Sharing Web Resources: ISSA & Home Visits

I have chosen to focus on the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), http://www.issa.nl/. I learned from the information on the website that this organization works to connect early childhood professionals and programs while promoting “equal access to quality education and care for all children, especially in the early years of their lives.” Its focus is on providing educational services and advocacy tools for children and families, especially those ages birth through primary school. Although ISSA is a global organization, its “core members are the 29 nongovernmental organizations, located primarily in Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia.” (ISSA, 2011).

The ISSA website does not have a weekly newsletter, but it does have a newsletter: ISSA Newsletter. I looked at its most current newsletter, Winter 2010-2011 and chose to read the article “Interview with Hea Algus, Estonia on Home Visiting." I chose to read this article and look at the topic of home visits because we have been talking about home visits and how changing demographics affect them so I was interested in another perspective.

The Family Visiting Program of Hea Algus is an Estonian program that reaches out to at-risk families through weekly visits with individual families and monthly activities for all families in the program. (Hea Algus is the program in Estonia that is associated with ISSA.) The interview was conducted with Liivi Türbsal, Executive Director of Hea Algus and she talks about how the need for the program’s home visits “came from the concern that there were many families in Tartu in which the parents lacked the skills and knowledge to develop and interact with their children and create a supportive environment for them.” (ISSA Newsletter, 2010- 2011).

The part that struck me as most relevant to this week’s topic is how the program restructured due to the needs of the community’s changing demographics. It was founded in 1997 but began to work solely with at-risk families in 2000 and then expanded to meet the needs of families with children birth-7 years rather than birth-3 years (ISSA Newsletter, 2010- 2011). This gave me a new angle to think about for the issue of changing demographics: it’s may not just be the diversity of languages and cultures that are changing; changing demographics also encompasses socioeconomic statuses and age groups too.

Reading about the Family Visiting Program of Hea Algus was really interesting and I saw that it had the same goals as home visiting programs here in the US do: to support child development through educating parents. We have been talking about how family visitors should reflect the populations that they are serving; the family visitors in the Hea Algus program have backgrounds in "medicine, special education, speech and language therapy, social work, or psychology" plus additional training (ISSA Newsletter, 2010-2011). Having a wide range of fields involved probably helps meet the needs of the families the program serves. 

Here is the link to the Hea Algus website if you are interested, I found it really informative and it has information on its home visiting program (you may have to translate it though!): http://www.heaalgus.ee/.

References:

International Step by Step Association (ISSA). (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.issa.nl/

ISSA Newsletter. (Winter 2010-2011). Retrieved from ISSA website: http://www.issa.nl/newsletter/10/winter/network2.html

Expanding Resources

I am really interested in learning about education and development from an international perspective… actually I think I am sometimes more interested in what is happening abroad than here (probably the reason why I have my BA in International Studies!). So I am super excited about establishing a professional contact from outside of the US, this will be a great resource to have and learn from!

I looked at the Global Alliance of NAEYC’s website (http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance) for the email addresses of some potential contacts. I am interested in the Central European/Asian region so I chose some email addresses from that area and emailed them…unfortunately some emails were returned as the addresses were not correct and some I just did not hear back from. So the next day I researched some more and sent out more emails. I am hoping to get an email back soon…I sent out quite a few emails so with any luck I will end up with 2 or 3 contacts, but for now I do have 1 contact! An early childhood professional in Bulgaria has agreed to be my professional contact, I am looking forward to learning more about his work and program!

In addition to this, I am looking forward to expanding other resources. I have chosen to focus on the International Step by Step Association (ISSA). The website for this organization is http://www.issa.nl/. It was hard to narrow it down to one website, but this program seems really interesting and ISSA is the organization that my contact works for-so it will be neat to learn more about the program in general and then learn about it through his perspective and experiences.  

My Supports

I am lucky to have a strong support system, something that I have especially realized this past year after the birth of my son and raising him as a single mom. I think that the biggest factor in my support system is my family. My family has supported me emotionally (by giving me encouragement, love, and acceptance), practical support (watching my son when I am at work), financially (helping provide food and shelter for us) and physically (helping care for my son when I had a sprained wrist and could not easily lift him!). I have other supports that I rely on besides my family; I have my friends and colleagues for emotional support, a daily planner for practical support (to keep track of my work schedule, lists, appointments, etc.), and a vehicle and stroller for physical support (so that I can get to work and take my son places without having to carry him all the time!) If I did not have these supports in my life, I think things would be a lot more difficult. It would be hard to get my daily tasks done and hard to provide the care my son needs.

