Asset building doesn’t begin when a child reaches high school, the sixth grade, or even kindergarten. Research highlights the importance of parental and familial supports from birth, and throughout the life of a child, well into adolescence.
It’s about relationships
A strong and nurturing relationship between children and adults is the most basic ingredient for growing up healthy. Supporting the whole child – physically, socially, and emotionally – provides a baseline for positive experiences from which the child can learn, grow, and thrive.
These experiences shape a child’s life and create a strong, foundational web of support that positively contributes to their future. Early childhood experiences also relate directly to school readiness and academic success.
The process is ongoing
Every stage of a child’s development is important. Each stage builds on experiences from an earlier one, and it’s never too early, or too late, to build assets. A child’s need for internal strengths and external supports is present throughout his or her life.
Below you can find news, research, and a list of resource links that can provide a foundation of information in the areas of Parenting and Family, Child Development, Family Support, Wellness and Nutrition, and Child Advocacy.
News and Research
Best Beginnings’ Babies on Track video
Best Beginnings created a 14-minute video and two baby board books to foster early learning and healthy brain development in Alaska babies. More than 160 premiere events are set across the state. Find fun, brain-building activities for children in the Babies on Track Premiere Handbook.
You’d expect educators and parents to be front and center advocating for early childhood education as state legislatures debate school funding for the next fiscal year. In New York and Maine, these advocates have another ally: top police officers.
(Read Julie Rasicot’s ED Week article here.)
How to help your child’s brain grow up strong
Babies may look helpless, but as soon as they come into the world, they’re able to do a number of important things. They can recognize faces and moving objects. They’re attracted to language. And from very early on, they can differentiate their mother from other humans.
Greater Good Science Center – Happiness Matters Podcast
Dr. Christine Carter and Nurse Rona Renner give busy parents tips for raising happy children and leading more joyful lives as parents.
The Science of Early Childhood Development
This edition of the InBrief series, from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, addresses basic concepts of early childhood development, established over decades of neuroscience and behavioral research, which help illustrate why child development—particularly from birth to five years—is a foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society.
Week of the Young Child – April 10-16
The Week of the Young Child, now in its 40th year, is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.
For Kids, Self-Control Factors Into Future Success
Self-control keeps us from eating a whole bag of chips or from running up the credit card. A new study says that self-control makes the difference between getting a good job or going to jail — and we learn it in preschool.
(from NPR.org)
Change the First Five Years and You Change Everything
How would the lives of at-risk children be different if we invested in high-quality early learning programs, starting at birth? Watch our video and see—through the voices of the children themselves—just how powerful the change can be. Find out more at: http://www.ffyf.org/
At TEDxRainier, Dr. Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another — by listening to the humans around them and “taking statistics” on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.
Dr. Kuhl was the guest on Kids These Days second radio show: The Infant Brain & Early Language Acquisition. Listen to the entire show, bonus clips about infant brain function, how Dr. Kuhl got involved in brain research, plus a little about her own family history.
Family Involvement in Early Childhood Education
Family involvement matters for young children’s cognitive and social development. But what do effective involvement processes look like, and how do they occur? This research brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement — that is, the research studies that link family involvement in early childhood to outcomes and programs that have been evaluated to show what works.
Developmental Milestones
(University of Michigan Health System)
Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range. Although each milestone has an age level, the actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can very quite a bit. Every child is unique!
Tips and Tools on Promoting Social Emotional Development
Articles and tips from Zero to Three to help your child learn and develop positive skills.
more articles and research on early childhood education
Resources in Early Childhood Care and Education
Why Early Learning Matters
A large and growing body of research provides persuasive evidence of four related tenets. From birth to age 6, brain development occurs at an astonishing pace. Nurturing and brain stimulation during those years has a profound impact on how children fare in school. A child’s readiness for school is a powerful determinant of how he or she will fare in life. And investments in early childhood development yield extraordinary returns to the workforce and the economy.
- from the Best Beginnings Report to Alaska 2008
Association for the Education of Young Children – Southeast Alaska
AEYC-SEA has been providing excellence in leadership, advocacy and education for the needs and rights of all young children for over twenty years in Southeast Alaska. Their membership and Board of Directors consist of parents, teachers, childcare providers, school age staff, social service professionals, and anyone who recognizes the importance of the early years.
The AEYC membership is actively engaged in developing and maintaining the highest quality of care and education for young children. In addition to advocacy activities, regional conferences, and events, the Southeast affiliate has successfully applied for and administered a number of grants, including the Child Care Food Program, Resource and Referral service, merit awards, and many projects designed to provide support and resources to families and programs caring for young children.
AEYC-SEA serves as an effective working partner, catalyst, and resource to a variety of allied community agencies, organizations and professional groups including school districts, Head Start, care centers, non-profits, and other groups involved in early child care and education.
Among other projects supported by Alaska ICE, Diane Sly, Early Childhood Outreach Coordinator with AEYC-SEA, developed six ABCD training modules for early care and education providers. Each module is organized around a theme: brain development, relationships, gross motor development, school age care, the profession of Early Childhood Educator, and the brain-heart-body connection. These modules can now be delivered online and each is considered 20 hours of training.
Through a two-year partnership with Alaska ICE, AEYC-SEA worked to embed the assets framework in the early care and education training delivery system in Alaska. Through combined efforts, an overall increase in communication, collaboration, and supportive relationships between early care and education groups has occured throughout the state.
During the partnership, AEYC-SEA visited 18 individual communities, held numerous regional events, and hosted one statewide training-the-trainers event involving both rural and urban Alaskan communities. In addition, AEYC-SEA is responsible for the distribution of over 3,000 Helping Little Kids Succeed – Alaskan Style books to parents and families across the state. This project has embedded the assets message within thousands of Alaskans, deepening their understanding of its relevance and impact at the early childhood level.