"Beginning nutrition education in early childhood is an important part of helping to ensure that children will achieve healthful lifestyles."
- Robert Earl

I never realized how important health education is to young children.  For years, I have overate, chose foods that were unhealthy for me and did not know the damage it caused.  Not until I attended an I Am Moving I am Learning training that I realized the impact it has on our children.  When the speaker spoke the words that children born in the year 2001 (the year my daughter was born) may not outlive their parents if they were not living a healthy lifestyle of eating right and exercising daily, I was finally awake.  I then realized what I needed  to change.

Viewing Children Wholistically

I truly believe all children are different and special in their own unique ways.  I think differences among children are what makes them who they are.  I believe student learning and developent needs to be assessed.  In order for children to be successful in school and later on as an adult there needs to be certain types of assessements completed.

If the developmental assessments are done correctly then they are necessary for the child's proper growth and development.  At the place I currently work, preschool aged children are assessed with tools such as the DECA and the DIAL 3.  There are even assessment tools for Infants and Toddlers.  These types of tools are more questionnaire type tools and require the parents to be involved. These different types of tools check for signs of trouble in the areas of social and emotional development as well as cognitive development.  I believe if a child is developmentally delayed in a certain area and he can receive the assistance while still in preschool or younger, it would assist him that much more.  That also helps create a partnership with the teacher, the child and the parent.

In the city of Zacatecas, Mexico there is not much emphasis put on assessments as here in the United States.  Children are lucky if they can go to school.  The instruction there is more teacher speaks and the child listens and no one speaks out of turn.  I know this system works for that certain area in Mexico because, in my opinion they are more focused on discipline and not underlying problems that may arise.  I do not think for our culture here in the United States that this type of instruction would work.  I hope I do not offend anyone, it is just a different type of lifestyle that we are accustomed to here.

All in all, assessing children has its value to the better of the child and their development.