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A Prenatal-to- 3 policy roadmap shares how states are doing and how they can improve

Posted in Child care, Cognitive development, Cost and affordability, Developmentally appropriate practice, Diversity equity and inclusion, Family engagement, Funding, Head Start, Health, Infants and toddlers, National, Pre-kindergarten, Social-emotional development, tagged #pn3policy, #PolicyRoadmap on October 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »

What are the best ways for states to help young children?

The Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap has answers that were shared earlier this month at a virtual summit that drew “thousands of national and state leaders, scholars, and practitioners.” Videos of that event are posted here.

"Wow! When you see all of the progress that state policy leaders have made this past year toward implementing effective policies and strategies that research shows improve the lives of children and families in their state, it is a bit overwhelming. Thank you all!" – Dr. Osborne🎙️
— Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center (@pn3policy) October 13, 2022

Released by Vanderbilt University’s Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, the roadmap is an annual guide that draws on the science of child development. Specifically, the roadmap looks at:

• young children’s wellbeing

• proven, evidence-based policy strategies

• states’ implementation of 11 effective policy and strategy solutions, and

• how policy changes impact young children and their families, and how these changes reduce racial and ethnic disparities

Those 11 policy and strategy solutions are:

(more…)

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In quotes: a 7-year-old’s TED talk

Posted in Cognitive development, Infants and toddlers, Play, Quotes, tagged #BabyBrainDevelopment, #ece on February 18, 2022| 2 Comments »

“What if I was to tell you that game of peekaboo could change the world? sounds impossible. Right? Well, I’m here today to prove it’s not. Hi, I’m Molly, and I’m seven.”

“Our brains grow faster in our early years than any other time in our lives. It can create up to 1 million neural connections every second, but we need your help. Our healthy development depends on these top five things, one, connecting; two, talking; three playing; four, a healthy home, five community. All of this helps our brains and us reach our full potential.

“So what’s something you can do that could really make a difference? Scientists call it serve and return. That’s just the grown up way of saying connect talk and play with us.”

— “Molly Wright: How every child can thrive by five” TED Talk, August 9, 2021

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Early childhood milestones: a video for parents produced in eight languages

Posted in Cognitive development, Developmentally appropriate practice, Family engagement on January 9, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Parents and caregivers can’t always know what to expect from their children. But thanks to a terrific video called “1, 2, 3 Grow,” they can learn more early childhood’s milestones.

The video features doctors and parents discussing milestones in four areas: movement, social relationships, communication, and thinking.

The goal is to give parents and caregivers a sense of what to expect – and what to ask pediatricians about – as their children grow.

The videos were produced by University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center and by members of the Massachusetts Act Early state team. (more…)

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In quotes: a new video on the protective power of play

Posted in Cognitive development, Play, Quotes on August 9, 2019| Leave a Comment »

“When we play, we are at our happiest, and we can withstand incredible hardships. When we play, we are engaging in complex interactions with each other, and we are building our brains. And when we play, those social interactions become relationships. And we need play to connect all three of those together.”

— Laura Huerta Migus, executive director, Association of Children’s Museums, in the video, “Play in Early Childhood: The Role of Play in Any Setting,” Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, August 8, 2019

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Special education and early education – meeting all children’s needs

Posted in Cognitive development, Developmentally appropriate practice, Early educators, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children on July 30, 2019| 1 Comment »

Early education classrooms are bright and fun, but they’re not always open to young children with disabilities.

Massachusetts works hard to meet these children’s needs through its Early Intervention program, but a new paper – “Early Childhood Special Education in Massachusetts,” written by Strategies for Children interns Annapurna Ayyappan and Marisa Fear — points out that there’s room for the state to make improvements.

In 2014, the federal government addressed the problem with a policy statement jointly released by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that said in part:

“It is the Departments’ position that all young children with disabilities should have access to inclusive high-quality early childhood programs, where they are provided with individualized and appropriate support in meeting high expectations.”

Getting this work done in Massachusetts, Ayyappan and Fear write, is essential:

“Early childhood education has the potential to provide children with the positive experiences that will establish a strong foundation upon which they can grow… Early intervention for children with developmental delays or disabilities targets the brain at a time when its services can have the greatest positive effects.” (more…)

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The Wonder of Learning: an inspiring exhibit for everyone

Posted in Boston, Cognitive development, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Dept. of Higher Education, Early educators, tagged #WOLBoston on June 21, 2018| 11 Comments »

A child scribbles a spiral on a piece of paper. What should a teacher say in response?

