Research that Benefits Children and Families

Option 2:
Imagine that you possess the means and the knowledge to conduct research studies about any topic in the early childhood field. Imagine further that you are not restricted by the reality of the present. Imagine that your study will make a major positive contribution to the well-being of children and/or their families. What topic would you choose? What can you imagine the positive contribution(s) would be?

I would do research on ways to decrease medications for children with behavioral disorders. I selected this topic because I use to be a case manager and one of the children that was on my case was diagnosed with almost every type of behavioral and emotional disorder (as well as her mother). She had to take certain medications in the morning before she was allowed to walk in the school building (she would be out of control if she did not take them.. so the teachers said) but when she did take them.. the mixture of all the meds would make her sleepy resulting her getting sent home for going to sleep during class time. So this was a no win situation for her. I use to wonder if there was other treatment that she could take so that she could interact within the class on a daily basis.
The research I am conducting is ways to treat children with multiple behavioral/emotional disorders without taking the medicine. I would take a group of children and divide them into three groups. One group would remain the same (stay on all the meds they are already on). The other group would be taken off of all meds completely and provided therapy and a mentor during the day. The last group would be given placebo pills just to see if the children are calming down because of his or her mind telling them that they are on the bills this group will receive the same therapy that the middle group is receiving.
In the end I am hoping that my study will allow parents to be able to decrease the amount of pills that their children who have been diagnosed with behavioral disorders will have to take and be able to live normal lives through therapy. Many families have to watch their children take multiple pills just to be able to stay in school. These pills can not be good for their over all health.

My Personal Research Journey

 My chosen research stimulation is Why men tend to shy away from the Early Childhood Field and the impact of more males in the early Childhood Field.

I selected this topic because I really wanted to find out why so many men tend to stay away from early childhood education. Many will teach your higher grades but like to stay away from teaching the early learners. I also selected this topic because my husband came to me one day and said that he would hire a foreman (he owns a construction company) and work with me. I thought he was joking so I did not respond. Later when I sat down and thought about how great the idea sound I went back to him and took him up on his offer. But, now I can not get him to make the switch. He says what so many other males have said, which is "how would I look working in a daycare center?" I said "you will look like  a man working along side his wife in our Childcare center assisting children as they develop in the early years." I try to explain to him that with some many young boys in the early childhood field that they need men working with them instead of so many females.  This most have scared him because he has never brought the issue back up and changes it when I try to bring it up.
My question to you all is should I blend the to together or does this sound like two different topics?

 I do not see anything wrong with this picture. My husband said "of course he will do that, he is older and probably retired."

Final Blog Assignment

Some consequences of learning about the international early childhood field is that I was given chance to learn about life for professional in the early childhood field as well as children in other areas. I was able to see that other places stuggle in this field just like the USA. When I look at some of the issues we have in America I can breath a little easier because after taking this course I see that other countries have a harder struggle than we do. Another consequence is that we as professionals are not in this alone. We have individuals advocating on the behalf of the ealry childhood field all over the world.
I was not able to contact any other professionals in the field but I gained a lot of insight by reading the post of classmates who were able to contact other professionals.
One goal for the field is for all of us early childhood professionals to be able to connect some kind of way and advocate for change together.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Adolescent girls in the northern Tanzania districts of Shinyanga Rural, Kahama and Micheweni are confronted with poverty, early marriage and pregnancy and an overall low prioritization of education in their communities.

Reading this information is so unfair for the females in this area. I work with the young people at my church and I showed them this because this year we have four children grauduating and two are males and two are females and the weird thing is the boys want to go to college and the females are having to be pushed. The boys had to be pushed to finish high school. One of the boys was pushed all the way from his early years in school.

“presuming competence"

The principle of “presuming competence,” is to  Assume that a child has intellectual ability, provide opportunities to be exposed to learning, assume the child wants to learn and assert him or herself in the world. To not presume competence is to assume that some individuals cannot learn, develop, or participate in the world.  Presuming competence is nothing less than a Hippocratic oath for educators. It is a framework that says, approach each child as wanting to be fully included, wanting acceptance and appreciation, wanting to learn, wanting to be heard, wanting to contribute.  By presuming competence, educators place the burden on themselves to come up with ever more creative, innovative ways for individuals to learn.  The question is no longer who can be included or who can learn, but how can we achieve inclusive education.  We begin by presuming competence.

So many times educators think the exact opposite. They look at a child and assume things that are not there or they might be there but due to the child's environment and we as professionals do not work with them to the level that we need to.

