Sharing Web Resources

The name and link for the organization I selected are: Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families http://www.zerotothree.org/

The organization is focuses on encouraging the growth and development of infants and toddlers including their general physical condition.  It is a source of information, support and training for the professionals, policymakers, and parents in improving the lives of the young ones.  

A current issue is about making it a year full of play.  This encourages the play aspect of children’s lives.  It supplies information according to ages of children, please check Year of Play in order to know more.

A current issue from the newsletter under Behavior & Development – Health & Nutrition is on the tips on health and nutrition. For example, healthy eating habits for young children offers information on: feeding skills for the first three years; how feeding tenderly cares for the body, heart and mind of the young children; knowing what an individual child really needs; how meal and snack times give chances to help the infants and toddlers know a lot of things like - learning healthy eating habits, feeling important and loved, etc.  There is also a chart on the ages and stages of children in relation to feeding and what adults can do to assist where necessary.

In relation to the topic of the week - Issues and Trends: Changing Demographics and Diversity – from the public policy, I found the article on early language and literacy development quite relevant.  It focuses on how development in positive early language and literacy can give children a window to the world and the absence affects the brain’s architecture which makes children lag behind. I also found a submission in conversation with the experts by Stefanie Powers on the findings providing useful insight into how professionals can better support parents and other caregivers in their efforts to nurture healthy development.  Some of the important discoveries include – a) parenting practices are influenced by one’s own upbringing, that is, often, we tend to pattern the training of our children to the type of upbringing we had; b) grandparents are vital sources of support and information, for example, grandparents at times serve as baby sitters and custodian of family culture; c) fathers and mothers experience parenting differently, that is, the combination of the two different types of upbringing to produce another type of upbringing in the children. To this effect, there is a five point policy recommendation in order to increase literacy skills for all children.

There is also a research submission that literacy is about communication and that children achieve competency in school readiness skills when they begin to experience and master all the domains of development, that is, cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.  However, in gaining the experience, there is a pointer to the significant adults – families and other caregivers – in the child’s life.  Where there is family movement from one geographical area to another, the rate at which the communication gap is bridged depends absolutely on the level of interaction between the early childhood professionals, the communities and the new family.

Reference

Kupcha-Szrom, J. (2011).  A window to the World. “Early Language And Literacy Development.”  From Zero to Three Policy Center February 2011 http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/infant-toddler-policy-issues/positive-early-learning.html

 
Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families http://www.zerotothree.org/