Saturday, October 12, 2019

Testing for Intelligence?


            Parents, as well as teachers, must assess the following, a child’s, lack of sleep, abuse, mental, social and physical development. Health is important because a lack of nutrition will affect a child’s learning. When it affects a child’s learning process educated professionals will create an IEP to address any deficits present. If ADHD is a need to be met and individual service plan will be implemented for the betterment of the child. For example, “if a child has ADHD and it’s not detected sooner this can cause a number of problems down the road. If it goes untreated as an adult this can cause, illicit drug use and “criminal actions are more prevalent. This is the cost to society as a whole: costs of injuries, deaths, physical damage and the cost of preventing authorities” (Ornoy & Avia, 2019)  
            Israel believes in the same idealizations as the United States and that is, “Life cycle skill formation is a dynamic process in which early inputs strongly affect the productivity of later inputs” (Ornoy & Avia, 2019). The priorities that Israel uses to assess children are second language and religion. If the potential is not reached by a certain age, then they feel it raises concern. This is when the parent or caregiver must pay substantially to resolve this issue. There are a number of advocates in Israel pushing for reform of detection at an early stage. In Israel treatment for anything outside the norm of what’s generally given will come at a great expense.
            Vygotsky states it best when committing to the whole child and that is, “educators should consider children’s thought processes, not just the outcomes” (Berger, p.379). It’s a disadvantage to the child if you take into consideration one piece of the puzzle and not the other to complete the whole child’s perspective. Vygotsky also states, “children learn whatever their culture teaches” (Berger, p.379). I find this to be absolutely true. If you know a family member really well and they have a daughter you also notice a lot of them in their child, so much so you may say, your daughter acts just like you! This is called the zone of proximal development by Vygotsky. Scaffolding and guidance from caregivers and teachers are what’s noted in chapter 12 as the bridge to help children’s developmental potential. Children are going to mimic and do what they see so we must be mindful of what we do in front of them.  
            This is why the serve and return interaction amongst infants is so important. When a child does something like look, say or utters sounds and parents notice the child then reciprocates in return being satisfied because acknowledgment and attention was given. “Under conditions where serve and return is broken your literately pulling away from the essential ingredient of the development of human brain architecture” (How Child Neglect Harms Brain Development in Children, 2019). The stress system becomes activated when a child is being ignored and serve and return interaction is not present. “Neglecting young children, it’s neglecting the foundations of a healthy next generation. A community pays a huge price later. In terms of the problems of the next generation. Whether it be educational achievement, economic productivity, good citizenship, the ability to parent the next generation. All of these things have to do with a healthy prosperous society” (How Child Neglect Harms Brain Development in Children, 2019). Therefore, early intervention is key.
             
Resource

Assessments for Young Children. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2019, from http://www.ldonline.org/article/6040.
Berger, 2016. The developing person through childhood (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Chapter 12, “Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development” Read pp. 377-392
How Child Neglect Harms Brain Development in Children. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2019, from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-the-science-of-neglect-video/.

4 comments:

  1. Lewanda, your post has great information in it. Early intervention is so important! Many factors play a role in the way children learn in school. Children learn from exposure, experiences and their surroundings (culture). I believe it is important to look at all areas of development when assessing children. In order to get a whole picture of a child, it is critical to observe them in their natural environment!

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  2. Thank you for sharing your perspective. I agree with you that some children don’t test well, and this is the very telling indicator that other assessments should also test for the same information but in a different way. I would be ideal for educators and even test makers to consider that not all people learn the same or process information using the same methodologies. If testing could be presented in a way that covered the same information given in standardized test but from multiple learning styles and perspectives, then there would be a lot more academic success among our children and a more accurate measurement of their intellectual abilities. I agree with you also that children should have more knowledge of nutrition and more time allotted for physical activities as well.

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  3. I agree. Intervention must begin as early as possible. As an educator, I meet the needs of the child with or without a diagnosis. However, a diagnosis can help target interventions that maybe more effective than others.
    Samantha

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  4. Lewanda I agree with you about assessing the child's lack of sleep as that is a basic need. I think about how I feel when I'm stressed and haven't had enough sleep or even food, you cannot focus on anything else.

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