To be fair
preschool
Dawdling through life
Shine at your time
Nurseries are substitute parents
I came across this article on the Telegraphs website about how an increasing number of children are beginning school with extremely poor language.
Whilst it seems natural to read your child a bedtime story, talk with them or teach them letters, this is not the case for all parents. It is becoming increasingly common that pre school/nursery staff are the ones teaching children basic language skills as these disadvantaged children have unfortunately not learnt these skills at home.
Having good language skills are an essential component in life and therefore it is crucial that these skills are mastered early on. Language impact many other areas including literacy, hence a lack of language leads to difficulties within school, in the wider community and later on in life in terms of jobs.
Please find the link below:
Regurgitate
I’ve posted about the British and American education systems before and my anger towards them both.
I was educated through the British education system and at the time I was naive as to what the aim of it really was. I went through the motions as did every other student and gained some good grades at the end of it all and that was that. The system simply requires students to sit in a classroom for 7 hours a day, learn as much as possible and regurgitate all the information when necessary for exams.
I’m not too sure how much I actually learnt throughout my school years. At times it felt as though I only tuned in when the teachers said “this’ll be in the exam.”
The picture below sums up how i feel about the system perfectly. Hopefully, one day, change will be made and education will be more about learning and less about regurgitating for exams.
One day they will be…
Something I feel passionate about is tackling gender stereotypes at an early age and encouraging boys to play with girls toys and visa versa. I really love this picture as it shows how happy little boys can be if we just let them play with “girly” dolls. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, at the end of the day it’s just a toy but there are parents out there who shape their children’s minds into believing boys must play with “boys” toys and therefore say unkind words to boys such as those in this picture. Let’s make it a norm that a toys are unisex after all, your son may be a dad one day.
On the fence
Below I have attached a link to a video regarding language delay in infants due to increased screen technology use.
This is certainly a bit of a taboo topic in recent times but it is unclear whether screen technology is all bad news.
Whilst this video/study states that increased screen time for children is at the forefront of language delays it is unclear whether this is a causal relationship. There could be other factors responsible such delays including mother’s spending increased time on mobile phones which results in speaking and engaging with the child less. It is important to consider other viewpoints and watch/read everything with an open mind.
What are your opinions on technology leading to language delays? I’m certainly on the fence!
Fuel your brain
Reading. Reading is so important in so many ways for child development. It not only aids in language development but also in cognitive development and in so many other areas too. Pick up a book and read it to your child. You really are feeding their brains!
The pleasure in writing
In this day and age it’s common to see children texting their friends, tweeting their followers on Twitter or spending time writing status update on Facebook. However, have you ever considered how much time the children of the 21st Century spend with a pen in hand actually writing on a piece of paper?
Well, the BBC have produced an article which speaks of this exactly. They have found that a quarter of all pupils write only for school. This is a shocking statistic. It saddens me how such few children write outside of the school setting. Perhaps technology really is taking over. The children of the 21st century seem  happy texting and typing but don’t seem so keep on actual physical writing. The real question is will putting pen to paper ever be something that fades out entirely? Will typing on a keyboard replace hold importance over the pen?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see…
(I personally feel that writing is something that should be enjoyed in any shape or form, for fun, for pleasure, for school and in the home. Children should be provided with the opportunity to express themselves through their writing and should have access to writing equipment).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37850743
Speech and Language
Yesterday I attended a guest lecture regarding speech and language development. The lecture was interesting and informative and provided me with an insight on practitioners views of a speech and language therapist. It was interesting to see how strongly practitioners felt about having speech and language therapists in preschool settings.
The lecture itself focused on the lecturers research project in which a band 5 speech and language therapist was invited to attend weekly workshops with groups of preschool children at 4 preschools in a county in the UK. She discussed the reason behind the research – the reason being that the speech and language skills in school are not quite as good as they were 2 to 3 years ago. The change has been significant and therefore something needs to be done before it is too late. The target was therefore on preschool children that were about to begin school. The idea was that if speech and language skills are improved at a young age then it’ll cost the government less in the future.
The research, like most, wasn’t without its problems. Speech and language therapists are trained in clinical settings on a one on one basis with the child. However, this research required a speech and language therapist to work with a group of preschool children, in 4 different, diverse and challenging preschool settings rather than a nice, quiet, pleasant room. Evidently, the newly qualified speech and language therapist struggled greatly and quit the research project within a month, delaying the speech and language intervention process. There was also poor parental response, commitment and engagement from parents which made the study challenging. However, there a ways this could be improved. Social media is very prominent in today’s society. Although I am still very much on the fence about the idea of children using technology I am all for parents getting involved in the online community. The internet is a great way to share and view ideas and educate yourself. Facebook, in particular, is a very popular site. Why not post videos on a secured, private Facebook page for adults to view whilst their flicking through their timeline in the evening, or private message them, post on their wall reminding them to attend a meeting tomorrow. Alternatively, send them a text. Most adults (and adolescents) are glued to their phones 24/7. Hold meeting straight after schools or school events so that parents are already at school and don’t have the chance to run away. What I am trying to say is that there are ways to overcome parental disengagement.
However, one of the possibilities for the lack of parental support of the speech and language study was due to the stigma surrounding speech and language therapists. Many parents are under the assumption that speech and language therapists are only for children who have definite problems. However, in the case of this study the focus was on ALL preschool children. Not just those with problems. There are a lack of speech and language therapists in the UK which leads to them being in high demand, but, the results of this study show the importance of having speech and language therapists for ALL children. The results were incredibly positive. All the children in all the 4 preschools showed improved language ability by the end of the study after having weekly sessions in a group environment with the therapist. If we are serious about targeting speech and language problems from a young age then group speech and language sessions within preschool settings seems to be the way forward. Perhaps a consideration of how speech and language therapists are trained also needs to be taken into account. For example, they should be trained in dealing with children in groups situations as well as in different environments such as churches where the acoustics are different to everyday life, or outside or simply within a classroom setting.
It is evident that something needs to be done sooner rather than later in order to prevent more speech and language problems in the future. The question is however when will these changes take place and when will the Government listen to expert research that shows something extraordinary.
everythingchild 