THERE ARE 4 RESPONSES NEEDED.. EACH SET OF 2 HAS THEIR OWN SET OF INSTRUCTIONS.. DUE IN 20 HOURS

 In your responses to no fewer than two of your classmates, compare and contrast your respective thoughts regarding how sensory systems work and impact childhood development, and offer constructive criticism and recommendations on how to address and offer advice to parents. Additionally, identify any insights you have gained as a result of reading the responses of others. 

CARMEN’S POST:

Early Childhood Physical Development

Throughout our lives, we have been aware of our five senses: smell, taste, touch, hearing, and vision. However, it is very interesting to see the development of these sensory and how they impact a child’s perception of the world. According to Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M. (2016) These senses contain receptors which are nerves that are activated by stimuli also known as sensation. Also, we can interpret our stimuli through our senses.  During the first year, the infant becomes aware of its surroundings. Every smell is a new sensation, they are alert to new sounds, their interest in touch and taste increase drastically. Vision on the contrary is a bit different as it is under development due to the eye muscle being immature (National Geographic, 2011). Let’s take a closer look at each sensory and explore how parents can adjust the home and social environment to allow the sensory system to develop.

Smell

During the first month, smell and taste sense is extremely active because infants become more aware of their surroundings. These two senses go hand in hand as they stimulate our interest in eating as well as warning signs, as they also regenerate every 10 days (Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M., 2016). They can detect smells through the nerve stream which sends an electrical signal to the brain which interprets the signals as smells. Infants can discriminate between odors which allows them to perceive good and bad smells.

Parent suggestion

According to Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M. (2016) studies showed that breastfed infants are attracted to both the smell of their mother and her milk. Spending time with your infant will help the infant adjust to smells and feel calm.

Taste

Similar to smell during the first-month taste is well-developed.  National Geographic (2011) mentioned that there are over 9,000 receptors in the tongue, which allows the infant to use their mouth to explore. Infants can discriminate tastes and show preferences (Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M., 2016). This sensor can be dangerous as this is when infants put different items, such as toys, in their mouth to explore them. Also, infants can distinguish between sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.

Parent suggestion

According to Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M. (2016) study showed that newborns can discriminate among the four tastes. A parent can tell though the infant’s mouth expression if they are tasting something bitter, sweet, sour, or salty. Becoming aware of the different mouth expression can help understand what your infant like and dislike in taste.

Touch

Touch is the most commonly used sense by infants, as they use the sense of touch to distinguish and explore their surroundings. National Geographic (2011) explained that when a child touches something hot, the stimuli go 200 miles per hour from the hand to the spinal cord onto the brain. The brain perceives a pain, sends a single to the muscle to move the hand.  

Parent suggestion

In this sense, it is important to allow your child to explore items through touch. Let your infant touch shapes, warm and cold items to become more familiar with this sense.

Hearing

The ear is fully developed around the infant’s 4th months, the child is adjusting to strange sounds in the environment. Sound waves reach the hair link cells in the eye, in which the cell responds to the amplify vibration and provides different tones, pitch, and volume (Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M. (2016). At 6 months children recognize voices.

Parent suggestion

Parents are encouraged to talk to their infants to help them adjust and recognize their parents. At the age of 6 months, children are able to understand specific nouns according to Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M. (2016). Avoid loud noises as this can affect or damage the infant’s hearing.

Vision

This sense is different from the others as in the first month it is under development, infants see blurry and cannot see colors. The eye muscle is immature and infants see things upside down. At 2 months they can distinguish color and shapes. At 4 months they can recognize their mother’s face and at eight months they have a 20/20 vision (National Geographic, 2011).

Parent suggestion

Infants enjoy the interaction with humans to have a picture of their faces. Spending quality time with your infant helps with the development of this sense. Infants have a better chance of survival if they can build preferences for faces (Mossier, R.A., & Ziegler, M., 2016).

Resource

Mossler, R. A., & Ziegler, M. (2016). Understanding Development: A Lifespan Perspective. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc

National Geographic. (2011a, Apr 29). Inside the living body, video 1 of 9 [Video file].

TAMMY’S POST:

Early Childhood Physical Development

Sensory development and its impact to a child’s perception

According to the video, Inside the living body, a child begins to sense while in gestation. These senses become critically independent the moment birth has occurred. As the newborn develops further, he or she increases their abilities separate from the womb and how to communicate their needs in a coo or cry. In a typical parent /child relationship, the parent responds to a child who is then comforted. The new and eventually toddler continues to learn and live the same words and actions as the mother, father, and those most frequently seeing to their care.

