Professional Hopes and Goals: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Early Childhood Settings

We should enjoy every tree in the forest.

Every tree is valuable.
Have you heard the saying “Can't see the trees for the forest”?  That is how many people look at Early Childhood programs.  The “forest” is the total program but the “trees” are the families and children.  The forest/program may be beautiful but the trees/families and children make it beautiful.

lEach tree has it's own qualities and traits.  Some do well with a little help and some need more attention to grow to their full potential.

Unlike trees,all children need our help and some children need more attention to develop to their full potential. 

l

Volunteer "Grandpa" has time to talk

Hispanic family in program

                                  

     

What kind of trees are in the forest?   Translation – what children, families and volunteers are in your program?

  

lThe families entering Early Childhood programs come from diverse cultures.  They may speak a language other than English as their first language.

lThey may come from various socio-economic backgrounds. They may enroll a child with different abilities.

l

 

The challenge for early childhood educators is to become more knowledgeable about how to relate to children and families whose linguistic or cultural background is different from their own (NAEYC 1995).

  I further add that the early childhood educators can not shy away from reaching out to those families whose children may have differing abilities, not just special needs but also children who are gifted and talented.

 

  For the optimal development and learning of all children, educators must accept…respect…value…promote and encourage the active involvement and support of all families, including extended and nontraditional family units (NAEYC 1995).  These are the elements for a strength-based program.

                        

   

Acknowledge and Support Nontraditional Families

 

Support of children with Special needs

Children learn about each other through play

Acknowledge that children can demonstrate their knowledge and capabilities in many ways

     

Support All Children and Families

 

A Strong Forest is filled with different trees.  A strong and clear path will lead to success.

My hopes are that children and families feel respected, comfortable and included in programs designed to serve them.

My goal is to work with Early Childhood professionals who will be responsible for creating and implementing the programs that are anti-biased, inclusive, diverse, and stand for social justice.

To my colleagues, this course has allowed us to take a good hard look at ourselves and see the good and not so good parts of our social identities.  I have enjoyed our discussions, and I have learned about myself through reading them.

I wish you all the best as we continue our educational quests.  Please have a safe and Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice and a Happy New Year.

                                                              References

Dearman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J.O. (2010) Anti-Bias Education for Children and
     Ourselves Washington , DC:  National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1995) Responding to Linguistic and
     Cultural Diversity Recommendations for Effective Early Childhood Education A position
     statement of the National Association for the Education of Young Children Retrieved from

    http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSDIV98.PDF

Welcoming Families From Around the World - Our Family from Sri Lanka

 Our child development center just recieved word that a family from Sri Lanka will be starting next week.  We have enough time to prepare for their arrival.
First, I contact the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington, DC to find out family hierarchy.  I want to show respect to the leader of the family.
I ask where the nearest consulate is located and/or if there are Sri Lankan communities in our city.
Second, I contact the community leaders to ask about the availability of translators of the official language, Sinhala.  I ask how children show respect to their elders.  I ask about customs.  I ask them to tell me something they think I should know.
Third, I consult with the translator to learn essential words the teachers and I will need for the children.  Words for  welcome, hello, good-bye, bathroom, rest and eat, and Mommy will be back to pick you up are vital to know.
Fourth, I meet with the teachers to give them information about the family, where they are from, the different religions in the country, the family hierarchy and all other information the community leaders shared with me.  I would also require them to research the Sri Lankan culture and where it is located in the world.

 

The fifth step before their arrival, I would have the teachers make a welcome sign for the children and family entering their classroom, written in their first language and in English with a picture of their country's map.

I feel these preparations would benefit me by learning more about a country and culture I know nothing about.  This would increase my knowledge base and help me feel comfortable with the new family.

I feel these preparations benefit the family because they would see the thought that went into their arrival.  They would feel truly welcomed.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression- I didn't know I felt like that!

When my niece "came out", I felt disappointment.  I didn't know I felt like that.



When my brother married a white woman, I felt he was a "lost brother".  I didn't know I felt like that.





