Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 Every day in our society people are treated a certain way because of their race or gender. Actions can send messages of how people feel about people who they interact with.

 My sister took her car to this mechanic to repair what she thought was here wheel bearing. So she expressed this to the mechanic. The mechanic did not check to make sure that this was the problem he just replace the wheel bearing so on her way home her car was doing the same thing it was doing before come to find out it was not the wheel bearing but it was her breaks. She had to pay for two repairs. I think the mechanic did things this way because she is a female. I do not believe this would had taken place if a male had taken the car.

 

My daughters and I went groceries shopping because we were going to have a family cook-out. We had a grocery cart full of things we needed. When my daughter got to the checkout the cashier asked my daughter if she was paying with EBT my daughter stated “No with cash”.

 

My mother –in-law came to the hospital to see my youngest daughter in the nursery when she was born. To my understanding there were other people there to see other babies. When they brought my daughter to the window someone made the comment “This baby is so cute her daddy must be white, just look at her color and hair. My mother-in-law (a lady who do not hold her tongue) replied.  “This is my son’s baby, my granddaughter and both of her parents are black”.

 

These examples of microaggression made me and my family members feel humiliated, disrespected, and devalued. Reflecting on these incident has brought about my being more aware of my interactions and communication with people. In my professional role I will continue to work with a more diverse population therefore I must be mindful or the messages I communicate verbally and non-verbally.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PERSPECTIVES ON DIVERSITY AND CULTURE

 The three people I chose to question for this week assignment are a 47 year old African American man, a 55 year old (acquaintance) Caucasian woman , and a 28 year old  female( family member)  African American.

The African American male define culture as” being your beliefs, religion and other things that are in still in you from your  up bring, something’s which are passed down from one generation to another”.

 He define diversity as the differences between people from the same background or from different ones”.

My acquaintance define culture as” your way of life, and a person perspective of who they are and who other are as well. Diversity is the difference that a group of people may have.

The 28 year old family member define culture as" being the event , foods, and holidays a person  celebrates that represent their culture".

Diversity as being an "variety of differences".

 When I asked these people about their definition they all had to think for a few moment and seem to struggle with expressing their definition.  This assignment reinforced my belief that culture and diversity are very vital parts of understanding the children and families we serve in the educational profession. People are aware of the surface culture someone may have but not aware of the deep culture that identifies who we are as well.

My Family Culture

                                               

My Family Culture

If my family and I were told we had to leave our country and move to another country that had a different culture this would be very hard for us leaving other family members and friends. It would be very difficult to choose three small items to take along when there are so many item that have sentimental value and apart of who we are and now you have to leave all this behind. However I would take the family bible because I know we would need the strength of God to take us through this situation and we would also need encouragement which we would get from the word of God as well. The bible also have recorded in it the birthday, marriages, and death of family member. The second item would be a photo album which has pictures of my great grandparents, pictures of my grandchildren and other family members. The third item would be the folder in which we keep important papers. After getting to the new country and being told we could only have one item that one item would be the family bible which we would use to continue to teach the word of God to the strengthen my family. The bible also have important dates in it. We would have to carry a lot of our family memories would in our hearts.

Everyday many families have to make these difficult decision, many leaving their country and family members behind I know this is very emotional and frustrating for them coming to a new country whose culture is different leaving all the familiars items and places and even some people behind.    

When I Think of Research..........

Over the last several weeks this course has helped me to gain many insights into early childhood research. I have gain much respect for the many researcher who research issues that is so vital to the betterment of life. I have learned how research is develop. It starts with a topic, than a subtopic than to a specific question. Through this course I have gain understanding of the different designs of research, knowledge of the ethical values and principles researchers must maintain in order to demonstrate professional standards, and method to collect and gather information.

I had to read the assignments many time to get an understanding of the information begin shared and many times I was not sure I understood the information correctly. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their support, comments and encouraging words throughout this course.

Research is a part of our everyday life. Before this class I never considered what research consist of and the dedication of the people who does it every day. I appreciated the efforts and success of all researchers of the past, the present, and the future thanks to their hard work and commitment to their research lives are effected in varies ways.  .

Thanks to all my colleagues for their support, comments and encouraging words throughout this course. Thank you so much and God bless you all.