Our parent’s genes create our phenotype, the two sets of alleles that may or may not be identical, or homozygous for that gene; or when the alleles are different, they are then heterozygous. The learning factors associated with the genetic makeup come as recessive or dominant genes from the biological parents and follow three patterns including passive, evocative, and active – each is comparable to his or her parent. According to the authors Scarr and McCartney, these patterns are indicative of the maturational and environmental factors through the duration of growth and decline of each life (Mossler & Zeigler, 2016). In short, our behaviors closely resemble that of the person who cares for our needs. If needs are met or unmet, the response and development changes. Being aware of behaviors and milestones is instrumental in raising a child and into adulthood since many environmental and social tendencies follow with us throughout the years.

Parental and caretaker home and social adjustments accentuating infant development.

The traits discussed in the text, Understanding Development: A Lifetime Perspective (2016, chapter three) explores how each of these traits of our phenotype correlates to the mother, father and caretakers of the child. In chapter five, Kangaroo Care is found to accentuate bonding with immediate skin to skin contact. Should a mother show no interest, or a newborn not reciprocate the attention and affection this response may imply that there is an issue. Kangaroo Care among other activities can better the bonding experience with a newborn. Without any diagnosis from the DSM-V, most people can consider RAD or withdrawal such as FAS. One of the first keys in a newborn life and well into our adult stages is knowing our needs will be met, safety and being consoled are two a newborn must be provided.

Since children can be early or late bloomers, recommendations are set to pediatric visits for growth records and utilizing the resources such a WIC and therapies to help network with other parents and healthy development. Head Start and Preschools that are learning and development based are ideal for the child and parent alike. For instance, as a former Head Start Family Advocate, I assessed children with the ASQ and ASQ-SE. These assessments can highly and accurately indicate if the child is developing as expected and through this an advocate can connect parents with referrals to appropriate channels of professionals to aid in the developments and testing of their child. An example of where adaption is common is for children with Autism or ADHD. Safety nets and redirection are essential in keeping the child on track in a healthy manner while still aiding their development. Of course, each child is different and so is the parenting style, for this reason it is ideal to have a professional support team and create plans including EIP and behavioral charts to track progress.

References

Mossler, R. A., & Ziegler, M. (2016). Understanding Development: A Lifespan Perspective. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

National Geographic. (2011, April 29). Inside the Living Body, video 1 of 9 [Video file]. Retrieved from National Geographic – Inside the Living Body 1 9

Guided Response: Read several peers’ responses and choose two peers who selected a different assessment than you. Compare and contrast the assessments. Your responses must address the following questions:

• How are the assessments alike?
• How are the assessments different?
• What are the strengths of your peer’s chosen assessment?
• What are the weaknesses of your peer’s chosen assessment?
• How can both assessments inform instructional decisions?

MY POST:

One of the informal assessments is anecdotal records. This is an effective form of assessment because it will enable one to record details of events, behaviors, and notes about the children’s activities, needs, and accomplishments. Children have various learning needs. Whereas some children might be good at math, others perfect sciences and languages. Anecdotal records would be very useful in determining the educational needs of the children. They would be used to identify the possible developmental delays in every child.

The anecdotal records would be used to identify the learning needs of the children. These learning needs would then be used to develop the curriculum. The assessment will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the children that will determine how the curriculum will be developed. “Informal assessments match curriculum goals… focus on change and growth over time” (Jaruszewicz, 2019). The measurement will determine the focus of the curriculum. If the results of the assessments show that children are facing weakness in science, the curriculum will focus more on the teaching of science. Every learning need identified in the assessment will be incorporated into the curriculum.  

The results of the informal assessments will be shared with the families through emails and phone calls. Every parent will be receiving an email containing the progress of their child as an attachment. Parents will also be called for urgent updates about the progress of their children. The parents will be invited to the school to explain to them in detail about the progress of their children.

The assessment results will be explained by informing the parents of the learning goals and comparing them with what the child has achieved. A report will be prepared that consists of various developmental domains and the progress of the child in every developmental domain. The parents will be informed of the expectations of the children.  It will be good to schedule face-to-face meetings with the family member. The approach is inclusive of family and individual differences because it gives an opportunity for every parent to choose the best way to receive results. For example, some families can choose informal visits to the school while others only prefer phone calls to receive the progress of their children.

REFERENCES

Jaruszewicz, C. (2019). Curriculum and methods for early childhood educators [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

WANDA’S POST:

Developmentally Appropriate Assessment

One informal assessment is anecdotal record. The anecdotal record is a form of assessment where the teacher can give a detail of the events, behavior, or notes about children’s activities, accomplishments, or needs.(Jaruszewicz, 2019).

• Discuss why you feel it is an effective form of assessment to use in your future role as an educator.

I feel this is a effective form of assessment that can be used in my future role as a educator because you can write down a observation on anything handy like index cards, journal, sticky notes or notebook paper and you are writing down what you are observing the child doing in the moment. I feel that this is a great for teachers to use because it can be done at any given time and it helps the teacher to provide information about the child over a period of time.

• Describe how specifically you will use this measurement to make instructional decisions about curriculum. Support your choices with the course text.

