Testing For intelligence

        I believe that a child’s learning ability should be assessed. The purpose is not to say if the student is intelligent or not, but to simply assess the way the child learns. Each child learns differently, but some have more challenges than others. Once the child’s challenges are acknowledged, then a plan can be put into place to help the child learn effectively. I do think that some type of assessment should be done periodically in order to see the information that a student has or has not grasped. It does not matter if the assessment is formal or informal as long as the instructor can gauge the student’s learning.  

     I was interested in how children were assessed in china. I was able to find some information on a website. There was a time when there was no assessment at the primary level. Assessments were done at the secondary level. According to the site China is in the middle of assessment reform. The types of assessments that were available only measured the quantity and not the quality of what was learned. Teachers’ income was based on that assessment (Lingbiao, 2007). It was more important to know how much information that the students retained.

Reference

Lingbiao, G. (2007, January 6). Assessment reform in China: A response to the international trend in the new century. Retrieved from xypj.cersp.com/GLB/LUNWEN/200701/3223.html

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

My childhood  stressor experience

      There are many stressors all around us and many times one stressor creates another or more stressors. Racism in some countries result in civil wars then the war creates poverty because it stresses the economy; however, many of us deal with at least one stressor at a time. Children also have to deal with stressors in their lives and those stressors affect children. Some affect their mental state; others can affect their physical state while other stressor affects every part of a child. As I think about my childhood, I reflect on the main stressor I dealt with. My family was not rich, but we were never hungry, we were able to wear the latest styles; so, poverty was not a stressor. The biggest stressor that I had to deal with as a child was racism. I remember moving to Georgia and attending an elementary school in Statesboro and being bullied by older, much bigger white boys. I told my mom; she talked to the principle, but the bullying and racial name calling did not stop. I was confused as a child because before moving to Georgia, I never had to deal with anything like that. I was just a second grade student who was trying to adjust to the south. I remember, one day I was walking home with some of the neighbors when the same young men begin to call us derogatory names. We ignored them at first, but the yelling kept coming. The older neighbors begin to yell back at them to let them know that they were not afraid of the boys. The next thing that I remember, I was feeling pain and blood gushing from my face. We later realized that one of the boys had thrown a rock that had hit me in the face. The rock busts the top part of my lip and left side of my nose. The incident was addressed, but for a long time I was afraid to go to school. My family and I later moved to a smaller town, Twin City, GA. But the racism was still present. I did not have to deal with any physical confirmations, but I did have to hear white students call me the “N” word. I had to deal with teachers that would mistreat their African American students (the only minority). Many of the African American students were place in lower level reading and math groups without any explanation. Once moved from the elementary school to the other school in the 4^th grade. The racism was so obvious that the teachers from the elementary schools (both white and black teachers) begin to complain about the others school. They begin to warm parents to be on very vigilant with their children once they move to the other school (one teacher warned my mother). Things did not change once I got to high school. Racism was so bad in Twin City, GA that we had separate proms labeled as the black prom and the white prom. The younger generation wanted to change that, but the adults were not having that. Even, now the proms are separate.

            A first, I did not think that dealing with racism growing up affected me at all. I was not until later in my life that I was able to recognize the effects. I have a hard time trusting white people. As a child, I developed a prejudice towards white people based on my childhood experience. I was always aware that I had to work twice as hard to prove myself as a black person (known as the “black tax”). Even though I dealt with racism as a child; my adulthood has been shaped by those experiences.

THE STRESSOR OF WAR ON CHILDREN IN AFRICA

           

            I begin to think about the different stressors of children in different parts of the world. I decided to find more information about war in Africa because I had a classmate at Voorhees College that was a child soldier when he was in Africa. We were close friends, so one day he shared with me why his behavior was a little bizarre. He told me that, before he was rescued and brought to America, he was from Liberia during the time of apartheid. He explained to me how he watched his parents get killed and how he was abducted and forced to be a soldier.

            There are many children that are affected by war in face it is estimated that there are over 250,000 soldiers in the world today (War child, 2013).  The child soldiers include both boys and girls; 40% are girls (War child, 2013). The largest number of child soldiers is located in Africa (War child, 2013). The children are physically affected by war. The children soldiers have scars from fighting and they also have to deal with drug addictions (War child, 2013 ). The children have mental challenges to deal with even if they are released from their duties as a soldier. The mental challenges come from the inability to go back home because of their past and many of the girls have children during the time they are soldiers and are then ostracized. The effects of being a child soldier will follow the children for the rest of their lives because many of them miss school. Because the children are uneducated, they are unable to obtain jobs in the future.