When my daughter weighed over 250lbs., I felt disgusted.  I didn't know I felt like that.




When another niece had 3 babies in 2 years, by the time she turned 21, I thought she was stupid.  I didn't know I felt like that.





When my aged mother-in-law moved in with us and needed constant attention.  I felt her old age was a nuisance.  I didn't know felt like that.





Fortunately, maturity and life's lessons changed my thoughts and feelings of those emotions. Those bias', prejudices and oppressive behaviors no longer exist for me.

My niece, who happens to be a lesbian, is beautiful and talented.  Who she chooses to love, is her business. This is how I feel.
My brother is open and honest.  Who he chooses to love is his business.  This is how I feel.
My daughter is full figured and a big beautiful woman, the more to love.  This is how I feel.
My niece has 3 healthy, happy sons who bring joy and happiness to our whole family.   She continues taking college courses, takes care of her husband, her children and her house.  She astounds me with all she can do.  This is how I feel.
My mother-in-law raised 3 children who are wonderful, law abiding, God loving and faithful.  She deserves to be cared for. A mother can take care of 3 children and now it's time for those 3 children to take care of their 1 mother.  This is how I feel.

People who harbor the toxicity of bias', prejudices and oppression do a disservice to themselves.  Life is full of diversity and opportunities to live and learn through them.  I'm glad I'm open to the experience.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions / No I Didn't Just Hear Her Say That!

When microaggressions occur, they take you by surprise.  You think to yourself, how can anyone be so ignorant in 2011.  We have to remember that these mini attacks sometimes render us speechless and at other times start our blood to boiling. We must also realize that many times microaggressions can be intentional or unintentional. Either of these reactions and actions are detrimental to our equilibrium as human beings.

The experience I observed this week of Thanksgiving involved an activity the children were doing in the classroom.  I heard a volunteer singing and teaching this song, "1 Little, 2 little, 3 little Indians....woo, woo, woo, woo go the Indians, woo,woo, woo, woo go the Indians, now sit down like Indians do".  I could not believe my ears.

I asked the volunteer to step out of the classroom and told her we appreciate her giving her time but the song was inappropriate because it stereotypes Native Americans.  She had committed an unintentional microinsult.  She apologized but said she didn't think it was "that bad".  She then committed a microinvalidation with that statement.  I told her we would be having a workshop soon on cultural diversity and sensitivity and I encouraged her to attend.

Resource

Sue, D.W. (2010). Microaggressions in Everyday Life [Video](2010) Laureate Education, Inc.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I wanted to get responses on the questions of culture and diversity from a range of friends and family members.  To say the least these responses came from a diverse (no pun intended) group of people.

 

Lauren Higgins

Dr. Safisha Hill

       
                                                                                                         

Libba Murphy

       
                                                                      


The first person I asked for their definition of culture and diversity was my friend who is a professor of Black Studies at a local community college, Dr. Safisha Hill, she is 49 years old.  Her responses were, "Culture is how a people live, such as their traditions, religion, family values, even their way of dress.  It is the way they eat, interact with others and their way of life.  I am African-spiritual and it is reflected in how I live, the way I choose to wear my hair, the manner in which I worship, pray, meditate and the way I eat."  "Diversity suggests a mixture of cultures and more importantly, respecting other cultures, even if you don't accept or totally understand their traditions or way of life".






                                                                                                                   

The next person, I asked was my daughter, Lauren Higgins, a Walden University grad student studying Public Administration with a specialization in Non-Profit.  She is 25 years old.  "Culture is the way you live your life.  It includes customs, food, religion and experiences."  "Diversity is differences, mixtures and how they enhance your life."





                                                                   

The last person I posed these questions to was a friend and former co-worker, Libba Murphy, a proud, card carrying Atheist.  She is 65 years old. Culture is your way of life.  It includes traditions, celebrations, how death is mourned, how babies are welcomed into the family, just how things are done.



                                          

Diversity is the acknowledgement of differences.  Embracing diversity and allowing it in your life enhances how you experience the world.  The more you open yourself to diversity the more well rounded you are.






