Discussion essay on Promoting Health and Wellness
Several weeks ago, the Smith family enrolled their 4-year-old son, Trevor, in your child care center. As Trevor’s teacher, you have already observed that Trevor does not like to participate in activities that involve running, climbing, jumping, or more than minimal physical movement. When presented with toys such as a ball or mitt, Trevor seems clumsy and unsure of how to use them, making him reluctant to play with the other children outdoors. Furthermore, Trevor’s parents shared with you that his pediatrician noted Trevor’s weight is above average for his height. His parents often send him to school with his lunch bag full of snacks such as cheese puffs and sugary drinks. During her initial interview with Trevor’s family, Mr. and Mrs. Smith mentioned to you that Trevor spends most of his free time playing handheld video games and watching cartoons. The Smiths said they would like to spend more time with Trevor playing outdoors, but their work schedules make this very challenging.
a. What health concerns do you have about Trevor based on the information you have about Trevor and his family?
b. How can you encourage Trevor to participate in more physical activities at the center?
c. You have an upcoming parent-teacher conference with Trevor’s parents. How can you respectfully discuss your concern about the type of snacks he brings to school?
Your discussion post should be at least 200 words in length.
The Vaccine Debate
According to Groark & Song (2012), “although vaccinations carry some risks and possible side effects, a child is generally at much greater risk for illness, which could be deadly, if the child is not vaccinated” (Section 6.4). The short and long-term side effects of vaccines have been receiving more and more attention. For this discussion, review both sides of the vaccine debate by reading “Safety & Prevention: How Safe are Vaccines?” from American Academy of Pediatrics and “KNOW…The Vaccine Controversy” from Vaccine Awareness of North Florida. Using these articles as well as information from Chapter 6, construct an argument either in favor of or against the use of vaccines based on the following:
a. If your birthday falls between January and June: Argue forvaccines
b. If your birthday falls between July and December: Argue against vaccines
Be sure to support your stance with reference to at least one additional source (and include an APA-formatted reference for that source). Your discussion post should be at least 200 words in length.
Health and Wellness Appraisals
You are a teacher in a 4-year-old classroom and begin each day with your daily health and wellness check. You notice that a child who is dropped off looks very tired and is uncommonly quiet as she walks into the classroom. She was dropped off by bus so you have no additional information.
Given the above scenario, choose one of the following possible causes for the change in the child. Please indicate the cause you selected in the subject line of your discussion post.
a. Sickness/Illness
b. Trauma
c. Abuse
d. Oral Health Issue: Tooth ache, poor oral health
e. Nutritional Concern: Inadequate nutritional intake, food allergy, food intolerance
f. Hearing Concern: Ear Infection, ear ache
g. Vision Concern: Eye infection
h. Social-Emotional Issue
Examples of some of these common situations are described further in Chapter 7. After you select one of these as a possible cause for the child’s change in demeanor, use your imagination to develop it further discussing what you may see when you conduct your observation of the child. Be mindful to detail what you might look for and how you will document your observations. Based on your fictitious observation, create a plan of action for how to proceed. This plan should include both immediate and long-term actions that you will take.
Address the following points in your discussion:
o Fictitious elaboration of what you observe in the child including the possible cause. Include enough so that you can make a plan of action
o Short-term plan of action detailing the procedure of how you will address the issue immediately or by the end of the day
o Long-term plan of action detailing the procedure of how you will follow-up your short-term plan of action
o Specific discussion regarding how you will support the child during this time
Safe Environments
For this discussion, think about the information presented in Chapter 8 regarding safe and supportive indoor and outdoor environments. In addition, think about your personal philosophy of learning and choose one developmental level (e.g. infants, toddlers, preschoolers). When thinking about developmental levels, consider your future career aspirations. Some of you may want be to be an infant and toddler home daycare provider, a family specialist for Head Start, or you may want to be a kindergarten classroom teacher. Please use the subject line of your discussion post to state what you wish to be in your future role. Then for your discussion, attach four pictures that you feel show elements of safe and supportive physical environments that you wish to create in your future role. Two of the pictures should be indoor environments and two of the pictures should be outdoor environments. These pictures can be from environments that you have access to, Microsoft clip art, or they may be from the Internet.
For each picture, your discussion should address the following questions:
a. What specifically do you like about the features of the environment?
b. What specific elements make this a safe environment?
c. What specific elements make this a supportive environment for the developmental level and future role you have identified?
You may attach the pictures directly to your discussion, or you may attach a Word document in which you compile your pictures and reflections. Be sure to include a reference to the textbook and at least one outside resource to support your ideas with justification.
Challenging Classroom Behaviors
Chapter 9 of your course text addresses the following topics:
o Behavioral health as it pertains to a child’s set of behaviors that are in response to early experiences and actions of others.
o Emotional development as it pertains to a child’s increasing ability to express emotions appropriately.
o Social development as it pertains to the growth of a child’s capacity to have relationships and to work cooperatively in the future (Groark & Song, 2012).
Create a visual and written plan for a parent bulletin board that you will place on a large wall outside your classroom which parents will see when they enter your facility.
For this discussion, the written plan will include:
a. An explanation of behavioral health, emotional development, and social development at your specific developmental level. Be sure to identify the developmental level in the subject line of your discussion. For example, your subject line will read as one of the following:
o Infant Parent Bulletin Board
o Toddler Parent Bulletin Board
o Preschool Age Parent Bulletin Board
o School Age Parent Bulletin Board
b. Common characteristics of behavioral health, emotional development, and social development at this level.
c. Specific ways you are supporting this development in the classroom.
d. Specific ways parents can support this development at home.
Please also provide a visual plan of this bulletin board through use of an uploaded picture, scanned image or other electronic creation.
Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Resources
When we think about overall well-being, it is important to consider our children and families. For this discussion, you will explore several social, emotional, and behavioral resources that could be shared with children or families. You may find a preschool website with a game about good choices, or you may find a book about using kind words. You may also locate a website with parent information on helping children who have difficulty with detachment. You may use the Ashford University Library, the Internet, or your local resources. These resources can be videos, books, podcasts, websites, games or publications. After you have researched these, complete the following:
a. Provide a summary of the resource you found to support positive social development.
o Provide a APA citation for the resource
o Suggest how specifically you will use this resource in the classroom or as a home support.
b. Provide a summary of the resource you found to support positive emotional development.
o Provide a APA citation for the resource
o Suggest how specifically you will use this resource in the classroom or as a home support.
c. Provide a summary of the resource you found to support positive behavior development.
o Provide a APA citation for the resource
o Suggest how specifically you will use this resource in the classroom or as a home support.
Your post should be a minimum of 250 words and include three APA citations.
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