Warning signs of child abuse and neglect

 

Warning signs of child abuse and neglect

Warning signs of emotional abuse:

• Excessively withdrawn, fearful, or anxious about doing something wrong
• Shows extremes in behavior (extremely compliant, demanding, passive, aggressive)
• Doesn’t seem to be attached to the parent or caregiver
• Acts either inappropriately adult (taking care of other children) or inappropriately infantile (thumb-sucking, throwing tantrums)

Warning signs of physical abuse:

• Frequent injuries or unexplained bruises, welts, or cuts
• Is always watchful and “on alert,” as if waiting for something bad to happen
• Injuries appear to have a pattern such as marks from a hand or belt
• Shies away from touch, flinches at sudden movements, or seems afraid to go home
• Wears inappropriate clothing to cover up injuries, such as long-sleeved shirts on hot days

Warning signs of child neglect:

• Clothes are ill-fitting, filthy, or inappropriate for the weather
• Hygiene is consistently bad (unbathed, matted and unwashed hair, noticeable body odor)
• Untreated illnesses and physical injuries
• Is frequently unsupervised or left alone or allowed to play in unsafe situations
• Is frequently late or missing from school

Warning signs of sexual abuse in children:

• Trouble walking or sitting
• Displays knowledge of sexual acts inappropriate for their age, or even seductive behavior
• Makes strong efforts to avoid a specific person, without an obvious reason
• Doesn’t want to change clothes in front of others or participate in physical activities
• An STD or pregnancy, especially under the age of 14
• Runs away from home

Risk factors for child abuse and neglect

While abuse and neglect occurs in all types of families, children are at a much greater risk in certain situations.

Domestic violence. Even if the abused parent does their best to protect their children, domestic violence is still extremely damaging. Getting out is the best way to help your children.

Alcohol and drug abuse. Parents who are drunk or high may be unable to care for their children, make good parenting decisions, or control often-dangerous impulses. Substance abuse can also lead to physical abuse.

Untreated mental illness. Parents who are suffering from depression, an anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, or another mental illness may have trouble taking care of themselves, much less their children. A mentally ill or traumatized parent may be distant and withdrawn from their children, or quick to anger without understanding why. Treatment for the caregiver means better care for the children.

Lack of parenting skills. Some caregivers never learned the skills necessary for good parenting. Teen parents, for example, might have unrealistic expectations about how much care babies and small children need. Or parents who were themselves victims of child abuse may only know how to raise their children the way they were raised. Parenting classes, therapy, and caregiver support groups are great resources for learning better parenting skills.

Stress and lack of support. Parenting can be a very time-intensive, stressful job, especially if you’re raising children without support from family and friends, or you’re dealing with relationship problems or financial difficulties. Caring for a child with a disability, special needs, or difficult behaviors is also a challenge. It’s important to get the support you need, so you are emotionally and physically able to support your child.

Why is Parent Involvement Important in Early Education?

 

According to the Harvard Family Research Project, parental involvement are activities that parents conduct at home and in early childhood settings to directly or indirectly support their child’s learning. The same goes for caregivers as well. Whoever is taking care of the child should focus on creating this relationship as it helps extend the child’s learning outside of the classroom and creates a bond which extends to adolescence. This means, through parental involvement, your child is equipped to perform better at school and make better life decisions.

Compiled together from multiple studies, underneath are examples of why parental involvement is important and how it can be accomplished.

1) Why is it important for children?
According to studies:
- children achieve more, regardless of ethnic or racial background, socioeconomic status, or parents’ education level
- children achieve better grades, test scores, and attendance
- children have better self-esteem, are more self-disciplined, and show higher motivation toward school.

So, what do you do to achieve this for your child? 
You don’t need the best educational toy but you do need to spend time with your child working on educational activities. Something as simple as, singing a song about what you are doing while giving a bath to your child is an example of spending educational time with your child.

2) Why is it important for parents?
According to studies:
- you become more confident in your parenting/decision-making skills
- you gain more knowledge of your child’s development, which provides an increased use of positive reinforcement and less use of punishment on your child
- you have a better understanding of the teacher’s job, the school’s curriculum, and their effectiveness

So, what do you do to achieve this for yourself? 
You don’t need to spend a ton of money on the newest toys and apps, but do invest in resources that give you examples of the educational activities that build this relationship and foundation. Something as simple as a picture book or a text message can go a long way in guiding you.

3) Why is it important for schools and teachers?
According to studies:
- schools experience better community support as they usually do better and have higher quality programs than programs that do not have involved parents
- teachers and principals often earn greater respect for their profession from the parents,
- school personnel and the parents both attain higher satisfaction and trust each other more

So, what do you do as a school/teacher to achieve this? 
- invest in providing parents the opportunities/resources for parental involvement

- incentivize parents to spend the necessary educational time with their children. There are many platforms that can accomplish this deed for schools, so partnering up with one program would be the easiest way to go.

 

Use the comment section to answer the following item. ADD YOUR NAME

>>>>State 4 benefits of parental involvement

Look for further comments from your teacher. 