One asset that I have is that I am familiar with the area I live in (I was born and raised here in San Diego) and I speak the dominant language fluently. I imagined that if I were to move to a foreign country where I did not know my way around and did not speak the dominant language I would face many challenges.  I would imagine that the supports I would need would include access to someone who could help me translate, a map or directory of services (such as grocery stores, hospitals, child care, etc.), and access to transportation, whether it be public or private. If I were in a foreign country and did not know my way around and did not speak the dominant language, it would be hard to complete my daily tasks and provide for my son without supports such as these. Without access to translation, I could not ask questions, receive help, or communicate with anyone. Without knowing where services were I would not be able to have access to the doctor in case of emergency or shop for food. And without transportation, or knowledge of how to use the transportation, I would not be able to go anywhere that was not within walking distance.

Imaging having a challenge like this really makes me thankful for the supports that I do have in my life. It also helps put things in perspective of why it is so important for professionals to help provide supports to the families and children we work with-we might not be aware of the challenges that they are faced with!    

My Connections to Play

Me playing outside, 1991

“A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.” -Bill Vaughn 

“Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.” -William Stafford

Growing up, my siblings were my playmates and we were outside playing constantly, rain or shine. We did not have many material toys but we played with everything-rocks, shells, flowers, leaves-anything we could get our hands on. We imagined everything, we could be on a boat, in another country, escaping from somewhere…the possibilities were endless! We used our imaginations and everything became a toy but I think one of the essential play items was dirt. It sounds strange, but that was what my siblings and I played with the most. We could build mountains, cook soups, throw it, garden…we were always playing with dirt!

Me playing in the dirt, 1989

 When I wasn’t playing with my siblings, or when we were playing inside, I was playing with my stuffed rabbit, Yellow Bunny. I could imagine anything with my Yellow Bunny, he could be a baby or a friend; he could talk and go on adventures with me. Yellow Bunny was my constant companion and essential play object- he could even turn a long trip in the car into an adventure because we could play anything!

My sister and playing dress-up
with Yellow Bunny, 1991

My parents were very supportive of our play. My mom was always encouraging us to go play outside and gave us scraps of cloth for our doll’s blankets or old buttons for our treasures. She would help us think of ideas and adventures to go on and never laughed at our games, even though looking back now, some of them were pretty silly!

I think play has started to change from the time I was young. Today it seems that more and more children are playing inside and not using their imaginations as much, on the computer or with video games- or not even engaging in play at all and instead watching TV. Play is not really encouraged in school anymore with the stress on academic achievements, standards, and accountability so I think that true play and its importance is being lost on the future generations. I always try to encourage my students to play, but I can only do so much when they are tempted by a shiny electronic at home and not encouraged to imagine. Hopefully some of the play skills they learn with me will become ingrained and they will develop a love for play that they can carry on and share! I also hope to pass on my love of play to my son. He too loves the outdoors and playing with rocks and sticks. At 14 months, he has so much to learn about the world; he does not have many material toys either but I encourage him to play with things around the house…right now his favorite “toys” are the potatoes in the cupboard-he could play with these forever!

My son playing, 2010

Hopefully the importance of play is recognized, both in the classroom and at home. Play helps foster healthy development in so many ways and can lead to academic success as well. The benefits of play are not just found in early childhood, they carry on through adulthood as well!

Immunizations

Immunizations are an important part of child development. Since immunizations have been developed and their use has become widespread, many diseases have been prevented and childhood death rates have gone down. I recently took my son in for his 12 month well-baby visit and I was amazed at how many vaccinations he received just at this visit-a total of 6!

Schools in the United States (and many childcare programs as well) require that children’s vaccines are up to date before they can attend. This helps ensure that children are receiving their vaccinations and helps prevent outbreaks.

However, vaccines are not available to many children worldwide-often times due to their high cost. In 2009, a new initiative, Advance Market Commitment (AMC) was launched to help fund the “development and manufacturing of new vaccines for developing nations” as well as help set guaranteed prices for the vaccines and allow countries to start planning immunization programs for when the vaccines are available (Luffman, 2011).

In Nicaragua, between 80-99% (depending on the vaccination) of children are immunized with the available immunizations (UNICEF). Nicaragua was the first developing country to receive vaccines from AMC when the pneumococcal vaccination program was launched in December 2010.  Pneumococcal diseases (such as pneumonia) are the cause of death for 1/5 of Nicaragua’s children under the age of 5 (Luffman, 2011) so this program could potentially prevent many deaths.

