Zero to Three News

This week I explored ZERO TO THREE’s podcast series (for parents), Little Kids, Big Questions. The podcasts address some of the most common and challenging issues facing parents of babies and toddlers including: helping a baby learn to sleep through the night; dealing with a picky eater; and learning to set limits on children’s behavior. These questions and more are covered in a series of 12 podcasts, hosted by Ann Pleshette Murphy, a past contributor to ABC’s Good Morning America Parenting Segment and Vice President of the ZERO TO THREE Board of Directors.  Each podcast features an interview with an expert that focuses on how to apply the research of early childhood development to your daily interactions with your baby or toddler and additional resources on the topic. This is a wonderful resource to share with parents.

I did receive an enewsletter this week, Zero to Three: In the News. The newsletter contains highlights from new research, articles, and other recent news items of interest for professionals working with expectant parents and parents with infant and toddlers. The current issue contains the latest research related to breastfeeding, maternal infection during pregnancy, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD, and resources related to poverty in the United States and its impact on infants and toddlers. There is a brief from The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) called, Disparate Access: Head Start and CCDBG Data by Race and Ethnicity, that relates to this week’s learning about inequities in access in the newsletter. CLASP finds that access to child care subsidies and Head Start is sharply limited for all eligible children and even more so for particular racial and ethnic groups and in particular states. The report confirms low levels of access nationally to Head Start preschool, Early Head Start, and child care funded through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), because of the large gap between current investment and need. It also finds distressingly low levels of access for particular groups of children. Most striking is the low level of access that eligible Hispanic or Latino children have to childcare subsidies, especially in some states including Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee. Less than half of eligible preschool-aged children participate in Head Start, less than one in six eligible children receive child care subsidies funded through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), and fewer than 5 percent of eligible infants and toddlers participate in Early Head Start (EHS). The report offers early insights about the reasons for these disparities and notes that more analysis is needed to fully understand and fix them. “Stagnant federal funding and antiquated funding formulas for both child care and Head Start prevent states with growing or diversifying child populations from targeting new resources to underserved communities. State-level decision making in CCDBG may result in state policies that contribute to inequities in access,” said Stephanie Schmit, senior policy analyst at CLASP and co-author of the report.

This website contains a wealth of information regarding issues and trends related to infants and toddlers that collaborates and expands on the topics we have been studying. The information is very useful to parents and professionals in the field.

CLASP. (2016). Disparate Access: Head Start and CCDBG Data by Race and Ethnicity. Retrieved from –

http://www.clasp.org/issues/child-care-and-early-education/pages/disparate-access

Zero to Three: In the News. (2016). Retrieved from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=17904.0&dlv_id=49145

Professional Global Web Contact Part II - Saving Brains: Center on the Developing Child @ Harvard University

Following exploring Save the Children report and Voices from the Field, I explored the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.  The center proposes, “Coordinated strategies to support child development can multiply the effects of investments in child survival, health, education, and economic development.  We need to protect children from significant adversity, in addition to providing them with enriched learning opportunities.  The early childhood years are critical building blocks for lifelong health, not just school readiness.  These propositions guide their work internationally.  As I explored, I discovered a program called Saving Brains that struck my curiosity so I explored a little further.  Saving Brains is led by Grand Challenges Canada seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.  The Center on the Developing Child is part of a team that supports a dynamic learning community of Saving Brains innovators to help them advance the impact and scale of their work in countries around the world.  The partnerships are currently working with the community creating a suite of interventions for nurturing and protecting early brain development.  Currently, projects are being implemented in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America.  I began by watching the video on the Science behind brain development and I urge you to watch it.  It is quite informative.  I found it alarming that over 1/3 of the children in the world never reach their full potential.  It discusses brain plasticity and the fact that the brain actually physically and functionally changes with experiences beginning at birth and continuing throughout life.  It identifies three types of stressors that influence development of the brain.  The third type, toxic stress, which includes violence, abuse, neglect, and war stood out to me as I related it to the children in Syria and it very often negatively influences young children’s brain development because they have a weaker platform from which to launch.  This disadvantage can play out in multiple ways as life goes on.  The children experiencing toxic stress need protection to prevent or limit damage to the developing brain.  Saving Brains believes the answer globally is twofold: Firstly providing a platform of health and nutrition and secondly creating a stronger focus on play-based responsive stimulation.  The speaker points out that it is never too late.  Starting an earlier combination of play, health, nutrition, and early childhood education, as well as responding, engaging, and nurturing the children, teenagers, and adults in our lives can change brains for the better across the lifespan.  The speaker states a Chinese proverb that says...”The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is now.”  Saving Brains is definitely something to think about.  The video entails the science behind brain development and evidence that supports their beliefs and program.  It is quite informative and interesting.  I pray that Save the Children can reach Syria’s children implementing these strategies to create a better life for them in their future.

