Child Research

I would like to share a personal story about the positive effects of research. My husband Bill has a muscles disease call VLCAD. You may be wondering how his muscle disease has anything to do with children and research. Well, 13 years ago while climbing Mt. Saint Helens Bill was airlifted to St. Johns Hospital after suffering from an episode from his illness. At that particular time he did not know he had a disease. He was a state swimmer in high school, a United States Marine who served his country, and an avid runner. While in the service he was given IV's after strenuous activity, his urine would turn dark brown a sign of dehydration. The problem with that was he was not dehydrated his muscles were breaking down and all of the "junk" from his ripped muscles were going through his body damaging his liver and kidneys.

 

After many doctor's appointments one doctor from Kaiser remembered hearing about a childhood disease called VLCAD and sent Bill to a children's hospital in Portland Oregon called Dornbeckers located at Oregon Health and Science University. Bill was tested and sure enough he was diagnosed with a childhood disease that children die from at birth and while sleeping. Bill’s disease was often mistaken for stillborn deaths or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

 

Bill is currently a part of a research project. The research will last for three years. Last spring he stayed at the hospital for 5 days running tests including physical tests, full body scans, blood tests, and so on. He now takes “medicine” that helps him process long-chain fats. Part of the subjects in the study take medicine that they know helps and some take medicine they think will help more. None of the subjects know which they are taking. The hope is that the drug being tested will work to help people that suffer from the painful disease VLCAD.

 

Research helped the doctor’s understand that people live with VL-Cad, that there is medicine to help, and that children that have VLCAD do not have to die from the stress of childbirth or kidney failure in their sleep. Bill had to suffer through some tests and experience pain from slight muscles breakdown however the risk was worth the benefit. The outcome of the research project may be positive for children with VLCAD.

 

Josie Zbaeren

Personal Research Journey

 

I chose the topic of parental sensitivity and infant-father attachment. I chose this topic because I am interested in knowing the difference between infant-mother attachment and infant-father attachment. I want to know what is already known about infant-father attachment and how it has changed over the years. More dads are staying home with their children than ever before. I want to know what the benefits are, if any.

 

I know I loved my dad so very much. I also know that my daughters are very close with their dad and I feel it has made a world of difference in who they are. They are great girls that feel good about whom they are, that are confident, passionate, loving, and that follow their instincts. Did a secure attachment with their parents (dad) aid in their development?

 

My personal experience honestly is a lot of questioning myself. I love what I am learning however I am concerned about processing everything correctly. The hardest class I took for my undergraduate degree was statistics and this class gives me the same anxiety.

 

I think all of the information is useful. I think it is important for us to be able to read scholarly research and make sense out of it. The guide to reading research is a lifesaver!

I will take any advice my classmates can give me. Please send me some wisdom! :)

 

Josie

3 Consequences and a Goal!

Three consequences while making contacts with others or in my case searching sites and listening to global podcasts are:

1. New information related to the early childhood field. For example what is happening across the nation and in other countries as far as quality or equity in care.

2. New ideas for wrap around services. The best idea I heard about was the Cradle to College program from the Harlem children Zone.

3. The eye-opener that what is happening or NOT happening in my community is real! Learning about how others struggle or how other center's are succeeding opens up new possibilities yet shows the hard work needed.

The one goal I have is to get more connected in early childhood by joining NAEYC or WAEYC to be in the loop about what is going on in the early childhood field. My goal is to stay current. :)

Josie Zbaeren

Part 3

The issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals that are being discussed where I live and work are proper education for early educators, the cost of quality care, and compensation for early educators. In the state of Washington the standards for lead teachers are low and it is a concern for parents and professionals. The cost of care is high compared to the wages being earned in my local community and many families cannot afford licensed care. The wages are low for those working in the field unless they are working for Head Start, Early Head Start or the community college.

The opportunities for professional development include courses at the community college and STARS credits through a variety of sectors. The requirements for a lead teacher are 20 Hours Basic Training, food handler’s card, first aid and CPR, and a TB test.

My professional goal right now is to complete my master's degree in ECE. After that I would like to gain some more experience as a mentor teacher and adjunct faculty at Lower Columbia College. Eventually I would like to be full time faculty at LCC.

