What Makes a Child Disadvantaged Essay

As mentioned by Ruane and Cerulo in Second Thoughts, harsh realities of poverty affect children’s lives in profound ways. Children lack any power in improving their circumstances and depend on adults to gain access to basic necessities. Access to proper healthcare, education, and basic nutrition continues to be an obstacle for children. Poverty impedes children’s aptitude to learn and contributes to poor overall health and mental health. Perhaps most important, poverty becomes a cyclical nature that is difficult to overcome. Children who experience poverty when they are young tend to experience persistent poverty over the course of their entire lives. According to the Child Welfare League of America, the national poverty rate for children

The Toronto Star published an article reporting that Toronto currently has the highest rate of children living in households that are considered low income in Canada (Monsebraaten, 2015). The article reports that in Toronto the child poverty rate is higher than the poverty rate of any other age group. This paper will discuss child poverty, how this is a challenge to public health practices and policies, and finally, discuss potential solutions for public policy that address this issue.

‘Poverty is on the agenda of the Every Child Matters framework, with one of the five outcomes stating that every child should ‘achieve wealth and economic well being.’ This means is it is important that children experiencing poverty have the same opportunities as their peers.’(CYPW, pg 186/187)

Throughout this time, I have seen almost every type of child. In the last few years, however, I have noticed a difference in the grouping of kids at the daycare. These two and three years-olds are constantly being tested by specialists for disabilities, whether it be speech, behavioral, or learning. I also hear first hand from elementary school teachers that there are more disruptive children in the classroom than ever before. Sensory processing disorder is more prevalent now than in the past few years, and more children under the age of five are being tested for the disorder. I have wanted to study this topic for a while now, and this assignment is a perfect opportunity to seek the information I

The studies found that all pre-school programs have the potential to prepare disadvantaged preschoolers to enter school at the same level, but since the children in this study were so much more disadvantaged and lower intellectually, they had no way to go but up. Since Head Start is designed for economically and intellectually disadvantaged children, these deficits can be specifically corrected. Simple knowledge like colors, street signs, and discipline are taught, but often assumed by other preschoolers who are more privileged they have already mastered those skills. Meeting the children on their own level brings them up to close the gap with other children. However, this gap appears in other

Early experiences are critical for a child’s development. According to the U.S Department of Education “there are 2.5 million children here in the U.S that does not have access to preschool.” Not everyone can afford

When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors. They are even capable of understanding and dealing with

Early childhood education has many benefits and there is the potential for many significant outcomes if universal preschools were put into place. Some feel that children who start kindergarten without previously attended preschool sometimes lack certain skills such as social and communication skills and an inability to follow routines. There were also studies done that found attending preschool could help to close the achievement gap in the grade school years. A child’s first few years of life are most important, and they absorb the most during those years. By providing universal preschool, all children would be benefiting, especially those who are in at-risk families or part of the lower class. As a society, we have a responsibility to help the children in our communities and provide them with the education they need in order to help them succeed in life.

Children are faced with many consequences due to growing up in poverty. Most children who live in poverty go to poor unsuitable schools, live in unexceptable housing, and grow up around more violence and crime than any other parent would wish for their child. As soon as the child is born into poverty, they begin to feel the effects of it. They tend to have low birth weight and contain a higher risk of dying during infancy. We watched a video in class that showed that poverty could take a toll on the child’s learning capabilities, and health status. There were stories of children with hyperactivity problems, chronic ear infections which caused hearing loss, and even children who were not receiving the proper amount of nutrients to be able to grow and function correctly. The first years of a child’s life are the most crucial because most of the development of the brain occurs then.

Over the years, the development of research surrounding early childhood education has expanded, showing indicating individual and societal benefits of implementing early education programming for at-risk children. Quality early education programming can lead to long-term benefits including an increase in early language, literacy, and math development, educational attainment, economic growth as well as a decrease in crime and learning gains by children of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds (Barnett, 2008; Gormely et al., 2005; Hustedt et al., 2007; Lynch, 2007; Robin et al., 2006). Considering the implications of early education research, Neuman’s seven essentials accurately depict the necessary programmatic principles needed to ensure the continued success of the at-risk children served in the Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus. These seven principles include: 1) Targeting, 2) Developmental Timing, 3) Intensity, 4) Professional Training, 5) Coordinated Services, 6) Compensatory Instructional Benefit, And 7) Accountability. Individually, these practices provide an outline for the development and implementation of quality early education programs that lead to sustainable benefits for children. Categorized into three stages, 1) Pre-program implementation, 2) Program Implementation, and 3) Post program implementation, this section will seek to apply the principles outlined by Neuman to VPI+.

