Sharing Web Resources

The newsletter for this month had a lot of information regarding professional development:

·      They offer DEC's online professional development-

The topic this time is: Addressing Challenging Behavior and Child Learning

The presenters will describe strategies to address challenging behavior and child learning through assessments linked to intervention. 

·      They call to participate in DEC's Lead Academy-
      Applications available now for a four-month cohort-based program designed to bring together leading young professionals from across the country.  Through exploring personal, leadership values and beliefs, participants will:
      * Share their knowledge with colleagues

      * Develop and implement strategies to advance in their careers
      * Empower one another to advocate for themselves and their ideas
      (This sounds a lot like what we do here at Walden University)

·       They promote the DEC Conference on October 7-9, 2014 in St. Louis-

They encourage early childhood professionals to register, serve as a sponsor or exhibitor, register for the pre-conference sessions/workshops, reserve a meeting or event space as well as nominate a colleague or student for the DEC Award.

From the website there was a message that was posted about more information about the UN Treaty on Disability Rights.  With the support of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) I learned that the, “United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international treaty that protects the human rights of individuals with disabilities…Opponents continue to use inaccurate scare tactics to diminish support in the Senate”.  I was shocked to learn that there are “opponents” to such a treaty.  It made me think and wonder who could be against the push for human rights for every person?

Through links on the website I was able to find information that adds to my understanding of how politicians support the early childhood field.  Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole is advocating for the ratification of the disability rights treaty (McHugh, 2014).  Children are included in this treaty and have already been a focus of concern in the past such as how it might be:

…used to interfere with the ability of parents with disabled children to decide what action is in the best interest of their children. Unelected, foreign bureaucrats, not parents, would decide what is in the best interests of the disabled child, even in the home (McHugh, 2014). 

I can see how this is a concern and why when it comes to politics there has be support from people who really understand the situation.  Politicians have to help advocate as it might make huge differences in the early childhood field if they don’t.  

Reference

McHugh, J. (July 23, 2014). Dole Back on Hill to try and push through U.N. disabilities treaty. [Web Article/Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/23/dole-back-on-hill-to-try-and-push-through-u-n-disabilities-treaty/

Getting to know international contacts- Part 1

Hello colleagues, I would like to introduce my international professional contact to you all.  In a previous blog assignment in another course, we were asked to learn more information about the education system in a different country.  I had heard a lot about Finland so that is what I chose to share.  Impressed with the education system and the economy there I decided to continue to learn more about the country and was able to contact a Kindergarten teacher * and project planner of the Playful Learning Center in association with the University of Helsinki.

I asked her to tell me more about the issue of poverty in Finland and have learned a lot of information from her responses.  These are some things she had to say:

• In Finland poverty is not that big of an issue as it is in many other countries. We do have people and families who struggle with small incomes and are under our national poverty line and live a quite modest life but our social service system gives money to everyone who either has small or no income at all. Benefits like no kindergarten fees and some free hobbies for children are also made available.

• The tax system is a bit different than in USA.  We pay quite big amounts of taxes but with that money we make sure that our public services are free or demand only a small payment.

• In Finland pre-school (4 hours per day) and everything that children do there including materials, trips and lunch are free. So the poverty doesn't always occur in a child’s everyday life in kindergarten or in pre-school and as a teacher we don't have to deal with poverty as often as in some other countries.

• Still it doesn't mean that we don't have poverty in Finland. You notice it from poor quality clothes and toys. But usually you don't even notice it. Sometimes families from other cultures don’t work but I found that children don’t suffer from low incomes in kindergarten.
  
  
• In bad cases poverty and it's side effects like tattered clothes or old toys can cause bullying and mistreatment from peers. In this case teachers and other workers play a big role. Especially in kindergarten children are so small and are not that aware of poverty or other issues in society. Children may not even notice if someone is poor if all children are treated the same way by adults. In general, teacher's good behavior towards poor children and their families gives a good example to other children how to treat people. This kind of issue may sound small when thinking about poverty and children who don't get food and water every day but that is because in Finland we don't deal with those kind of problems.  This is quite an important and general issue that we have to think about as teachers.
  
  
• Some children come to kindergarten with tattered, dirty or unsuitable clothes for prevailing weather conditions or you can see that a child hasn’t showered for a week. Usually these kind of families do get help for social services and if we notice any neglect of children we call immediately to child welfare inspector and they start helping the child and the family.

• When it comes to learning and development, too often I have seen children from poor families who get only little support or hardly any on learning. Parents who struggle with money don't have time or energy to read books to their children, play with them, have good long conversations or explore and wonder about the world with their children. Luckily in Finland children have to go to school or get home education and soon they have to go to preschool as well (amendment coming soon) where children get high quality education, care and support.

• Sometimes children are referred to kindergarten as a child welfare action. Our education system supports children from every background. Still this isn't always enough and children suffer from their parents low incomes. But because this isn't that simple either, poverty is not automatically the reason for this.
  
  
• Universally I think that poverty is a really big obstacle what comes to education and learning and children welfare. The more people are educated and able to learn new things and aware of what's going on in the world the more they are able to control their lives and feel well.
  (personal communication, 7/16/14)
  
  

One insight I have learned about the issue of poverty is how it fluctuates throughout areas, cities, counties, states and countries.  It seems that poverty has been overcome in some places and that gives hope that there are effective ways to help people who are dealing with poverty.  

*To keep student identities and specific references unrecognizable and private I will not be publishing the teacher's name

Sharing Web Resources

I decided to change my organization, I want to learn more about special education and early intervention programs so the organization I will be researching and reporting on is the Division of Early Childhood.  Their work focuses on helping children with special needs and their families.  Their website link is: http://www.dec-sped.org/

One current issue/trend from the website that caught my attention is from their latest posted news.  The post is a revised set of DEC recommended practices for early intervention and early childhood special education.  These act as guidelines for early childhood professionals as well as families.  Among these recommendations, in the topic of environment they used a term I had never heard of before, “Universal Design for Learning”.  They ask for practitioners to consider the main principles of this theory when creating “accessible environments” (DEC, 2014).   Upon further research I found out that UDL focuses the “what, how and why of learning” to differentiate curriculum based on brain networks that address these questions (National Center on Universal Design for Learning, 2012).  This is a very practical approach to learning for any child and I see how the DEC would recommend it specifically for children with special needs.

Related to diversity, I also learned that the DEC recommends that assessments be done “with use assessment materials and strategies that are appropriate for the child’s age and level of development and accommodate the child’s sensory, physical, communication, cultural, linguistic, social, and emotional characteristics” (DEC, p.7).  I was surprised but glad that they mentioned cultural characteristics as they are sometimes left out.  Furthermore they recommend that “Practitioners build trusting and respectful partnerships with the family through interactions that are sensitive and responsive to cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity” (DEC, p.9).  There are many different types of diversity and it important to keep them in mind when working with children and families.

References

Division for Early Childhood. (2014). DEC recommended practices in early intervention/early childhood special education 2014. Retrieved from http://www.dec-sped.org/recommendedpractices

National Center on Universal Design for Learning.( 2012).  What is UDL? [web page]. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/whatisudl

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I searched different websites and found two professionals that I have sent e-mails to but have not heard back from yet.  If I do not hear back from them by next week I assume I will have to choose the alternate assignment for Part 1. 

As far as choosing the early childhood organization I decided to choose Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families.  I chose them because I remember reading many of their articles in the courses and was particularly inspired by the words of Leticia Lara, the regional manager for outreach and professional development for Zero To Three.  In the video "The Passion for Early Childhood" in the Foundations: Early Childhood course she spoke with such heart and that is why I chose that early childhood organization.