I chose this diverse group to see if their answers would be similar or different from what we have been learning.  I included information about them to demonstrate that diverse groups can have like thinking and be generationally different.  Their educational levels and beliefs are not the same however, their views of both culture and diversity are in line with what we've been studying regarding the subjects.

References

Dearman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J.O. (2010).  Anti-Bias Education for Young Children

      and Ourselves  (2010) Washington, DC:  National Association for the Education of
      Young Children (NAEYC)

Gonzales-Mena, J.  Culture and Diversity [Video](2010) Laureate Education, Inc. 

My Family Culture - Hurry We've Got to Evacuate

We have just been told to gather only three things from our home, as we are being rushed to a waiting boat to take us to higher ground and then to a different country to get us to safety.









I grab our family photo album

I chose the photo album because the pictures represent moments in time that can never be recaptured.  My children will never be babies again.  I will never hug my Grandmother next to the Christmas tree again.  I will graduate from college again but not with my first degree.  So having that album with those memories is priceless and cannot be replaced.



My medicine



I need my medication because it is important that I can stay healthy on this trip. 



Our important documents





 My documents are important in proving who I am.
 

 We arrive in our new country and we're told that only one of the articles, I have, can be brought into the country.  What a dilemma !  What shall I do, what shall I do?  I remember, I took pictures of all of our important documents and placed them in the photo album and I inserted copies of my prescriptions in the album too!! Whew!  The choice is easy.  I'm keeping the photo album.

The insights I gained as a result of this exercise are that I'm not as prepared as I should be for unforeseen disasters.  My family culture has always been to trust in the Lord and he will take care of you.  I believe that and I know the Lord gives us common sense to know that stuff happens.  I do have my photo album close at hand but when thinking of emergency preparedness, I now will insert copies of birth certificates, marriage license, medical information and social security cards in the album.  Better yet, scan everything to my computer and save it to a zip drive.

When I Think of Research...

Learning about research has been an eye opening experience for me.  I have read and continue to read various studies concerning Early Childhood because, it's important to know what is going on in the world of children.

The insights I have gained are:

• Research can be simple or very complex                                            
• Research topics must be clear
• Research topics can checked through other sources
• Research has variables
• Research must be feasible-  make sense
• Research must be equitable
• Research has different components - the question, the method, the hypothesis, the sampling, the data
• Research can be considered male - quantitative
• Research can be considered female - qualitative
• Research can be mixed-method - both quantitative and qualitative
• Research validity  can be accomplished through various triangulations- data, methodological, investigator, theory
• Research above all else, must be ethical



My ideas regarding research have not changed as much as my respect for the process has strengthened.  The time and thought to develop a research study and the follow through to completion means making a commitment to the study.

The lessons I learned about Early Childhood research in planning, is it takes time. The design will provide the data being sought.  Conducting the research means being ethical in all you do.

To be honest, the challenge I encountered was sometimes understanding the terms used.  I would read and reread them in the book and get more confused.  I, at one time thought someone should write a book called Research for Dummies to help me understand what was being said.  I overcame this problem by reading them again and going to a dictionary to look up the terms.  Research means seeking the answer to  questions through the best means available.



As a result of this course and being an Early Childhood Professional, I see those of us in the field as knowledge seekers.  We must always stay apprised of legitimate websites, current studies and ground breaking research concerning early childhood trends to keep pace with the changing world we live in; to be aware and make others aware of what is happening and how it affects children locally to
globally.

I want to thank each of my cohorts in this class, Leslie, Denice and Tonetta for your comments, questions and insights.  They have helped me learn and grow.  I hope I was able to do the same for you.  Please stay encouraged as we venture forth to our next class with the challenges it holds.  I also want to thank Dr. Davis.  Whenever I asked a question, you gave me the answer to help me understand and I appreciate that.  I now feel I can read research as an informed consumer.  I know I still have some more growth to do in citations and I'll continue to do my best.

