Hello colleagues and friends,
I used myself as my child to write about in my research on my language and literacy journey. The reasoning behind this was I believed it would give me a closer connection to my personal journey through life and illustrate how intwined language and literacy is with everything that we do on a daily basis. Little did I know that by writing about myself I was writing about childhood traumas that have (I thought) long been buried. I think this journey has raised a lot of questions for me in regards to trauma-informed early childhood education and what it really means to be an educator and the impact it has on brain development and language and literacy development.
When I started out I was trying to set the stage so that the reader (or listener) would be intrigued and want to learn more about this little girl named Susie who, from humble beginnings is now working on her EDD. Now, my goal has changed. My goal is to show how even children in poverty who are out-of-sync with mainstream society can learn a language and use literacy to build a bridge out of poverty, but just as importantly how teacher's can be informed; so they can be the change agent that these children need so they will have the desire, drive and motivation to achieve more.
Part 1 Introduction: My Child in Context
Susie, a skinny female child is the subject of my research. She came from a “nuclear” family with a mother, father, 3 brothers, and 3 sisters. As a child Susie’s family had several pets. They had 3 cats, 5 dogs, guinea pigs, gerbils, and birds. Susie is the 4th child of 7.
When Susie’s mother was pregnant for her she contracted the measles during her first trimester. During the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, the disease is passed on to the unborn baby. The baby will then have congenital rubella. This can cause the baby to be born with life-long problems such as eye problems, hearing problems, and damage to the heart (retrieved from https://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/rubella_in_pregnancy). At this time her mother was caring for her 4 older siblings who were 1, 2, 7, and 9 at this time and they also contracted the measles. Susie’s father worked 12-hour shifts in a trailer factory and turned to alcohol as a way to console himself and escape the hardships life had dealt him. He would frequently strike her mother and sometimes he would hit his children as well. Studies have shown that children who witness domestic violence can suffer from emotional and developmental delays that are similar to those of children who experience the physical abuse directly (Schecter, S., & Edelson, J. (1999).
During this time sometimes there wasn’t enough food for Susie’s mother to have adequate nutrition, but her mother would always make sure there was something for her children to eat, at least once a day, even if she went without, “malnutrition holds potential psychological and physical effects for young children” (Roseberry-McKibbin, 2012 p7.).
During the winter months, the family would heat their home with oil or kerosene whatever they could afford. Sometimes they would not have either so to keep her children and herself warm Susie’s pregnant mother would turn the oven on and open the door and all of the children could gather around to keep warm. Sometimes her grandmother, who also worked in a factory, would bring groceries and buy heating oil to help the family. During her pregnancy, Susie’s mother smoked cigarettes (about a pack a day) and consumed a lot of coffee. Cigarettes and Caffeine consumed in access during pregnancy are found to cause low birth weight which is related to impairments in expressive and receptive language development (Trelles, M.P., 2016).
As a child, Susie’s family had a small black and white television but no computers, however, they did have books. While she was pregnant for her, Susie’s mother would read books to her siblings out-loud to entertain them; not knowing the power of her words and the synaptic connections she was making. Two of her siblings were in Title I reading and would have homework to read aloud with their mother, so even while Susie was developing in the womb she would hear the spoken words of her mother and her siblings.
Susie was a full term pregnancy and was born naturally through a vaginal delivery without any medicine being administered during delivery.
All of Susie’s family lived together in the family home she lived in until she was an adult. At the time of delivery there are 5 children (Susie included) and 2 adults, her mother, and father, as well as three family pets, two dogs named Sheba and Tinker and a cat named Missy. The family home is small and everyone in the family sleeps in one bedroom in the loft of their home.
Susie’s mom is her primary caregiver but her oldest brother is very helpful and attentive. Susie’s brother who is 7 years old’s and in the second grade goes to school during the day but helps with the younger children when he is home. Her mom feeds her and meets her needs as they arise. Susie has a pleasant personality and doesn’t cry much. Susie’s family enjoys weekend outings to the beach and picnics sometimes on Saturday’s, attending church on Sunday’s and family dinners on Sunday’s at her grandparents.
During the week Susie’s father works a lot to support the family, after work he drinks and he passes out and sleeps. Sometimes when her father is drinking he will get angry and hit her mother, her mother ensures that the children are out of the house or quiet somewhere so that they don’t get hit. This does not always work, she is not usually struck but see’s her older siblings hit and hears her father call her mother names and insults.
