In an effort to view children and their development in a more comprehensive manner, I feel that we need to look at each asspect of their lives that affect their development. We must assess each of these areas and use that information to assess their development, any barriers or strengths, and what we can do to assist families in ensuring that the child develops in the manner that is going to best benefit them.
World Health Organization, Tarun Dua retrieved from
Measuring education is not hard. There are many popular developmental programs that have testing kits for the educational aspect of child development. However, some of these other areas may be a bit harder to assess. The reason for that is that it requires building relationships with families and then having conversations. The best way to measure most of these other areas is by asking questions of the family and then recording their answers. Once the family knows you, trusts you, and has a relationship with you, then they will begin to be more forthcoming and honest and will reveal the information that you need to assess these other areas. I feel that child development is much more than the eduation, and that all of the areas in this chart must be addressed when assessing child development.
I was interested to look at ECE assessment in the Philippines. I was surprised to see that they had much of the same "holistic" concept that we use in the United States.
In researching and reading about early assessment in the Philippines, I found that many of the ideas, goals, and tools were the same as ours. However, I also remember from researching childbirth in the Philippines, that there is a huge disparity between those who have money and those who do not. It seems as if people in the Philippines have access to quality ECE programs and the assessment tools that come with that, but I have to wonder if these same resources are available to the poor in this country.