References

     Johnson, R.B., Onwuegbuzie, A.J., & Turner, L.A. (2007).  Journal of Mixed Methods

Research, 1(2) 112-133 Walden Library Sage Premier 2010 Table 1 pp 119-121

     Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., Siraj-Blatchford, I, (2010).  Doing Early Childhood Research

International Perspectives On Theory & Practice (2nd ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Retrieved from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

Research Around the World

It is so important, as we study research, that we look at what questions are being asked in places other than the United States. 

There are numerous research projects being done and/or already completed that cover: 

• Staff training
• Building community leadership
• Assessment of quality child care services in selected orphanages
• Caring practices of motherless children
• Coordination and supervision of early childhood education
• Culturally and developmentally appropriate exploratory learning concepts
• Parents' and other caregivers' perception of early childhood
• Integrating indigenous knowledge in early childhood development training and services
• Improving the quality of child care through parenting enrichment and training of trainers
• Involving fathers in early childhood care and development

The surprising fact that I found, was many of the studies have an impact, not only on the direct community being studied, but also on the world wide community.  With all the problems in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa, like AIDS, warfare, political struggles, and famine to name a few; the daily welfare of the children and their parents and helping them realize a fuller life, is still a priority.

The noteworthy information is that this website is not common knowledge to many early childhood professionals I work and interact with daily.  I was not aware of the ECDVU-SSA, until this course.  This website has a plethora of information, for review that is useful when contemplating a study on children.

References

Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

The Research Journey of a Lifetime

Option #2 - Alleviating Bullying

My research choice comes from a news report that touched my heart.  A 13 year old child took his life after being bullied for being gay.  There have recently been a number of suicides due to bullying so this is the premise of my research topic.


This would be a longitudinal research project.  The project  would be a collaboration with behavioral researchers in the United States.  The subjects of the study would be every child born in 2012 and their parents.  The length of the project would be until the children reached 18 years of age.    The parents would be asked for their permission, as found in OHRP regulation 45 CFR 46.402(c) and given free parenting classes, which would provide the tools to use in promoting acceptance.  When the children reach 3.8 years of age, they will be asked to assent to the study, unless determined by the IRB (Institutional Review Board), using one of the circumstances in regulation 45 CFR 46.408(a) .  At this time Parents would have the opportunity to remove themselves from the study or to continue on.

The study would also include any pre-school staff and the school system in which the children are enrolled.  Researchers would look at policies and procedures in those institutions regarding bullying.

The children would have opportunities to meet a diverse group of people, along with their parents and will be subjected to questions regarding their feelings about those diverse people.  They would listen to statements made about the various groups and decide whether the statements were true or false and if the statement was "mean".  Mean, being hurtful and/or damaging to the "feelings" of the person(s) the statement was aimed at.

The statements would target the following, but would not be limited to:

• Handicapped/Disabled
• Mentally challenged
• Poor people
• Homelessness
• Elderly
• Obese
• Races (African American, Hispanic, Caucasian, Asian, etc.)
• Homosexual
• Single parents
• Drug users
• Incarcerated
• Religions
• Atheism

The researchers would meet with their designated groups bi-annually to inquire whether they, the parents and/or their children, had been subjected to bullying or bullied someone since their last meeting.  The teachers would also be questioned on what they were seeing.

I know there are many variables to this research project that haven't been addressed but the ultimate goal, for the "greater good" would be to develop children who are sensitive,caring and strong enough not to bully or allow others to be bullied.



References

Special Protections for Children as Research Subject retrieved from http://www.gov/ohrp/policy/populations/children.html

My Research Journey

My simulation topic is, What is the relationship between homelessness and vocabulary children have as they begin child care?
I chose this topic because I noticed when children entered care and the teachers asked them questions about items in the classroom they either knew what the teacher was talking about, had some idea or didn't have a clue.  The children were in homeless families and I wondered if being homeless and transient, the educational level of their parents and the time in care made a difference in the aquisition and retention of the vocabulary words they learned.





 One of my insights is a topic may seem simple when first formed but as you delve deeper, the topic becomes more complex resulting in more questions and more contemplation.  Another insight is the questions we ask may have been asked differently which means we may be "re-inventing the wheel".  Being able to use search engines helps in finding out if the reseach has been exhaustive or whether more research is needed on a topic.


