Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

For this week's blog I chose to look at the alternative. I was able to read a paper on early childhood care in New Zealand. The paper I read was a UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Childhood. There are many things that I found interesting and gained knowledge on. The first thing that I learned was that New Zealand has no requirements educational wise when it comes to home-based care caregivers. They have laws that govern the environment but not the caregiver. In the 20th century more parent were seek the home-based care because they wanted their children in a home environment. " A key reason for Government support and regulation is that the quality of early childhood services, including home-based services, is linked to long-term educational and social benefits for children and families" ( Podmore, 2002, p.2). This paper looks at why there needs to be regulations on home-based care for children. I found that New Zealand views the early education and care of to be very important for children and their society. The government provides the same amount of funds to home-based care versus center based. The government sees that an infrastructure needs to be present in order to help provide the high quality care for the children. What I gained from this article is that we are not the only society that struggles with not having an infrastructure.


Reference
Podmore V. N. (2002) Home-Based Early Childhood Services: The Case of New Zealand Retrieved on February 19, 2016 from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001373/137381e.pdf

Sharing Web resources Week 6

For this blog I went and explored different links on the DEC's Website. I found a letter about inclusion. I found this letter very interesting because it encourage states and programs to embrace inclusion. The letter was written by Arne Duncan, Secretary U.S. Department of Education and Sylvia Matthews Burwell, Secretary U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. An interesting thought in the letter was:

"Through the policy statement we released, we aim to support and encourage States, early childhood programs and schools, teachers and providers, national professional organizations, advocates, and families to take action to expand access to high-quality inclusive early childhood programs for all children. This policy statement is one effort in a series of Federal actions promoting the inclusion of young children with disabilities in high-quality early childhood programs. The Departments intend to work with our partners in the community to raise public awareness and identify resources to support high quality programming and inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs."

The reason I found this interesting is because it raises the point of how important inclusion is for children. All children desire high quality education.The only part about inclusion is some children require more accommodations and who pays for these costs. Because inclusion is suppose to be not limiting do providers get reimbursed or is it on the parents? These questions were not addressed in the letter. 

This research has lead me to understand that cost is not always the first subject that comes up. I read the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION POLICY STATEMENT ON INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS and no where did I see about cost and access. Yes we need inclusion but we need to make all type of education and care affordable. I know with my daughter I have to provide all the accommodating material for her at school. This is partly because it is a private school and they do not fall under IDEA. I do not understand this fact but it is true. So, when our legislation talks about inclusion it is for all public schools or public facilities. I have been doing quite a bit of research and I have not found where private schools or programs that do not take federal or state money that they have to comply with the law IDEA.

"Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation, such as private schools, private child care programs, or private preschools; regardless of whether an entity receives federal funds"(US Department of Health and Human Services, 2015, p.3)

But the private schools do not have to provide accommodation they just can ask you to find another program or school

Reference

United States Department of Education (2015) Dear Partners Retrieved on February 12, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ecd/office_of_secretary_decision_joint_letter.pdf

US Department of Health and Human Services (2015) Education policy statement on inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs. Retrieved on February 12, 2016 Retrieved from www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ecd/policy_statement_on_inclusion_of_children_with_disabilities_in_early.pdf

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I have been trying to communicate with my international contact and have had no luck. It seems we have different schedules. For this week I am going to do the alternative. Exploring the website Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” I found something interesting when they talk about working with other countries other than the United States. They have to work on translating the research information not only by language but by culture. I thought this was very smart and interesting because they are taking in the uniqueness of the country and culture. Another thing that I gain was that the work that they are doing in Latin American they believe can help them learn lessons globally,regionally and locally. 
"The project team members work together to understand the implications of what they’re learning as they implement in community-based settings – including an understanding of who the intervention is working for, who it’s not working for, and why" (developingchild.harvard.edu, p.1, 2016). This innovation cluster is about learning fast so they can incorporate their findings. I found this very interesting since in our country it takes a while to implement new ideas and findings. Another thing I found interesting was the Grand Challenge Canada, Savings Brain seeks to improve the lives of children living in poverty within the first 1000 days of life. They want to expand the reach of products, services and have polices to protect and nurture early brains. I found this imformation to be very encouraging and insightful because of how work around the global is supporting young lives.


Reference
developingchild.harvard (2016) Innovation Clusters http://developingchild.harvard.edu/innovation-application/key-concepts/innovation-clusters/

Sharing Wed Resources

This week I reviewed the newsletter I receive from Smart brief. I did not find anything from the DEC to relevant for this weeks assignment. What I found interesting from smartbrief was an article on the leader within. It talked about how being a leader has more to do with how you think and what you do. A leader is not just about your title. They also talked about how we need more leaders in the education field. Leaders are the ones who make changes in schools and other education settings. This article helped me understand that it is going to be the early childhood professionals that are going to make the big difference in the early childhood field. We know what works and what does not. We need to be advocates for the children we teach or the children in our programs. It does not matter your job title you are a leader and we need to stand up and help out politicians make the proper decisions.

