Research that benefits children and their families- Omega 3 fatty acids and Autism

During my years of teaching I have often seen children misdiagnosed, improperly treated, and over treated for disorders.  I noticed in my pervious school, parents were quick to put their children on medication and were hesitant to explore some of the natural alternatives and supplements.  Personally, I have begun to look at natural supplements, fruits, grains, etc. to cure my own aliments and sicknesses instead of over the counter and prescription medicine.  Due to my own curiosity I began searching for studies that supported the use of natural alternatives.  I found many studies supported by National Institute of Health on the use of omega-3 fatty acids and how it could reduce behaviors in autistic children. 

One study done at the University of San Francisco in conjunction with Autism Speaks studied 24 children ages 3 to 8, over the course of 12 weeks.  They found that an increase in omega 3 fatty acids decreased the symptoms of hyperactivity in children based on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (Clinicaltrials.gov, 2012). 

After looking at more research and trials, I found an interesting study that reviewed 6 studies, which found limited evidence to support the efficiency of using omega 3 fatty acids with autistic children.  Many of the studies were had too small sizes, were too short in duration of study, and only looked at outcomes of aberrant behavior (Bent, Bertoglio, Hendren, 2009).   It was concluded although most studies were inconsistent; one study did prove that omega 3 fatty acids had a positive outcome for supporting hyperactivity.  Therefore, more studies should be conducted focusing on reduced hyperactivity as the outcome with larger sample sizes and for a longer duration of study (Bent et all, 2009).

I found these studies to be very interesting as children were at a minimal risk for the studies.  It is my hope that future studies will eventually reveal positive and conclusive outcomes for natural alternatives to support autistic children and their families.

References

Clinicaltrials.gov, (2012). Omega 3 fatty acids for autism treatments. Retrieved from http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT00786799?term=children+with+autism&recr=Completed&rslt=With&rank=4&sect=X73601

Brent, S., Bertoglio, K., Hendren, R. (2009). Omega-3 fatty acids for autistic spectrum disorder: a systematic review. Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, 39(8): 1145–1154. doi: 10.1007/s10803-009-0724-5

My Research Journey

I have chosen to research the social achievements of children living in single parent homes.  I have chosen this topic because I have taught many children living in single parent homes and have notices similar social behaviors and pattens of those in single family homes.   If families and educators become aware of social patterns and achievements we can better support children and their development.   It  is ambitious to believe we can change the rate of single parenthood however, we can control how we support children and we can advocate for what is best for children and future outcomes.

Thus far in this journey I have learned the importance of checking and double checking the quality of references in addition to the accuracy of my APA in-text and reference citation.  I found it extremely helpful to look at a topic from a larger picture and then narrow it down into subtopics.   I am exited about supporting you all, my classmates, by providing possible references or an editing eye!

If anyone was any articles on child outcomes of children living in single parent household please pass them along!

My supports

I have many support which support me in various areas of my life.  From a personal perspective, there is support from GOD who is the created, doer, and maker of all things.  He guides my decisions, actions, and thoughts.  There is the support of my boyfriend who I have been with for four years.  He is my listening ear when I need one, my shoulder when I need to cry, and rationale board as necessary.  My mom and my dad are great supports as they help me navigate through situations and decisions that age and wisdom can give.  I have very close friends that are my emotional supports.  At times, I have sought the support of various professionals (psychologist, physical therapist), to assist with things happening in my life.

Professionally, I have virtual and human supports.  My team lead is my support for handling new situations, having difficult conversations with teachers, and pushing me to reach higher potentials.  My colleagues are a great support in me learning a navigating a new curriculum in which I support teachers.  The use of outlook calendar and email are vital in my keeping meetings in order, being on time, and staying abreast with all the changes and happenings within my office.  

In both professional and personal life, I use post-it notes and list to help me remember things.  I have lots of list on my iPhone for grocery store visits, music I want to by, events I want to attend, etc.  I also use the iPhone calendar to keep me  up to date with all of my events. Without having supports, both human and other, I would be very unorganized, frustrated, and lost.  Supports help to maintain order and peace.  Supports help me to move forward and without it, I can imagine I would become stagnate. 

A challenge would be the lost of my hearing.  A support I did not mention above, is music.  I somewhat live my life like  there is a soundtrack for it.  I often use music to express feelings and thoughts.  Music is used to create certain environments, and music is my escape.  With the loss of hearing I would have to learn sign language, and I would have to adjust to how I listen to music.  Conversations among friends and family would have to be done through written conversation until they also learned sign language.  I would seek the support of doctors for hearing aides or other medical devices.  I do not think I would have to change a lot within my home to adjust to the challenge.  I can imagine I would be frustrated initially however, I would be able to continue life.  

My Connections to Play

Quotes about play

“Play is hard to maintain as you get older. You get less playful. You shouldn’t, of course”.

Richard Feynman

American physicist

1918–1988

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw

Play was a huge part of my memories from childhood.  I remember pretending to play school, house and dress up.  I had a love for Barbie dolls and blocks, which I played with a lot.  Some of my play was inside but a lot was outside with bikes, skip-it, chalk, jump ropes and with neighborhood friends.  I remember being told to “stay outside and find something to play with or come inside and sit in my room and do nothing” by both my parents.  Many times we went to Rock Creek Park, the playground, the beach which didn’t allow for lots of TV time.  I did not grow up with game systems which I know had a huge part in the development of my imagination.  All of our play senarioes were created by us, without support from the TV or games. 

