As I once again turn my attention to the Zero to Three website (www.zerotothree.org), I found myself digging into the "Behavior and Development" portion of the website. I don't think I can stress enough how much helpful information that this website provides. This week, I decided to look at the information they have about Early Childhood Mental Health. I have been in a situation several times this year, where I have had to have very hard conversations with parents about their child and the behaviors that we were dealing with in the classrooms. Having a "mental health" conversation can be very frightening for parents, and many parents don't even hear what you have to say, they simply hear the words mental health and think "they are calling my child crazy!"
ZTT gave me information this week on communicating with prints about potential issues with their child's mental health, and social/emotional development.
As I've said many times, the information on ZTT's website is a resource that I use for parents and also for acquiring personal information and achieving professional success, however, it is worth noting that the Zero to Three organization is non-profit, and supported by a board of directors. In 2012 their operating budget was over $20 million. I believe that this shows how the outside world (outside of early childhood, that is) supports the efforts of those that are trying to give information to parents and educators in order to succeed at providing high quality early childhood education.
Machaela,
ReplyDeleteBetween birth and age 3, babies learn to give and receive love; to roll, crawl, stand, walk, and run; to talk, joke, rhyme, and sing. But development doesn’t happen in the same way, at the same time, for all children. Each child develops at his own pace and in his own way. Learning this information and resources about how early development unfolds and what you can do support young children’s healthy growth.
Machaela,
ReplyDeleteThank you for informing me that there is information provided by Zero to Three regarding Early Childhood Mental Health. I have visited the site several times in the past, but as I no longer work with this age group, I haven't in a while. I am currently caring for a child, and have been for almost four years, who is currently undiagnosed with any particular condition other than a speech delay. I have always been on the fence about whether or not I feel that there may be a greater issue and have worked closely with the family and indirectly with speech therapists, teachers, and counselors. Unfortunately, as the child grows older, there are some behaviors and idiosynchracies that may deserve some greater attention rather than just passing them off as "a phase" or "still playing catch-up" situation. I will be sure to study some of their suggestions and hopefully develop some better strategies in discussing these terribly difficult situations with this family.