Quotes and Professional Thanks

To my Colleagues and Professor,

Thank you for your insights and wisdom throughout the Child Development Class. I value your knowledge, challenges and support. I wish you the best in your future endeavors with children and families.

Best of Luck – Diana

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw

“If a child cannot learn in the way we teach, we must teach in a way the child can learn.”

Unknown

Viewing Children Holistically

To view young children holistically would refer to looking at the total experience of the young child. Every sense absorbing information, from the moment a child is born and as they age they accumulate the information in their brains and gradually piece it all together to achieve learning. The aspects of development are linked together: each in turn affects one another.  When children play the holistic development is encouraged. I wish that children could be assessed during play. They are being creative and letting nothing stop them from having a good time. There is no test anxiety. If you think about children who are put into a relaxed situation how much easier it would be to assess their knowledge and progress. 

I wanted to look at Guatemala’s education system. It was very difficult to find anything out about their assessment or measurement system. The average grade for a child to stay in school is to the third grade.  The first standardized learning tests were completed in 2004. This was an assessment test. The PRONERE tests are sample-based, nationally representative, and norm-referenced, and contain 40 questions in each area under assessment. Guatemala lacks a unified national curriculum, and proposals on standards have not been successful (Educational Assessment Systems in Latin America, 2013).

In the United States we are so lucky to have an opportunity to go to school and learn. Our children can grow up to be young adults before they have to go to work or even leave our homes. Children in other countries are not so lucky. Guatemala is ranked 3rd worst in the world in child nutrition. There is human trafficking.  In both rural areas and cities, thousands of children are victimized through abuse, forced labor and absolute neglect.  I think when we look at the problems of Guatemalan children, assessment and measurements are not as important as basic needs and survival of childhood (Kids Alive International, 2013).

References: 

Educational Assessment Systems in Latin America. (2013, December 5). Retrieved from http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/Ferrer.pdf

Kids Alive International. (2013, December 5). Retrieved from Guatemala: http://www.kidsalive.org/around-the-world/latin-america/guatemala/

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

The stressor that affected my friend was the death of her father when she was six, which led to situational poverty for her family. Her father was the only person employed and her mother had never worked or even finished high school. My friend went through depression and withdrawal from socializing with her friends. Her mother was so depressed that she was unable to care for her children. The family went from having their own home to living with her grandparents.  This event in my friend’s life affected her childhood development.

My friend was very lucky because she and her mother had support from other family members that helped them through a difficult time. They were allowed to grieve because my friend’s grandparents supported them in a safe and loving environment.  The grandparents recognized that the grief was so severe, that they really needed to go to counseling. This helped them complete the grieving process.

Today, my friend is a mental health counselor for young women who have substance abuse problems. She wanted to give back to young women like she had gotten from her counselor when her father died so unexpectedly. Being forced into situational poverty put their family into survival mode. Their basic resources were wiped out. They lost their home along with the sudden change in their family structure. Young children are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of change, disruption, and uncertainty in their life's.

My thoughts about children’s stressors in foreign countries took me to Haiti. I wondered what might be their stressors today. As I researched I found that children are now being treated for post traumatic stress disorder.  This is because of the devastating earthquake there in 2010.  These children saw deaths of loved ones and were exposed to extreme violence. Many still suffer from sleeping problems, emotional and behavioral difficulties, and feelings of hopelessness. Children and mental health care workers face many challenges with these children because there is still numerous adults and children displaced from the earthquake.

Reference

Derivois, D., Merisier, G.G., Cenat, J., & Castelot, V. (2013, in press). Symptoms of traumatic stress disorder and social support among children and adolescents after the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Journal of Loss and Trauma: International Perspectives on Stress and Coping.

Maternal Mental Health

Maternal mental health problems create an enormous burden to women, their infants, families, and society if their problems are not dealt with. Some women develop mental health disorders during pregnancy or in the first year after delivery. If a woman is faced with life changing events such as poverty, relocation, stress, various types of violence, or any life altering event this increases her susceptibility to having a mental illness. 

In the World Health Organization publication, “Maternal Mental Health & Child Health and Development:"

• Depression and anxiety are approximately twice as prevalent globally in women as in men, and are at their highest rates in the life cycle during the childbearing years, from puberty to menopause.
• Studies of depression and anxiety show their incidence to be approximately 5% in non-pregnant women, approximately 8-10% during pregnancy and highest (13%) in the year following delivery.
• Suicide is one of the most common causes of maternal death in the year following delivery in developed countries.
• Psychosis, by contrast, is relatively rare and occurs in only 1 to 2 women for every 1000 giving birth. The rates of psychosis following delivery may be higher in less developed countries, where infection may contribute to its occurrence.(WHO, 2013para2).

