Child Development Reminders

Copied from http://connect.ala.org/files/ABCs%20of%20Early%20Literacy.pdf

In professional families --2,153 words per hour…11 million
In working class families --1,251 words per hour …6 million
In welfare families heard an average of 616 words per hour…3 million

•By kindergarten, a child from a welfare family could have heard 32 million words fewer than a classmate from a professional family.

•By age three, cumulative vocabulary for children:
professional families 1,100 words.
working class families750 words
welfare families it was just above 500 words.

•Children in professional families heard a higher ratio of encouragements to discouragements than their working class and welfare counterparts.

Babies: Motions Have Meaning

The embedded PDF below is available for download by clicking on "Baby Programs" under the "Youth Services Programs and Resources" heading in the upper right hand corner of this blog: http://librarieslearnlead.blogspot.com/



On the back of this handout, I printed the first page of Zero To Three: Playing with Babies: http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/play/playing-with-babies.html

Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina

EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEMORY | Rule #6: Remember to repeat.
SLEEP | Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.
STRESS | Rule #8: Stressed brains don't learn the same way.
SENSORY INTEGRATION | Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.
VISION | Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.
GENDER | Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.
EXPLORATION | Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.

 from http://www.brainrules.net/about-brain-rules

Here are some others (pulled from the "Brain Rules" list after the book's contents page) that are ECRR related.  They will fit nicely on a programming handout:

Face Time, Not Screen Time (print motivation -- bonding)
Praise Effort, not IQ (print motivation -- positive experiences)
Guided Play, Every Day ECRR 2 Anyone?  (narrative and vocabulary skills -- talk about what you are doing)
The Brain Craves Community (narrative, vocabulary, print motivation -- talking to and being around others)
Labeling Emotions Calms Big Feelings (narrative and vocabulary skills -- talking about issues and labeling things)

Mem Fox on Reading to Babies (Quote)

"The best time to start reading aloud to a baby is the day it is born.  The lilting rhythm of a simple bedtime book on that first thrilling, exhausting day is soothing for the tremulous parents and the new child and adds to the bonding between them.  It gives them something to "talk about" together."

From Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children 
Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox.

"Minds, Brains, and Early Learning: How Infants Crack the Speech Code"

by Dr. Patricia Kuhl

Babies are born with neurons, but not connections.
6 months is really a key time in baby brain dvelopment.
At age 3, children have 3 times the amount of synapses than any other age.
At age 14, the neurons have been pruned to strengthen certain connections.
The brain does have critical learning periods where it needs the right information at the right time.

See Evolution of Language
Babies hear distinction in all sounds.  They are citizens of the world.  From 6 months to 1 year, before the baby produces these sounds, the brain is sorting these sounds out.  Mother-ease, the exaggerated "baby talk" we use when talking to babies is brain food.

Children with autism prefer non-speech sounds to the same frequency, human vocalizations/speech.

Learning opportunities in the first five years are critical for children of all social economic status.  Lower SES environments, however, tend to use less complex, less thought-provoking language, and more "do" and "don't" commands.

See NeuroReport journal.

MEG machines show that TV engagement does not equal learning.
This begs the question ... What is social learning turning on in the brain?
What is the social brain?  We know that cognitive aging is slowed by exercise and social interaction.  Language is a social affair

See the Department of Early Learning

Still Thinking about Fireflies/Cucullos

Here's a story for you ... Yesterday, Cole and I read The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle, one of my favorites growing up, and we were talking about how I caught fireflies when I was five years old.

Cole is three.

I gave him time to do the math ... "One," he said.  "One is one year away" ... or... something like that which confused me.

Still thinking there was some logic and thinking to it, I continued ... and told him how my sister hated when I caught the fireflies and put them in her face.

Eventually, Cole wanted to know how I caught them, since he's never seen one before, and he rationalized: "I'm asleep at night-time ... [When you were five,] Did they leave the window open, and they didn't know?"

LNOSCY First Meeting

On January 17 at the first 2010 meeting of the Liaisons with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth (LNOSCY), commitee members were asked to upload pictures to a group Flickr account. These pictures capture developmentally appropriate or developmentally inappropriate practices when working with multi-age children in a public, non-daycare setting.

Our co-chair compared a public library's children's area to a caregiver's family room at home; while public libraries do not meet toddler/preschool daycare standards, we are concerned with a developmentally appropriate environment for multi-aged children.

In our pictures, our co-chair asked us to consider the architecture of our buildings, crafts used in programs (child vs. adult products), general safety and hygiene concerns, and food and animal policies. The pictures will be used during our program at Annual 2010 where we are collaborating with a Deputy Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The program will probably be on Monday, June 28 from 1-3 or 3-5.

This project led to a related discussion about the need to have written policies that support practices. For example, if the library plans developmentally appropriate programs for certain age groups and hopes to draw and keep those participants, there should be a strict age policy posted in the library and on the website. This also means that staff must be consistent in following policies while being cognizant of creating programs for all ages. Sometimes this means using the same, popular topic but adapting the program to fit different age groups' developmental needs. Programming should also appeal to all kinds of readers.

This idea led to a discussion on how to address patron's needs for meeting a child's reading level. One statistical method that was mentioned was the Fry Readability Graph. We talked about how a child's background and experiences as well as his or her emotional development were additional factors in determining what materials the child would be able to understand.

This conversation led to a concern over the perception of reading. The connotations of the phrases "independent reading" versus "reading for pleasure" were discussed.

Lastly, each member was assigned two or three national organizations to contact. I chose the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America.

Most of the committee's future discussions will be done using ALAConnect which I have yet to fully explore and utilize.