There are many important factors that influence development in early childhood. I have chosen to highlight three of those factors.
- Quality in early learning environments
- Family issues and factors and their influence on development
- Culture implications -interaction with early childhood practitioners.
Quality In Early Learning Environments
An early learning environment that is up to the best standards are key for child development. When looking at childcare and early learning centers, it is important to ask many questions and get information about the center, its staff, their practices, accreditation, and so on. There are some major questions to ask when looking for childcare centers on the “Childcare” page, and listed here are a few of the standards that the National Association for the Education of Young Children evaluates when accrediting an early education center.
- Relationships – The center promotes positive, encouraging relationships between children
- Curriculum – implemented curriculum consistent with the development for children
- Teaching – effective teaching that enhance child development
- Health – promotes nutritional health of children
- Staff – the program has a qualified, knowledgable and professional staff
- Community – program uses resources from the children’s community to support their achievement
Family Issues and Factors
There are many common family issues that impact the development of children. Many of these issues are totally out of the realm of control of the children, and as such, creates stress that they might not know how to deal with or understand. Issues like poverty, lack of access to resources like childcare, divorces, and substance abuse all create added stress on children.
Child poverty is a factor that is extremely overlooked. It is a factor that has lifelong impacts well beyond childhood. Poverty means that the family income is below the income required to pay for basic needs. Around 40 million Americans live in poverty, many of them families. Issues with poverty are things like food insecurity, and toxic stress, which has a severe impact on brain development. Children with more toxic stress are more likely to suffer from behavioral disorders, memory issues, and developmental delays.
There have been studies that have shown that caregiver nurturance and caregiver training for high risk groups can have positive impacts on children suffering from poverty, so that can have some impact on how to alleviate the damaging affects on brain development. At the end of this page, there is a study showing the devastating impacts of toxic stress on children.
Cultural Implications
How does culture impact classroom structure? Language is perhaps the most significant part of any culture, and it has a great impact in the classroom environment. For example, a caregiver and parents should be able to effectively communicate with each other when talking about the child and their concerns. In our multicultural society- this isn’t always the case. It can create a difficult situation and create mixed expectations from the family and from the caregiver as well. Both parties should reach out and create an effort in order to effectively communicate with each other. It will help form connections between the family and caregivers and create an overall better learning environment for the child.
References
Toxic Stress on Children: