This is a book I found while researching the effects of home life on the development of children. An advantage that I found was that the book has been written by experts in the field. Another is that not only does the book discuss home life, but what affects the home life the most: SES and race. A disadvantage is that the book costs more than $90.00 and because of that, not many would have access to it.

This is the link to the book online

The Urban Child Institute created this pamphlet to inform families of the CANDLE Study. CANDLE stands for The Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood. This is an ongoing study of approximately 1,500 Shelby County women and their young children. It tracks mothers and their children from the 2nd trimester of pregnancy to age three. The collected data on multiple aspects of development based on environmental factors.

A worthy note from this pamphlet is: ”A child’s early home environment has a profound effect on his well-being. Beginning in infancy, a problematic home environment can disrupt the brain’s stress response system, reduce the quality of caregiving a child receives, and interfere with healthy development.”

Urban Child Institute

An advantage of this source is that it includes a list of reliable references at the end of the pamphlet. A disadvantage is that the information entailed is very surface level.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network  

“OUR MISSION is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States.”

This is a hyperlink to the National support system for traumatized children and families. The website provides multiple resources for those in need. In addition to that, the website give multiple definitions and explanations of childhood traumas along with treatment and care options. A strength for this resource would be that it provides a lot of resources and serves as a hub for initial contact with an aid service. As for a weakness, I don’t believe this site has one as it is straight forward and helpful in all aspects. It even provides a contact if there are any questions about the site itself.

Attached is a Huffington Post by Dr. Gail Gross, Human Behavior, Parenting and Education Expert, Speaker, Author. Ph.D., Ed.D., M.Ed. It was published online (huffpost.com) on April 14, 2016. The post is titled: Stable Home Equals A Successful Child. In sum, it discusses that childhood stress greatly negatively affects both the mental and physical drive and development of children and the best way to avoid childhood stress is to nurture your child through a stable routine and stable environment.

Strengths of this source are the author’s use of resources (hyperlinks), her credibility, and her scientific reasoning. A weakness of this source may be that the author promotes her own way of teaching parents through her “empathetic process. ” Since this is mentioned, I would this there is some bias in trying to promote her own process.

This is a video that introduces the audience to childhood trauma and it’s effects. The video uses multiple narrators and speakers who discuss the surface level problems and causes of childhood trauma, those all of which have high credentials in their fields. It is a credible resource as it passes the 5W test as well as coming from a government resource. The video was published to YouTube on February 27, 2013, by the Office for Victims of Crimes, a government ran program. This is the beginning of a video series on YouTube meant to spread knowledge along with awareness about child trauma and the developmental affects it has on children.

This video has many strengths including the experts involved, the visual representations and the interviews added in that create a sense of relatability to the viewer. A weakness may be that some people may find the content bias based on stereotypes or the fact that some speakers are not as enthusiastic in their tones.