The entire family speaks English and she lives in a mostly white farming and industrial community in Southern Michigan. Her neighborhood consists of mostly two-parent households with at least 2 children, there are a few elderly neighbors who have already raised their children and will have an influence on the neighborhood kids. Her family identifies as Christian and attends church at least once a week.
The crime rate in Susie’s neighborhood is low and children play outside all day with very little adult supervision. She is not exposed to other languages or cultures. No one that lives in her community speaks a different language, other than English around her, and there are no other races. Her family values education and believes that it is important to be able to read and communicate effectively in English. Other languages never play a role in Susie’s childhood. When she is in high school Spanish speaking people begin to move into the community. Her family is accepting of the new neighbors but believe if they want to live in “our” community they should learn “our” language, and they often make racist comments and microaggressions without realizing it.
Susie’s family values basic education and thinks that it is important for their children to attend basic elementary school. No provisions will be made for higher education and her high school experience will be one of a child who is “not college material.” Susie’s mother only had a formal education until the 7th grade and her father graduated high school in the Marine Corps. Both her father and her mother read a lot of books so she sees this value modeled on a daily basis. The public library is within walking distance of her home and she learns very early to read and write.
When Susie’s siblings are at school and her father is at work her mom takes her and her other preschool-aged siblings to the public library. She got her first library card when she was 4 because she was able to write her name on her own. Her siblings have this same access as well as Title I reading programs in their public schools. There are very few preschool programs in their community and Susie’s mother does not work outside the home, so she stays home during her preschool years. She has paper and crayons in her home and is encouraged to explore the materials available to her.
Her family talks a lot and sometimes uses words that are inappropriate for children but they are still words. Susie and all of her siblings attend kindergarten in a half day public school program. When she is 4 she is not quite old enough for kindergarten; because she has a fall birthday, the kindergarten teacher agrees to test her language and literacy skills to let her attend. Susie is accepted to kindergarten when she is 4 years old. The library becomes important to her and she learns to shelve books as an assistant in her elementary school library in 3rd grade. She shelves books at the public library in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. When she is in high school she works in the high school library as a student in 11th and 12th grade and then again in college. When Susie is 3 her mom has another baby and then again when she is 4 (this one is stillborn) and yet again when Susie is 6 in elementary school; her baby sister is born with physical and developmental delays.
This makes 7 children in Susie’s family and the youngest is very sick. Her mom and dad need to spend a lot of time at the hospital with their youngest child, so she is left with her older sibling’s a lot and her younger brother who is just a toddler. She read’s to him a lot and play’s with him. Susie’s older siblings, who are still children themselves teach her younger brother how to talk. As Susie’s older siblings get busy with their own learning and pre-teen relationships they become pre-occupied. She becomes a primary caregiver for her younger sibling when she is not at school. When Susie is 9 year’s old her baby sister, who is 3 dies from surgical complications; this is when she decides she wants to be a doctor and help children like her baby sister. She asks for her own bible that year for Christmas. At this point literacy and language plays a huge role in Susie’s life.
The second part of my research and language and literacy journey I would like to share with you is Susie as a preschooler:
At three and a half years old Susie watches longingly as all of her siblings leave for school. There are very few preschool programs in the community where she lives, and the part-day programs that are available are only for families who can afford to pay. For the first time in her life, Susie is alone with her mother while her father is at work. With so many children Susie’s mother has a huge list of tasks to accomplish before the other children come home from school. Susie follows behind her mother as they head into the kitchen.
At this age young children have the ability and motivation to sort words and sounds into meaning (Turnbull, 2017). Susie’s mother does not have any formal education so she is not privy to the fact that teachers and parents should converse with children for many hours every day. Due to the fact, her mother is alone most of the time with only children to talk to her she talks to herself (self-talk) and to Susie telling her what she is doing and why she is doing it, without even knowing the benefit it is having on her preschooler’s language and literacy development.
When they entered the kitchen Susie’s mom put on an apron and she looked at Susie and said, “I’m putting on an apron so I don’t get flour on my shirt. I’m going to make some fried chicken for dinner later, do you want to help?” She looked at her mom and said, “I need apron.” Her mom repeated her statement as a question, “Oh, do you need an apron too? Susie said, “ yes, I need an apron too!” Her mom tied an apron around her middle saying “it is a little big does it work?” Susie smiled and said, “yes, it will work, thank you”.
