Sharing Web Resources

I have continued to visit http://www.zerotothree.org a couple of times each week.  The articles and publications on this site are great for parents, policy makers, advocates, and other early childhood educators.  Really, it is a site for anyone who is interested in infants and toddlers and how they develop.  This would be a perfect site for new infant/toddler teachers and expectant mothers.  They have such great advice and tips on this site.

For professional development, the sections on brain development, early development, and language and literacy are a must read.  Even if you are a tried and true I/T teacher, there is always something new to learn.  A responsible teacher knows that she will continue to learn with each child she cares for.  Sections on play, social/emotional development, nutrition and health along with challenging behaviors and mental health are definite subjects that need to be explored.

I did not find any controversial issues on the site, but the presentation of maltreatment of young children and their development issues was an eye-opener.  Child abuse and neglect of infants and toddlers account for over 3/4 of child deaths.  We know that the first three years really mold the child into what he will be.  So the area of maltreatment in these years would be devastating for development, but intervention at this age would most likely be successful.

I found several videos that teach how early childhood can be advocated during federal budget development.  They gave facts about why investment is so important and offered materials and steps to help advocate to congress.  An additional fact for increased investment to several we learned in class readings was the biggest expense of federal dollars is more dependency on public assistance.  We are living this now in so many areas of our country.  It makes sense to spend those dollars on young children to give them the skills, motivation, and confidence to become successful working adults.

One of my favorite things I have found so far is the handouts for parents to download and print.  These handouts are all concerning the things we have been talking about when we speak about investments in early childhood, i.e. the workforce skills that are developed in early childhood.  The subjects these handouts include are development, health and nutrition, language and literacy, thinking skills, self-confidence, and self-control.  Every one of this items have been mentioned as a benefit of the investment into early childhood programs.  So I believe these are a must read for everyone, including policy makers, business leaders, and everyone else who invests in early childhood education programs.