 

  

 

Today there is little play.  TV and games have taken over children imagination.  Children are not creative thinkers.  Children come home and watch TV or play games instead of going outside to play.  I have noticed children do not know how to pretend or work with others in play situations. 

I hope that teachers and families learn the importance of play.  I hope school administrators learn the value of play and promote play as an active tool for learning instead of pushing for “rigor”.  Once families and schools are on board I hope children will become comfortable pretending, playing, and using their imagination to their fullest. 

Relationship Reflection

I am blessed to have strong healthy relationships with people.  Over the years I have learned that to maintain relationships both people must value the relationship equally.  Trust and honesty are also vital components of healthy relationships.

As I am getting older I am improving the relationship with my parents.  My mom and I have always had a difficult time communicating however, we both have tried to work on it together. My girlfriend Danielle have been friends for 19 years.  She is the friend everyone should have.  She is honest, loyal, and dependable.  She tells the truth even when its not warranted, lol.  Se has helped me to be a better woman and an accountable woman.  What makes us last is our effort to stay connected even with life changes.  I have been in a relationship for 4 years with the man I believe was created just for me.  He taught me to love.  We laugh and battle the challenges of life together.

I have strong relationships with many people and they all have some attributes in common? We love hard, we are honest with each other, we value the relationship equally, we invest time in developing our relationships, and we accept each other as we are.

International Reflection

I have learned a lot through the blog post assignments this course.  I have been exposed to and explored many sites which have expanded my interest, increased my knowledge, and increased my awareness.  I have realized all over the world the fight for quality education is occurring and some countries are taking larger steps than others to eliminate disparities involved with quality and access.  There is some comfort in knowing that we, meaning early childhood professionals worldwide, speak the same language and have a shared understanding of what is important.  There is evidence that we are all fighting and advocating for families and children.  I will continue to explore sites, stateside and internationally, as we can all learn and become inspired from each other’s work and progress. 

I wish my classmates well in their endeavors to advocate, inspire, and change; one step leads to way to many steps…..

UNESCO

I visited the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization site and was delighted to see that the areas of education regarding quality, access, and investment are areas being discussed all over the world.  We as educators know these issues are not isolated to one country or region; instead, they are issues that affect the field of early education worldwide.  After exploring the sight, there are three issues discussed that directly relate to my professional goals of advocating for best practice and access to early education for all children.

Currently, I support pre-k and pre-school teachers in areas of instruction and best practice within their classroom.  So often, I have encountered teachers that depend strictly on the curriculum that they forget or ignore best practice.  Best practice should be present whether there is a set curriculum or not however, many teachers depend on the curriculum to create routines, manage behavior, and foster positive classroom climate.  Some of us, speaking from experience, have become lazy and dependent, yet we wonder why our children are all over the place, why they do not participate in engaged play, and why nothing instructional can be accomplished during the day.  The policy brief from September 2004 is focused on curriculum in early care and education.  Within the brief, it states the pros of an established curriculum: common approach to pedagogy, identification of specific areas to be taught, establishes a standard level of quality.  However, what is also just as important is that ECE should be tailored to meet the child at their individual level of social emotional and cognitive development and should be directed by the child.  Because of this, an established set curriculum may not be the best option for early childhood educators, instead the identification of specific guidelines or framework.

The second insight which gave me hope was reading about Brazil’s mandatory education fund for early education.  The fund entitled, Fund for the Development of Primary Education and Teacher Development (FUNDEF), is comprised of money from state, local, and municipalities’ budgets.  In 2000, this fund increased early enrollment to 96.4% and has allowed access to early education from ostracized populations.  Due to the success of FUNDEF, policy makers are drafting a bill which would mandate educational funding for children ages 0-6.  A statement made by Severiano Alves, a member of the Brazilian congress, summarizes how we all, especially law and policy makers should view early education “ignoring or belittling the problem of early childhood education, to me, is a serious mistake. Imagine a primary school classroom with children from rich families who have gone through private pre-schools and are well prepared for learning, and those from poor families who have little idea about learning, let alone having any developmental base to begin learning. Imagine the kinds of problems this situation can create for the teacher, for the children themselves, and eventually for the entire society. Instead of working on bills to remedy problems, I would prefer working on a preventive, more economical and effective, measure – investment in the early periods.”

Aside from funding, quality is also an important component when discussing access.  In New Zealand, home based services are offered for families of children aged birth to five.  Within this program, homes are clustered and managed by coordinator.  The coordinator places children in approved homes for a specific amount of hours per week.  The program, managed by the New Zealand Dept. of Education, provides specific funding per child for each home based program.  Additionally, each home based program is monitored by the government and must stay in accordance with the Education Order.  This program services a range of families, which has increased in population due to an increase in mothers working outside of the home.

From the three policies of focusing on improvement for early care of countries from all over the world, I have faith that one day this country of the United States, will follow suit and not just recognize the importance of early care but put their thoughts into actions.

Resources

UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Education. September 2004. Curriculum in early childhood education and care. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137401e.pdf

UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Education. September 2002. Home-based early childhood services: the case of New Zealand. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001373/137381e.pdf

UNESCO Policy Brief on Early Education. October 2003. Mandatory funding for early childhood education: a proposal in Brazil. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137406e.pdf