Getting to Know Your International

 Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative”

This website turned out to be one of the best for me. Every time I click on this website there is something new to learn. This time I went through the new video segments of newsletter archives. There are a few videos, such as “brain hero”, “the foundations of lifelong health”, “what are innovations, afraid of innovations” and more. Some videos are in Spanish but most are in English. These recourses are wonderful not only for the educators but also for parent educational events as well. My number one choice is the foundations of the lifelong health. Jack Shonkoff, the director of the center on the developing child is in the presentation. Tom Boyce, the professor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Pediatrics, in University of British Columbia, Bruce S. McEwen Ph.D. Laboratory of Neuroedocrinology, the Rockefeller University, Bernard Guyer, M.D., M.P.H. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and David R. Williams Norman Professor of Public Health Harvard University are the presenters in this video. They are explaining that the interconnection of receiving safe environment, early childhood education, and better health care as a child makes a huge impact on the life span of a human being. Mother’s well-being before the pregnancy is the starting point to a life time of vitality.

The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood is a great video presentation of a wealth of information.

Reducing Developmental Barriers to Learning

This is another article that captured my attention. There are three video presentations included in this article.

The Early Childhood Innovation Partnership (ECIP) is a four-way collaboration among the Center on the Developing Child, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the True Point Center for High Performance and High Commitment. Even though there are opportunities for educator training and program improvement, the achievement gap is clearly visible in the nation. It is being proven again and again that not just the academic and cognitive development, but emotional, social, and behavioral development is equally important for the growing child.

The E. C. I. P.’s work is that interrelated neurobiology of emotional and cognitive development that provides the positive impacts on early childhood learning programs with,

a) Interventions that promote the development of executive functioning skills (such as behavior regulation and working memory)  

b) More effective prevention and early treatment of mental health concerns and behavior problems in young children.
The E. C. I. P’s aim is to combine scientific insights, practical experience, and creative risk-taking to generate new policies and practices that are,

·  Grounded in a unified evidence base derived from well-established scientific principles that can be applied across agencies and sectors;

·  Likely to produce greater impacts than current programs for disadvantaged young children and their parents;

·  Positioned to mobilize both public and private sector resources;

• Designed to be feasible and replicable (with adaptations as needed) in a broad array of political, economic, social, and cultural contexts. 

World Forum is another great resource that I have been following and I found this article there that I thought of sharing with everyone.

Caring about All Children
July 27, 2011

Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them.
-Francesco Guicciardini

In her presentation at the 2011 World Forum on Early Care and Education (which can be viewed on the World Forum website), Lilian Katz shared a concern from her book Intellectual Emergencies:  Some Reflections on Mothering and Teaching...
"I believe that each of us must come to care about everyone else's children.  We must come to see that the well-being of our own individual children is intimately linked to the well-being of all other people's children.  After all when one of our children needs life saving surgery, someone else's child will perform it; when one of our children is threatened or harmed by violence in the streets, someone else's child will inflict it.  The good life for our own children can only be secured if it is also secured for all other people's children.  But to worry about all other people's children is not just a practical or strategic matter; it is a moral and ethical one; to strive for the well-being of all other people's children is also right."

While I was paying attention to the current issues in international early childhood arena, I could not think of anything better to share with everyone.

Please take a moment to see these pictures and read the article. If it is possible do what ever possible to make a difference.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/deepening-humanitarian-crisis-in-somalia/2011/07/13/gIQAASuSCI_gallery.html#photo=21

Reference:

Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/),

World Forum Foundation

http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us/history-and-past-events/2011-world-forum/videos

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/