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* A Celebration of LifeA Celebration of Life
* What is the Melody Arons Center?
* Meetings & Events
* Who Should Join the MAC?
* Music - The Calculus of Their Minds
* Thinking and Attitudes About Children
* Policy in a Vacuum
* News Clips
* What is a State Interagency Coordinating Council (SICC)?
* Neuroscience and Education - The Time is Now
* November 20, 200l
* January 15, 2002
* March 12, 2002
* May 15, 2002
November's
Program
Speaker: MARILYN ARONS
Topic: THE BUSY BOX OF EARLY INTERVENTION
The formal presentation will explain the current structure of service
delivery to infants and toddlers with suspected disabilities. Questions
and comments are welcomed following the presentation. The Center's
Publication, The Busy Box, A Handbook for Parents and Providers
about Children with Disabilities Ages 0-5, will be available for
purchase. A Needs Assessment Questionaire will be distributed in
order to address areas of interest for future meetings.
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Who Should Join the M. A. C.?
There are so many organizations. In these increasingly difficult
times, why should you join this one? The single difference between
our Center and other research groups is that we make an open pledge
to provide hands-on services to children and families. It is the
application of what we know and the choice to give it to those who
need it the most that makes us different. We are service oriented
and genuinely enjoy working with children, their families and caregivers.
We are a work-in-progress of professionals in their 20s, 30s, 40s,
50s and 60s from many different fields who are committed to rethinking
and reworking 0-5 programs, particularly in the urban areas. We
are parents who know the frustration of raising young children without
meaningful information to guide us. We are risk-takers whose mission
cuts across race, religion, language and economics. That mission
is to improve the lives of the young by applying the best and most
accurate of what we know that works. We are willing to be observed
and encourage others to watch us and work with us. We will make
mistakes along the way, and want a team of others we can rely on
for improvement of our services.
We want to have the outcome of our work and collaboration with families
measured. We want to know if the child improved, why the child improved
and how to do it again.
We do not seek confrontation, but exploration. In the way that parents
and school districts attempted to use law and the courts over the
last 25 years to resolve certain disputes, so the 21st century offers
the use of science, technology and reason for that purpose. It is
not ready yet. But it soon will be and we must be prepared to use
it.
We will not avoid debate, and want to engage in dialogue with others.
We want to apply what we know and work with others to learn more.
The one thing we will not do is to harm any child or family in our
care. We don't want two-class care or three class care, the poorest
getting no-class care. We seek to mobilize the abundance of talented
educators and clinicians with an interest in neuroscience and its
potential applications in the classroom and beyond.
We admit that there are more questions than answers. But our young
children need better than they are getting, and we are willing to
contribute what we have. We are members of a community and will
not act unilaterally. We want to learn from you and will respect
who you are and what you say.
"We" is you. We live at a moment in history when young children
have never been in greater jeopardy. Are you concerned about the
lack of high quality and affordable day care? Is education the largest
public health crisis in America? Does the fact that there are so
few studies to better understand the needs of non-white or non-English-speaking
children disturb you? Is your infant or toddler disabled and without
services? Do you want to participate in a celebration of life? If
the answer to any one of these questions is "Yes", you should join
the Melody Arons Center. The membership form is here.
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Music - The Calculus in their Minds
Jonathan Arons, B.A., B.M.
Music is an essential part of a person's education. Relating concepts
of different subjects and disciplines results in a deeper understanding
of individual concepts- and then a deeper understanding of their
universality. Music is one medium that seems to cross over all subjects
of learning.
It is no coincidence that the alphabet is learned through song,
or that many kids in kindergarten clean up their messes while singing
songs. Music has the power to inspire, motivate, and teach in ways
that other methods, such as rote memory or repetition, lack.
I am not a neuroscientist, so that I cannot explain this phenomenon.
But from my experience as a scientific analyst and a professional
musician, I can share my observations. When adolescents sing their
favorite pop song at a bus stop, it seems to unite the group in
a type of collective expression of passion. But music does more
than arouse the passions.
When one studies music, it becomes obvious how mathematical its
sonic and compositional structures are. The twelve-tone harmony
that is the basis for all European and most American music is very
grid-like in structure, patterns of notes similar to the symmetry
and logic in an algebraic expression.
It is my experience as a musician and scientist that the thinking
pattern required in order to play the "correct" notes in an etude
or an improvised piece of jazz is the same logic that is used when
finding the missing variables in an algebraic expression of math.
In both fields, they can range from simple excerpts (or equations)
to very complex and extensive pieces and expressions. Cross- referencing
subjects and fields of study merely enhances the material in those
fields. Music and math is just one example of this.
In the beginning stages of education, one often hears about nursery
songs being sung to and by toddlers. This helps them to acquire
skills and understanding as I remember it and as I have seen it
when performing in various schools around the world. However, when
one hears about music programs being cut from elementary and high
schools, and music not appreciated in the development of young children,
I think educational institutions are overlooking the value of music
for every age level and every grade. They miss the fact that these
musical programs will not only inspire the cacophony in student's
hearts, but also inspire the calculus in their minds.
