I chose the alternative which was reviewing the Global Children Initiative website. I noticed that they still allowed viewing of their previous newsletters, so I decided to see what were some of the topics that were made available.
In March of this year, there was a featured newsletter on brain science and how it could be used as an outlet to poverty. This struck my interest because the finding by Elizabeth Babcock could be used around the world. Her main thesis is that the skill set in the brain that includes multi-tasking, self-control, and setting goals; these skills and abilities can be damaged by adverse experiences, including those associated with poverty (Babcock, 2014) . By teaching children early how to control, and strengthen these skills as he gets older may better his chances to get out of poverty.
I also became aware that significant neglect, which is the ongoing disruption or significant absence of caregiver responsiveness, can cause more harm to a young child’s development than overt physical abuse. This can lead to many problems for the child such as, disruption of stress responses, cognitive delays, etc.
The last thing that struck my attention was one of their key concepts, toxic stress response. Stress at any age can be harmful to the brain and the overall body. It is important that we ensure young children avoid as much stress as possible, but in some cases it is inevitable. Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity. It is extremely important to act quickly to try and prevent the child from having any long last effects.
This site has many other articles, videos, and newsletters that are available as well.
Here is the link to the site if anyone is interested (:
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/
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