I would appreciate any help you may have on my topic.  I would like to ask those of you who work directly with children in a classroom setting what vocabulary words you thought children would know when they entered your program, but didn't.  I would like to use them in my research.

What I Learned, What I'll Do

The 3 consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for my professional and personal growth are:

The priorities for the field we have in the United States are not the same as in other countries.  Examples of the differences are:

 Obesity vs. Famine

            Health Care vs. Aids

 Clean Air vs. Clean Drinking Water.

2.  There are people, all over the world willing to share their knowledge.

3. There's a vast amount of information available on many subjects related to early childhood from a number of sources and resources to both help and share.

Setting one goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations was difficult.  After a lot of thought I've decided, at our next planning meeting of our local and state AEYC, to advocate for inviting an international speaker to the annual conference to address pressing early childhood issues, hopefully within the next year.

International Early Childhood Education Related to My Professional Goals

     I accessed the Unesco Policy Brief on Early Childhood and chose The Workforce in 'Developed' Countries:  Basic Structures and Education as well as Quality for the topic of my blog this week.
     As a former Education Specialist for Head Start, Curriculum Coordinator on my most recent job and an annual trainer for the Community College District, I aspire to Teach Teachers of Young Children.  This is my professional goal because I see the need in the Early Childhood community for well educated and trained teachers who are responsible for leading, guiding and educating the children they serve.  There are plenty child care workers in the field who need the basic core courses before they even start learning Piaget or Vygotsky.  I have corrected spelling on lesson plans, word tense on labels in the classroom and how teachers initiate meaningful conversations with children.  These teachers love what they are doing but it can be detrimental to the children, concerning to the parents and embarrassing to program when a sign is posted with "Feets are for walking" on the list of classroom rules or "Look at what we done" on an art display!
     The Early Childhood workforce is often made up of a diverse group of pre-school teachers, care workers, informal carers and other professionals.  Adequate training and work conditions are essential so they can integrate the content and practice of early childhood care and education (Unesco).  Many of these teachers don't look at themselves as professionals due to the inequity of the salaries.  They must however prepare themselves by getting the education they need and staying up-to-date with current trends.
     There is a divide in early childhood services in many countries.   Divided systems of services, with differences in administration, access, costs to parents funding, regulation and in the structure and education of the workforce for nursery or child care workers and 'teachers'.  Typically, the 'teachers' have higher levels of basic education, better pay and other employment conditions and greater social status Moss, P.).  I remember as a classroom teacher for toddlers telling my soon to be sister-in-law that I was a teacher.  She was very impressed.  she asked me what grade I taught and I told her I taught toddlers in a child care facility.  Her whole attitude changed and she said,"Oh, so all you do is watch kids all day"!  I had more education then as now, than she did but she discounted my work because it wasn't in, what she called "real school".
     A number of countries have moved towards integrating the divided systems.  In the 1960s this took place in the Nordic countries and in the late'80s and '90s New Zealand, Spain, Slovenia, England and Scotland integrated their systems (Moss, P.).  We can see the United States working more on integration of services and quality by requiring more education and training of child care workers and professional development plans to help in their growth.  Education might refer to school, college or university-based courses and qualifications and training to those based on the workplace and learning by doing, including competence-based qualifications, with emphasis on a practical way of transferring knowledge (Moss, P.).  Restructuring the workforce around a 'core' profession will increase costs, both for the education of workers and their employment.  Once early childhood workers are educated at the same level as school teachers, their is a compelling case for comparable pay and conditions.  The question is, who will pay for a properly qualified staff? (Moss,P.)    
     These are my ideas as related to what I read.  In my opinion, it is important that all teachers and administrators learn and spend time in early childhood settings, so that they will understand the importance of that time period in a child's life in relationship to their overall development.  When they see the hard work it takes, the low wages paid and the gratification received when milestones are met, then Early Childhood teachers will be more respected for what they do. I would like for policy makers to also spend time in an early childhood classroom for one pay period with all the responsibilities of the classroom (of course there needs to be a qualified worker with them) and receive the pay, so they can experience the difference in the work and the pay.  I would like the Early Childhood teachers to experience working in Reggio Emilio to see the similarities/differences in their work with young children.  Until that time, when I teach those teachers of young children, my first priority is to let them know they are professionals, they are to be respected and they have a voice in demanding respect for their, no OUR profession.