(Mr. Arons is a double degree student from Oberlin College. He was
a featured performer in Swing, and recently performed at the Monterey
Jazz Festival with the Dave Holland Big Band. He is a member of
the Center's Advisory Board.)
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Thinking and Attitudes About Children
Nancy Sloane, M. Ed.
As a member of the Center's Executive Board, I am pleased to participate
in this first issue of our newsletter. At the outset, I would like
to provide a brief background to serve as a context for this article.
I work for a private graduate school in its Department of Continuing
Education. For the past six years we have been involved in a project
which is located in a large urban school district. The majority
of the population is poor children of color. Their school district
is in trouble.
A number of years ago, the state took the administration of the
entire district out of the hands of the local board of education.
At the time of this writing, the state is still "in charge". To
assist the district in its efforts to improve the quality of education,
my graduate school was asked to serve as a resource for the early
childhood classrooms, pre-kindergarten through third grade.
Our project offers teachers and administrators a framework for reflective
classroom practice. We promote an integrated, experiential, inquiry-based
approach to working with children. We also support the district
in its efforts to be culturally responsive to children and families.
Although we work with school administrators as well, I consider
the center of my work to be with the teachers. Basically, we are
asking teachers to change the way they think about and work with
children. This is very personal work. It is a big task. It is a
slow task.
As I think back over my years working in this school district, a
few phrases come to mind that I will never forget. I think they
reflect many of the attitudes I encountered when I entered these
classrooms for the first time and include:
"You have to domesticate them before you educate them."
"What do you mean go on a home visit?Are you nuts?"
"But these parents don't care about theirkids."
"He should have gotten over that by this time." (This was in reference
to a young child who witnessed his mother thrown to her death out
of their apartmentwindow.)
"These kids are used to disaster. They don't need to talk about
this one."
"But these kids can't do that."
As I recall these phrases, I ask myself What are the underlying
attitudes that generate such statements? How do these attitudes
of educators affect children's learning? What do these phrases tell
us about the equality of education in this country?
Although I have seen significant changes in teacher practice and
great improvement in many children's educational experiences, I'm
still left with wondering
Has my work only served to change the way teachers work with children?
Has it done anything to change the way teachers think about children?
What can be done about the attitudes of those responsible for educating
our children?
(Nancy Sloane is a staff developer with Bank Street College of Education.
She presently works with kindergarten through third grade teachers.
Formerly, she worked as a classroom teacher, early childhood consultant
and administrator.)
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Policy in a Vacuum
Raymond R. Arons, Dr. P.H., M.P.H.
Having accurate facts upon which to make effective policy is a lost
art. Most policy in all fields is done in the absence of quality
and reliable data, including health and education. When it comes
to children from 0-5, the paucity of data is striking. Both the
technology to collect data, and the scientific skills to perform
analysis has moved at the speed of light in the past decade. Computers
that would have cost millions of dollars in the 1980s are less than
$1,000 today. We are a nation that is data rich, but access poor
for reasons that go beyond technology and are more political. Real
and precise information requires action. In many instances, action
requires expenditures. Therefore, it is my view that the fragmentation
of data on children exists in many instances to protect political
turf and the sharing of public funds.
Departments of education, health, and social service agencies rarely
interchange data under a cloak of confidentiality. The best sources
of data for children from 0-5 are those collected by health agencies
on the state and national level because of their 19th century mission.
As scientists, they were to identify and measure the mortality and
morbidity of adults and children. They have more funds now than
any of the other agencies to collect and disseminate their findings.
The National Center for Health Statistics, the lead agency of the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) produces 40 surveys annually on
the health of our nation. The most important survey for identifying
children at risk is the National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES). It takes six years to complete with over 6,000
questions, and contains data for children and adults, costing hundreds
of millions of dollars.
Though comprehensive, the data unfortunately does not provide the
total picture of American infants and children from 0-5. Other CDC
studies focusing on mothers, babies, and follow-up studies add more
knowledge. Our nation provides data on every child born and hospitalized
with diagnosis, socioeconomic status, and outcome measurements.
All newborns have their birth weight, their mother's condition,
the type of birth, and the scores given at the time of birth, called
APGAR scores. Birth certificates provide additional statistics.
These data are taken on an individual or patient basis.
The federal Department of Education, however, produces no specific
data for analysis, giving only tables of numbers. No specific data
for children is available for analysis. I suggest that we strip
the current confidential identifiers, and combine them with health
statistics. Then the portrait of our nation's children will be seen
for the first time. Add the data collected by social service agencies
and the full picture will emerge.
Will there ever be interagency cooperation to yield the type of
data I describe? Unlikely.
