a little deeper... zero to three

•  A specific section that really has stuck out for me is the mental health section under the behavior and development tab.  Currently, I have three students who are currently under evaluation for mental health issues.  It is something that I have not dealt with and I am trying to do my best to help them through their day.  It has proven to be challenging to help them each individually and to use strategies that are very beneficial for them.  They are all very different children, but they share the same common characteristic of violent outburst.  I would highly recommend looking through some of the articles. 

I read an article from the website called, getting ready for school begins at birth. The article gives great ideas on what to do with your child, but it does use the term "school readiness." I have grown not to love this term because all kids are ready for school, they may not have certain skill sets, but will be coming to school regardless if they are ready.  To me, the term feels like you have to be 'ready' in order to attend school.  However, besides the term the article offers great ideas for parents, one that would be very beneficial to handout to parents to help in all academic areas and social/emotional development.   I wonder if a different terminology would be more appropriate?

I searched for neuroscience on the website and I was linked to a podcast called, Early childhood development and public policy: closing the gap between what we know and what we do.  It talked about closing the achievement gap here in America and how research as proven time and time again that a early start helps children who at risk tremendously in the future. This issue I think is really important when we are considering issues and trends in early childhood.  We see it all the time the achievement gap when children are in elementary school and we see children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds being referred to special education services.  This falls into education reform and working from the bottom up, instead like Dr. Grace mentions this week working from the top down.  We must start with our youngest learners!

Link to podcast  

Professional Contact... slow to respond, going with podcast

Since I last posted I have established 3 professional contacts.  They agreed to work with me and answer questions, however I have yet to hear back from them after are initial e-mail.  So with that being said, I am on to the podcasts.

I went to World Forum Radio and clicked on the most resent podcast which was dated 2/10/11.  I am glad that I clicked on it because I was immediately hooked.  Susan Lyon, the speaker of this particular podcast, got her start in the education world while working with children with special needs.  She told a story of working with a little boy who was trying to read the word "city" and once she told him what it was he said "such a small word for such a big place."  This was her "ah-ha" moment, she was able to see the window to children's mind and wanted to learn more about how they see/understand the world.  She became interested in the Reggio Emilia approach, as she thought it was progressives.  She was so inspired that she started the Innovated Teacher Project (http://www.innovativeteacherproject.org/) in San Francisco. She wanted to see quality work happen in the public sector. The Reggio Emilia Approach was the foundation of pilot project for the San Francisco Unified School District.  There was a focus on the Reggio approach as well as professional development and teacher research. Teachers spent time observing and listening to children and documenting their work.  It was not just teacher collaboration but community collaboration that made it such a success.

I enjoy finding out new organization that have found success in what they have sought out to do.  It is uplifting to see that our thoughts and ideas can happen. 

www.innovativeteacherproject.org

Zero to Three

I chose to look at the nonprofit organization Zero to Three because I wanted to learn more about the organization. Also, because I am a high needs special education teacher for kindergarten and first grade, about have my students cognitively are at a 9 month-3 years age range.  I feel like this website might give me more insight to brain development and more developmentally appropriate activities for some of my students.

http://www.zerotothree.org/

Zero to Three strives to promote healthy development for infants and toddlers.  Their mission is to provide parents, policymakers and professionals with the training and support they need to help improve the lives of our youngest learners.

Check out the video on the front page of the website.  One person in the video I would like to highlight is Richard Atlas, the founder of Atlas Family Foundation.  He use to be a partner for Goldman Sachs and states, "... it became very evident and very early on that the highest return in investment is investing in very young children."  It was nice to see that a non-educational person it is able to see the value in our youngest children. 

One issue/trend that is being promoted was the how important play is to a child's development.  The website provides parents with information on how to play with their child and why play is so important.  http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/play/make-the-most-of-playtime.html

Another highlight of the website is the download of the week.  It offers something educators could give to parents or educators can use for themselves. This week is healthy food development.  It is on the right hand side of the main page. 

Looking abroad... finding a professional contact

Finding a professional contact in another country seems to be more difficult than I thought.  I have e-mailed over 10 people with different organizations and counties.  I used the Global Alliance and UNICEF websites.  I have not made any contacts yet, but feel I might be able to find something in a week or two.  Dr. Dartt also gave me some names of other contacts I might be able to make.  I have also e-mailed professors from my undergraduate degree to see if they might be able to lead me in a certain direction.


I really like the idea of this assignment and I hope that I am able to make some contacts to learn more about early childhood in other countries and more specifically special education.  When I was in my undergraduate I worked with a professor to learn more about special education preschool services in India.  I choose other Asian countries so that I could try and compare. 

I will be looking at the zero to three organization.  I picked this organization because I have used it before and after talking with my mother, who is a birth to five pre-school coordinator, she recommended that I could get a lot out of this site.

http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/