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

Contacts made Internationally - 1st installment

I chose the alternative for my blog this week to contacting  resources in another country. I chose to listen to a podcast on the World Forum Foundation Radio website,  Episode 1 featuring Banabus Otaala, Dean of Education who talked about working with children affected by AIDS. Parents were afraid to tell the child was HIV positive because of fear of stigmatization  He spoke about the establishment of partnerships between Parents, Teachers and Doctors in Uganda so that children could get the help they need. Mr. Otaala said the Parents respected the doctors and were more willing to do as the Doctor said. 
This podcast led me to research further .  I found that 1.2 million people affected with the HIV virus in Uganda and 150,000 are children.  1.2 million children have been orphaned because of the disease.  One insight is that AIDS  strips families of their assets and income earners further impoverishing the poor.  I also discovered that poor housholds coping with members who are sick from HIV or AIDS were reducing spending on necessities even further.  The most likely expenses to be cut were clothing (21%), electricity (16%), and other services(9%).  Falling incomes forced about 6% of households to reduce the amount they spent on food and almost half of the households reported having insufficient food at times.  One last insight gained was one of the more unfortunate responses to a death in the poorer housholds is removing the children (especially girls) from school.  Often school uniforms and fees become unaffordable for the families and the child's labor and income generating potential are required in the household.
As I think about the information I read on the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy site and can see a coorelation with the devastation HIVand AIDS causes and how it affects poor children.  In that article it say that 10 million children under the age of 5 die every year from preventable diseases, HIV and AIDS are preventable.  There are child-headed households which happens so many time when both parents die of AIDS leaving their children orphaned and fending for themselves and finally that poverty can pass from one generation to another.  When children are taken out of school and not educated, their earning potential drops to a poverty level.
The podcast gave me knowledge that I can use to enlighten others as well as myself further when studying about the effects of poverty on young children.

References:

 http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php
 http://www.avert.org/aids-uganda.htm
http://www.childhoodpoverty.org

 

Sharing Web Resources

I shared some of this information on last week's blog but it doesen't hurt to repeat good information.
The professional organization I chose was National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI).
NBCDI is celebrating 40 years of service to children and families.

The link for this organization can be found at http://nbcdi.org

The organization was conceived by the Black Women's Community Development Foundation whose concerns were that of the unsatisfactory conditions faced by families wanting to rear healthy children.
The mission of NBCDI is, "To improve and protect the quality of life for children of color and their families by giving every child a chance".
NBCDI has made tremendous strides in its efforts to improve the lives of children. The core program areas are:

• The Early Years and Parenting - Love to read, The Parent Empowerment Program, African American Parents Project and SPARK: Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids.
• The Middle Years - Entering the College Zone
• Community Mobilization - The National Affiliate Network

The International organization I chose was World Forum On Early Child Care and Education.  The link can be found at http://worldforumfoundation.org

The mission of the World Forum Foundation is to promote an on-going global exchange of
ideas on the delivery of quality services for young children in diverse settings.
One of the current issues that caught my attention while looking at the website is: Men in ECE.
 (MECE) provides a global meeting place for male and female early childhood professionals to reflect on the value of gender balance in early childhood education and the benefits and barriers to men’s full participation, and to identify actions to promote these important issues worldwide.
 Men are important in children's lives, especially young boys being raised by single females and so many times there are no positive male role models/mentors available in the place they spend many of their waking hours and that is school.  Having worked over 35 years in Early Childhood, I can count on one hand the number of males I've met working directly in the classroom with children under the age of 5 years old.  I find this initiative very interesting. 

I learned from these resources that, as Early Childhood Professionals, we must keep abreast of what is happening, not only locally, statewide and nationally but also internationally because it all impacts the children we serve.

Resources:

http://nbcdi.org

http://worldforumfoundation.org

 

 

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I accessed the Global Alliance for the Education of Young Children and attempted to contact:
Step by Step Program/ Tipa Tipa in Haiti.

I chose that country because of the devastation it suffered with the earthquake and I am interested in the challenges faced by the Child care professionals and how, if possible they are adjusting, overcoming or dealing with them daily.  I was not able to contact them through the email address provided so I've written to the person to get another email address.  I hope I get a response.

I have quite a few friends from different countries in Africa and when we discuss children I often hear, " We don't do it like that in my country".  I am curious to connect with Child Care professionals in both Ghana and Nigeria to get their perspective on what is considered developmentally appropriate in those countries.

The Middle East is also an area that I would like to learn about.  With the wars going on I'm interested how it is affecting the development of the children in the region and how girls are being educated when it is prohibited.  I accessed the Unicef website for that information and I plan to return often for updates.

The professional organization I chose was National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI).
NBCDI is celebrating 40 years of service to children and families.
The organization was conceived by the Black Women's Community Development Foundation whose concerns were that of the unsatisfactory conditions faced by families wanting to rear healthy children.
The mission of NBCDI is, "To improve and protect the quality of life for children of color and their families by giving every child a chance".
NBCDI has made tremendous strides in its efforts to improve the lives of children.  The core program areas are: 

• The Early Years and Parenting - Love to read, The Parent Empowerment Program, African American Parents Project and SPARK:  Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids.
• The Middle Years - Entering the College Zone
• Community Mobilization - The National Affiliate Network 

I am joining this organization as a committment to my profession and the children I serve.  Membership in professional organizations helps us keep abreast of the issues and trends in the Early Childhood field.