Research that Benefits Children and Families

Looking at the blog assignment I thought that it would be easy to figure out what I was going to write on. I also was thinking that I would get to tell about a personal story that effected me when it comes to research. I figure that I will just have to use the story as a way to illustrate what I would want to do.

If I were able to choose any topic that I wanted to in the early childhood field, I would lean in the direction of doing something kind of medically based. I would do it on the topic of Pulmonary Stenosis. This is a heart condition that I have myself. It has not effected me that much but I really did not know much about it. When I was doing research about this in college I did read an article about a girl that had this heart problem. As I was looking at the picture of the little girl it looked like she had down’s syndrome as well.

I think that if I were to do more research on this particular problem I think that it would be a really big help to parents. Granted the information would be rather difficult to gather from other people but the results of this article would be a great way for parents to get more information about. The information would be able to give them the information to be able to fix the problem and reassure them that depending on how severe the problem is, that children with this condition can still live a full life. The information would also give them information about how they can actually fix the problem. I would also try to include in the research information about down’s syndrome so that the parents will be aware whether or not this is something that is likely to have an impact on their children’s lives. Pulmonary Stenosis can be fixed with surgery but a child that has down’s syndrome is going to have it their entire life. It will be the information given after research is done that will help families realize that their child will be ok.

Research Journey

As I am looking ahead at the research simulation that we are doing for the class I am realizing that I am having a little bit of a challenge. The topic that I am wanting to do the research simulation on is how much a secure attachment with parents can be affected for children when their parents get a divorce. I think that this topic may prove to be too broad and I am having a hard time with figuring out if I can narrow this topic down at all. This topic is something that has affected me personally and I am sure it will affect many other young children out there.

I am not really sure how to proceed in the topic because my fear is that it will be much to broad. I had chose this topic because there will be children that will be personally affected by divorce in their own home. My goal is to be able to help children be able to maintain the attachment that they had developed when they were infants and to also try and bring it up so that parents are more aware of how divorce can and possibly will damage the relationships. If there are any suggestions for articles that I can use or even suggestions on how I can narrow this down a little more if it is still too broad would be greatly appreciated.

Research in Early Childhood

As we are starting the class this week, I am just a little scared. As I look toward what my future career will look like, I ask myself the following question: Will research be a big part of my job? This question ends up leading me to ask myself more than just that question. How often will I be doing research? Will doing this research really make me be more effective? All I can say for the answers is that they are probably, who knows how often, and yes. Time will ultimately tell what will happen. All I know is that whatever I do research on or whenever I do research, it will give me more information to ultimately help me in my ultimate goal; the goal of helping effectively the children and their families that I work with.