Entries For: 2007

Greetings

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting with Dr. James Heckman when he was visiting at Washington State University. Dr Heckman is much admired by the early learning community because of the work he did on the return on investment society gets for investing in children birth through age five. His findings are based on research results from two longitudinal studies done on high quality preschool programs that were offered to low income, at risk children.

According to Heckman's findings, for every dollar society spends on children from birth to age five, it saves $17 later on. The study shows that school dropout rates, teen pregnancy, joblessness, incarceration and a host of other negative issues are decreased when a child has the opportunity to attend a high quality preschool.

Imagine how exciting it was for me to be with eight other early learning people and Dr Heckman for an hour. The surprizing thing was that he saw it as an opportunity to learn things from us! In fact when the person escorting him around came to get him for his next meeting Heckman asked if he could have a few more minutes with us.

Heckman told us that his research has led him to believe in the power of non cognitive skills or social emotional development as the deciding factor in the successful development of a child. He stated that although the children in the study had the same IQ ten years after their preschool experience, they were much more successful then the control group because of their social emotional maturity.

Later that day, Heckman spoke to a crowd of over 300 students and facility in Economics and again praised early learning as the best investment we can make as a society. You gotta love this guy.

Let me know what you think.

Jeanne

The other day I got a cup of chai at a local coffee store. I noticed - the bigger the cup, the longer the quote. Since I ordered a grande, the quote on my cup was quite long.

The quote was from Colin Powell and while I don’t remember the whole thing, the first line was provocative and memorable, it said “ Every child needs a laptop.”  As I continued to read the quote, I saw that he was not talking about the laptop we plug-in but the one that is available whenever we sit down.

His basic message was that every child needed loving people in his life who would hold him, read to him and make him feel secure.

As I read on, I saw that Powell was not just talking about parents; he included grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, caregivers and other caring adults. The underlying message seemed to be that it does take a village to raise a child.

Apparently some ideas can transcend politics.

After being inspired by the lofty thoughts on the side of my grande soy chai, I was saddened to see that the expansion of SCHIP was vetoed.

There are too many children without health care in this country. They are without health care through no fault of their own and they will continue not to have coverage for the minor illnesses and growing pains of their youth. They will continue to be seen in the ER for earaches and colds by over-extended emergency room nurses and doctors because there isn’t any other choice for them.

Surely we can do better.

Greetings,

This week I learned of a blog post in the New York Times that talks about the important role of parents as their children’s first teachers and I wanted to share it with you.

Wil Okun is a Chicago school teacher who teaches English and Photography. One of his recent blog posts “If Not Now” asks questions about the level of involvement parents have in their children’s learning between the ages of zero to five.

In his post he asks
• Why are some parents not teaching their infants basic skills like numbers, colors, letters and objects?
• If the period between ages zero to five is the most important in a child’s development, why is early childhood education and care not a national priority?
• Should the government play a larger role in early childhood development or should that responsibility continue to rest primarily in the hands of the individual families?
• Can a child who is already academically deficient as early as Head Start or Kindergarten ever catch up to grade level, and if so, how?
• How can we get parents involved in their children’s pre-K education and how can we maintain that educational involvement into college?

Mr Okun’s blog and his questions certainly hit a chord with readers. There are more than 170 comments to his blog post. The views and opinions vary greatly, and I think its exciting to see these questions being raised by an individual outside the field of early learning. I hope you will take a moment to read what he has to say and let me (and him) know what you think. Do you agree, disagree or have something to add?

Let me know what you are thinking. It is always great to hear from you.

It’s September and many parents have taken their five year-old to Kindergarten. If you listen quietly, you might hear the earth move just a little bit.

Taking your child to school for the first time can sometimes be more traumatic for the parents than the child. Thinking back to when my oldest son started school brought back a flood of memories.

I was 26 years old when he started Kindergarten and believed that kids should be able to adjust to whatever teacher they got and that this adjustment was part of their socialization. I had been told that his Kindergarten teacher was “an old school disciplinarian” and I didn’t know that I could have taken him out of that class and put him in another. My son struggled all year with this teacher. I was constantly being told that he didn’t pay attention, acted out and wasn’t learning. At the risk of understatement, it was NOT a good year.

In first grade my son had a wonderful teacher who, two weeks into the school year, asked if she could have him tested for Learning Disabilities. I allowed it, and I am glad I did because it turned out that he did indeed have Learning Disabilities. Immediately a support plan was developed to help my son succeed in school.