One answer: “Lovely.”

Why? To encourage the child to keep drawing, because it’s by doing more drawing that a child gets to explore art and the horizons of his or her talent.

That’s one of the many stories, insights, and ideas that educators will find at the multimedia exhibit “Wonder of Learning,” which is being hosted by the recently merged Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

Wonder of Learning shares the Reggio Emilia approach, a philosophy of early learning — named after the Italian town Reggio Emilia — that challenges educators to understand how their “image of a child” affects how they teach and interact with that child.

“It’s necessary that we believe that the child is very intelligent, that the child is strong and beautiful and has very ambitious desires and requests,” Reggio Emilia’s founder, Loris Malaguzzi, said at a 1993 seminar. “This is the image of the child that we need to hold.” (more…)

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Helping young children survive the opioid crisis

Posted in Cognitive development, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Developmentally appropriate practice, Early educators, Family engagement, Federal, Head Start, Infants and toddlers, MA governor, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Social-emotional development on April 5, 2018| 3 Comments »

Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito.

“We have to change the conversation so that those who are suffering feel freer to talk about their circumstances and receive treatment,” Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito said to a roomful of early educators and staff members from home visiting and early intervention programs who were all there to participate in a groundbreaking training session on the opioid crisis.

This was the first of six training programs that will be held across the state in an effort to reach 600 professionals who work with young children. It’s also a sad but necessary recognition that the opioid crisis takes a toll on infants, some of whom are born addicted to opioids, as well as on toddlers and young children whose parents struggle with addiction.

Massachusetts has been hit hard by this crisis. According to the state’s Opioid epidemic website: (more…)

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The Power of Early Math Games

Posted in Cognitive development, Science & math on November 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

Early literacy tends to get a lot of attention. It’s easy to talk, read, or sing to young children.

But early math deserves equal time.

As we’ve blogged, early math pays off for children. And with some good advice, it’s not hard to play math games that help children build a strong foundation in math.

“Playing math games with children can be a fun, developmentally appropriate way to spark understanding of big mathematical ideas,” Kristen E. Reed and Jessica Mercer Young write in their article, “Play Games, Learn Math! Explore Numbers and Counting with Dot Card and Finger Games.”

“Math games also support children’s mathematical habits of mind—and key school readiness skills, such as problem solving, puzzling, and perseverance.”

Reed is a senior project director and mathematics educator at the Education Development Center (EDC), a nonprofit organization that works to improve the education, health, and economic opportunities. And Young is a research scientist and psychologist specializing in early learning at EDC. The article is the first in a series of articles on early math. (more…)

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A Pediatrician Explains How Love, Reading, and Writing Help Children

Posted in Cognitive development, Family engagement, Literacy, Pre-kindergarten on October 24, 2017| 3 Comments »

Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for Children

Writer and pediatrician Perri Klass has always been a champion of sharing books with children, but this month in the New York Times she writes about the issue by mixing research with great human warmth and urgency.

Klass draws on a recent study that found that parents who read and write at home with children boost both literacy and lifetime skills. This topic isn’t new for Klass; she’s the national medical director of Reach Out and Read, the organization that distributes books to children through pediatricians’ offices.

The reading and writing study was conducted by University of Washington researchers who found that “Children who read and write at home — whether for assignments or just for fun — are building long-term study and executive function skills,” according to a press release.

Klass turns the research findings into near poetry: (more…)

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Louisiana Aligns its Tax Policies with the Science of Early Childhood

Posted in Cognitive development, Cost and affordability, Early educators, National on September 28, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Screenshot: Committee on Economic Development website

Pay attention to Louisiana. It has a tax credit program that policymakers should know about.

“Louisiana pioneered its School Readiness Tax Credits in 2007,” according to “Pathways to High-Quality Child Care: The Workforce Investment Credit,” a policy brief published by the Committee for Economic Development, part of The Conference Board, a nonprofit, business-led policy organization.

In part, Louisiana’s tax credit “provides ECE directors and staff with a refundable credit linked to their educational attainment at four levels and work experience in a quality program. The credit amount increases as the credentials rise,” the brief explains.

The tax credit is “not an entitlement.” The only individuals who qualify are those who “voluntarily join the registry, achieve professional development, and have been working for at least six months in a licensed program that participates in the state quality rating system qualify for the credit.”

“The credit is adjusted for inflation annually,” and in 2014, “the value of the credit by qualification level ranged from $1,630 to $3,260 and a total of 3,770 individuals claimed it. The average credit was $2,150…” (more…)