The Comeback Kid Strikes Again

"Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having both is a blessing." Anonymous. I chose this quote because, I remember while I was playing, my home was not to far from where I was playing, and I could always hear either, my mother's or father's voice saying," Larry! it is time to come in now," because I would play until it got dark outside. I was blessed. " I dream of painting and then I paint my dream" Author: Vincent Van Gogh I chose this quote because, in my childhood I had  dreams of playing, and so, I painted my dreams, I played! I was given the opportunity to play, and I am so grateful for that opportunity. This was my transportation to and fro. Putting together models, was one of my first hobbies. From sun up to sun down, any sport with a ball, I played! There was always support in my neighborhood, for cub scouts, little league baseball, and junior achievement. My parents were v...

Relationship Reflection When I considered the following quote: " Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building blocks of healthy development" ( Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 4), I felt the need to find the source of this quote, because, it seemed  to be the very essence of my life. I am a human being, and most of my development did come from effective human relationships . After reading,  From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development ( 2000) Institute of Medicine, it gave me some insight, what helps me to exist, and that is "relationships." This quote is considered to be a core concept of development in this book. The definition of the word " core" to me, means the very essence. Relationships are important to me, because, they help me to develop in all kinds of ways, such as, physically, mentally, and emotionally.Currently, I have a positive relationship with my wife, step-d...

Hello everyone in Effective programs & Practices 2013. I look forward to working with you.

Children are not kids, or baby goats, and we should not treat them as second class citizens. I try personally to take time to always address them as children and not kids. My quote about children is, " If you want your child to be intelligent, read them fairy tales, and if you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Thanks to all who have been in this Early Childhood Development 6160 course with me, and please continue to blog me if possible. Thank you.

Testing for Intelligence First, I would like to ask the question why it is so important to find an effective way to measure children’s minds and abilities? Who wants to know, and why? What will the information be used for? Based on what Berger said in her book, that “learning to speak, read, and write the school language is pivotal for academic achievement, the foundation of all primary school education. Children differ widely in how well they use the school language. Some differences may be innate. However, most of the language gap between one child and another is the result of the social context, specifically of two factors: family income and adult expectations. Decades of research throughout the world have found a strong correlation between academic achievement and socioeconomic status” (Berger, 2012) . I mean can you honestly and fairly test for intelligence when there are factors involved, and given the opportunity, what if the variable of the environment that the child is ...

I decided to write on noise. When I was a child I grew up next to a train station. The train tracks were so close to our house, I could feel my bed shake at night. This cause some night mares. I thought the train would fall off the tracks, roll over and crash into our house This noise kept me up a lot. I coped with the noise by reading comic books,and other books. Looking at books helped me to fall asleep. "Helping children with fear of loud noises can be frustrating, particularly when you cannot avoid these noises, but remember that most children eventually grow out of this" ( Harms, Nichole, 1999-2013). Eventually I grew out of this. " All children have fears at some point in their life and it is usually considered to be a normal part of development . These fears are only abnormal if they are persistent or keep the child overly preoccupied with the subject that is feared, so that it interferes with normal activities, if the child can not be reassured or distract...

I enjoyed the second week of class so much I started a conversation with one of my co-employees who happens to be 8 weeks pregnant. She and I were talking about child development, and now I feel like a coach to her giving her inspiration and a smile each day we come to work. In reference to our assignment, I really might have to speak to a group she invited me to for "first time parents," about child development. Wow! The timing could not have been better for me to apply what I am learning, in child development to real life. She also gave me some of her sonograms and we both share in the excitement of her first little girl in August 2013.