 Reference

Center on the Developing Child. (2016). Saving Brains. (2016). Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/saving-brains/

Professional Global Web Contact Part I: Save the Children: Children Under Seige in Syria

Report: Save the Children
Organization

A new report from Save the Children reveals that barrel bombs, air strikes and shelling are the greatest issues for the more than a quarter of a million children estimated to be living in the besieged areas in Syria.  Parents share the horrors of family life under siege including dealing with the psychological impact on children terrified of explosions and the severe consequences of being deprived of food, basic medicine, and clean water.  A Syrian aid worker describes what it is like to live under siege (2016), “There are snipers shooting at anyone on the road, and landmines in the fields.  Checkpoints stop everything coming in – food, medicine, fuel; everything needed for life.  They stop people leaving, even sick children in need of medical help.  Homes and schools lie in ruins from bombing.  Children are starving and the markets are empty.  It is the 21st century but here it is like hundreds of years ago.  This is what it means to live under siege” (p.3).  The children are the most vulnerable.  “Children are living on the verge of death.  They are forced to eat leaves – even flour and milk is forbidden to bring in” (Syrian aid worker, n.d).  A child states, “When I hear the sound of a shell or a plane, then I get very afraid and I hurry to escape and hide under my bed” (Ahmed, a boy in Duma).  A mother reports, “The wounded are left to die because there is no medicine to save their lives” (Haya, a mother in Eastern Ghouta).  This year marks the fifth year the country has been under siege.  The conflict in Syria is the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time.  Indiscriminate, brutal violence against civilians and the denial of aid has forced half of the population to flee their homes, with 6.6 million people displaced inside Syria.  A mother states, “Fear has taken control.  Children now wait for their turn to be killed.  Even adults live only to wait for their turn to die.  When will my turn come” (Rihab, a mother in Eastern Ghouta).  It is believed that between 250,013 and 470,014 have been killed.  The crisis is deteriorating even further with the active involvement of the Russian military, which is the latest in a seemingly never-ending spiral of military escalations.  At least 14 nations, including four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, are now militarily engaged in Syria.  Another 4.7 million refugees seeking safety and assistance are in neighboring countries and in Europe.  Children and their families are literally facing every issue we have discussed so for, changing demographics, poverty, hunger, lack of access to school, medical care, basic medicine, toys, and more.  They are denied the right to work and to go to school.  They are not able to meet even their most basic needs.  This is horrific and no child or family should have to undergo this.  While they should have been growing and learning during the critical first 5 years of life, Syria’s children have known only 5 long years of war.  I cannot even fathom the detrimental effects on all areas of children’s development; they are clearly suffering from trauma.  While they should have been growing and learning during the critical first 5 years of life, Syria’s children have known only 5 long years of war.  Here is the year-by-year account:

CHILDHOOD: The Greatest Casualty of Syria’s War
LIFE	Age	WAR
FIRST STEPS One of many happy milestones in a child’s first year of life	YEAR ONE	FIRST SHOTS The terrifying sound children heard when Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011
A DOZEN WORDS What a child learns by age 2, plus how to walk, run and jump	YEAR TWO	DOZENS OF CHILDREN The number reported in The number reported in 2012 to have been used as human shield

GEOMETRIC The kinds of shapes 3-year-olds like to sort, while playing with puzzles and games	YEAR THREE	CHEMICAL Weapons used in civilian attacks killing 426 innocent children in 2013
ABCs What a child starts to recognize by age 4, while singing songs and learning stories	YEAR FOUR	BOMBS Explosive weapons targeted on schools, leaving 1.6 million children unable to learn in 2014
TEN How many objects 5-year-olds can count, plus proudly say their name and address	YEAR FIVE	ONE The shocking photo of Alan Kurdi, whose tiny body washed ashore in 2015