Research Around the World

 

 

 Research Around the World

 

I chose to explore the Early Childhood Australia website.  This site provides information for providing high quality services for all young children and their families. Early Childhood Australia has done research on many issues that we are focusing on here in the United States as well. There are links to Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) which is identified as being the world longest running major journal within the Early Childhood field which has articles on Literacy and Technology in the early years of education and Diversifying early years professional learning: one size no longer fits all.  The “Every Child Magazine” shared articles on the subjects Technology and Interactive Media as tools in early childhood Programs, Valuing Play: The Early Years learning Framework in Schools, and Discovering Cultural connection  to name a few very interesting articles. There is also a link to a section entitle Research in Practice Series (RIPS) that provides practical , easy to read resources that offers effective new approaches for challenges issues in the care and education of young children.  As you can see this site focus many of the same issues that we face every day being in the early childhood field. Issues of high quality care for all children, good health, engaging families, and respecting diversity.

 I really like The Everyday Learning Series that is published quarterly that provides information for parents and other caregivers for young children. It shared vital information to assist throughout each stage of child development. As I explored the website I notice there were information on issues that dealt with the development of the whole child.

I view Early Childhood Australia website as a wealth of information that can assist anyone who works with children who would like to foster all children’s development in positive ways.

 

Reference

 

Early Childhood Australia: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/     

Research that Benefits Children and Families- Uplifting Stories

I found an article entitled “Early Emergence of Behavior and Social Emotional problems in Very Preterm Infants” which shared vital information about the social-emotional development of preterm toddlers which stated, “Children born very preterm are reported to have an increased frequency of social, emotional, and behavioral problems at school age compared with their peers who are born full term” (Spittle et al.2009). The main purpose of the study was to compare social-emotional difficulties and competencies of very preterm and full-term children at 2 years' corrected age.  The relation between perinatal variables and early behavior problems was also examined to help identify those very preterm children who were most at risk.

At 2 years' corrected age, the parents of 188 very preterm (gestational age <30 weeks or birth weight <1,250 g) and 70 full-term (gestational age ≥37 weeks) children completed the Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment to determine externalizing, internalizing, and dysregulation problems and social-emotional competencies. For the very preterm children extensive perinatal data were collected including sex, birth weight, gestational age, chronic lung disease, and postnatal steroids, as well as neonatal cerebral white matter abnormalities detected by magnetic resonance imaging.

The very preterm children at 2 years demonstrated significantly higher internalizing and dysregulation scores and lower competence scores than peers born at term. There was no significant difference in externalizing scores between groups. Female sex, lower birth weight z score, white matter abnormalities, and postnatal corticosteroids were significantly associated with lower competence scores in the very preterm group. Very preterm children exhibit higher rates of behavior problems early in development, in particular internalizing and dysregulation problems and poorer competence.

As we know all children develop differently whether they are preterm or full term. Early detection of problems help support families and makes sure appropriate interventions are executed. However research information like this allows us to be aware of problems preterm toddlers may exhibit.  

 

Reference

Spittle, A., Treyvaud, K., Doyle, L., Roberts, G., Lee, K., Inder, T., et al.( 2009). Early Emergence of Behavior and Social Emotional Problems in Very Preterm Infants. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Vol.8 Issue O. pp.909-918.

Affiliations

• Correspondence to Alicia J. Spittle, Ph.D., Victoria Infant Brain Studies, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 2nd Floor, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, 3052
   
   

Personal Research Journey

Premature birth is a major issue around the world. It is known as the second cause of infant death. There are many reason why a baby may be born premature.  Thank God with the technology and research today many premature babies survives and live very productive lives.

The topic I chose to focus on is “The Social- Emotional Development of Premature children”. I am interested in this topic because I have a grandchild who was born premature and I have met several other children who were born premature as well. These children are about to be 2 years old and there are some are a little older.  I want to know the indicators that a child is having problems in this area of development. I understand that premature children social-emotional behaviors like most children varies. I want to know more about this topic out of personal curiosity.  I would like for early learning programs to be able to assist these children’s needs in order for the children to obtain rewarding early learning experiences at home and in the early learning environment at school.

It may hope by exploring this topic we identify the support and programs needed in the early learning years to motivate and enhance the developmental process of every premature and developmental delayed child.  

If you have any resources or insights that can assist me in this process please feel free to share.