My Supports

Support in my opinion is anything that helps you accomplish your daily tasks. When I first think about the supports I have in my life I think of transportation. I think about the use of my legs and my vehicle. My legs and my vehicle get me to places that I need to be. I then begin to think about the support I need to know where I need to be each day and how to get there on time. In this case I need my phone. My phone serves as a clock, alarm clock, a calendar, and a place where I can store notes. When I don’t have my phone, for instance at work, I use a clock on the wall and sticky notes. I also have a computer at work where I input a lot of documentation into each day. I find my family and friends to be supports to me. They are always there to share my thoughts and feelings with and for me they help to keep me mentally healthy. All of these supports benefit me to complete my daily tasks to the best of my ability. They help me with timeliness, reflection, organization and movement. If I did not have just one of these supports life would become much more difficult. For example if I did not have an alarm clock I might not be on time to work in the morning. If I did not have sticky notes at work I would become forgetful and unable to complete some of my tasks. It is very concerning though how much my phone is a support to me it serves as many different purposes. I did not mention before, but it is also a means of communication. Without my phone to communicate I would not be able stay in touch with family and friends or schedule appointments as often as I do. My phone saves me time in my day.

I believe I could find other ways to manage without all of these supports, but a challenging one to imagine not having would be the use of my legs. Not having the use of my legs would change my thought process for getting from place to place drastically. Without the use of my legs I would not be able to walk up stairs, drive a vehicle, or simply move to any location I choose. If I did not have legs a wheelchair, elevators, ramps, and public transportation would be vital supports for me. If these supports were not available I would not have a sufficient means of transportation. It would make each daily task more difficult and I may not be able to do everything I needed/wanted to do.  

As you can see by reflecting upon my daily experiences there are many different people and things I depend upon to accomplish my daily tasks and experiences. If one support were taken away my outlook would change dramatically. What support would be the most difficult for you to go without?

My Connections to Play

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.”

-Mr. Rogers

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.”

-Charles Schaefer

When I was a child I remember being surrounded by all kinds of toys, but the three pictures I posted were my favorite! I was very fortunate as a child to have many adults to support my play. My parents were my biggest supporters. My mother was a stay at home mom and spent her days with my brother, sister and I. She took us to the playground and library and spent time playing at home with us. My father, even though he worked full time, always found time to play with us. I can remember whenever he came home from work my brother, sister, and I would run over to him and ask him to play with us. He always joined in our play no matter how long of a day or how tired he was.

Today as I visit families at their homes and have families join in play in my classroom I am disappointed by the interactions. I find a lot of the time in the home there is a piece of technology the child is using or the parent is not joining in with their child’s play. From my own personal observations play has been centered around technology or a parent wanting their child to know their 1,2,3’s or A,B,C’s. I hope to see play at home to go back to the way it was when I was a child. A child’s playroom is one of the greatest learning environments! (I know mine was!)

            Throughout my life play was an opportunity for me to express myself. It ranged from acting out school and playing teacher, to dressing up my dolls, to making up a new game with my brother and sister. As I learn about play now as an adult I see the vital importance of the early experiences of play and why the play in my childhood was so important!

Relationship Reflection

This photo is included in this post as an example of the nurturing relationships I have in my life.

Relationships have always been a very important aspect in my life for as long as I can remember. It began with my parents, siblings and pets. This has expanded to friendships and professional relationships. Currently I have very positive relationships with my family, my many pets (cat, dog, goats, and chickens), my friends, and I have recently created a new professional relationship with a classmate at Walden University.

I would like to begin by discussing why I included my pets as part of my relationships. My many pets that I have had over the years have taught me compassion, the importance of building trust, observation skills, and how to understand a feeling without words. As a caretaker of animals there is no true verbal communication one needs to care for an animal with the use of non-verbal communication. In order for one to meet the needs of an animal they need to know how to identify the signs of the needs to be met. I feel these relationships that I built with animals at a very young age have taught me how to communicate with compassion through non-verbal communication. Animals have taught me the importance of nurturing a relationship; which in many circumstances is showing affection and meeting basic nutritional needs of the animal.

Family and friends over the years have taught me about the work that goes into a relationship. My family and friends have always been there for me no matter what and I have always found I can count on them. They have taught me how to maintain a relationship. Positive relationships with friends and family means being an active part of a person’s life, staying up to date on recent events, effectively communicating with one another, and expressing to that person why their relationship means something to you.

My professional relationships have taught me the importance of having a professional network. By creating a professional network I have been able to use these people as a resource to expand my knowledge and grow as a professional. For example, if I were to have a question about how to handle a new situation that I had not encountered before I could talk to the people in my professional network. By talking to the people in my professional network I would be able to appropriately assess the best way to handle the situation that I had encountered based on their experiences, knowledge, and expertise.

I am most excited about my new professional relationship with a student at Walden University. The relationship has been formed based on the common ground of both being new to a leadership role in the early childhood field. Together we will share ideas, questions, and concerns. We will then collaborate with one another and build upon our leadership skills. I am very excited to see where this new relationship will take me.