Table: Save the Children.org

Save the Children workers are engaged in relief efforts inside Syria and in neighboring countries refugee camps.  To date, they have supplied 130,000 people with clean water, 34,500 children with a place to learn 3,500 emergency patients with care each week, 145,000 people with warm clothes and shelter, and 16 centers supporting traumatized children.  However, the war continues in Syria and the United Nations estimates there are 6.5 million displaced people in besieged or hard-to-reach areas.  Many live in dire need in abandoned buildings, open spaces and in informal camps mainly in the north near the border with Turkey, where there are few or no services available.  Some families are resorting to such negative coping strategies as eating less, marrying off girl children, and sending children to work in exploitative labor, which breaks my heart.  Getting the much-needed help to Syria is critical for the immediate and future well-being of children and families.  I urge you to read the report and check out the Voices from the Field blog.  While it is heart wrenching, they provide a very clear view of the many issues children are facing internationally and a glimpse of what is being done to help.

Reference

Save the Children.org (2016). Retrieved from  http://www.savethechildren.org/site/ c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/ b.7998857/k.D075/Syria.htm

Sharing Resources II

Zero to Three, 2016

As I explored the Zero to Three website I discovered much information that will help me stay abreast issues and trends in early childhood. Zero-Three includes information and webinars about public policies regarding infant and toddler issues at the federal, state, and community levels. Their work is informed by the science of early childhood development and guided by our infant and toddler policy agenda—good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences. With the needs of the whole child in mind, they are working to build comprehensive services that allow families with infants and toddlers to thrive. The documents in this section orient you to ZERO TO THREE’s overall policy agenda and other comprehensive policy resources, including the infant-toddler policy and systems framework and a place to get started. The tool kit includes The tool-kit includes the  Early Experiences Matter Policy Guide which is a set of tools for taking action and improving public policies that impact the lives of infants, toddlers, and their families. All of the materials in the toolkit are accessible online, and they encourage us to use them in our work and disseminate them widely. The Early Experiences Matter Policy Guide offers you a wealth of policy options and strategies to use in your efforts to affect policy change for infants, toddlers, and their families. It includes mini policy briefs, practical tools, in-depth policy papers, and more.

I also explored the webinar section and found a webinar on Supporting Babies Through QRIS: A Self-Assessment Tool for U.S. States & Other Jurisdictions, which struck my interest because my center is presently undergoing Georgia’s quality rating process. Supporting Babies Through QRIS is a series of documents developed by ZERO TO THREE’s Policy Center to help ensure that Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are supporting the unique developmental needs of infants and toddlers. The documents present a national review of states’ and jurisdictions’ QRIS that have been implemented statewide and illustrates some examples of QRIS standards and supports that have been included across the nation to help programs promote young children’s development and learning. A recording of the webinar is included.

This current issue of Zero to Three journal offers highlights from the ZERO TO THREE National Training Institute (NTI), held in Seattle, WA, December 2-4, 2015:  Connecting Science, Policy, and Practice: ZERO TO THREE’s National Training Institute, 2015 and includes the latest research about brain functioning during the first 3 years of life and the important role of early social interactions for later school readiness and lifelong learning. It discusses how toxic stress caused by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is having an impact on the health and development of children; a summary of what has been learned about early development during the past 15 years; and examples of how communities are using federal funding opportunities and partnerships to build more coordinated, effective early childhood systems.

It is evident that babies, toddlers, and families are facing many of the same challenges across our nation and need support from early childhood professionals such as low wages, poverty, physical and mental health issues, and lack of quality childcare.  We are in need of a comprehensive system of supports for children and families that will promote health, strengthen families, and positive learning experiences. The voices from the fields of science, economists, and politicians are critical in achieving comprehensive services that will allow families with infants and toddlers to thrive. It is important to the future of our world.

Reference

Zero-Three. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/

Professional Global Contact-Save the Children-East Africa

Save the Children is an organization with a rich and long history that invests in childhood every day, in times of crisis, and for our future around the globe including United States. They give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm.  Eglanyne Jebb founded the Save the Children Fund in England in 1919 to aid children in war-ravaged central Europe. Today the organization and its members  worldwide help children in 120 countries, providing support for health and nutrition, education, protection, disaster relief and so much more giving children in the United States and around the world what every child deserves -- a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and care when disaster strikes. They often save children’s lives. Their target areas of focus include Nutrition, Maternal and Reproductive Health, Newborn Health, Child Health, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Health and Nutrition in Emergencies. In 2014, Save the Children helped 166 million children in 120 countries and led to 7.5 million lifesaving health interventions for children in 34 countries. Their education programs  reached 11.8 million children around the world. I found this awe-striking and quite inspiring.