     References:

Moss, P. (2004).  The Early Childhood Workforce in 'Developed' Countries:  Basic Structures and Education UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Childhood No. 27 October 2004 Retrieved from





http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137402e.pdf

UNESCO Quality Retrieved from  http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality     

Sharing Web Resources - deux

In a previous blog, National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) is the resource I want to share with my colleagues at http://www.nbcdi.org.  We have discussed quality, so I decided to search the NBCDI website for information on that topic.  What I found was interesting (http://teach.nbcdi.org/about ) and compelled me to search other suggested links.
In 1990, Child Care Services Association created the T.E.A.C.H. (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps) Early Childhood Project.  This project was created to address the issues of under-education, poor compensation and high-turnover within the early childhood workforce.  I learned the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Project gives scholarships to child care workers to complete course work in Early Childhood Education and to increase their compensation.
T.E.A.C.H. is built on four components:

Education:  T.E.A.C.H. helps participants to earn a required number of college credit hours in early childhood education each year.
Scholarship:  T.E.A.C.H. offers counseling and financial support to pay for college courses and fees, books, travel and time away from work.
Compensation:  T.E.A.C.H. recipients earn a compensation bonus or raise after successful completion of a year of education.
Committment:  T.E.A.C.H. recipients agree to continue their service as a child care professional in their current early care and education setting.

Having these components to rely on helps programs improve the quality of their staff which improves the quality of the program. 

The website provides information on eligibility, scholarships available, forms to complete, presentations, FAQs, resources and contact information.  It also has a link to http://www.childcareservices.org which addresses affordability,accessibility and high quality child care for all young children.
There is a newsletter called T.E.A.C. H. Speaks, which includes a list of the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood states and other links.  Those links are as follows:

Center for the Study of Child Care Employment:  http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/cscce   This website provides information on Access to education, rewarding environments, workforce data and leadership development.

National Registry Alliance:  http://www.registryalliance.org  There is a policy brief on this website titled "Degreesin Context:  Asking the Right Questions About Preparing Skilled and Effective Teachers of Young Children

National Child Care Resource & Referral Association:  http://www.naccrra.org  The Mission of NACCRRA is to promote national policies and partnerships to advance the development and learning of all children and provide vision, leadership and support to community child care resource and referral.

The new information I gleaned from the NBCDI links was the existence of 3 early childhood workforce data systems in the United States. The 3 database systems are:  early childhoodeducation (ECE) workforce registries, T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood and NACCRRAWaRE/T-TAM used by child care resource and referral agencies across the nation.  I also learned that all the states, except for 2, and Washington D.C. use these systems and that half of the states use more than one of the systems.  All 3 systems collect similar ECE workforce information and that each system was developed for particular program purposes.  These programs are independent of each other which complicates efforts to align the system within and across states.

References:
http://nbcdi.org
http://teach.nbcdi/about
http://childcareservices.org
http://teach.nbcdi.org/files/2010/12/NBCDI-TEACH-Press-Release.pdf
http://www.osse.dc.gov

Global Children's Initiative

I chose to explore Child Mental Illness in my blog this week.  With teachers more and more often, asking for help with children displaying behavior problems in their classrooms, I felt this is an issue worth taking a look at and in the process, I gained new insights.

 Insight #1 -" Child mental health concerns are under addressed that have significant implications for broader health and development of children and societies".
Head Start includes Mental Health as a component in the lesson plans teachers develop.  "Second Step" is used to guide children through difficult issues they are encountering or may encounter  in their lives.This is not the only resource teachers can use but it is effective when addressing child mental health concerns.

