Measuring and Assessing Young Children’s Needs

In my opinion, professionals, educators and parents need to continually collaborate together to fully measure a child a whole. Young children learn at their own pace, so I agree that assessing children’s cognition and measuring their abilities need t happen under a much bigger umbrella. Daily anecdotal of children’s behaviors, new discoveries of how children learn with attention from the important people in their lives will help to pin point the issue. Learning should be based around the child’s abilities with new introductions. Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) should not just be stamped on the child; it needs to be fully followed to measure the changes of abilities in young children; for they learn at different paces. Children may need a range of modifications and accommodations for them to be successful in areas that they lack academically. Unfortunately, some catch up and no longer need this aid, but others have deeper needs attention.

I personally think that standardized testing should vary depending on the child’s learning style.  I wonder if three different sets of the standardized testing could be created to satisfy the fact that children learn in different ways. They learn visually, kinetically, or both. During standardized testing in Illinois, where I am employed, only allow extra time for challenging children. My heart goes out to those children, left with a test above their level. They can have all of the time in the world, but if they do not get it, they need help that is forbidden during testing. We try different strategies of pre testing, but again, they learn different and may have test anxiety with frustration of not knowing.

In  Thai China, a follow up study on nine year old children, yield results that Iron and Zinc are essential for normal neurological function in individuals. Iron deficiency (ID) affects myelination, neurotransmitter metabolism, and iron-containing enzymes. In addition, indirect mechanisms may link anemia to poor cognitive development, such as functional isolation, which leads to reduced exploration of the environment and reduced activity. Zinc is also important to both the structure and function of the brain. Zinc deficiency during rapid periods of brain growth can alter emotional behavior, decrease spontaneous activity, and impair memory, attention, and learning ability. Infancy is a period of rapid brain growth. Thus, any perturbations during early childhood, such as malnutrition and poor stimulation, can lead to long-term impairment of brain structure and function. Infants in developing countries are at risk of iron and zinc deficiency because of low intakes, poor bioavailability in complementary foods, and the untimely introduction of these foods.

 The article by The American Journey of Clinical Nutrition was interesting to learn. Apparently,  in China, measuring and assessing children begins during infancy, building positive effects for young children’s cognition.

Embracing the minds of young children will help them to flourish. Staying attentive to their personal needs should help them to build positive self esteem, the ability to focus on school work, play with peers and engaging in activities will produce success when implemented correctly.

Reference:

The American Journey of Clinical Nutrients. (March 2011). Long-term effects of iron and zinc supplementation during infancy on cognitive function at 9 y of age in northeast Thai children: a follow-up study1–3 Vol. 93. no. 3 636-643

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/93/3/636.full.pdf+html