In 1974 Margaret McIntyre conducted research that looked at emerging trends and issues in Early Childhood Education. McIntyre discussed how each child’s individual needs should be met in the classroom. She recognizes that each child has a different way of learning and interacting with others and it is the job of a teacher and staff to meet their needs in order for them to be as successful as they can be.

This is a trend that significantly ended up impacting education in early childhood. The place this becomes the most important is in potential IEP’s or most prevalent in a special education classroom. This can be a hard realization to some parents, but it is in the best interest of a child in order for them to reach their highest potential. Children with Individualized Education Programs tend to have more needs that just need to be met in different ways. By recognizing those challenges for students, teachers and staff are able to provide children with learning difficulties with the materials that will help them succeed in all realms.

This is an idea that is constantly being built on. Thankfully, there are now laws put in place, like IDEA and Section 504, that uphold this idea that every child deserves to be provided with the best education possible. IDEA is a federal law that has the best interest for children with “a serious emotional disturbance, a learning difference intellectual disability, having had a traumatic brain injury, being diagnosed on the spectrum of autism, vision and hearing impairments, physical disabilities, developmental delays (including speech and language difficulties), other health impairments” (____) and Section 504 ensures that there be no discrimination against children that fall into any of the following categories and provides them with all the necessary accommodations they may need. If a parent or teacher suspects that their child fits into any of those categories, then it is in their best interest they become informed on these laws to ensure their child is receiving the best education possible.

Aacap. “School Services for Children with Special Needs: Know Your Rights.” American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Services-In-School-For-Children-With-Special-Needs-What-Parents-Need-To-Know-083.aspx.

A child who is exposed to diversity at an early age reaps far more benefits compared to those who are not. A child’s first introduction to their own culture and societal norms is often left to parents or guardians. In addition to teaching a child about their own culture and society, it is important for parents to introduce the idea that their own culture and norms are not the only, acceptable form. The three books from children’s literature I found that support this idea are Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw’s Same, Same but Different, Alexandra Penfold’s All Are Welcome, and Jess Hong’s Lovely.

Same, Same but Different, is about two girls who are pen pals and live in different countries across the globe. They talk about all the things they have in common and realize that although their worlds may look different, they are also similar in a number of ways.

All Are Welcome contains a classroom full of students from different cultures and backgrounds. After all the characters share their different cultural traditions, they realize that their combined differences are what ends up being their biggest strength as a group.

Lovely, introduces the idea that being diverse is not limited to race. Her book contains gender non-conforming people, disabled people, and people of all age groups but places them all under the same umbrella of loveliness.

Books like these give parents a starting point for discussion and help guide conversations that allow children to widen their worldviews. Introducing a topic like this in early childhood has shown to advance children in all realms of their education and their community involvement in the future. A study done at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, concluded that “engaging children in culturally responsive educational experiences helps to build young children’s self-confidence and skills, increase children’s awareness, appreciation, and inclusion of diverse beliefs and cultures, and maximize children’s academic achievement and educational success.” Creating an early anti-bias at home and in a classroom enhances not only the life and learning experience of your own child, but creates a positive, accepting environment for all people no matter how they identify.

“Cultural Diversity.” Cultural Diversity | Early Childhood Development, University of Nebraska Lincoln, child.unl.edu/cultural-diversity.

In a study done by researchers at The New York Academy of Sciences, they poverty is defined as anyone at an economic disadvantage in the environment and society around them. The researchers at New York Academy of Science found that there are many negative impacts on a developing child whose family is impoverished. Because families tend to be the first kind of social interactions child experiences, families who face poverty “are not only directly exposed to risks in their homes and communities, including illnesses, crowding and family stress, lack of psychosocial stimulation, and limited resources, but they often experience more serious consequences to risks than children from higher income families.” It is important for parents to children in low income homes to recognize and acknowledge physical and psychological stressors. Children with parents who are worried about money and work multiple jobs also tend to lack the essential social interactions that are primitive for development of a child’s language and speech skills and need additional accommodations in these categories of development.