This information is meaningful to me as a mother, grandmother and Childcare Director of young mothers. So many women are faced with mental health issues and are not able to receive treatment for them either because of missed diagnosis’ or the inability to receive and get adequate treatment. We have to recognize symptoms so we can help with early interventions to help the mother and other family members that may be affected by their issues.

References

http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/MaternalMH/en/

Personal Birthing Experience

I am a mother of five children and have had easy labor during all of my births. My first son was born 40 years ago. At that time women went through a lot of prep for their delivery.  When I got to the hospital, I was cleaned, shaved and given an enema.  Why any woman in labor should have to undergo an enema is still too hard to comprehend.  When it was time for my second child to be born, I wanted to arrive at the hospital the very last minute, just to avoid all of the prep especially the stupid enema.

            My husband worked in the oil field and always got home around 8 p.m. at night. I was not feeling well and I called my mom to come down. By than it was 9:30. She and I like to drink coffee and visit, so I put the coffee on, just stalling. I went in and took a shower while the coffee was brewing. By then it was close to 10:30 p.m. We lived about 30 miles from the hospital, so we got on the interstate to get there. My husband always ran on empty and this day was no different. As we got close to the exit, we ran out of gas. We coasted down the off ramp into the gas station. By than it was 11:15 p.m. and my pains were constant and bad. Another 10 minutes we were at the hospital and I could not walk. My husband got a wheel chair and took me up to delivery. I was placed in the delivery room and I remember the nurse examining me. Just than the doctor came in and the nurse told him he better get his catchers mitt.  He got on gloves, but was still in his street clothes. My daughter was born at 11:52 p.m. I was very lucky to make it to the hospital in time.

            My daughter was born jaundice and had to stay in the hospital for about 5 days. I was very grateful for my child being born in the hospital not along the side of the road. She was able to get the care she needed immediately. As for her development, she developed as a normal child. She had no childhood problems. When she turned 32 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after she had an episode losing her vision in her eyes. The causes for multiple sclerosis is not clear, it is thought to be either the destruction of the autoimmune system or failure of the myelin producing cells.   The proposed causes for this include genetics

and environmental factors such as infections.  We cannot think of anytime she was sick or know of any environmental factor that may have harmed her but people never know what is out there.  

            I chose to look at birthing in Guatemala. My family has a fruit farm and we have had men come and work for us from Guatemala the last 50 years. They are a part of our extended family.  The oldest gentleman would always tease me about going to the hospital and having my babies there because the way his wife and daughters delivered their babies was so different.  He told me that they do not go to hospitals or have doctors. They have a Comadrona.

A Comadrona is a traditional birth attendant having little formal education or training.  They usually have very few supplies, difficulty transporting patients during an emergency, and work in unclean conditions (Walsh, 2013). Guatemala has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Latin America, with national figures reported to be between 156 and 270 deaths per 100,000 live births. 72% of births occur at home and are attended by a Comadrona and for Mayan communities more than 90 %  occur at home (Hurtado et al. 2001: 216).

            The aspects about the Guatemalan births that intrigued me were the way their culture, traditions and rituals play into the birthing process. Women of Mayan descent may remain at home throughout their entire nine months because they fear any influential exposure to illness, evil spirits or even the ill will of others. The Guatemalan women believe speedy delivery can be induced by drinking a liquid created by boiling a purple onion in beer.  As a part of la cuarantena where family members and close friends take over household duties while the mother goes through 40 days of healing and mother-infant bonding.

            As I compare the birthing process in America versus Guatemala, women’s safety is at greater risk in Guatemala. The unclean conditions, complications during birth put women’s lives at risk. In America some women do home births. Personally, that would not be the way I would want to have my child.. I want my child be born in an environment where I know they would be off to a great start in life. If I was Guatemalan, home births with a Comadrona, would be my way of life and all I would know. As we learned in our reading this week, culture plays a big part in people’s lives.  

           

Reference

Hurtado, Elena and Eugenia Sáenz de Tedjada.  2001 Relations between Government Health Workers and Traditional Midwives in Guatemala. In Mesoamerican Healers. Brad R. Huber and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds. Pp. 211-242 Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

http://www.pnmag.com/pregnancy/passport-to-pregnancy-traditions-from-around-the-world-3/

Walsh, L. (2013, November ). Retrieved from Belifs and Rituals in Traditional Birth Attend Practice in Guatemala http://wunrn.com/news/2006/07_03_06/070906_guatemala_beliefs.pdf