Preschool Learning
Many parents are realizing the importance of preschool learning as many studies now show that the lives of too many children are compromised by their early preschool experiences. For this reason we are witnessing the rise in popularity of preschool software and other educational software to help parents with the task of pre school learning.
In the early years, many children suffer emotional trauma which impairs their ability to function in increasingly complex social settings and to learn in a regular classroom. When they enter school systems they are frequently ill equipped to deal with this alien rule driven environment. We need to focus on our children, and specifically how their early childhood environment relates to their performance in school and ultimately how successful they will be in life.
Firstly we need to address some fundamental questions. We need to question whether our conventional beliefs about successful child development and the causes of failure supported by current evidence. What has expert research in the field of child development contributed to our understanding of children's capacities to learn and to succeed.
For many people the period from conception to school age is the most vulnerable period in their son or daughters development. Many children make the passage from conception to school age without any major problems and go on to lead happy and successful lives as adults.
From their early years the child begins the process of developing lasting friendships in a safe and supportive neighborhood and go on to arrive at elementary school physically healthy, mentally alert, and well adjusted socially.
Unfortunately some children do not fare so well during their early formative years and are buffeted by negative forces that tend to push them off course and may seriously curtail their opportunities in later life. Interest in the preschool learning concept in the 1980s lead to the popularity of preschool programs and readiness testing in the form of a checklist of prerequisite skills for kindergarten entrance. The five stages of a child's growth comprise of:
Physical well-being and motor development
Social and emotional development
Approaches toward learning
Language usage
Cognition and general knowledge
A preschool child who possesses these qualities is in a state of readiness to learn and will stand abetter than average chance of succeeding in school in a regular classroom. How many children are not ready for the intellectual demands that will be places upon them when they reach school age?
Government statistics show that 11 % of elementary school children are in special education and that out of a sample of 7- to 10-year-old children 9.1 % failed kindergarten or first grade. Another statistic shows 11 % of first-graders have learning disabilities. Factoring these cases together it is thought that about 15% to 20 % of children are not ready to learn when they are of school age.
A survey of kindergarten teachers found that 35 % of children are not ready for school and the respondents cited are inadequate language development as the main cause. These figures make for disturbing reading and demonstrates childhood educational failure of alarming proportions.
So what is the relation between a child's early life experience and their ability to thrive at school? Most of the research designed to quantify the impact of factors on children's lives centered around IQ and behavior that have quantifiable value.
Many studies found that effects such as delays in reading, writing, and language acquisition and emotional development where key factors. Surprisingly evidence shows that a reduction in IQ of a few points even though statistically significant, can be largely ignored in terms of readiness to learn as long as the child has a strong family support system.
A secure, loving, and supportive home environment that emphasizes self-discipline and achievement promotes successful development, even among children who may have significant intellectual impairments. The work in elementary and secondary education should now include ready-to-learn measures for early childhood.The developmental neurosciences and specifically the relatively new field of cognitive neuroscience is leading to practical applications in the classroom with some dramatic results being documented.
One study has shown that a remedial program based on the application of cognitive research to reading instruction for children increased reading comprehension by two grades within three weeks. Other studies have shown that curricula designed to correct specific inadequacies in numeracy among disadvantaged children can see them on an equal footing with middle income students by the end of kindergarten. This kind of research, which has practical applications in improved learning by large numbers of children should be the main thrust of assisted child development.
The problem that society as a whole has to come to terms with is the high number of children who arrive at school age unprepared to learn in a normal classroom because of their preschool experiences. It has been estimated that as many as one million children each year are not ready to learn in the typical classroom when they enter first grade. Finding effective solutions to the problem of preschool children's preparedness for school is challenging due to the complexity of the variables involved.
The scientific study of childhood potential needs to address the challenge of filing in the large gaps in our knowledge of how early life experiences affect a child's readiness to learn and eventual success in life.
For anyone looking for a home preschool learning package that includes preschool games and activities designed to prepare your child for the educational curriculum there is a popular product called the"Preschool Genius Learning Package".
Your child will learn Counting, understand preschool math, recognize shapes, master the alphabet, distinguish colors, be able to print Letters, print numbers and to draw shapes. Your child will also learn to identify objects, pronounce and spell words as well as conducting some basic science experiments. You can read more about the "Preschool Genius Learning Package" here.