Sharing Web Resources

I went to event tab on The Divison for Early Childhood website. I thought it was very neat that it had a spot to allow outsiders to be able to upload events that they are having for early childhood programs to the site. This is really good because it gives the world a chance to see and participate in local advocating. Also they have a lot going on in the month of April for children and their families.
As I was searching one area of the site I saw where a father was reaching out trying to get his son in an ealry childhood program and was having problems because of his son handicap and everyone giving him "professional" reasons for why they could not enroll him.
There is a new forum that is about to take place for addressing challenging Behavior and it is a National Training that is going to take place.
This website showed me that their is still a lot of inequity that takes place for young children with disabilities and after reading I think it is higher in this area than any other age group.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

One new insight that I got from reading the Harvard website was that the issue with childhood development and growth is a worldwide issue. It’s not just one nation struggling to figure out how to handle childhood poverty, or early childhood programs. I feel that it should be a unified national seminar to take place so that we as a nation can get things right for our young people.   After reading the article on global child development my thoughts are that if we can stop coming up with so many theories and work the ones that are already there to find a answer we might have to progress with early childhood.

After reading the article on the Harvard website National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs I sat and wondered about why investors have to see the payback before they decided whether on not it is beneficial to invest in early childhood programs. I wonder if these investors have children of their own and how important the early childhood years were to them.

(http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/),

Sharing Web Resources

The website of an organization that I have been studying is http://www.dec-sped.org/, The Division of Early Childhood. The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) is an international membership organization for those who work with or on behalf of young children with disabilities and other special needs.  I have been studying the website because it really touched home with me. I own and operate a child care center and when I first started out I had a lady to call for care for her 5 month son. He had several disabilites. At the time I did not take him, it was not because I was discriminating but due to my lack of knowledge with working with chidren in their early years with disabilities. After finding this site I felt that many children with disabilities probably go through the same thing this little boy went through. And this is probably very stressful for his mother. This website overs parents, and caregivers a place to go to get information or chat with one another for support.
I gained more understanding for how they view ealry childhood and disabilities one of the enew letters for this week was Department Announces New Effort to Strengthen Accountability for Students with Disabilities

Moving from Compliance-Focused Approach to One Driven by Results

March 2, 2012 they stated that with all the funding that is going into these programs children with disabilties should not be treated any differntly or held to lower standards.

China and poverty

China is the the world's most populous country with a population of 1.27 billion and has the highest percentage of  people suffering from poverty. Somewhere between 15 and 31 million people live in poverty.  This could be the result of many factors.  One of the main reasons could be because the national poverty line is low by international standards, meaning that many more people live close to poverty.
China's transition from a centrally planned to a globalised market economy has helped reduce chronic poverty and disadvantage, but also created new forms of vulnerability and poverty. Although they are coming up with ways to reduce the percentage of people on poverty, it is only benefiting parts of China.
Another reason for China having such a high poverty rate is the ongoing restructuring of state-owned enterprises. The state sector lost 31 million jobs. Not enough new jobs in the non-state sector have yet been created and an estimated 14.6 million are without a full-time job - an unemployment rate of 12.3 per cent
4.2 million Chinese children live in absolute poverty and 8.7 million live in disadvantaged conditions. Many parents can not afford the cost to send their children to school or medical insurance or medical bills.
Poverty is really hindering children from being able to develop. Many countries are too busy focusing on the dollar amount that parents bring home that they are failing to look at the children.

References
 Poverty Among Children in Urban China: A survey of poverty-affected families in three cities

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

It is so neat to get to meet and talk to other early professionals in other parts of the world. Unfortunately for me at this point I have not been able to make contact with any professionals yet. But I feel that by Monday I will have contact and talked with someone.  My first contact that I am waiting to here from is from The Global Alliance of NAEYC out of the African region his name is Rev Charles Arko-Nunoo. I selected him for two  reasons, One because he is a male and two because he is a Rev. and I really want to get to know a lot about his work with the early childhood field. The second professional is Garderai Essaada from Morocco. I feel that I have a better chance hearing from the female. I really don't know why though.  I am prepared to do the alternate assignment (which I did) but I am really looking forward to hearing back from one of the other professionals.
I selected this website for part 2..
National Black Child Development Institutehttp://nbcdi.org/
(Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/ ) not because I am an African American but because I love to read about the diverse way in which people from the same race think and act.