Not only is substance abuse neglect to one’s own body but also a major health concern for babies that are still being carried inside of their mother’s womb. There are lots of health implications that a child can face if their mother uses drug while still pregnant, but there are also many negative effects drug use in a family has on the way a child is raised. Typically drug users are most interested in their drug of choice over their loved ones. This can cause children in the early childhood age to feel neglected causing them to act very irrationally. Around six months children learn to mimic the behaviors around them. Researchers from Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, West Virginia University School of Medicine found that “individuals who grow up in a family where there is Substance Use Disorder are at significantly higher risk to develop SUDs due to genetic and environmental factors.” This is why it is so important that if an adult is aware of these circumstances that the child be removed from the situation in order for them to grow in positive environment where they will no longer be exposed to these risk factors.

Another factor that can influence a child’s development is the quality of care they are receiving at daycares and early learning centers. The Child Care Checklist presented by Childcare Aware of America sets up rules and guidelines to follow in order to ensure each child is receiving the best care possible. It is important for parents to research where they are looking to send their child before actually placing them there. Some of the first things to look for would be the locations license and accreditation. Student-caregiver ratios also ensure that caregivers are able to give children the correct amount of supervision. The checklist can be found on the foundations website and if answers cannot be found on the daycare or early childcare center’s website, then it is recommended that parents schedule a tour of the facility to ask their own questions in person.

Engle, P. L. and Black, M. M. (2008), The Effect of Poverty on Child Development and Educational Outcomes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136: 243-255

Lander, L., Howsare, J., & Byrne, M. (2013). The impact of substance use disorders on families and children: from theory to practice. Social work in public health, 28(3-4), 194–205.

“Child Care Center Checklist.” Child Care Aware, www.childcareaware.org/child-care-center checklist/.

It is said that the brain in early childhood children increases from 70 percent to 90 percent of its adult weight in just four years. Parts like the cerebellum, reticular formation, hippocampus, and many more are rapidly developing, improving a wide variety of skills. Their physical coordination, perception, attention, memory, language, logical thinking, and imagination are all affected by how much the brain is developing during this crucial time. To ensure that a child is optimizing their brain growth in early childhood, it is important they are getting an adequate amount of sleep, the proper nutrition, and are protected from infectious diseases through immunizations. It also helps to actively engage in conversations, allow them to problem solve independently, and give them time to process new ideas. To ensure a child is on the right track you should look for new self-help skills, further development of gross-motor skills, and a heightened sense of independence.

In the realm of cognitive development, children in their early childhood years, experience the rapid growth of their language development. Their vocabulary reaches about 10,000 words by the time they are six. On average, children from ages two to six learn about five new words a day. Parents and caregivers can assist children in growing their vocabulary by providing them with strategies and helping with new grammar rules. This includes actively engaging in conversation and recasting and expanding their speech. This engagement with a child helps with their repetition and eventual mastery of words. A child who is behind in their language and speech development might have a large vocabulary but may not be able to form full and complete thoughts or are unable to accurately voice what they are trying to say. Under these circumstances, it is helpful to seek out a speech language pathologist to help with these delays.

In the social-emotional realm, children in their early childhood years are actively learning the concept of emotional self-regulation. Emotional self-regulation can be defined as the “ability to manage the experience and expression of emotion” (Berk, 1996, p. 362). Children who are able to verbalize the emotion they are feeling or distract themselves from the ones they do not wish to feel, are often the most successful in classroom settings. Parents who are aware of their own emotions and strategies are the most helpful in a child’s development of their own emotional regulation in that parents can offer advice and suggestions when children are unsure how to handle a certain situation. Children who have higher temperaments often struggle in this developmental milestone. High temperaments make a child experiencing negative emotions act irrationally and suppress emotion rather than express it in a correct way.

Berk, Laura E. Infants and Children: Prenatal Through Middle Childhood. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996.