Early Learning

By Mark S Weese

Early child development is often identified as the period between birth and five years of age. A child’s development is a cornerstone of human development and should be central to how we judge the success of societies. Early  development is the first and essential step toward achieving primary school completion.

Early learning is about choice; but unfortunately, a choice that today is not available for far too many families. Early child development is a prime time investment opportunity for society providing greater returns than any other period of life.

Community:
Teaching and learning can best be accomplished through interaction and involvement of all stakeholders; therefore, it takes a community to educate a child.  Learning is evidenced by positive behavioral changes at school, home and in the community.

I Believe:  The family is the primary influence in the development and education of the child.  It takes the total community to raise a child.  Learning is an active, lifelong process.  The school is responsible to provide continual opportunities for student success, and every individual is unique and important.  A student’s attitude and self-image are key factors in her or his educational success, and quality teaching demands innovation, collaboration and continual professional development.

Programs:
Programs for children can be center or home-based, formal or non-formal, and can include parent education.  Follow-up studies of early childhood intervention programs confirm that education focusing on both parent and child, rather than on one person offers the greatest long-term gains.  Some programs focus on families of 3 to 5 year olds.

Longitudinal studies show that high-quality early childhood programs reduce the number of low-income children who later need special education, public assistance, or incarceration, and increase the number who have well-paying jobs and high school degrees.  These studies show a long-term rate of return of up to 16 percent for every dollar spent, making programs such as these a smart economic development strategy.  These studies illustrate the benefits to children who participate in high-quality early childhood development programs.

Research;
Researchers have described four general styles of parenting: authoritarian, permissive, neglectful and authoritative.  Researchers have found that a child will learn more easily from a nurturing parent than from a harsh parent.  Research in neuroscience has shown that touch is necessary for child development and that a lack of touch damages not only individuals, but our whole society.

Here’s a bit of good info… Research shows that breast milk is the perfect “brain food”, essential for normal brain and child development, particularly, those brain processes associated with depression, violence, and social and sexual behaviors.  Research is rich and varied, and explores psychopathology in children and adolescents.  Research shows that the key to healthy child development is the amount of time children spend time with their parents having fun and learning at the same time.

Conclusion:
The child development is the effect of a physique maturity and a family cultural, economic and social context.  Early learning is smart economic development, and children need strong families, good early learning experiences, good health and supportive communities to succeed.  Child development is the magnificent process of physical growth and learning.