Professional Help for Stress Management

 Use the link to read the content on professional help in managing stress. 

https://www.healthline.com/health/stress-help#ProfessionalHelp

After reading the content use the comment section to state the importance of seeking professional help in managing stress. You are to give a detailed response. State your name at the beginning of your post. 

If your post needs more details you will be notified by your instrcutor. 

Stress Prevention Blog

 Instructions: Use the comment section below to add three ways of preventing stress. You are to fully explain each strategy suggested. State your name at the beginning of your comment. 

Manage Stress Practical – Discussion

 

Manage Stress Practical – Discussion

 

Each Early Childhood Institution (ECI) should employ a trained psychologist/counsellor to handle all matters relating to stress at the workplace. Staff stress management should not be the responsibility of the teacher and caregivers.  

Task

Examine the statement above and state whether you agree or disagree with this position. You must provide a detailed reasoning for your answer. You are to read posts made by your colleagues and write a response to at least two (2) of them.

You will be graded based on each criterion in the rubric below. Use the Comment section to state your views and use reply to respone to your colleagues. 

Points	10	7	3	0
Relevance  of Post	Posts topics  related to  discussion topic; prompts further discussion of topic	Posts topics that are related to discussion content	Posts topics which do not relate to the discussion content; makes short or irrelevant remarks	No posting
Quality of  Post	Appropriate comments: thoughtful, reflective, and respectful of other’s postings.	Appropriate comments and responds respectfully to other's postings	Responds, but with minimum effort. (e.g. "I agree with Bill")	No posting
Contribution  to the  Learning Community	Aware of needs of community; attempts to  motivate the group discussion; presents creative approaches to topic	Attempts to  motivate the  group  discussion;  presents  creative  approaches to  topic	Does not  make effort to  participate in  learning  community as  it develops	No feedback provided to fellow student.
Total marks	/30 marks

Guided Learning and Creative Activity Lesson Plan

 Guided Learning/Numeracy (small group)

Date: June , 2021

Theme: Plants

Sub-theme: Parts of a plant

Duration: 25 minutes

Age: 4 year olds

Objectives:  At the end of the lesson students should be abel to:

• Count out 3 objects 
• math numeral three to three objects 
• locate three objects 
• use playdough to make models of three things
• take turns using work materials
• Work together to complete a task

Materials: Variery of leaves, playdough, 

Developmental steps:

1. Present a variety of leaves on the table and invite the children to observe them

2. Encourage the children to count to three and count out three leaves

3. Remind the children to wait their turn to count out the leaves

4. Present a group of two, three and four leaves and invite the children to locate the group that has three 

objects in it. 

5. Present playdough to the children and allow them to make models of any three parts of the plant. 

Independent Actiivty 1: Provide children with a set of building blocks and encourage them to use a set of three blocks to make tree trucks collaboratively

Independent Activity 2: Provide the children with numeral 1-3 cutouts and mini baskets. Allow them to place all the numeral 3 cut-outs in the basket collaboratively. 

Creative Activity 

Duration: 25 minutes

Objectives: At the end of the lesson students should be able to: 

• colour within given spaces (psychomotor)
• identify specific colours (cognitive)
• persevere on a task (affective)

Materials: crayons, colouring pages, 

Developmental Steps: 

1. Present a variety of coloured crayons to the children and invite them to take out the green and orange crayons. 
2. Give children the prepared colouring pages and encourage them to name items on the colouring page to be coloured. 
3. Invite children use the orange and green crayons to colour the carrots on their colouring page. 
4. Encourage children to persever on the task even if it seems challenging. 

Children's Creative Expression

 This post is made to accommodate you if you joined class late and missed out on the scheduled activities for Monday May 31, 2021

Complete reading task for lessons 1-3 and here are questions to be answered. Please respond using private comments in your online class. 

1.What are 5 visual arts experiences that children can  engage in?

2. Highlight 1 strategy for fostering creative development and aesthetic awareness in children.

3. Outline one way by which you can create an interesting area for children

4. Why is it important to have an organized area for visual arts experiences?

5. What are atheistic qualities?

6. What is meant by the term human resources?

 7. How can human resources be demonstrated in arts?

LESSON 2 QUESTIONS

1.Outline 1 opportunity that you can provide to allow children to practice developing skills in visual arts, drama, music or movement.

2. What can a caregiver do (strategy) to encourage children to develop individual potential in creative arts, drama, music and movement?

3. How can a caregiver prepare the dramatic centre for a group of 4 year olds so that it is developmentally appropriate? In your response please add the materials or items will be added?

4. Why should teachers be knowledgeable about children’s interests before starting an activity?

 

LESSON 3

1.      What are some factors that may contribute to children’s rate of development?

2.      Why is it important to provide adequate materials for children?

3.      Fill in the blank: A productive teacher is _______  _______ and trying new __________ to include all children.  (always learning, approaches)

4.      Name 3 work surfaces that can be used for art.

5.      What are 3 concepts that can be taught to children through drama?

6.      List 3 genres of music that can be introduced to children.

7.      Fill in the blank: Providing children with opportunities to express themselves will build their ________ and ________ (self-esteem and self-concept)