 EFFECTS OF WAR ON CHILDREN

            The stressor of war creates more stressor that children have to deal with. The original stressor is war, but then the war affects the economy, education and health. It affects children’s health both physically and mentally.

            Physical effects

War affects children that are not soldiers as well. Wars are being fought in many parts of the world now and children are in the middle of it all. Even if they are not on the front line, children have to deal with the physical effects of war. Those that are not killed are maimed and young girls are raped or abused sexually (War child, 2013). Children are also physically affected because many necessary structures are destroyed and children suffer from diseases.

Psychological effects

            Children who have to deal with war daily began to suffer mental and socially. The children that are not dealing with physical issues may deal with mental issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (War child, 2013).War can affect the children’s ability to form relationships. Many times the children that are affected by war suffer from drug abuse and alcoholism (War child, 2013).

Economic effects

            As an affect of war, many children do not have access to education and with the lack of education the economy is affected.  The economy is affected many times because places of employment are destroyed. Poverty becomes an issue now that affects children dealing with war (War child, 2013).

 

References

War child (2013). Child Soldiers. Some words don't belong together. Retrieved from http://warchild.org.uk

      /issues/child-soldiers

War child. (2013). The Effects of War on Children. Retrieved from http://warchild.ogr.uk/issues/effects-

      war-children

Child Development and Public Health

Child Development and Public Health

Nutrition/Malnutrition

Nutrition is an important topic to me because nutrition is an important part of development. Nutrition affects everything from bones to emotions/mental function. More people suffer from malnutrition than people may think.1% of children in the US suffer from (Johns Hopkins Children Center, nd). The statistic did not mention the percentage of Adults that suffer from Malnutrition. Many people think that just because a person is not extremely skinny (one of the symptoms) that he/she is well nourished. However, Overweight people may suffer from malnutrition as well.

Malnutrition is defined as: “Malnutrition is the condition that develops when the body is deprived of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs to maintain healthy tissues and organ function” (Johns Hopkins Children Center, nd). Johns Hopkins explains that malnutrition includes undernutrition and overnutrition.  Undernutrition is when there are not enough of the essential nutrients. “Overnutrition occurs in people who eat too much, eat the wrong things, don't exercise enough, or take too many vitamins or other dietary replacements. Risk of overnutrition is increased by being more than 20% overweight or consuming a diet high in fat and salt” (Johns Hopkins Children Center, nd).

Malnutrition is an issue that affects many of developing countries. “1 in 4 or 143 million under-five children in the developing world are still underweight” (UNICEF, 2005). Nutrition issues are being addressed, but there is still room for improvement. Progress has been made with the provisions for Vitamin A, but there are still issues with other micronutrients.

In the future, I plan to open a school. The information that I have learned will be very helpful to me. I know that proper nutrition is essential to healthy development, so I plan to make sure to focus more on nutrition when preparing meals.

