Quotes to Ponder

 

“A grownup is a child with layers on.”

Woody Harrelson


We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.  ~Stacia Tauscher

“Growing up is loosing some illusions, in order to acquire others.”
-Virginia Woolf

“Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.”
- Flannery O'Connor

“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

“All of us are products of our childhood.”
- Michael Jackson

Testing for Intelligence

If we as educators are concerned about the holistic development of a child, why do we separate the parts of their development when they are tested (Monique, 2011). When considering a commitment to children's holistic development, we must explore more than a child's intelligence score. If we are going to truly teach children in a holistic manner, then we must evaluate children in a holistic manner. School-age children should be assessed in all areas of development to arm the teachers with the information needed to help the child be successful. Monique mentions in her recent blog, that IQ tests measure a child's potential instead of achievement and does not include factors such as culture or emotions (Monique, 2011). To be cognizant of a child's holistic development, culture and lifestyle factors must be considered as well as cognitive, social, emotional, motor domains.
In an online article in Brainy Child it was said that when a gifted child from India is tested, "a thorough assessment will take into account the whole child, and will also look at how the child is adapting socially and emotionally to being "different". As part if these assessments, information about the child is collected from a variety of sources such as parent, teacher, caregiver. This speaks to the holistic approach. Gifted children always interest me because these are the children who most teachers feel do not obey the rules or try to cause chaos in the classroom, when typically it is the exact opposite. Gifted children are trying to figure out details in the structure of the day or activities.

 

Monique, D. W. (2011, October 14). Re: What's the big deal about testing? [Blog message]. Retrieved from http://www.littlemindsteps.wordpress.com.  

Is your child gifted? Brainy Child. Retrieved from http://www.brainy-child.com/article/gifted-child.shtml

Stress and Child Development

This week I am addressing the stress of death in a child's life.
My niece's father, with whom she had just begun to build a relationship, passed away from a drug overdose. My niece was only 5 years of age when this occurred. She has had some long-term effects from this event. Although her father was not included in the family unit, he did spend time with her in the last couple years of his life. When he passed away, my niece heard too much about what actually happened, and of course there was some family secrets that was brought to my sister's attention. A five-year-old child should never have to endure this stress, much less hear the tragic events that lead up to a violent death.

My sister has taken my niece for counseling periodically since this occurred. She has worked to keep some distant siblings in contact with my niece. My niece struggles at school around special events like father's day, when projects and programs are planned. My brother has stepped in for her many times to act as the male role model in her life. Over the last 3 years, my sister has had a couple of live-in boyfriends that my niece has struggled to get along with on a regular basis. As recent as 2 weeks ago, my niece was spending time at her cousins house and she expressed that she didn't want to return home. With some love, care and concern, she has been back to counseling appointments and has returned home. My niece has missed an extreme amount of school over the last 2 years. She claims of headaches, stomachaches, etc and her mother will keep her home. So, in addition to the emotional stress that her father's death caused, she has also had some struggles with keeping a schedule and learning, though, she is very smart and maintains good grades.

An estimated 5.6 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa in 2009, more than in any other country (HIV and AIDS). The death rates are increasing every year. Typically, HIV and AIDS are transmitted via the mother. Most times, a child is born into a family where the virus may have already had a severe impact on health, income, productivity and the ability to care for each other. When one or both parents are succumbed by HIV, the child(ren) are left as orphans and must be taken care of by older siblings, or relatives. This can cause a siblings to be separated and cause extra stress of losing more of their secure base. Also, in order to gain a new caretaker, the child may have to move to another area or neighborhood (HIV and AIDS). Death is one of the five life events that can cause stress in anyone; moving is another one. Change in itself can cause undue stress on a young child, much less 2-4 changes in lifestyle, caretaker, living arrangements, etc.

HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Retrieved from http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm on November 24, 2011.