Discover More About The Importance of Early Childhood Education

Were you or your children ready for Kindergarten at the age of five years old? Most students pass the physical, emotional, and academic criteria to enter Kindergarten. However, some students have trouble transitioning from preschool to Kindergarten in their early childhood education. These children can benefit from early childhood education programs such as Head Start.

There is a constant debate as to why some students are not ready for Kindergarten like their peers. There are varying circumstances that can cause this to happen. The student may not be emotionally or developmentally ready. Their experiences at home or a physical disability may have impaired their psychological and physical development.

The government, educational organizations, teachers, and parents all play a role in the educational development of each child. When things go wrong, each party tends to point fingers at another party. This can be counterproductive and many times erupts from misunderstanding between the parties.

The government sets specific guidelines and standards for education. For example, President Bush has enacted the "No Child Left Behind Act". The purpose of this act is to have all students achieve a competent to above average educational score. This act is based on positive ideals, but has been found to be very difficult to achieve in the American school system.

This leads to the question of what practices and procedures are the teachers currently administering in the classroom? There are specific standards that must be met in the public school system. Some subjects have national guidelines while others have state by state guidelines.

One of the major requirements for early childhood teachers, as well as teachers of all levels, is to provide developmentally appropriate content and presentation. An example for early childhood teachers is not to expect students to write a two page essay about their summer vacation when they don't even know how to hold a pencil.

Education in the early childhood years tends to focus on motor skills and "play". Children in these years learn greatly through "play". Early childhood teachers take these developmental stages into account when creating lessons and activities. They cover the specified guidelines as determined by their state.

If your child is not ready for Kindergarten it may not necessarily be the fault of their school system. Consult doctors, counselors, and educational professionals to determine the readiness of your child. Your child may have a learning disability that can be treated successfully because it was recognized early. Then your child will be ready to take their first snack of graham crackers and milk as a Kindergarten student.

Autism and Early Childhood Education Program

"Autism", can be generally defined as a developmental disorder that primarily affects children at very young age or right from birth. In most of the cases, this disorder is primarily found at the early months of child's life. The major drawback of this type of disorder is it results in the deviance from, and the delay in the normal patterns of child's development. Usually, a child having this development order might face problems in different areas of behavior like language and communication, social interaction along with daily activities or interests. Now, when problems occur in all these three areas of development, and at a severe degree than the natural variations anticipated in an ordinary child, the unique pattern of autism becomes evident.

Today if we look at the present scenario, autism is one of the major problems that have grown rapidly in the United States. As per the recent study conducted by the leading healthcare experts, the frequency of parent-reported rates of autism was raised higher than the earlier approximation. Specifically, it was found that around 1.1% of all children aged from 3 to 17 had autism. In fact, the most striking indication is that earlier the estimation was made approximately 1 in 150, but the current study shows 1 in 91 children are suffering from autism.

The exact reason or the real cause of autism still remains unknown; though the recent theory point towards a difficulty that generally affects the functioning of the central nervous system. Children with autism actually require a complete evaluation and specialized educational and behavioral programs. Early identification and educational programs can be very effective to allow interventions that need to be implemented for curing autism. These days many schools are offering early childhood educational programs. The idea is based on the premise where young children with special needs and learners engage properly and learn experiences that can help them lead rewarding lives.

The early childhood education program can help you learn more about instructional assistance for your young children or students that require special needs. The program can help you in improving the lives of children facing different problems due to autism through concentrated education. The best benefit of an early childhood education program is it generally follows a scientist-practitioner model where the process of applied behavior analysis is balanced and completed by research. The focus of the program basically revolves around the child and mostly emphasizes the progressive development and explanation of important abilities and skills.

The main problem for children with autism is not that they cannot be taught, but they are impaired in their social functioning. It is because of this reason, children with Autism, should spend as more time out in a general education setting as possible. Recent studies have constantly shown that the earlier we begin working with a student with Autism, the chances gets better are for developing necessary social skills primarily required to live an independent mature life.

Although there is no cure for autism, but following a suitable specialized treatment provided early in life like early childhood education program can have the encouraging impact on the child's development. It may help in an overall reduction in disruptive behaviors and autism symptoms.