The results are in and the children have been assessed.
Amanda Dunbar, the Regional Intersectoral Committee Coordinator for southeast Saskatchewan, was on hand in order to present the results of the "Understanding the Early Years" study in Carlyle on Dec. 8. The study, made possible by a collaboration of ministries, looked at early childhood development in the region.
"The purpose of the study was three fold," said Dunbar. "To build knowledge of child development and parent and community factors that support healthy child development; to mobilize communities to take action based on local research evidence in order to improve the developmental outcomes, well-being and competence of the communities' children and; to develop and implement a Community Action Plan to foster early childhood development in a sustainable manner."
"The early years of life are a fundamentally important time, with impacts that last far beyond childhood. Our committee recognized the need to take a closer look at children in southeast Saskatchewan and their early environments, specifically children during their kindergarten year and their communities."
The data provides information that pertains to the first six years of life, which are characterized by rapid brain development. It is during this time that 90 percent of a brain's development occurs including all of the "hardwiring" for learning, language, hearing, vision, emotional and social skills. It is also during this time that a child's development is modified by interactions with people and the physical environment.
The data from the study provides an opportunity for planning to occur not only at the community level, but at the government level as well. "Data collected from multiple "Understanding the Early Years" projects throughout [the province] provides an evidence base for human services decision makers and planners and helps to inform policy decisions."
In fact, James Heckman who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on the return of investments indicated that investment in the early years prior to entry into the school system gives the greatest return, that of an $8 return in early childhood as opposed to $1 for adults. For every $1 invested in early childhood programs, an estimated minimum return of $3 is expected to be returned to society.
The study includes data from three sources including the Early Development Instrument, In Hospital Birth Questionnaire and Community Risk Indicators.
The Early Development Instrument was developed by McMaster University and is used in more than 20 countries. The assessment takes about 20 minutes, is completed by teachers, and provides data on the child's development prior to their entry into the school system.
The results of the Early Development Instrument were provided for the study area of Carlyle which includes the communities of Carlyle, Arcola, Stoughton, Manor, Forget, Heward, Kenosee Lake and Kisbey. In total, 69 Kindergarten children were surveyed.
The Early Development Instrument focuses on five major areas of early child development including: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, languages and cognitive development, and communication skills and general knowledge.
In southeast Saskatchewan, 25 percent of children are vulnerable in one or more of these areas while in the Carlyle study area, 37 percent or 23 children are. Furthermore, in southeast Saskatchewan, 13 percent of children are vulnerable in two or more areas while in the Carlyle study area, this statistic is higher with 19 percent or 12 children vulnerable.
Physical health and well-being measures the degree to which the child is healthy, independent and ready for school each day. This includes being physically ready for school, being physically independent at school, as well as having developed gross and fine motor skills. Easy 'at-home' activities for parents to do with their children to encourage the development of this area includes making snow angels, playing hopscotch or giving your child the key at the post office to get the mail.
Social competence is a child's ability to get along in the structured setting of the classroom, to follow rules, to line up and to explore new things. This includes factors such as social competence, responsibility and respect, approaches to learning and readiness to explore new things. Activities that you can do at home to promote development in this area include a family scavenger hunt, encouraging sharing or doing things as a family.
Emotional maturity measures children's behaviour primarily in their informal, peer-to-peer interactions. This includes pro-social and helping behaviour, anxious or fearful behaviour, aggressive behaviour and hyperactivity or inattention. Easy activities to do at home to further develop these skills include having your child help with simple chores or giving them the responsibility of picking up toys and making their own bed. In addition, praising your child for doing their chores is an important part of developing emotional maturity.
Language and cognitive development essentially measures the basics of ABC's and 123's. The child is assessed on his or her basic literacy, basic numeracy and the child's interest in literacy, numeracy and memory. An example of activities to help develop these areas include making a grocery list by cutting pictures out of a flyer or doing simple crafts that incorporate numbers.