Her mom pulled a cookbook out of the drawer and handed it to her. She said “You will have to look up the recipe. I know you can’t read but maybe you can find the picture of the fried chicken.” Susie’s mom had made fried chicken many times and did not need a recipe but she thought this would keep her curious preschooler occupied while she gathered her ingredients. After several minutes Susie shouted with enthusiasm “I got it!” She held up the book and there on the page was a picture of a turkey. Her mom smiled and said “you are so close!” sharing her enthusiasm. You found the poultry section and chickens and turkeys are both poultry. Can you find a chicken recipe? Susie looked back at the book making the connection between the pictures and her mother’s words and she flipped the page.
There on the next page was a picture of a fancy table with lots of colorful foods and dishes. She said, “momma, there is no chicken, only pootree.” Her mom laughed and looked at the picture and said, “you know what you are right, this is a fancy cookbook!” “Maybe when we go to the library this afternoon we can get a common cookbook.” “Chicken isn’t fancy but it is yummy!” “Maybe we could just make it from scratch?” Susie looked a little confused and said, “but, I’m not itchy.” “No silly, scratch means that you make it from the beginning without a recipe.” “You add a little bit of this, and a little bit of that until it is just right.” “Ok!”, “Let’s do scratch,” she said.
The ingredients for the recipe are already set out, her mom had prepared them while Susie was busy looking through the book. As Susie climbed up into the chair at the table her mom reached over and turned on the radio to a country music station. Susie and her mother worked together side by side mixing the ingredients together and singing the tunes on the radio. Her mom let her measure the ingredients with a teaspoon and a tablespoon and then she allowed her to mix the ingredients for the breading by hand.
As a mother, Susie’s mom is doing a very good job of teaching Susie to talk and use language. She is introducing new vocabulary having conversations with Susie and introducing her to using books as resources (American Speech Language Hearing Association, Sept. 29th, 2015). Picture books offer lots of opportunities to learn more advanced vocabulary through scaffolding and fast-mapping (Berger, K. 2015). By giving Susie a cookbook with pictures her mother was encouraging her next steps in her zone of proximal development; introducing her to different types of poultry and new vocabulary and providing her with opportunities for logical extension (Turnbull, 2017).
As a preschooler Susie is right on track for her language development and even a little advanced in her knowledge of the pragmatics of polite speech and her social understanding. At this point in her development, it would be advantageous for Susie to attend a preschool program. In a preschool program, children learn from teachers, songs, excursions, and other children helping to advance their language acquisition (Berger, K. 2015). In Susie’s home, she has a lot of social interactions with her siblings and her mom is listening, talking and reading to her and not just using words to control her, she is receiving a high-quality early childhood experience from her mother.
In her culture even though children do not really attend preschool they do attend kindergarten when they are 5 years old. Susie was born in November so she does not meet the kindergarten cut off date when she is ready to go to the school the next year. The public school has a kindergarten assessment that they give students to see if they are ready for school. When Susie is just 4 years old her mom takes her to the public school in July for a kindergarten assessment. At this time she is just 4 and a half unlike, her peers who are already 5 or turning 5 before the school year starts. The kindergarten teacher knows that a lot of development can happen in just 6 months.
The kindergarten teacher call’s her name and Susie enters the classroom while her mom waits quietly in the hall. She identifies all of her colors and shapes correctly and responds appropriately to all of the questions the kindergarten teacher asks. Despite her young age, Susie will start her formal public education a whole year early.
Thankfully Susie’s mom recognized the importance of early education and had laid the foundation for her social and emotional development as well as provided her with the language and literacy skills she needed to start school. Susie’s home environment was not idealistic all the time due to the physical abuse she observed and the poverty she was living in, but her mother did an exceptional job of shielding her from the adverse effects and helped to build her resiliency (Center on the Developing Child, 2015). Most early childhood programs are either teacher-directed or child-centered; at home, Susie had the best of both of these programming styles.
Some questions I would like answered or help that I need with completing this assignment are: Should I focus more on the language and literacy and less on the narrative or does it make it so the reader wants to learn more about this child's outcome? What do most preschools provide that Susie could not get at home? What do you think the long term results would be for Susie if she was placed in an intervention preschool? Vocabulary increases dramatically with thousands of words added between the ages of 2 - 6, how do you think growing up with poverty and abuse will affect Susie's vocabulary? Should I focus more on her vocabulary?