As  I explored their blog, I came across Ethiopia: "It's Heartbreaking to See my People Suffer Like This" by Seifu Asseged, Communications Coordinator, Ethiopia's Somali Region, February 18, 2016. Mr. Asseged talks about “the stench of rotting animal carcasses, spread across the barren land.   I remember watching large animals - cows and donkeys - take their last gasping breaths as they grew weak from nothing to eat or drink.” He talks about his experiences as he travels across the communities that have been hit the hardest by the worst drought in 50 years assessing the needs of his people. After one assignment last August, his team discovered an entire community in desperate need of water. Within days, they had organized for large quantities of water to be trucked to that area, reaching thousands of people. Now the challenges are different, and the needs even more pressing. Six months ago (August, 2015) the number of people in need of food aid in Ethiopia was 4.5 million, but that figure had increased to more than 8 million by October, 2015). Now it stands at 10.2 million. Furthermore, 400,000 children could fall prey to severe malnutrition in 2016. Seifu Asseged states, “It is heartbreaking to see my homeland, and my people, suffering so much right now. I have never experienced anything like this drought before. Sometimes telling these stories can bring vital, practical outcomes for people in need. Sometimes they change the world. I hope this story will fall somewhere between the two.” This broke my heart as I tried to put myself in his shoes. I cannot imagine such an experience even though I know it happens around the globe.

News releases state that millions of children are at risk going hungry as the result of a worsening food crisis in Ethiopia. Schools are closing, livestock are dying, and wells are drying up. The child hunger crisis has been brought about by a severe drought across normally green and productive regions making this among the worst disaster natural disasters in recent history. At least 350,000 children are already severely malnourished, which if left untreated, can cause stunting, physical and mental delays in their development, or death. The issues that children in Ethiopia face are some of the most challenging in the world. Even in an "average" year, the education, health and economic situation for millions of Ethiopian children can only be described as a crisis. Frequent food shortages and periodic drought-like conditions continue to put children at risk. With inadequate health care services, many children die before reaching the age of 5. Of those that survive, only a fraction of children attend primary or secondary school. Save the Children is working in over 70% of the worst-affected districts, providing food, water, medicine and crucial support to children and families. Save the Children has implemented cross-cutting strategies that focus on education, health, food security, HIV/AIDS prevention/education and saving newborn lives. There is a link for people around the globe to make donations to help fund and broaden their relief efforts as well as a link for sponsoring a child.

Poverty is an issue world-wide that negatively influences the health and development of all children and influences society as well. I was just thinking that if everyone in the world that is financially capable could continuously sponsor one child through Save the Children, what a difference that could make.

Reference

Save the Children (2016). Retrieved http://www.savethechildren.org/ site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.B143/Official_USA_Site.htm

Shelia

Sharing Web Resources

Zero to Three, 2016

The website I have chosen to explore is Zero to Three.  The link to their website is http://www.zerotothree.org/.  They are a national nonprofit organization committed to providing parents, professionals, and policymakers the knowledge and the expertise to nurture early development.  Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.  I am interested in this organization because it will support my work with infants and their families.

I did subscribe to the organization’s e-newsletter “Baby to Big Kid,” which is a resource for parents that offers science-based information on how children learn and grow each month from birth to age three.  The monthly e-newsletters include the following:

·         Age-based information about child development

·         In-depth articles on common child-rearing issues and challenges

·         Parent-child play activities that promote bonding and learning

·         Frequently asked questions

·         Research on child development and what it means for parents

I will be receiving the newsletter in about two weeks.  Until then, I will explore various aspects of the website sharing information and ideas learned.  This week I have chosen to explore the organizations public policy center.  I am sharing information gained from the State of America's Babies in 2015 PowerPoint presentation.  The issues relate to diversity, poverty, and health.