My Supports

To me support means being there to assist someone or something. To help keep something from falling.
I am going to  imagine a specific challenge that I do not currently have and the supports that I would want. I am going to imagine myself bedridden for a month (God forbid).  I would have to rely on my support system to take care of me  first and foremost, my children, my home, buying groceries for that month, cooking, paying the bills. I would need my support system to run my business. OMG... my support system is well needed and this gave me time to look over my support system and say "Thank You." Many times a person does not realize the value of something until it is well needed.
Looking at factors right now in my daily life that are supportive to me I would have to start with my family support system. Along with this support system I get my emotional, physical, practical, and almost any other kind of support a person can think of. My husband is very supportive. He is right there beside me to assist me in keeping the house under control. He supports my educational needs because during the hours that I need to focus on my school work, he makes sure that I am not interrupted. Having three children and owning a childcare center requires me to lean on various support systems. My mother is there for me when I need someone to step in a take care of my three active boys. Without her I would not have made it through college or various stages in my life. My sister is there for me in the same way. She sometimes come over and cook dinner when I am running over at the daycare. She makes sure the boys have their homework complete and OMG she makes sure I don't come home to a dirty house.
My employee that I have to assit me at the daycare is a much needed support. Anytime I need to step away from the center be it personal or business, she is right there to help me make it through the day.
The families that have children enrolled in the center provide monetary support. If they pulled their children out I would not have a business.
My church family is a major support to me as well. When I am having a rough time or just need some inspirational motivation, I can turn to my church family.
My children are as well... They are there to make mommy's life joyful.. They are always asking how my day went and doing little things to make me laugh when they feel that I am stressed. They tried to join together to clean house one time.. omg.. water was running on the floor, and my clothes ended up red. But I had to laugh after I got over the shock. It made me happy to know they care enough to try and help.
I have friends that are there to help me make it through the day. Without these supports I do not know how I would function. I do not think I could.

"My Connections To Play"

One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination.  ~Sam Levenson
Always jump in the puddles!  Always skip alongside the flowers.  The only fights worth fighting are the pillow and food varieties.  ~Terri Guillemets
I have always had the most amazing imaginations. I was either sitting on the steps looking at the clouds making images or playing in the water or my moms flower bed. I could sit in the yard and allow my mind to take me to any place I wanted to be. I loved childhood play. I was the best mother and teacher.

I always had to have a doll baby. Playing mommy was one of my favorite things to play. My sister was not all that into doll babies, so every year I ended up with two babies for Christmas. I love doll babies!!!!

I enjoyed playing with my frieuds on the swing set. I always had one when I was younger, When one got old we bought another. I could swing so high and then jump while in the air.  Childhood... You have to love it!!!

My parents always allowed me to use my imagination. And I did. When I was younger we were not allowed to just sit in the house. Everyday we had to go outside and play until it was dinner time. My parents did not hinder me from playing. They allowed me to play with the other children in my neighborhood. And most of all they would go outside and play right along with us.
Play today is nothing like play when I was growing up. I'm only 29 and my sons do not know how to enjoy play like I did. They would perfer to sit in the house in front of the television playing video games. They act like they don't know how to play the childhood games we played. When I was growing up I could play in the woods and that is not allowed now. We could run around outside without shoes on and just enjoy. I think we (parents) do not enforce play like our parents did.
I feel that one is never too old to play. Play makes the life longer and more enjoyable. It takes away stress. I say a person is never to busy to enjoy hours of play

Relationship Reflection

Having someone to depend on, having a shoulder to lean on. Having someone there through the good times, sad times, happy times, and the emotional times. Sharing love. Having someone to talk to for hours about nothing. Having someone to be real and honest with you in a way that helps you grow. Knowing that someone cares about what you care about. Having a ear to listen and provide wisdom.  Most of all being able to return everything just stated. Being a part of someones life. These are a few of the reason why relationships are important to me.

Hope Riddick-My sister and best friend. We share more than just one type of relationship. We started out as siblings and developed a friendship. She is always there for me no matter what.  She keeps me grounded and straight. We maintain this close relationship by being honest and knowing our boundaries.
Linda Riddick- My mother and friend. OMG... I could write a book about this awesome lady. She really cool to me and a joy to be around. Glad I can call her "friend". She is my role model, to be like her makes me a lovely, beautiful woman of God. We are able to maintain our friendship because I know no matter how close we are she is still my mother and I have enough respect to stay in my place.
Nina Boyce- Best Friend in the World and Cousin. We are so close we carry the title sister. We have always been there for one another every since we were younger. Complete opposites in almost every way but our differences make us stronger and closer. We maintain our relationship by respecting each others difference and respecting one another.
My employees at my daycare. We have a positive professional relationship. Although I am their boss I treat them like people and I respect and value their opinions and they treat me the same.
Gary Arline- Cousin and friend. We are very close almost like brother and sister. We have learned to respect one another. We use to debate everything all the time and end up fussing(all the time). But over time we have learned to respect one another and value one another's opinion.
My biggest insight to challenges to develop and maintain relationships that I've discovered is knowing your boundaries and respecting other people. Not always quick to give your opinion and then get mad when someone gives you theirs back. I had to learn to close my mouth at times because I have a way of dominating a conversation and cutting people off to get my words in.

A relationship is defined as " the way two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected a partnership is defined as individuals who share or associated with another in some action or endeavor.  I view myself and these individuals as having more of a relationship over partnership.

My experiences with relationships will help me because I've learned how to treat people, value people's opinions and differences through these relationships. I've learned how to treat a person the way I would want to be treated. Working in early childhood all of this is very important because we encounter diverse people on a daily basis many of whom are family to the children we work with and we need to know how to develop and maintain a working relationship with them.