According to the text informal assessment are implemented in the classroom environment that document the learning, skills and behavior. This gives a holistic context-specific view over time. (Jaruszewicz, 2019). I would use this in my classroom and I would put this information in a binder or portfolio. I would put this into a individual portfolio for a child. In this portfolio I would put the anecdotal records of the child along with work samples of the child over a period of time. The portfolio provide holistic evidence of learning because they include documentation of both process and product and demonstrate growth, change, and potential. (Jaruszewicz, 2019)

• Explain how you will share the assessment results with families considering the following:
• How you will communicate with them (e.g., email, phone call, etc.).

I would use this information by holding a parent teacher conferences and using the portfolio as a tool to show the parent what their child is learning in the classroom and their growth in the class. By showing parents early samples of work done and comparing it to the most recent work. It shows the parent what the child is learning and their progression in learning. I would call and set up to have a conference this way the parent could see in person that sample works of their child. In the text it states, face to face interactions such as parent teacher conferences give teachers the opportunity to include families in a long term conversation about the growth and learning of a child. (Jaruszewicz, 2019)

• How you will explain the results.

I would give the results in person but I would follow up with a written report of the results of the learning experience of their child. I would discuss the child’s development and learning and I would encourage for the parent to be a active participant in setting goals for the child and we could also go over any other needs that the child may have. I would also encourage the parent that though parent teacher conferences are held like twice in a year that we could come together anytime to collaborate about the educational concerns of the child. My door would be open to all parents.

• The ways your approach is inclusive of family, culture and individual differences.

I would analyze the data and make the decision about how I should modify the curriculum to the child and I would choose materials and strategies to diversify the lesson plan to meet the individual needs and interest of the child. The strategies that I could use are things like providing opportunities for independent work, plan small group activities for students with similar skill level, have individualized directed instruction or provide options in the lesson to accommodate different skill or interest level.  (Jaruszewicz, 2019)

 Reference

Jaruszewicz, C. (2019). Curriculum and methods for early childhood educators [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

TAMARA’S POST:

• Select one informal assessment from Table 12.3 of the text

Anecdotal Record

• Discuss why you feel it is an effective form of assessment to use in your future role as an educator.

This was a difficult task to do because I feel like each type of assessment has a different purpose. I like the anecdotal record, but if it is a behavioral assessment then the time/event sampling or running record would be more appropriate. I like the anecdotal record because it feels friendlier, more informal, and caring like we are truly looking at the whole child during the assessment.

• As an educator, imagine you have just administered the assessment. Describe how specifically you will use this measurement to make instructional decisions about the curriculum. Support your choices with the course text.

Keeping a running anecdotal record of each child provides a comprehensive picture of the child’s skills and personality. The NAEYC states that “Teachers cannot be intentional about helping children to progress unless they know where each child is with respect to learning goals” (2009, p. 22). The assessment provides a picture of how the child is doing with the curriculum and whether the lesson plans need to be altered to address a certain area further or continue on to another subject. If the student performed each task well, it seems the curriculum is working for the student, and continuing the lesson plans with the same format would benefit the child. If the student did not perform well, perhaps revisiting the subject they had difficulty in a different way would be beneficial. Since the curriculum addresses subjects across all developmental domains and educational disciplines (NAEYC, 2009) it is important to take enough time for the material to sink in for all children.

• Explain how you will share the assessment results with families considering the following:
  • How will you communicate with them (e.g. e-mail, phone calls, etc.)
  • How will you explain the results?
  • In what ways is your approach inclusive of family, culture, and individual differences?

After an assessment is completed, the results need to be shared with the families. According to Jaruszewicz (2019), the best way to share the results of an assessment is face-to-face. Rencken (n.d.) suggests that positive parent-teacher interaction is where the adults share information about the development and growth of the student. “It is a personal story that each shares with the other and is often done with laughter, concern, caring, and love” (Rencken, n.d., p.51). If this is not possible due to scheduling conflicts or other issues, perhaps sharing the results through e-mail and then inviting the families to respond through e-mail or call to discuss the results would be appropriate. Keeping communication open between guardians and teachers is important for the success of the child. This approach should be appropriate across cultural and family preferences. This approach provides a physical, readable copy of the assessment, which can be translated into the family’s primary language, it creates an open invitation for a meeting or other form of communication to discuss results, and the format of the assessment is anecdotal and friendly. An explanation of how each story relates to the development or growth of the student will be included in the written assessment as well as discussed in the meeting.

References:

Jaruszewicz, C. (2019). Curriculum and methods for early childhood educators [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an external site.)

NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/PSDAP.pdf

Rencken, K.S. (n.d.). Observation: the primary tool in assessment. Childcare Information Exchange 11/96 50-52. Retrieved from https://www.childcareexchange.com/library/5011250.pdf (Links to an external site.)