Child Birth Experience

 I do not have any real experience with child birth. I do not have any children and I was not at the hospital when my sister had her boys. The closes I have been to a birth experience was when I was in college. It was my second semester and my sisters first as a transfer students and my best friend and unofficial roommate was pregnant, but no one knew. I had a date one night in January, so my best friend and my sister were hanging out in the room watching television. I will never forget the night. I walked in from my date and noticed that the mattress from the top bunk was on the floor and my friend was laying there with the trash can next to her. Before I could ask what was going on, my sister panicky told me that my friend was in labor. I was in total shock with a million questions. The reality that my friend was in labor registered the moment I heard the pain in her voice and the tears run down her face. I then held her hand timed her labor pains (I knew to do that from watching movies). I told my sister to stay with my friend while I ran down stairs to tell the RA about my friend’s labor, but the RA did not believe me at first. I ran to get to our other friends while we tried to figure out what to do next. In the mean time, my friend was in so much pain. This was the first time that I had ever seen anyone in labor. It was more than I could handle after only seeing my friend as the strong ROTC leader. She was the one who out worked the men in class even pregnant (I did not know it at the time). My sister, friends and I did everything that we could to make sure that my friend was comfortable and not alone. We noticed that the labor pains were coming closer and closer together, so we sent a different friend to get the RA. She thought we were “pranking” her, so she did not come to the room. The labor pains had gotten five minutes apart, so three of us ran down stairs banged on the RA’s door and started yelling for her to come and check on my friend. The RA finally came to the room, realized we were telling the truth and ran back down stairs to call security to take my friend to the nurse’s station. I rode  to the nurse’s station with my friend, but was not allowed to ride with her to the hospital. I begged the nurse to keep me updated. I then had to go back to the dorm and call my friend’s mother and explain to her that her daughter had been pregnant and was in labor at the hospital. Her mom had no idea that my friend was pregnant; everyone thought that she had just gained weight: the normal freshman 10. Less than an hour later the nurse called the RA to inform us that my friend had a healthy baby girl. Maybe an hour later, my friend called me to ask me the little girl’s name that I made up the past semester (As part of a writing class, I made up a name for a little girl. At the time we laughed about it and said the name was beautiful and when I have children I would give my baby that name.) I told her the name. She then told me that she was using the name, but she wanted to change it a little. We created the perfect name for the baby. I had the chance to meet Zakwan for the first time two months later. My friend had not had any prenatal care at all, but we were all grateful that the baby was  a healthy 8 Lb little girl. The experience with my friend was very scary. I am glad I was able to be there with her because she was five hours away from home and would have been alone; however, seeing the pain my friend was in scared me to the point that I decided not to have children. Children are beautiful and bring joy to life.

 

Child Birth in Sierra Leone

                        Child birth in Sierra Leone is different from the United States of America. In the USA, almost 100% of women give birth in a Hospital or Birthing Center. There are approximately seven hospitals in Sierra Leone which are not enough hospitals. Many of the villages are without proper health care or health care facilities. The lack of hospitals or proper facilities put mothers and babies at risk. One in eight women dies from child birth in Sierra Leone while in developed countries, such as the USA, the rate is 1 in 4,000.  The hospitals and clinics that are available were set up by the government to provide free services for pregnant women and children under five years old; however, many of the hospitals still charge women and their families for medicine and surgeries. The pregnant women who are close to the hospitals are afraid to go to give birth because they are poor and afraid that they cannot afford treatment. Most of the deaths are caused my postpartum bleeding. The women that are at the hospital are allowed to die if they cannot afford to pay for services. Many others cannot reach hospitals because the hospitals are so far away. The hospitals that are available to some of the women are understaffed. Under stocked and many simply does not have the necessary essentials such as water and electricity. Many of the women in Sierra Leone receive care from local women who act as midwives. Many of these women are not trained as midwives. 

            Women in the USA have access to proper prenatal care and if there are complications pregnant women in the US are treated regardless of the inability to pay because hospitals cannot deny emergency services. Most of the States in the US provide governmental medical services, such as Medicaid, to pregnant women without medical insurance or the ability to pay. Children and the birth of children are normally viewed as joyous and beautiful, but in many underdeveloped countries child birth is frightening because of its high mortality rate. The joy of being an expecting mother is overshadowed by the fear of death. 

 

 

                                                    

               

 

References

Amnesty International. (2009, September). Maternal Death Rate in Sierra Leone is A Human Rights Emergency. Retrieved from http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/maternal-death-rate-sierra-leone-quothuman-rights-emergencyquote-20090921

Sullivan, K. (2008, October 12). A Mother's Final Look at Life. Retrieved from http://www.washingpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/11/AR2008101102165.html

 

 

Examining Codes of Ethics

Examining Codes of Ethics

DEC “We shall strive for the highest level of personal and professional competence by seeking and using new evidence based information to improve our practices while also responding openly to the suggestions of others.”

Significance to my professional life

I want to continue to grow as a professional while ensuring every available resource is used for the benefit of children and their families.

NAEYC I-1.5—To create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development and that respect their dignity

and their contributions

Significance to my professional life

My opinion is that all things help to shape a child. Once all of these things are provided, then the effects on children’s development are positive.

NAEYC I-2.2—To develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve.

Significance to my professional life

It is important to have the trust of the families. A good rapport with the families makes it easier to provide the best services and information needed for the children.

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from 

http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf
 
The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from

http://www.dec-sped.org/