I visited Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/
Three new ideas or insights I gained about early childhood systems around the globe:
1.Emotional and social development are inextricably linked to cognitive development, and we can’t have one without the other. Emotional well-being is a critical part of the foundation of social and functional competence that is developed in the first years of life and affects a child’s later ability to achieve in school and form successful relationships throughout life.
2. Neuroscience, molecular biology, and genomics tell us that early life experiences are built into our bodies. They get under our skin and into the brain and other organ systems, with lasting effects on individuals, communities, society, and the economy.
3. Many of our nation's policies, such as those that regulate child care provider training, availability of early childhood mental health services, and early identification and treatment of behavioral disorders, overlook emotional development as a focus of evaluation and intervention.
Your post states all I have been advocating for: children need social setting in which to learn from one another and emotional intelligence is just as important as academic intelligence.
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteThose are some great insights you got from Global Children's Initiative. I applaud them for their great efforts to build an international approach to child survival, health, and development in the earliest years of life for our children.