I am lucky that my son has access to so many vaccinations and hopefully the AMC initiative will help many more children and families gain access to them as well. AMC’s goal is to include 40+ countries in its pneumococcal vaccination program by 2015- it’s estimated that if reached this could potentially save 900,000 children’s lives (Luffman, 2011)!

Researching this topic helped me gain more knowledge about the importance of immunizations in early childhood. In this field, it is important to learn about all aspects of child development, including health. The information that I gained about this topic can be shared with parents and families-one resource that I found particularly informative on vaccines was the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/.

References:

 AMC: Advance Market Commitment for Vaccines. (2007). Vaccine AMCs. Retrieved from: http://www.vaccineamc.org/index.html.

Luffman, Laurinda. (5 January 2011). Children in Nicaragua are first to receive new pneumonia vaccine. SOS Children’s Villages. Retrieved from: http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity-news/children-in-nicaragua-are-the-first-to-receive-new-pneumonia-vaccine.

UNICEF. (2 March 2010). Statistics: Nicaragua. UNICEF. Retrieved from:  

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nicaragua_statistics.html.

Thinking About Child Development...

For me, thinking about child development is thinking about a bright future…children have so much potential and as professionals we can help guide them on the right path. Even a child facing adversity still has the chance to succeed! 

"Miss Jen and Logan Picking Flowers"
December 2010

This is a picture that one of my students gave me, I love it because I think that it shows that children are so eager to learn- it's a picture of her and me (her teacher!) picking flowers.

To me, child development is an amazing topic and I am lucky to be a part of this field. This quote captures how I feel:

“Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.” C. Everett Koop

Children are the future and it is wonderful to be able to work with them and help give them a bright start. 

…And just a quick note; it has been so interesting to learn other’s perspectives, I just want to say thank you for sharing your support, encouragement and wisdom with me, this has been a wonderful journey so far! Thanks!

Assessing Children

In the US school system today, there is much focus on assessing students. On a large scale, schools assess students to see the school’s performance as a whole compared to other schools. In fact, here in California, many teachers “teach to the test” and do not go outside the curriculum that is on the test because the school’s test scores are tied to the school’s funding. School’s overall test scores determine how much money the state will allocate to the school-a vicious cycle is created as schools with low scores receive less funding and face possible closure or restructuring but are lacking the money to spend on new resources and equipment. According to the state, testing serves as a way to hold schools “accountable” and if the school is successful it can be labeled as such (California Department of Education). The testing includes the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program tests grades 2-11 annually and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) for seniors in high school (California Department of Education). The focus then becomes on the assessments that the students take and the curriculum focuses on state standards, assessments, and goals, sadly leaving out many subjects and areas of interest that are not on the test.

On a smaller scale, students are individually assessed to see where they are compared to the rest of the students. If students are at the lower end of the spectrum they may repeat a grade or be placed in a modified class. They may also be assessed to see if they need extra accommodations or supports.

The school system in France is also based largely off of assessments. There are three main stages of schools in France: primary school, secondary school (collège), and lycée. School is compulsory for students aged 6-16 (6 year olds start at primary school) but almost all children attend la maternelle, (nursery school), between the ages of 2 and 5 (Mills). All students go through primary school and secondary school. At the end of secondary school, an assessment is given that determines which lycée the student may attend. The lycée a student attends may be either a general, technical, or vocational one, and each lycée prepares students for a corresponding assessment at the end called le baccalauréat- passing this examination allows entry into higher education and acts as a diploma (Mills).

National assessments are given to students twice in primary school to “identify pupils struggling in school” (France). Students who are seen to be struggling are given extra help from supervised tutoring and/or specialists. In some cases, the student may be placed in a special program that includes adapted classes. These programs either have classes that are integrated into the primary school and secondary school or a completely adapted curriculum that gears students toward achieving a certificat d'aptitude professionnel instead of le baccalauréat (Mills).

I think that if schools are committed to viewing young children holistically, then the focus should not necessarily be on assessments. Children have multiple intelligences and often assessments do not take into account social or cultural contexts nor do they focus on other aspects of the child. However, assessments can be beneficial in seeing whether a child qualifies for needed accommodations or supports and making sure that they stay on track to succeed, but assessments also should be socially, culturally, and developmentally appropriate.

References:

California Department of Education. (22 January 2010). Testing & Accountability. Retrieved from California Department of Education: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/

Mills, Ian C. and the Wharton Group. (1997-2010). EDUCATION in FRANCE. Retrieved from Discover France: http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Education/DF_education.shtml#Structure