I found the statistics somewhat surprising and some of the facts are distressing.  There are more than 12 million infants and toddlers (children under age 3) in the United States.  They represent 16% of the total child population under age 18 and they are particularly vulnerable because they are disproportionately in low-income and poor families.  Nationally, almost half (48%) of children under age 3 live in low-income families with an income less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), including 25% that live in families in poverty with an income less than 100% of the FPL .Overall, about 2.3 million infants and toddlers have at least one parent who works full-time year round, whose wages still can't pull the family above the low-income level.  Research shows that poverty at an early age can be especially harmful, affecting later achievement and employment.  Our babies reflect the growing diversity of our nation.  In 2011, for the first time, more than half (50.4%) of our nation’s population under age one were minorities, up from 49.5% the previous year.  Black and Hispanic infants and toddlers are much more likely than White infants and toddlers to live in poverty, placing them at greater developmental risk.  Furthermore, 23% of children under age 3 experience residential mobility, 21% of households with children under age 6 are food insecure, 12% of children under age 3 have parents with no high school degree, and 27% of child maltreatment victims are under age 3.

Good health is the foundation from which young children grow and develop physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially.  Quality medical care and adequate nutrition are key building blocks for this healthy development.  Yet, 12% of babies are born preterm, 8.2% of babies have low birthweight, only 75% of 2-year-olds are fully immunized, 8.3% of children under age 6 do not have health insurance coverage, and 26.4% of children under age 5 are at moderate or high risk for developmental or behavioral delays.  This distressing facts show the widespread lack of adequate resources needed for the healthy development of all infants and toddlers.  While there are state and federal programs in place, federal funding for children’s programs declined overall from 2010 to 2011 and is expected to continue on a downward trajectory over the next 10 years.  Children are falling through the cracks of our system and our nation’s prosperity is jeopardized when the future of young children is compromised.

Young children in America lag behind those in other developed nations.  The condition of children in the United States is reflected in our standing among other nations.  Our country ranks last for relative child poverty among 20 economically advanced countries and 38 countries performed better than the United States on their under age five mortality rate, a critical indicator of the well-being of children.  Among 34 countries, the United States ranks 31st for infant mortality.  In addition to these issues, these conditions create for children in our nation; our ability to compete in a global economy is undermined when our children fare so poorly.

Across our country, too many babies are growing up in families under great economic stress without the resources to provide what is necessary for healthy development.  Each of these supports whether it’s adequate health care, ample food, housing security, or positive early learning opportunities play a crucial role in nurturing a young child’s development and helping all children realize their potential.  When essential programs that buffer young children against multiple hardships fail to reach all of those in need, not only are their individual opportunities to reach their full potential jeopardized, so is our nation’s ability to build the strong, competitive workforce it will need in the future.

The state of America’s children is very sad and distressing.  The implications for early childhood professionals and the field are many and we are in prime position to make a difference in children’s lives through providing positive learning experiences for children in our programs, parent-education programs, and through reaching out to policy makers and advocating for funding, high quality care, and more.

References

Zero to Three. (2012). National baby facts: Infants, toddlers, and their families in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/pdf/national-baby-facts.pdf

Zero to Three. (2015). State of America’s Babies: 2015. Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/state-community-policy/baby-facts/related-docs/state-of-america-s-babies-4-15-final.pdf

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

First, I would like to say that I am very much looking forward to communicating with early childhood educators from around the world. Also, if anyone knows an early childhood educator in another country that would like to network, please let me know.  I found the following addresses for possible contacts at https://oldweb.naeyc.org/globalalliance/ through internet search using Google and the   resources provided in Blackboard. I have emailed each of them but I have not received any replies. If I have not received replies in a few days, I may need to explore the alternative assignment.

Africa

The National Early Childhood Development Alliance
Mr. Eric Atmore
P.O. Box 2363
Clarinch, 7740
South Africa
Tel: 27 21 683 2420
Email: cecd@iafrica.com

Canada

Canadian Child Care Federation
Yvonne Dionne
Email: ydionne@cccf-fcsge.ca

Singapore
Association for Early Childhood Educators
Jane Lim
Email: jane@aeces.org

Spain

World Association of Early Childhood Educators
Juan Sanchez
Email: jsm@waece.org

Part 2

Since I work with infants/toddlers and their families, I choose to study the website and resources at  Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families retrieved from
http://www.zerotothree.org/ (May have to use http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/ )
(Newsletters: http://zttcfn.pub30.convio.net/child-development/from-baby-to-big-kid/ and
http://capwiz.com/zerotothree/mlm/signup/). I have signed up to receive their newsletter. If anyone can offer any suggestions regarding locating someone in the field from another country, feel free to share.

Shelia