As growing up in a conservative cultural background, understanding the developmental milestones of children was just a natural part of growing up. Most of the people assume that all the children grow at the same rate. When they find out that their child is not walking on the first birthday, they begin to panic and start to compare with other child who is walking at the eleven month. But they have not noticed the fact that their own child has begin to babble and using lots of hand gestures to communicate whereas not the other child. My point is that all the children grow at differential developmental rate. In order to have better understanding of children developmental milestone and helping these ignorant parents, I have personal as well as professional interest in conducting a research study on the following topic:
1.
How
can teachers, educators, advocates or anyone working with children from various
cultures can educate parents about different children milestones development
and understanding that every individual child grows at different developmental
rates?
I know my research study and things
that I am trying to explain is confusing and complicated. But I have always wonder
about this developmental milestones of children and how can I do better job of
explaining to these novice parents that its ok that their child is taking time
to cross certain milestones. In this way, if anyone would suggest me any
resources or articles on this topic, it would be very helpful. I am open to any
suggestions, helps, advice or even constructive criticism regarding this
research topic. 
Since I am a teacher, I am interested in your topic. It can be a sensitive topic in some classrooms about how some children are growing and learning at different rates. Families can be very concerned with how their child is growing and learning and can sometimes compare with the other children in the classroom. I am interested to see where this topic takes you in your research and what you will learn!
ReplyDeleteThank you Heather! I will keep it updated...this is something I have personal interest too.
DeleteI don’t find your topic confusing at all. There are families that do not understand that children develop at different milestones and I have experienced this personally. I have had a couple of siblings of different ages that have passed through my class and their parents tend to worry about them because they ted to compare then to their siblings not understanding that all children learn differently and also at different paces.
ReplyDeletethank you Erika for the encouragement.
DeleteI agree with Erika's comment. I don't find your topic confusing at all. Parents compare their children to other children all the time. It's difficult to explain to parents that what is normal for their child may not be normal for someone else's. I like to explain milestones as more of guidelines. Great post!
ReplyDeleteIhakpa your topic is not confusing and I understand your frustration when because on a personal note I have three sons and none of them developed the same way. One walked at eight months, the other at twelve months and the last one at fourteen months. I was concerned about the last one but after doing some research, I realized that there is a range for physical development and the walking range is from 6 – 18 months. I believe that your topic is a great one and I know there is research information that will assist you so that you can share with parents. Take a read at the following article I looked it up on the Walden university site it is under (EDU 6160) Early childhood development.
ReplyDeleteWalker, S., Wachs, T. D., Gardner, J. M., Lozoff, B., Wasserman, G. A., Pollitt, E., Carter, J. A., & International Child Development Steering Group, (2007). Child development in developing countries 2: Child development: risk factors for adverse outcomes in developing countries. The Lancet, 369(9556), 145–157.
Thank you so much Emsece for the reference.
DeleteYou chose an interesting topic. The example that you gave involves physical development, is that the area you intend to focus on? If you decided to include other developmental topics such as language development or emotional development, it might become complex and confusing.
ReplyDeleteMelissa
Great question Melissa. I need to decide soon which area I want to focus. thank you for the heads up.
DeleteHi Lhakpa,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erika and a lot others! Your topic is not confusing at all. It is essential to understand these different milestones of development in the early childhood field. There are so many books and online material that can help you to understand this better. But, very valid topic and necessary topic.
Brenda
Thank you Brenda.
Delete