My Supports

I have emotional supports, practical supports, and physical supports. My husband provides emotional support to me. He is there to help me do things around the house. He helps me with our two year old daughter. He provides financial support by working and helping to pay our bills. If I did not have my husband, I would have to do every thing on my own. I would not have the house that I have now. I would not have my daughter. I would have to live with my parents because I would not have been able to afford to have a house of my own.

Technology is another source of support that I use everyday. I use my phone to communicate with others. I use my computer to communicate, pay bills, do my taxes, and school work. The technology that I use helps me to accomplish tasks much quicker than I would without them. I would have to find other ways to accomplish tasks without the use of my computer and phone. Some of these tasks would take much longer to complete and would cost more money.

I chose the challenge of being blind. I chose this because my grandmother was legally blind before she died. My dad has an eye disease that makes it likely that he will become blind later. I would want emotional support from family and friends. I would like practical support such as tools to make life a little easier. A walking stick and seeing eye dog would be nice tools to help me get around better. A ramp would also make things a little easier because I would not have to go up and down steps at my house. Physical support such as family helping me to do tasks around the house. I feel it would be very difficult to be blind without these physical, emotional, and practical supports. Without these supports I would have to find ways to get around by myself. I would definitely feel overwhelmed and would need to rely on my senses of hearing and touch to help me get through many tasks during the day.

My Connections to Play

Pausing to listen to an airplane in the sky, stooping to watch a ladybug on a plant, sitting on a rock to watch the waves crash over the quayside—children have their own agendas and timescales. As they find out more about their world and their place in it; they work hard not to let adults hurry them. We need to hear their voices.
Cathy Nutbrown
Contemporary British educational theorist


Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.

Henri Matisse
French painter
 1869–1954
http://www.thestrong.org/about-play/play-quotes





I was happy if I had a bucket, shovel, dirt, and water.

My parents supported play by allowing me to play with friends in my neighborhood. The only requirement that they had was to know where I was. My Grandma supported my play by playing games with me. I always got bored easily and she would play all kinds of card and board games with me.

I feel play has changed over the years. When I was growing up, I played outside all the time. I played with friends in the yard, in my neighborhood, and in the woods. Play today is usually inside or outside and more in the yard. I wish that children today could play and be free to explore the outside community like I did as a child. Unfortunately, I feel there are too many bad things now to let children explore the community like they used to.

I played for hours in water, mud, digging holes in the woods, swinging on vines from trees,  and climbing in trees growing up. I spent time going on trails and exploring at the power plant. I wish my daughter could have the carefree play experiences I had. I feel as parents it is not safe to let children wonder out of our sight anymore. Monitored play times is the norm now.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are a give and take process in a bond that develops overtime. 
Relationships will become a partnership and lifelong bond if you treat people the right way. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Relationships have made me feel loved and encouraged.

Mom- I spend every Saturday with my mom. We go out to eat lunch, talk, and run errands together. On Sundays, we go to church together, eat lunch, and go to the grocery store together. When I do not spend time with my mom on Saturday, it does not seem like I had a Saturday.

My Brother - I visit him sometimes and he comes to see me sometimes. We like to eat together and talk. He will help me fix things in my house when he comes over. He is very good fixing some things. He has put in laminate flooring for me as well as do other things. I have helped him do some things at his house such as painting and building his building. He lives an hour and 15 minutes from my house. He recently got married.

Dad- Growing up I was daddy's girl. I would spend every Saturday morning with him. We went to yard sales, flea markets, and fishing together, and to Grandma's house. I still see him once a week when I go to my parents house.

Husband- I married my husband October 9, 2010. We met in college at UNCP in the summer of 1999. We stayed friends the whole time, although we lost contact some. He is funny and is one of the few people who can make me laugh. Even when I am crying, he can make me start laughing.
He is very sweet, kind, helpful, and has a big heart for everyone.

Daughter- Born October 18, 2011. She is now two years old. She ended up being my first year anniversary gift as my due date was 10-10-2011. I carried her one extra week. She makes me laugh and smile. I love playing with her and tickling her. 

Factors that contribute to developing my relationships: patience, helping one another, kind, faithfulness, trustworthy.

Insights I have learned over time regarding challenges to developing and maintaining relationships that I have learned from experience: It is good to reflect on your relationships and change yourself where needed. Sometimes the change is things you may want to do, need to do, and sometimes it is something you may not want to do. You can't change other people.