Being a full time instructor is also part of my hopes and dreams. The challenges I face I am unsure of at this time. :)

Josie Zbaeren

Sharing Web Resources (more about HCZ!) :)

The website for the Harlem Children’s Zone is so grand that I feel as though there is more to explore. This week I decided to see what job opportunities there are as well as the qualification requirements for the jobs at HCZ.  Through my research I noticed that there are quite a few job opportunities. I wanted to see if this particular program stood up to the higher expectations of education and followed the recommendation for equity in the field. Most jobs required a bachelor’s degree and those that did not preferred one.  All of the job descriptions expressed the need for positive instruction, experience, education, collaboration, and flexibility. I was impressed! There was not a pay scale on the website and none of the job descriptions listed anticipated pay.  I thought that information would also give me more information to HCZ commitment to equity in the field.

On the website searches are available under category. I did a general search to begin with and moved to early childhood education. Some of the titles for jobs were Program Director (Baby College), Parent Engagement Coordinator, Outreach worker, and Family Aide. Most of these positions also required a bachelor’s degree in ECE or related field. They too asked for experiences, excellent communication skills, and commitment to the mission HCZ.

Looking through the website and the expectations of the Harlem Children Zone I see a definite trend. I see them working towards meeting the standards for quality care and instruction. As we learned last week teacher qualifications matter. The outcomes for children are higher when teachers with bachelor’s degrees are teaching. I also see the HCZ working to set an example of quality care. They serve the child and the child’s family offering services beyond traditional education.

Josie Zbaeren

Getting to Know International Contacts Part 2

One interesting insight I learned through my exploration of Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative is the economist Günther Fink and Zambian Ministry of Education along with other groups have taken an interest in the children in Zambia and the effects of malaria on their development. Malaria is a devastating disease that kills many children in Zambia each year. In 2004 an anti-malaria initiative was set in motion to decrease the effects of malaria on Zambian children and families. Fink with help from Beatrice Matafwali was able to create an assessment suitable and appropriate for Zambian children testing their development. Before Fink’s assessment children’s development was based on their height or lack of height based on age. In other words if their growth was stunted they were considered delayed and if not they were not considered delayed (Lawton).

The second interesting insights I gained for researching the website is the strategic objectives of the Global Children Initiative including educating higher level decision makers on the importance of a healthy start and child development, making connections and offering education globally on healthy development, unhealthy development, and how to keep it on track or, “get it back on track” and increase the amount of leadership from other countries. 

The third insight that I learned is the hard work Brazil is doing to make a difference in obtaining stronger policies for children and child development. They are using the science of child health to get policy makers and investors interested in early childhood. Facts lead to action and Brazil is headed in the right direction for children and families.

The website I have chosen to explore is the Harlem’s Children Zone at http://hcz.org/home .

There are several sections on this website that are relevant to my current professional development however the one that tugged on my heart is “The Baby College”.  The website explains the baby college as, “a nine week parenting workshop to expectant parents and those raising children up to three years old,” (HCZ, 2012). The program focuses on reading and literacy for children 0-3 as well as proper discipline techniques (redirection). I am working on my education in early childhood education and in the future I would like to pass that knowledge onto others in the field and to parents.

The resource that I found the most news worthy is the concept of serving children from “cradle to college.” We have a lot of programs that aim at specific age groups for example 0-3, 3-5, or school-aged however I have not heard of any other program that serves children from 0-college. I think it is an amazing concept! I think that the Harlem’s Children Zone understands the sooner care or services begin the better and that the longer they are provided the better the outcomes. The website claims that, “90% of the children that graduate from the program go on to college,” (HCZ, 2012).

The website has media coverage on the changes it is making in the lives of children and families 100 blocks wide and long. Barack Obama talks of the baby college; the early education programs, the free medical program, food programs and afterschool education programs. He explains how excellent the Harlem Children’s Zone is and promises to place 20 more programs around the country funded partially by the government and encourages others to put forth the dollars needed to get the projects off the ground. This part of the website is controversial in a way because of the amount of money taxpayers will shell out. That being said it is newsworthy because if it happens it will change the lives of children and community members forever.

Other insights I gained from the website are the importance of covering a variety of issues with families beyond early education in the classroom. Serving children and families is more than learning about developmentally appropriate activities for children. The Harlem Children’s Zone offers classes, programs and information on obesity, asthma, drug and alcohol abuse, anger management and the list goes on.