Expanding Horizons and Expanding Resources

 

The childhood organization that stood out to me was the National Head Start Association. Immediately this was my number one choice because a I am a current Center Director for the Mitchellville Head Start Center.  I have the passion to work with the children and encouraged to help all of the families. Head Start has been around for many years and I was one of the children that was not able to attend due to the fact that my grandmother wanted me to stay home with her because of her insecurities of me not being harmed or taken care of the way she took care of me.

Head Start is very beneficial to all parents that are looking for professionals to help their children learn and develop and get that first learning experience they need.

Head Start states:

A National Commitment

Head Start is the national commitment to give every child, regardless of circumstances at birth, an opportunity to succeed in school and in life. In the 50 years since its inception, Head Start has improved the lives of more than 32 million children and their families.

My Supports

Having someone who supports you is a true blessing. My definition of support is the help or assistance that is given to you from someone else. I have a huge support system and they have really shown how much they really care about me for these past few weeks. I gave up on myself and lost so much time due to a promotion at work from transitioning from a lead teacher at a head start to the center director.  My mom has been my biggest supporter since day one and I am really thankful for having her in my life. I have had some of the biggest challenges in my life that she has helped me overcome. My mom has helped me financially and emotionally. Whenever I need anything she is there for me every step of the way. The next person that supports me is my boyfriend. He has supported me for the past seven years. He has helped me take care of my daughter when her own father never made time to. He has stepped up and help me with work, and whatever issues has come my way. Last but not least, my biggest supporters that has helped me get where I am today are my coworkers, supervisors, and friends. There were so many things that I did not know to do the job that I am performing at the time, but they have been helping me every step of the way. They have supported me since I took the position to be the center director. I am really proud of myself to surround myself around a group of wonderful and encouraging people.

Relationship Refection

What is a relationship? I would say a relationship is the connection that you can have with another person. This relationship can be personal or professional. I have many people that are important to me because I have a big support system, to family, friends, and professional colleagues.  The people that I can say are truly special would be my parents, aunt, boyfriend, and children. They mean the world to me and I would not change anything in the world about them.  They are there for me when I need them and I can call on them for anything in the world.

Having a big support system is rare in some cases. For example when I was a teenager I became pregnant with my first child. My family did not turn their back on me. They continued to pray for me and made sure I graduated from high school and continued my education on a college level. With the grace of God I graduated from high school and also college. I also reminded myself that I had family and friends that watched me and wanted me to succeed in life, and that is just what I did succeeded. I am grateful to have so many people to look up to me because I took the bad and made it good and now I am able to help other such as, the families and children I work with and make sure they be the best they can and succeed in life as the same as I have done and continue to do.

Thanks and Support to Colleagues

I would like to take out the time to say thanks to all my colleagues. This has been a tough eight weeks for me due to personal issues that has came my way, but I continue to fight and push forward. Thanks colleagues for all the insight and discussions to help me keep on in order for me to finish this eight weeks. I hope each one of you have a blessed and successful educational journey!

With love,

Denise Gibson

Quote about Child Development

 

As children grow and learn they need a lot of the things that are stated in the picture above. As educators and parents we must do our best to love our children and students unconditionally. Children must have the ability to grow socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively.

Testing for Intelligence?

I believe that all children should be tested in many areas of development. I agree that multiple intelligence should be measured. The reason I think this is because all children are different, there are children that are exceptionally gifted and talented, the average children, and the children that learn a little bit slower than others. If the children are assessed in all of these areas they will get the help they need and learn the skills to succeed in life.

In Africa I found an article that test children on multiple levels such as developmental, cognitive, and SES. Neurodevelopmental delay, neurodisability, and malnutrition interact to contribute a significant burden of disease in global settings. Assessments which are well integrated with plans of management or advice are most likely to improve outcomes. Assessment tools used in clinical research and programming to evaluate outcomes include developmental and cognitive tools that vary in complexity, sensitivity, and validity as well as the target age of assessment. Few tools have been used to measure socioemotional outcomes and fewer to assess the disabled child with malnutrition. There is a paucity of tools used clinically which actually provide families and professionals with advice to improve outcomes. Brain imaging, electroencephalography, audiology, and visual assessment can also be used to assess the effect of malnutrition on brain structure and function. The interaction of neurodisability and malnutrition is powerful, and both need to be considered when assessing children. Without an integrated approach to assessment and management, we will not support children and families to reach their best potential outcomes.