Special characteristics of my relationships: give and take. It takes both people working together to make the relationship work. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is difficult.

My relationships have been good relationships. All the relationships I have encountered have made me who I am today. I have learned a lot over the years. Stubbornness can get in the way sometimes. I can use my experience of good relationships to help others in my class. I can be supportive, loving, kind, encouraging, and a good role model to my children in my class.
 

When I think of Child Development

"Adult support and reassurance is the key to helping children through a traumatic time."
Source: http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA12-4732/SMA12-4732.pdf

I think this quote is important. It helps to give people the main thing that they should focus on when trying to help others dealing with trauma. It is important to be caring, and supportive for the child or person going through trauma.

Testing for Intelligence

I feel that the developmental milestones of each area of development that the child demonstrates should be measured or assessed. If the child meets most of the developmental milestones, then move them to the next level. If not, see if they have a delay. If they have an IEP, the school work is tailored to the child. Why don't we do that for all children. Meet the children where they are at developmentally.

I was curious about what assessments children in Germany have to go through. I found that they had to conduct research and do presentations on concepts that they had to learn through the year. They had to do a reflection of what they had learned. The children are asked to not only evaluate themselves but also their peers. The teachers evaluate each child individually. The teachers also have parent teacher conferences 2 times a year. The teachers go over the academic level of the child, and the results of the assessments.

All the test that we put children through to pass a standardized test to be able to go to the next grade level, does not prove anything but the fact that they may not be a good test taker. It also puts a huge amount of stress on the children. The same thing is true of education with the praxis test. It does not prove that the person will be a good teacher or not. Just that they can or can not pass a test. Sometimes adults and children are not good test takers especially when being timed. In my case, I was labeled ADD in college and was allowed to tape record classes and get extra time on test. I tried to get help with the praxis test but they turned me down because I did not have a "history" of ADD. How can someone prove a history when they have just recently been diagnosed. Labeling should be done based on the whole child.

References: International School of Bochum. Retrieved from  http://www.internationalschoolgermany.de/bochum/en/parents/assessments

Consequences of Stress on Children's Developmnet

 

Poverty

 

My dad grew up in a home that did not have a bathroom. He went to the doctor when he was 18 because he had a cyst on his spine. He had it removed and the doctor had told him to soak in the bath tub. He told the doctor that he did not have a bath tub or bathroom. His dad was told by the doctor that he had to have a bathroom in the house. They ended up having someone to build a bathroom in the house. My dad said that they would wash with using water used from the well. They had to heat the water on their wood stove in the kitchen. Later, they got a hot water heater and had water from the sink. They used a wood stove to cook their food as well.

 

 

Africa

 

The area of Africa is impacted by poverty, war, hunger, disease. The site I looked at mentioned that the disease there was Aids, Malaria, Cholera. Kids are used in war and receive no education. They are also sold as slaves. The poverty in Africa has been helped by china cutting poverty and thereby helping other places like Africa cut poverty. The site also mentioned that receiving aid in a non loan format from the government would help with the poverty.

 

 

References:

World Poverty. Poverty in Africa, famine and disease. Retrieved from http://world-poverty.org/povertyinafrica.htm

 





Child Development and Public Health

Malnutrition

 

I chose this topic because I understand how devastating severe malnutrition can be. My grandfather died this year from severe malnutrition. He was having problems swallowing and could not eat. He even had trouble swallowing liquid. We were trying to find out what was causing his problems, but by the time we started getting answers after many months of doctor visits and tests, it was too late. Malnutrition is a severe problem in the world. 925 million people in the world do not have food to eat. In developing countries, 1 out of 4 children younger than age 5 are underweight. People can become malnourished if they do not get the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals they need. The most common deficiency is iron and leads to Anemia. In Cambodia, 44% of children under 5 have stunted growth. As a result of poor nutrition, 28% of children under 5 are underweight. One out of 12 children die from malnutrition before they turn 5. Malnutrition causes people not to be able to resist infection very well, and they are less likely to survive common diseases. Poor growth and development leaves them physically and mentally impaired for life. AmeriCares provides meal packs that contain nutrients needed for healthy diets for 6 to 18 weeks. They found major reversals in malnutrition with these. Shanouk Center for HOPE found 9 out of 10 children improved their BMI enough to not be considered underweight. This information may impact my future work. You never know when you will be working with a child that may become malnourished or the child may have a family member that dies from malnutrition.

 

References

AmeriCares http://www.americares.org

Kids Health http://www.kidshealth.org