The experience taught me several things:

• Always advocate for your child

• Never be afraid to be the “problem parent” to the school

• Demand to have your child moved if you feel s/he is not being treated properly

• Agree to testing even if you think there is nothing wrong with your child. (Let me explain why I think this is important.)
When my younger son was in 2nd grade, his teacher wanted him tested for Learning Disabilities. I knew he didn’t have them and also knew that if he wasn’t tested, the teacher would treat him differently. Sure enough, he was not Learning Disabled. His grades went up and his teacher worked with him in a completely different way.

The resources listed below can be a big help for parents and families whose children are just starting school:

• The Children’s Home Society of Washington has resources for parents to use to become involved in their child’s school.

• The University of Washington has a web site that lists resources, Washington State Resources for Parents of Children and Youth with Disabilities.

I would love to hear your "back to school" stories as parents or as children.
Thank you for reading.

Jeanne

Greetings

Recently I received a letter from the President and CEO of the Washington Dental Service, James Dwyer (I know what you are thinking-is she really going to talk about dentistry? But please read on). In this letter, Mr. Dwyer shares his concerns about a "growing childhood health problem - tooth decay and poor oral hygiene among very young children." Mr. Dwyer goes on to say that a recent state survey found that the rate of tooth decay among the children of Washington State is growing and that one in five elementary school-aged children have rampant untreated decay-cavities in seven or more teeth.

This report got my attention as I found myself in the dental chair last week for a root canal procedure. Since the Endodontist got to do most of the talking, he shared with me that his five year old daughter was going in to get her first filling for a cavity. This is the child of a dentist!

Following this story on a national level, I found this article from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). The article states, to keep the frequency and duration of sugar exposure in check, the AAPD offers these recommendations:

• Fill sippy cups with water only. Children shouldn’t sip on sugary drinks or munch on sugary foods for extended periods of time. If you give your child beverages other than water, serve them in a can or glass and limit consumption time. If you do provide sugary drinks in sippy or other types of cups, instruct children to finish them quickly. Take away the cup after a reasonable amount of time.
• Don’t let children go to sleep with bottles. Even milk can cause tooth decay. If you do put your child to sleep with a bottle, it should contain water only.
• Limit candy. Sucking on candy is another way that kids can extend exposure to sugar.
• Limit sweets and the time it takes for kids to consume them, and make sure children brush afterward.
• Brush after meals. Have your children maintain proper oral hygiene, including brushing after meals and snacks and daily flossing, to reduce the risk of cavities.
  

There is a federal program called the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that provides health and dental care to low income children.

All children enrolled in Medicaid are entitled to comprehensive dental services. Medicaid's "Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT)" program, the nation's primary source of well-child care for low-income youth through age 20, must provide dental examinations for all children. The program must also provide necessary treatment or services to correct or ameliorate defects found, regardless of whether the follow-up services are otherwise covered under the state Medicaid plan.

The states have some flexibility in determining when the first dental examination occurs under EPSDT. Current recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Dental Association and the Bright Futures Project recommend the first dental visit at about age 1.

But being entitled to services and actually receiving them are two different things.

• In 1996, only about 17 percent of Medicaid-enrolled children received the required EPSDT dental services, down from 18 percent in 1994 and 1995.
  
• Only one in five children eligible for a dental screening actually gets it. When children do not receive the appropriate dental screenings, Medicaid pays the higher price of treating advanced dental disease in children. Five percent of the kids eligible for services consume 30 percent of the dollars spent on dental care.
• For example:
• Children with swollen faces, painful toothaches and abscessed teeth may end up in the emergency room. The treatments they receive in this setting generally address their infection and pain, but not the underlying disease-tooth decay. A visit to the emergency room averages about $100 and children may walk out the door with their teeth untouched.
• Baby-bottle tooth decay, a preventable disease, requires very expensive treatment if not identified and managed early. HCFA estimates that Medicaid pays at least $100 million and as much as $900 million per year for operating room charges associated with this disease on top of thousands of dollars in dental fees per case.
  

The other problem is that SCHIP is now up for reauthorization in September and all indications look like the funds will either be frozen at current levels, (which will lead to a significant shortfall) or it will be vetoed.

Keep an eye on this legislation. We can't afford to have our children go without medical and dental care. Their future is too important.

The tragedy of ignoring this was brought home to everyone when a young child died of untreated cavities during Oral Health Month this year.

We can do better