One of the assessment tool that we use to test the children is using the Teacher Strategies Gold software where you can assess the children on all developmental domains and also share or recommend different information to parents and children. This is one of the best assessment tools because you are able to check off the different skills and also add in things that you think is important.

Resources

 Gladstone, M., Mallewa, M., Jalloh, A. A., Voskuijl, W., Postels, D., Groce, N., . . . Molyneux, E. (2014). Assessment of Neurodisability and Malnutrition in Children in Africa. Seminars in Pediatric Neurology, 21(1), 50-57. doi:10.1016/j.spen.2014.01.002

Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

Growing up as a child the most common stessors that played a role in my life was noise. Growing up as a military daughter I had some strict house rules. One of the number one rules was to keep the noise level down. My father served in the United States Army for over 20 years. When I invited company over my mother would always remind me to be quiet or don’t talk so loud. I’m the type of person that talks loud but my voice do not seem loud to me. I would get upset and always want to go to my friends houses because I was tired of having to be so quiet. As I got older I always wondered why my father did not like loud noises. This particular day it was on July 4th and everyone was popping fireworks and it was just getting dark and my father had just arrived home. I knew my father did not like fireworks but could not understand why. As my father stepped foot in the door someone had popped a really loud firework that sounded like a bomb, my father fell to the floor and covered his head. I turned and looked and asked why are you on the floor and he said to me that he thought he was back in the war. My father suffered from PTSD. PTSD is post-traumatic stress disorder and the military made him that way. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops after a profoundly shocking or frightening event, such as rape, severe beating, war, or natural disaster (Berger, 2016).  My father sat down with me and said he had been struggling for a while and the Veteran’s Hospital was helping him cope with all of the things that happened to him while in War. My father is doing wonderfully well and I do not have to be as quiet.

The country that I wanted to know more about in the world and who had the most natural disasters. The country that has the most natural disasters is said to be the US.

The country which has the top most spot in the countries that faces the most natural disasters in this whole world is none other than United States of America. Washington DC is the capital city of this country. There are number of natural disasters that have happened in this country over the years. The latest one was named as Sandy which halted the major portion of United States for two to three days. There has been a huge loss of life as well as the property due to this disaster. Over the years this country has faced many disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, Tornado, Flood, Heavy Snowfalls, Wildfires, Cyclone, Earthquake and also the landslides. (Top 10 Countries that face Most Natural Disasters,2012). This article is a few years old but I did not think the US would be the top country. This is totally shocking to me.

There are many consequences that reflect on the different stessors. Children are the number one target when growing up that may go through things and not even know what is happening and can affect them for life. I am glad that I did not have to go through as much as what I see others go through and pray for them daily.

References

 Berger,K.S.(2016). The developing person through childhood (7th ed.). New York; NY:Worth Publishers.

Top 10 Countries that face Most Natural Disasters. (2012, November 17). Retrieved July 27, 2017, from http://www.omgtoptens.com/misc/nature/top-10-countries-that-face-most-natural-disasters/

 

Child Development and Public Health

The topic that I decided to discuss that relates to child development and public health is immunizations. I believe that it is important for children and adults to be up to date on immunizations and take the shots. I learned that many people may decline the offer to have the immunizations due to religious reasons. The things that people do not understand is that these medicines are supposed to make the person healthier and keep down the rise of diseases. Immunizations save lives. They are the best way to help protect you or your child from certain infectious diseases. They also help reduce the spread of disease to others and prevent epidemics. Most are given as shots. They are sometimes called vaccines, or vaccinations ( Topic Overview, 2017).

