“Brains are built not born.” This is a quote from Dr. Patricia Kuhl’s early learning brain research. This research both fascinates and inspires me as an early childhood educator. In 2006 Dr. Kuhl and her team were the first to ever  record brain activity in an awake infant.What this means for early childhood research is unprecedented. What this research translates to is that we learn 80% of what we will know prior to the age of 7. This research proves that Early Childhood is the most important time in brain development. Even though the research answers a lot of questions on brain development it leaves a lot of room for research and learning in the field of early childhood; inspiring me to continue learning and teaching. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies?language=en

My opinion on early childhood assessments

When it comes to my commitment to viewing young children holistically I believe that physical growth should be assessed and measured to avoid future health problems. I also believe we should asses developmental milestones by using an ASQ that teachers and parents use cooperatively. The ASQ is a comprehensive tool that is noninvasive and requires more from the teacher and parents than it does the child. Here is a link you can follow for a free ASQ online tool: http://es.easterseals.com/site/PageNavigator/ntlc10_mffc_homepageasq.html

I think that these limited assessments are useful tools in seeing deficiencies in developmental domains and they are not tools that single children out or make them or their peers feel as if they are different. They should only be used to individualize instruction and to show early childhood teachers the best way to teach each child and what to teach them.

I was curious what assessments if any were used with school aged children in impoverished countries and much to my surprise children were assessed in Uganda but not all children. Education is not available for all school aged children. There was an assessment performed using computers that assessed cognition of impoverished school age children. The assessments were done on computers through games that tested response times, working memory, learning, and retention. (http://www.capmh.com/content/9/1/38)

I am currently working for the Seattle Preschool Program and it is a pilot program for Universal Preschool. The assessments we are using are the PPVT (http://www.pearsonclinical.com/language/products/100000501/peabody-picture-vocabulary-test-fourth-edition-ppvt-4.html) the ASQ and ASQ SE, as well as Health and Wellness checks that include; height, weight, vison and hearing screenings. I think that if you are going to assess young children the assessments should be done by someone the child knows well if possible. Trust is important when trying to get an accurate assessment.