Many Ways to Help Early Child Development

Many are putting forth good effort and information to help in the early child development crisis. Since researchers trying to discover the root cause of the high percentage of High School Dropouts have traced it all back to early child development, many organizations are putting a major effort into meeting those early needs. Pre-School for everyone is an interesting approach, though not currently economically feasible. Most children do not attend pre-school at this time. For every child in Headstart for poverty level and State funded Pre-k for low income there are probably 8 children who are not in any organized day care setting.
One grass roots attempt to better the picture is admirable Home Schooling that can start at whatever age the parent chooses, certainly by age 4 years. There are many sources of well-thought-out resources for moms and dads who are committed to providing a great education at home. Also there are organizations dedicated to offering better information to home-based day care providers, as well as center based ones. These groups, such as NAEYC provide regular training and resource information to those who seek to better what they are offering .
Still we see high % of children entering Kindergarten without the most essential building blocks of literacy and school readiness. In an effort to reach some of these children, SECA has made available a series of age appropriate books through pediatricians that are freely given to parents on well baby (child) check-ups, benefit- ting the segment of families who seek regular medical consultation.
Another issue, that is receiving some attention recently, is that various of the well established early child educational organizations do not have the resources they need to do all they would like. Leaders of many such groups have said they would love to have a book to give to every parent of every child so they could read to their child in the home. Most agree that parent/ child lap reading is the most effective way to compliment what they can do in a group setting. Most will also say that there are no books in the homes of the families they serve. Most will go on to make clear that the parents they serve do not read to the children at home.
This is where Literacy for Tykes came into the early child literacy crisis. Leaders we asked knew exactly how many families they served that could benefit from a children's picture book. When they saw award-winning Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures they thought the step-by-step parent guidelines were perfect for encouraging their parents. No funding available inspired me to give up my rights to author's royalties and form a nonprofit organization with several other educators and concerned professionals.Now as a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, our plea for tax-deductible donations goes out to all who will listen. We have received a one-time grant from Target that got our first Phase of Early Child Literacy Partnership with several organizations on our long list going. We have just scratched the surface of the need , even just in our portion of our state of Virginia. Blooming where we are planted , we hope to serve the largely rural area of Heartland Virginia, counties clustered around organizational centers in Farmville, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg. The statistics from other states indicate this early child literacy crisis is nationwide. We will do what we can for as many as possible as funds allow.
Next week I will write about a new way that without directly donating you can all help us get a grant.