The Center for the Developing, Harvard

I have tried several times to contact someone abroad. I have not had any luck, but I will continue to reach out to professionals across the world. In the meantime, I chose to research a website from Harvard. Dr. Jack Shonkoff established The Center for the Developing child in 2006; for research and teaching, they work with other professionals across the world.

While reviewing the Harvard website, I learned that the Global Children’s Initiative focuses on helping children who are in crisis or conflict, child development needs, and the mental health of children around the world. All of these are vital areas of need when dealing with children and families. Three focal points under the early child development title are, assessing global childhood programs to see if they are quality and diverse in nature, they find developmentally appropriate assessment tools to measure the development of children in Zambia, and they “organize interventions to improve preschools in Chile” (Developing Child Harvard, 2014).

Another important insight I found is how the scientist and researchers work with the children who are affect by HIV and aids. Often the mental health of these children is at risk because of the severity of the disease. They provide help and hope for the children, increasing the over quality of their lives.

The final thing that intrigued me while researching was how the center strived to improve equity and excellence in the children across the world who were victims of crisis and conflict situations. They helped the children in Haiti and Chile after the earthquake; surveying what was needed to help them after the crisis. The center continues to strive to improve the lives of all families and children.

Lah-Lah Devine

Resources

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/

Sharing Web Resources

Previously, I chose the website, National Black Child Development Institute; however, it is not available. I tried several different ways to access it, but I had no luck. For this assignment, I researched the NAEYC website. I chose this site because, last week, our center was reevaluated to see if we would continue our accreditation for NAEYC. Although we will not receive our official response until June, I am happy to say, we did a great job. My room was one of the ones chosen for observation and I am happy to say, I let my little light shine. I enjoy doing well and I am glad someone sees something great in me.

NAEYC’s website is all about children, families, and professionals. This website is designed to help individuals succeed in their childhood and in their life. The entire website is focused on young children and families, and this is relevant to my current professional development. On the site, NAEYC has a section that discusses grants and educational opportunities for children. These monies are needed to help those who cannot afford to attend high quality programs; the money is also used to improve the conditions and supports for the early childhood programs. This section is very important because, we are currently focusing on economists, neuroscientists, and politicians as early childhood advocates. The president has taking into consideration the importance of early learning experiences, and he has put in place ideas to help all children and families succeed, through these preschool grants.

 I seek to find new research to help children and families. NAEYC has taught me how to interact with children and model behavior appropriate for them. It has taught me how to advocate for those in need. It provides me with many resources to inform parents, professionals, and other educators on the new findings related to early childhood studies. I did not find any issues on this site that I felt were controversial to me; however, the information presented made me think of politicians in a different way. Before reading about the grants, I did not know that some politicians, economists, and other professionals support our efforts in the field of early childhood education. I thought that they looked at us as professional baby sitters and they thought our job was easy. After viewing some of the research, I now know that other professionals see that we are making a difference in the lives of children and families. They show their support by advocating for us, by donating, and by volunteering in our schools. They are making a difference in the early childhood field.

As I stated above, economists, politicians, and neuroscientists are supporting the field of early childhood by lending support, donating to our cause, advocating for children rights, fighting for pay increases for educators, and by providing a voice to those who need a voice. Many politicians are researching and observing to see what we need to be successful in our field. They now realize that we are more than what meets the eye. They know without qualified educators, high quality programs, or funding, children will not succeed in achieving goals. Everyone is beginning to see us for who we are, life changers, counselors, advocates, parents, doctors, and educators are what we must be on a daily basis to help children and families around the world.

From exploring the website, I see more issues than I could have ever imagined. One section discusses poverty related issues. One section discusses politics and environmental issues. One section focuses on education and early experiences, and other sections focus on loving, caring, and supportive relationships between families, children, and educators. I have gained many new insights and I am glad I had a chance to research this site to show me more information related to children and families.

Lah-Lah

References

http://www.naeyc.org./