"Leadership is complex and contextual. Our circumstances heavily influence who we are and can be as leaders. In order to understand the complexity, we will all benefit from spending some reflective time considering our backgrounds, beliefs, and actions." (edutopia.org, 2016,p.3).

I did not find anything controversial in this article I just found that it helps me understand more about my profession. I need to realize that its the professionals are the ones that help the economist and the politicians get the information to make decisions and studies. I really found this article to strength my reasoning for entering the early childhood field.

Reference
Edutopia.org (2016) Reflecting on yourself as a leader Reterived on January 30, 2016 from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reflecting-yourself-leader-elena-aguilar

Part -1 international contact

The contact that I have made is with a center in Australia. I have made initial contact but have not had many conversations yet. The director will give my information to her staff and she said they will be happy to converse with me on subjects. I have been exploring their website to find out more about their center. The center is called Regand Park Early Childhood Centre. Their website is careforkids.com. The articles they have available is cost of care, general information on child care, family daycare, au pairs (nannies), babysitters, before and after school care, preschool, work and care, health and child care, child care tools, and safety and security. I have been enjoying exploring a different country and their childcare. I look forward to learning from their professionals.

This week has been all about poverty and I have gain much knowledge. The myths that I thought have been dispelled because I really did not understand poverty. I myself have been there and did not know it. My husband lost his job and we almost lost our house twice in the last two years. When you get behind it is hard to get caught back up. I have found many programs that would have helped us out. I also found government programs that would have too. We have worked hard to get were we are living pay check to pay check but bills are paid and my children have food on the table. My neighbor just lost his job two weeks ago and they make 3 figure salary. I have many friends that their husbands are working out of town so they can make ends meet. I have realized that it is closer to home then you really want to know. I believe that the word poverty gives people the wrong impression about people. I have gained a new look on what poverty in my area is because it is not just the low-income that are experiencing it. The middle class is hard affected by it in such a down turn in the economy. I believe that the government and many other programs are not doing enough to help the poverty situation. The government believes that until you are really rock bottom is when you need help. If you help the working class then poverty can be reduced. The homeless issue has a life of its own. Many families have been their but many individuals like been free and to go where they want. The winter is the hardest in our area. There are many local programs that help the homeless. Poverty is complicated and I do not see a change in the near future.

Sharing Web resources

I subscribed to DEC website. (http://www.dec-sped.org/news)

The DEC (Division for Early Childhood) is an organization that is committed to improving the educational needs of individuals with special needs and gifted/ talented. They have recommend practices that help professionals and families improve the educational outcomes of children. They have a news and note section and they also have ways you can get involved with DEC. They have a section for publications, professional development and conferences. This website helps keep you informed on changes of thought and how to help you as a professional.

What caught my eye was the DEC's Monograph series it talks about supporting children who are dual language learners. They also discuss difficult child behaviors. One monograph discusses developmentally appropriate innovations in addressing the needs of children with challenging behaviors. The other monograph discusses the strategies to support dual learners in an inclusive environment.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

WEEK 1 EDUC 6162

Part 1
For this part I have asked a classmate to help me establish contacts with Early educational professionals. I have not heard from them yet. I have also contacted some organizations through Facebook and have sent emails out to individuals. I am trying all types of ways but had had no responds back yet. I am still not discounting having to use the alternative to part 1.



Part 2
For this part I decided to explore DEC (Division of Early Childhood). The reason I choose this one was because of the work I am doing currently with my daughter's school. I also have children with learning disabilities and delays. I like to learn more on how I can help my children reach their full potential. This is what I learned from this week exploring this website:

"The Omnibus bill to fund the federal government for the remainder of FFY 2016 has been agreed to by all parties and was released this morning. The bill includes an increase of $20 million for the Part C program and an increase of $15 million for the Preschool Special Education Grant Program (619). These funds will be available through state’s grants July 1, 2016. This bill still awaits final passage by the Congress and signature by the President. Both are expected to occur." (DEC Website News and Notes).

This statement was taken from the response that the DEC had for the for the US Heath and Human Service Department. They were explaining what their opinion was on the departments family engagement statement. I found this very interesting and how the DEC was very open with their comments.
"The State-level recommendations raised some concerns given that family engagement, to be optimally effective, must occur at all levels of policy and service planning and implementation. While the recommendations are well-organized, detailed and appropriate, they lack adequate steps to engage families and direct service providers in these processes at the state level. As we have seen in, for example, the implementation of Part C of the IDEA, the process benefited greatly from a collaborative approach that engaged stakeholders, including families, at all levels as equal partners." (http://dec.membershipsoftware.org/files/DEC%20Response%20to%20Request%20for%20Comments.pdf)

References
http://www.dec-sped.org/news