Preschool supports children in their school readiness, and since 1995 early head start has been providing low income families preschool educational support for their young children. Magnuson and Votruba-Drzal (2014) report that disadvantaged children, those from homes suffering from early and chronic poverty, are at risk for lower levels of achievement and discuses education as being an impactful intervention to address poverty. However, like any social program, a cost-benefit analysis will be employed. The cost of preschool is sizable, Duncan (2001) states that the application of effective preschool programs, as well as the cost of research to assess effectiveness, is an investment. An effective preschool program is innately more expensive, characteristics such as low teacher to student ratios, small class sizes, teacher work conditions, and professional development are key to effectiveness as well as a cost factor. Yet, Barnett (2011) indicated that the cost of preschool was better than the cost of potential supports through special education and retention as indicated through a comparison study. Long term impacts also include a reduction in:

Educators view should focus on the essential principals of social interactions in Early Childhood Education to be a mission and a vision for one to support and promote cognitively improvement in our today’s diverse society. As a result, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2015) is an authentic program that supports Early Childhood Education as an important aspect to our daily diverse life as it continues to grow in the 21st century (Kostelnik, Soderman, Whiren, and Rupiper, 2015). What this means, we need to encourage social interactions in ECE to promote learning capabilities for children from birth to eight years old in a diversity environment so children can develop and learn to be productive prosocial individuals. Therefore one needs to serve or demand the understanding of how social interactions is essential as soon as ECE because it promotes a wide array of intellectual and emotional standards for an equality opportunity that promotes best practices. One can consider and can support to advocate social interactions in ECE by utilizing the foundation constructivism methods that these important theorist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934), Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Erik Erikson (1902-1994), Mildred B. Parten (1902-1932) and John Gardner (1943-currently practicing) had practiced or continue in their studies of child development (Feeney, Moravick, and Nolte,

David Weikart and his colleagues develop the High/Scope model of preschool education in the 1960’s (Schweinhart, Weikart & Hohmann, 2002). Based on Piagetian beliefs and constructivist-learning approach, its educational ideas and practices abide on the natural development of young children and active approach to learning (Follari, 2007). It is established as an intervention program to improve the personal and economic opportunities for a group of three-and four-year-old children in Ypsilanti, Michigan (Belfield, Nores, Barnett & Schweinhart, 2006). Thus, this model is designed in targeting preschool-aged children living in poverty. Predominantly, Head

Children in poverty is a typical social issue occurring in society today. “More than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level” (“National Center For Children In Poverty,” n.d.). The federal poverty level measures the amount of income a family takes in per year. It varies depending on the number of people in a family. For a nuclear family (two parents and two children) the federal poverty level is around twenty-four thousand dollars in a year (“Health Care.gov,” n.d.). The average American makes around forty-six thousand dollars a year. The parents of the children in poverty make at least twenty-two thousand dollars below the average. Their families are extremely poor. Also, not just one child is facing this hardship, sixteen million children are part of families below the federal poverty line, just in America. “About 22% of children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2013, compared with 18% in 2008” (Calfas, 2015). Unfortunately, the rate of poverty affecting children has gone up through the years. More and more children will face poverty during day to day life. Children can be affected by poverty in many ways. “Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor

Socio-economic factors are widely acknowledged as important determinants of poverty. If an individual experiences adverse living conditions in childhood, majority of them will have inadequate income and result in low socio-economic status as adults (Carroll et al, 2011). Children born in poor households have difficulty in accessing the basic needs (e.g. food, clothing, and good living environment) and this can affect their learning ability at school, unable to focus. In other words, they have a higher chance of dropping out of school or lower education attainment, unable to provide appropriate qualifications when they move onto adulthood, seeking for job opportunities. These children are finding day-to-day life tough, they are living in cold, damp houses, do not have warm or rain-proof clothing, their shoes are worn, and many days they go hungry (Children's Commissioner, 2012). Often this has taken place over a long period of time, impacting on their development, behaviour and physical health furthermore limiting their potential as they grow into adults.