Insight #2 - "The emergence of mental health concerns in young children occurs within the context of an environment of relationships plays a critical role in shaping a child's social, emotional, and behavioral problems when children are young is an important societal issue that should be given the same attention as concerns about cognition and early language development".
This bodes to the nature versus nurture theory we all have read and heard about.  Questions that arise concerning whether behavior problems are caused by bad parenting skills, inefficient classroom management, chemical reactions to foods and environmental toxins are continually being asked and researched so that reasons for the behavior problems in children can be easily explained and helped.

Insight #3 - "Child mental illness is a real thing.  Children who experience persistent symptoms of mental illness are impacted in a wide range of areas from schools to social abilities, to proficiency in dealing with issues and challenges of everyday life.  Child mental illness affects the success of the individual for the rest of their lives".
Many times a child's behavior problems are attributed to lack of discipline, precociousness, ADD/ADHD or a myriad of other reasons.  The average person does not want to admit or believe that mental illness exists in children.  How would something that does not exist in a child affect them for the rest of their life?  These are the children placed in special education classes, or labeled throughout their school experience as "bad", "problems", "weird"," incorrigible" and other negative descriptions that impacts the child in other areas of their development.
The most important insight I received came as an explanation of mental illness in children that could be understood by a lay person. That explanation stated that "child mental illness could be conceptualized as an inability for children to function in developmentally culturally standard patterns.  Explaining child mental illness as a functioning issue is easier for the non-professional to understand and be less resistant to recognizing certain diagnoses, like depression.  Treatments for child mental illness can be conceptualized as ways of helping kids function, rather than treating an illness".

References:

" Global Children's Initiative"(2009) retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/globalinitiative/GCI-fact_sheet[1]pdf-Adobereader

Child Mental Health Frameworks Institute retrieved from http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF_childmentalhealth/childmentalhealthreview.pdf

 

What's New: NBCDI website

The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) recently held a webcast focusing on Asthma and African American children.  The discussion was around how study after study has shown that airborne particulate pollution has sent asthma rates soaring among Latino and African American children.  The smokestacks of coal-powered electric plants are spewing their poisons over poorer neighborhoods and many power plants stand in the shadow of school buildings and playgrounds where children spend their days.  Particulate pollution triggers and aggravates asthma. 
A new study by Dr. Sande Okelo of Johns Hopkins indicates that African American patients are suffering longer from poorly controlled asthma than their Caucasian counterparts before being seen by an asthma specialist.
Reading this information led me to explore the content of another website called We Act.  There was valuable information regarding Achieving Environmental Justice by Building Healthy Communities.
Their plans are: 

Clean Air - Elimination of ambient air pollutants emitted from transportation, housing  and other         facilities, including small business sources.

Affordable, Equitable Transit - Access by residents of affordable, safe, clean and reliable forms of public and alternative transportation.

Reducing Waste, Pests, and Pesticides - The appropriate management of solid waste, pest and pesticides.

Toxic Free Products - Access to and use of consumer products that do not contain chemicals at levels harmful to human health.

Good Food in Schools - Safe, fresh and nutritious school meals that are prepared in schools in a quality environment, that kids eat and parents support to contribute to the reduction of childhood obesity.

Sustainable Land Use - Promoting land use, planning and zoning policies that support community health and wellness.

Open and Green Space - The creation and use of unenclosed areas connecting the built and natural environment and providing opportunities for recreation, reflection and interactions with nature.

Healthy Indoor Environments - Reduced exposure to indoor pollutants in residences, workplaces and schools.

All of this has an impact on Economist - looking at the cost of poor health in children and families, the loss of productivity because of health issues and the cost of health care including medications.  The impact to scientist rests on the higher numbers of poor children suffering from asthma, the effects of the disease on the body and developmentally and the impact for politicians being their constituents calling for their neighborhoods to be cleaned up and made safe for the children and families.

References:
Waiting to Inhale online seminar retrieved from http://nbcdi.org/blog/2011/06/20/soaring-rates-of-asthma-among-african-american-kids

Achieving Environmental Justice by Building Healthy Communities retrieved from http://.weact.org