As you can see each of the relationships I have discussed has helped me to become the early childhood professional I am today. I believe these relationships have made me a valued professional in the early childhood field, because I have learned how to effectively communicate, understand the importance of diversity, and show compassion towards others. It is not to go without saying that any relationship can be challenging to maintain. There will always be circumstances that make it difficult for one to continue a relationship, but if you truly want a relationship to work out no distance, time, or circumstance can get in the way. 

A note of special thanks to Sherria and Kara

Sherria Green and Kara Cashwell,
I would like to take this time to thank you for your feedback and support during our time spent in the course Early Childhood Development. Your blogs and discussions each week have helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the materials we have studied throughout this course. Thank you for helping me to expand my knowledge and grow as a professional in the field. I know you will both go on to do great things.
Sincerely,
Lisa Brownell

Quote by Dr. Seuss

A person is a person no matter how small.

~Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss is someone who I have always believed to be a very wise and to speak the truth in such simplistic ways. In this quote I believe Dr. Seuss is pointing out that even at a very young age a person or child has feelings, ideas, and knowledge to share with the world around them. It is important for one to acknowledge this for children and to inspire them to expand upon there current feelings, ideas and knowledge.

dddDD

Holistic Development Assessment

Having been a part of assessing children for the past six years, whether it be through my undergraduate work or employment, I have found two main advantages. First, when looking at the holistic development of a child one can assess and see how the child is doing developmentally. Are there areas that a child needs to improve on? Is there an area that a child excels in? Assessing a child’s holistic development gives the teacher assistance with creating lesson plans. A teacher can individualize lesson plans for an individual child or for the whole class. Secondly, assessing a child’s holistic development at a young age can help one to find developmental delays or disabilities. When this is identified at a young age the child can begin receiving the necessary supports and services to possibly decrease the severity of the delay.

In Sweden when looking at a child’s holistic development and assessing it they look at language, literacy, numeracy, and personal and social development (David, 1998). They use the assessment for diagnostic purposes and to assess a school’s value (David, 1998). This assessment begins at the primary school age (David, 1998).  

In comparison American holistic assessment and Sweden holistic development have a few things in common. When looking at a child’s holistic development in America one is evaluating social, physical, cognitive, language, literacy, math, science, social studies, and the arts. The criteria for these areas are varied by age. Both American and Swedish assessment focus on language, literacy, social development, and mathematics. It appears based on my research that American assessment looks at all spectrums whereas Sweden development is more specific.

I believe that there are many different ways in which a child can be assessed for development, but it is more of a matter of what is done with that assessment. It is important to make sure the assessment is to benefit the child and not label the child. For example one might do an assessment and say a child is below average, average, or above average. By placing this label I do not believe there is an advantage. The data should be used to benefit a child’s learning experience as described above.

References

David, T. (1998). Researching Early Childhood Education: A European Perspective. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Inc.

Childhood stressors

For this assignment I spoke with my close family. I started with my parents and I went through the list of stressors. They said they did not feel they grew up during a time where they experienced any of these. I then went on to ask my grandparents (both maternal and paternal). They responded very similarly. They said they did not feel they grew up during a time of poverty, but they may have been classified as poverty. My maternal grandmother said that she grew up on a farm and even though they were considered to be poor she never went without a meal. They always had just enough. She always had enough food to eat and had clothes on her back (even if they were hand me down clothes). My paternal grandfather said something very similar. He said again that he would not have considered himself poor his parents made enough to put food on the table and provide them with necessities. Both of my grandparents said that they did not feel they had to cope/survive during these times, because family was there for them and they may not have had everything they wanted, but they had everything they needed. It was a time where a neighbor lent a helping hand and family was always there for one another. Therefore, as adults looking back, there were no ramifications for them growing up.

            As I researched poverty for children in a foreign country I came upon a book called Mandela’s Children Growing up in Post-Apartheid South Africa. As I read on I came upon their definition of poverty “the poor are those whose income comes below what is required to meet basic needs such as food and shelter” (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). The book goes on to discuss what the ramifications are for children who grow up in poverty and the ramifications (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). There was a study done on children ages between two and six who suffered from poverty, based on five principal poverty indicators (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). The study was done to see what the effects were of psychosocial development on the children (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). The results of this study were as follows:

·         Age two feeding and speech problems

·         Ages four and five bladder, feeding, speech, and behavioral problems.

·         Age six feeding, motor and speech, behavioral problems, emotional disorders, and social competence

(Barbarin & Richter, 2001).

As a result of this study research is being conducted to figure out what the direct impact is for the specific problems and what can be done to help minimize the above named problems (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). For example the research showed that the feeding problems were associated with material well-being (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). Therefore further research is being done to figure out the direct cause and triggers of poverty that impacts the children’s psychosocial development (Barbarin & Richter, 2001).

References

Barbarin, O. A., & Richter, L. M. (2001). Mandela's Children Growing up in Post-Apartheid South Africa. New York, NY: Routledge.