Communication skills and general knowledge measures the child's communications skills in English. Activities that can be performed at home include turning off the television and communicating as a family, or discussing how everyone's day went in the family by asking open ended questions.
Key findings were reported for the area which showed that the Carlyle study area had a higher percentage of children 'not ready' as compared to the southeast region. In Carlyle, 46 percent of children are 'not ready' in terms of their Gross and Fine Motor Skills (27 percent in southeast Saskatchewan).
In terms of Emotional Maturity, 13 percent of children in the Carlyle study are 'not ready' (10 percent in southeast Saskatchewan).
Additionally, the study showed that 33 percent of children were 'not ready' in Basic Literacy (12 percent in southeast Saskatchewan).
In the Carlyle study area, 37 percent were 'not ready' in the domain of Advanced Literacy (24 percent in southeast Saskatchewan).
Furthermore, the majority of children in the Carlyle study area (51 percent) were 'not ready' in the area of pro-social or helping behaviour (34 percent in southeast Saskatchewan).
While these findings focus on domains that require work in the Carlyle study area, 'areas of pride' existed as well including that only one child was identified as lacking the desire to explore new things, no children were identified as having anxious and fearful behaviour, and only three children were identified as having aggressive behaviour.
The second source of data discussed at the presentation was the In Hospital Birth Questionnaire. In this case, the data is based on 56,278 14-question surveys completed by nurses for babies born in Saskatchewan. These surveys accounted for 80 percent of all births in Saskatchewan from April of 2003 to March of 2010.
The results of this data showed that in southeast Saskatchewan, 5.6 percent of mothers used drugs or alcohol and 26.5 percent of mothers admitted to smoking while pregnant. Additionally, 9.5 percent of mothers were under the age of 19 and 18.5 percent had an education less than Grade 12. Furthermore, 45 percent of mothers had never participated in a prenatal course.
The final source of data presented was the Community Risk Indicators data gathered from census data and analyzed by the Early Childhood Development Unit in the Ministry of Education. The data showed that in the Carlyle study area, 14 percent of births were teen births, 9.5 percent had a low birth weight and 20.9 percent are lone parents. In addition, 1.6 percent of mothers were on income assistance at the time of their baby's birth, 8.8 percent lived in homes that needed major repairs and 17.3 percent of adults had not received their grade 12 diploma.
But Dunbar insists that numbers are just numbers until something is done with them. She stated that parents can do a number of things at home to help encourage the development of these areas in their children. "Parents can develop physical health and well-being by making snow angels together or by allowing your child to use the keys to open the mailbox. [They] can develop social competence by doing things together as a family or by encouraging sharing. [They] can develop emotional maturity by getting their children to help with simple chores and giving them praise for chores well done. [They] can develop language and cognitive development by drawing up some simple BINGO cards or doing simple crafts that incorporate numbers. [They] can develop communication skills and general knowledge by turning off the TV and enjoying meals as a family.
But developing a child is not only the responsibility of the parents. Investing in early childhood development is the responsibility of a community as a whole including support of the entire community. Dunbar said, "The average person can start having the discussion of the importance of investment in the early years as a nation and the impact that it will have on our future economy."
"Not investing in early childhood development will add to an increased drain on our Social Services resources, it will add to poorer health outcomes and an increased drain on our Health Care system, it will lead to more criminality and less contributing taxpaying citizens and it will decrease a child's ability to have successful academic outcomes."
Dunbar encourages communities to take the information and make it work for their community. There are a number of success stories that have resulted from the presentation of the study results. One of these includes FLASH Kids, which "was an intersectoral committee that formed as a result of recognizing some physical health and well-being vulnerability throughout our region. This committee came together to support communities and parents in providing opportunities for preschool children to engage in active play, to learn language and communication skills and healthy eating habits. It's about taking a look at the data and deciding as a community to what specific domains your community would like to apply its resources and efforts."
"Early childhood development is an economic issue and is required to sustain the economic boom which we are currently experiencing here in Saskatchewan."