Departments of education and social service agencies in our nation
appear to be neither interested in, nor capable of sharing these
data. Having an accurate picture of all of these at risk children
and families will clearly result in more expenses from their agencies.
They were not prepared to do this before the World Trade Center
disaster.
As a result of forming policies for children in the vacuum I have
described, the current system of service delivery does not work.
Data must be shared across agencies and expenditures made available
to fund the dramatic unmet needs of infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
(Dr. Arons is Assistant Professor of Public Health, Columbia University,
and former Director of Case Mix Studies at the Columbia-Presbyterian
Medical Center.)
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NEWS CLIPS
Research & Improvement Secretary
Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst is the new U.S. Department of Education's
assistant secretary for educational research and improvement. Prior
to his appointment, he had criticized the federal government's inability
to bring researchers together to meet the practical needs in education.
A central focus will be to rebuild this office so that federally-funded
projects are not politically suspect, underfunded, poorly done and
unconnected to the needs of educators.
(Education Week, Debra Viadero, 9/5/01)
Expert on Baby Language Dies
Dr. Peter W. Jusczyk was a psychological researcher who devoted
his career to discovering the mysteries of how infants learn language.
His work studied children from 6 weeks to 2 years, and was very
significant in showing that babies have the capacity for language
before they actually talk. Among his studies he examined whether
babies could perceive language in the womb. He found that they could
and learned the rhythms of their native language and their mother's
voice before they were born. He likened the way infants learned
language to the way songbirds learned to vocalize.
(The New York Times, Carla Baranaukas, 9/2/01)
Parent's Rights
Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions could seriously limit parents'
access to legal services in special education, including services
to children 0-5. In the Matter of Marilyn Arons raised the question
of nonlawyer representation in Delaware in special education hearings.
The refusal of the Court to hear that appeal leaves the question
open for other states in the future. Buckhannon Board and Care Home,
Inc. v. West Virginia Dept. of Health & Human Services limits attorney
and related fees for parents who file for due process and whose
cases settle before a written decision by a court is issued.
(EDLAW Briefing Paper, Judith Gran, Esq., May-June 2001)
The Future of Children
The journal, The Future of Children, published a recent report emphasizing
the importance of caring for children from birth to 3 as part of
discussions about school readiness. The 157 page report, "Caring
for Infants and Toddlers", is available online at www.futureofchildren.org.
(Education Week, Mary Ann Zehr, 9/19/01)
CEC Features Neuroscience
Today, the newsletter of the Council for Exceptional Children, featured
neuroscience activities in its September 2001 issue. Science-based
validation of instructional strategies was a topic at its Leadership
and Research Project Director's Conference on July 10-13, 2001.
Neuroimaging about how individuals read was presented with evidence
to support that teaching interventions that relied on phonics was
more effective that those that relied on sight words.
IDRA Celebrates Cardena's 50
Years as Educator
The Intercultural Development Research Association, IDRA, in San Antonio,
Texas, celebrates Dr. Jose Cardenas and his 50 years of excellence,
leadership and contributions toward improving educational opportunities
for Latino children. He founded IDRA in 1973, working to create self-renewing
schools that value and empower all children, families and communities.
In a recent interview he commented on his concern with current HeadStart
programs.
One of the reasons for the implementation of the HeadStart and
other early childhood programsówas to provide pre-requisite skills
so that the student who undertakes a basic skill at age 6 has already
mastered the language, words and concepts involved with the learning
situation. Early childhood teachers are often under strong pressure
to teach academic skills rather than the development of prerequisite
skills.
(IDRA Newsletter, Jose Rodriguez, June-July 2001)
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What is a State Interagency Coordinating Council
(SICC)?
An SICC is required by federal law, I.D.E.A., and exists in each of
the 50 states. It is a largely unknown group to professionals and
parents, the role of the SICC being vital in creating public policy,
as well as delivering services to each state's population of 0-5 children.
It has quarterly meetings and is ultimately responsible for the services
that are to be in place for children and families at the local level.
Every parent and provider needs to know the names and agencies of
those on their SICC and become involved to the greatest degree possible.
A significant issue for all SICCs is the need for more parent participation,
particularly reflecting the diversity of their states.
New Jersey's SICC has 24 members. They are:
What cannot be overstated in all of this is the riskeach of you, individually and as schools and school districts, are taking to improve arts learning for your students.A long time friend and colleague always signs his letters with a phrase I will leave with you. "There is dignity in risk."Similarly, From Neurons to Neighborhoods concludes by saying:
The time has come to stop blaming parents, communities, business and government- and to shape a shared agenda to ensure both a rewarding childhood and a promising future for all children. The charge to society is to blend the skepticism of a scientist, the passion of an advocate, the pragmatism of a policy-maker, the creativity of a practitioner, and the devotion of a parent•and to use existing knowledge to ensure both a decent quality of life for all of our children, and a promising future for the nation.I would add "and for the world". That is my hope for us here today.Thank you.