The Importance of Early Childhood Education

Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Portales, New Mexico 88130

Kinsey Kleyn
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Abstract

This paper will provide an overview of the importance of early childhood education. It
will investigate the importance of providing young children with a safe, nurturing
environment as well as the stimulation needed to prepare them for the transition to the
early grades. Several additional domains will be explored such as early identification,
socialization, language and cognitive development as well as social development. It is
imperative that society at large understand the importance of early childhood education
and establishing a sound educational foundation for the children of our country.

For many years, in many countries, there has been some form of early childhood
education. There have been many names ascribed to it- kindergarten, nursery school,
pre-school, “ Head Start” and other names. Early childhood education has become a vital
integral robust part of American education and literally around the world. This chapter
will serve as a preliminary starting point for following chapters in this book and provide
an overview as to the importance of early childhood education. The domains served and
the services rendered will be explored. Both manifest and latent functions of early
childhood education will be examined.
Basically, all sane, rational reasonable parents want their child to do well in school
and in life. However, not all parents are knowledgeable in early childhood growth and
development, not all parents are aware of the importance of play and early stimulation
and not all parents have the skills needed to recognize if there is a developmental delay,
an audiological, or speech or language problem or a vision or gross or fine motor
problem. Thus, it is fortunate that there are early childhood centers and Head Start
facilities in the United States and around the world. The importance of these centers will
be discussed along with the various functions that they serve.
Many parents, as is well known, use the kindergarten classroom as a way to provide
enrichment for their children. Their definition of “enrichment” varies from parent to
parent, and the administration of stimulation and enrichment varies from teacher to
teacher and school to school. However, basically, we in early childhood education want
to teach the child the letters, numbers, colors, shapes and forms as well as teach them to
interact with other children. There is an attempt to encourage language, discussion, give
and take and develop some preliminary social skills. Early childhood professionals
provide a clean, neat, well lit environment, with snacks, often breakfast, and a secure
sense of safety and nurturance. This supplements what parents attempt to provide in the
home environment.
Identification

The early childhood environment provides an opportunity to ensure that all children
begin school “ready to learn “. In this regard, kindergarten teachers and pre-school
teachers are trained to listen for speech language defects, problems, stuttering,
articulation disorders and slurred speech. The child is then referred to a speech language
pathologist or an audiologist for screening and evaluation. It is well documented that
early intervention assists in the child’s growth and development. Thus, the sooner the
child can receive services the better the prognosis. In many cities and states, graduate
students in speech language pathology and audiology conduct routine screenings of all
children enrolled in a pre-school environment. This enables these graduate students to
receive some supervision and training in early childhood assessment and enhances their
consultation and collaboration skills and prepares them for later practice. Many of these
individuals assess both expressive and receptive language skills and do preliminary
screening of speech and language as well as an examination of the oral cavity. This early
documentation provides a foundational baseline for ascertaining if the child is improving
in their vocabulary and language skills and if intervention has been fruitful.

Although difficult in terms of a final diagnosis, the early childhood teacher is often the
first to notice developmental delays. There may be such significant delays that the teacher
begins to suspect mental retardation, but there is hesitancy about the finality of such a
diagnosis or labeling at this time. The school psychologist or diagnostician should be
contacted in order to administer a WPPSI (Wechsler Pre-School or Primary Scale of
Intelligence ) or a Stanford Binet 5 or some other reputable reliable, valid cognitive
instrument. At that time a Bender Gestalt II or Visual Motor Test should be administered,
as a foundational measure, as well as supplementary tests such as the K-SEALS
( Kaufman Survey of Early Academic Levels ) Adaptive Behavior Scales should also be
administered to ascertain the child’s present level of performance and for the
establishment of a later IFSP ( Individual Family Service Plan )

In terms of vision, the early childhood educator may notice difficulties in eye hand
coordination, the child bumping into things, difficulty grasping, fine motor problems,
conjunctivitis. In severe cases a pediatric opthamologist would be consulted regarding
problems with the child’s vision. Information may be procured from the parents
regarding various factors and variables that could be operative in the visual realm.

Head Injury is a difficulty which is receiving increasing attention of late. Traumatic Brain
Injury is a preventable problem and all caretakers and parents should be made aware of
the need for supervising their child at all times. Head injuries can be either open or closed
and the resultant problems can affect the child for the rest of their lives, depending upon a
number of variables or factors. As early childhood students are energetic, they are
expected to run, jump, and play, but they need to be made aware of the dangers of falling
and striking their heads. Riding bicycles and engaging in aggressive play can present an
opportunity for concussion and other brain injury. Caregivers and teachers also need to be
aware of any odd shapes on the skull, protusions, and black and blue marks on the
frontalis or front of the skull.
Although it is probably quite too early to formally diagnose any learning problems,
children that have difficulty responding to commands, repeating phrases, or responding to
questions may have some type of processing problem or hearing difficulty. As above, the
appropriate documentation and referral should be made.

The Autism Spectrum Disorders

As has been documented, there seems to be a significant increase in the number of

children with autism. This may be due to better identification and tracking or it could be
due to other factors with which we are not familiar. Early childhood teachers are the first
to notice various behaviors which could be indicative of autism- or some variant thereof.
There may be self- stimulatory behavior, there could be self-injurious behavior,
perseveration, rocking, echolalia and other bizarre or strange behaviors. There are various
rating scales such as the CARS (Childhood Autism Rating Scale) and the Gilliam Rating
Scales. These preliminary rating scales should provide at least adequate beginning
documentation for consultation regarding the possibility of autism or Asberger’s or
Rhett’s. Obviously, early childhood teachers need to be sensitive to other language
issues, and cultural and racial aspects involved.

Medical Issues-

Children in their early developmental years are prone to inner and outer ear infections as
well as the typical colds, flu, fever and other early childhood difficulties such as measles
and mumps, chicken pox and the like.The early childhood center is a place where such
illnesses can be monitored, and documented as to the recurrent nature of the problem.
The immunization records should be kept and carefully documented for future reference.
The school nurse can do a visual examination for cerebral palsy and refer for a more
comprehensive in depth examination as well as continue documentation.

Socialization

Part of the early childhood curriculum is to prepare children to play, interact with and
engage in age appropriate developmental activities that would assist with their later
socialization process. Courtesy, appropriate behavior, “ give and take “ and learning the
rules of various childhood games should all be emphasized. There are some schools that
have specific curriculums, and others are more informal in their approach.

Play and it’s Importance

Piaget extensively documented the importance of play, the stages of play and how play
contributes to the child’s understanding of the world. The pre-school environment
provides a rich, robust domain for the child to engage in play of various sorts, with
materials that may not be present in the home, with toys that parents may not possess and
with children that may encourage them in terms of future growth. The active aspects of
play are more important than the passive receiving of stimulation from various cartoons
on the television. There are different views about different types of play- parallel play,
practice play, solitary play, pretend or symbolic play, construction play, game play, and
playing with other children’s toys play ! Mosiman and Mosiman ( 2009) have indicated
that there are various methods to enhance play- and indicated a plethora of possible
avenues for parents, teachers to examine. Often play will just occur between children and
that should be encouraged also.
Mosiman, R & Mosiman, M. ( 2009) The smarter preschooler: Unlocking Your Child’s
Intellectual Potential