AFRICA/ SOUTH AFRICA

Vaccinations are important to me because I am for anything that help save lives of children and even their families. At the head start where I work parents can not submit their child’s application unless they have a copy of their shot record and must be up to date. This reason is understood to the fact that our children’s safety and health is the most important concern. Pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, HIV/AIDS and malnutrition are the primary killers of children in the developing world. These children die because they are poor, they do not have access to routine immunization or health services, their diets lack sufficient vitamin A and other essential micronutrients, and they live in circumstances that allow pathogens (disease-causing organisms) to thrive 9/(Immunization, 2017). More than 30 million children are unimmunized either because vaccines are unavailable, because health services are poorly provided or inaccessible, or because families are uninformed or misinformed about when and why to bring their children for immunization.

I believe that if all children were and are able to get their vaccination the world would be a better place. I wish I could help all children especially the children in Africa because they are losing innocent children to preventable diseases.

References

Immunizations – Topic Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from http://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/tc/immunizations-overview

Immunization. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from https://www.unicef.org/immunization/

Childbirth In Your Life and Around the World

I have two beautiful children. I have a girl and a boy. My daughter is nine and my son is two. I can remember giving birth to daughter. I was just a teenager not knowing what was happening at all. I can remember this birth so well because I was 16 in the 11th grade never experienced anything like this and not telling my parent’s I was having a baby. I was disappointed in myself and knowing my parents would be as well. I did not want to let them down, but I just could not find the right words to tell them. To make a long story short, I was seven months pregnant when my family found out.

I never went to the doctor nor lost the baby. By the grace of God I had a healthy six pound five ounce baby girl. The only pains I had were the contractions during labor. I was able to get the epidural, with restrictions of not moving while injecting the fluid because it could cause severe spinal damage. I am thankful that I was blessed during this pregnancy. Many people are less lucky than I were and I would never take my life or my daughter’s life for granted again.

My son’s pregnancy was much more difficult. I became pregnant with him my last semester of college. I was totally drained, tired, and sick. I could not eat any foods that I loved and was very tired everyday.  I was so much bigger than my first pregnancy and I also waited seven years later to have another child. This was a big change for me to have to start all over again. Despite the differences I had a healthy seven pound six ounce boy that was not ready to make his entrance. I was in labor with him for a whole 14 hours.

I love both of my children and would not change them for anything in the world. Unlike the United States women usually have their babies at the hospitals and some may have theirs at home. The birth of a baby in Africa is much more complicated.

The birth of a baby, which should be a joyful occasion, too often brings heartbreak and agony for African families. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death and injury for women in developing countries. Yet women are key to the health and wealth of their communities. Without them, the family cannot hope to thrive.In Africa, a staggering one in 22 women dies in pregnancy or childbirth. In the UK, it is just one in 8,000. While conditions such as high blood pressure, breech births and hemorrhaging are easily treated in the UK, African women are likely to die from them because they lack access to good quality health care or a trained midwife. Only 37% of births in the least developed countries are attended by a skilled health worker.

Many women, particularly in remote areas of Africa, have little choice but to give birth to their babies at home. With their mother or grandmother at their side, they are lucky if the birth goes smoothly and there are no complications. But if things go wrong, the nearest help can be hours away. With no transport, this means their only option is to walk, often in the middle of labor, to get help.

Reference

Giving birth – the most dangerous thing an African woman can do? (2012, March 09). Retrieved July 09, 2017, from     https://www.theguardian.com/journalismcompetition/giving-birth-the-most-dangerous-thing-an-african-woman-can-do

A Note of Thanks and Support

First off, I just want to thank everyone that has participated in this semester blog posts. This has been a great learning experience for me to be able to share information with others and also able to see the different viewpoints from others.

I would like to thank Elaine for all of the great information shared from this course and the many other resources you found helpful. I can see you have a great passion for the children and families, and that what make you a great person. You have truly been amazing and helpful and also motivated more to continue the course. I just want to say thanks much and may God bless you.

http://www.elainedarden.wordpress.com

Next I would like to thank Jessica. You are such an amazing person as well. You have shared some great information and by looking at your blogs I have seen a lot of similarity within the two of us. I can see you have a wonderful support system as well and that what make great educators.  I would like to thank you for all of your wonderful insight and comments.

http://www.advocatingforkidsblog.wordpress.com