13p. · positive parenting provides special opportunities. babies learn attachment, language, and...

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ED 424 941 PS 027 062

TITLE Infancy and Early Childhood: Opportunities and Risks forPennsylvania and Its Children. A Special Report.

INSTITUTION Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, Harrisburg.SPONS AGENCY Pittsburgh Univ., PA. Office of Child Development.; Annie E.

Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD.PUB DATE 1998-09-00NOTE 13p.

PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141)EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS At Risk Persons; *Brain; Child Development; Child Rearing;

Cognitive Development; *Early Childhood Education; *EarlyIntervention; *Infants; Parent Child Relationship; ParentingSkills; Prevention; Toddlers

IDENTIFIERS *Brain Development; *Pennsylvania

ABSTRACTThis Kids Count special report examines brain development

during infancy and early childhood in order to provide a basis for aninformed discussion about the need for preventive programs to foster healthychild development. The report summarizes information on early braindevelopment and how experience shapes neural connections. It focuses on therole of positive parenting in providing opportunities for enhancingattachment and language development in infants and toddlers, and the pivotalstages of early brain development related to attachment and security, vision,and language. It identifies major risks to healthy brain development inPennsylvania's children, including family poverty, community poverty, familyproblems and conflict, and dysfunctional parenting. The report highlights thecumulative effect of risk factors on children's development. In addition, thereport describes approaches that foster early learning opportunities and leadto healthy child development: (1) promoting good parenting; (2) promotinghealthy children; (3) promoting good child care; (4) making family centersand family support services more available; (5) finding and helping moreabused or neglected infants and children; (6) targeting preventive earlychildhood program to more high-risk Pennsylvania children; and (7) sustaininginvestment in high-risk children. Finally, the report presents county-levelstatistical information on high school dropout rate, juvenile courtdelinquency placements, births to single teens, child poverty rate, andchildren in welfare families, illustrating how poor adolescent outcomes pointto missed opportunities for adolescents and a new generation at risk. (KB)

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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

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Infancy and Early Childhood:Opportunities and Risks

For Pennsylvania and Its Children

1

A Special Report

September, 1998

Pennsylvania KIDS COUNT Partnership

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS

BEEN GRANTED BY

M. C. Bergsten

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

2

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

O This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.

O Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy.

1 II itkidscount

A SPECIAL REPO TPARTNERSHIP September, 1998

Infancy and Early Childhood:Opportunities and Risks

For Pennsylvania and Its ChildrenIntroduction

How important are the first years of a child'slife? What role do they play in shaping theremainder of the child's lifetime?Can singing, talking and laughingwith a baby, toddler, orpreschooler have any discernibleimpact on their capacity tobecome competent, confident, lov-ing adults?

Recent brain research reaffirms

parents, caregivers, teachers and others toseize opportunities to help children grow andthrive. If these opportunities are missed, moreand more effort is required for a young child torebound.

Of Pennsylvania'snearly 3 million

children, more than925,000 are

currently underage six.

what many parents and childdevelopment experts have known for sometime that a multitude of "windows" to thebrain are wide open for learning and develop-ment during infancy and the early years.

With each new discovery, we learn morehow brain development is a somewhat pre-dictable, but nonlinear process, and that primetimes exist for acquiring different capabilities.During critical or sensitive periods when these"windows" are wide open, appropriate experi-ences can help to make a positive, long-last-ing impact on the brain, and therefore, the lifeof a child.

As a child ages, these openings graduallyrecede, reducing or eliminating the chance for

What price do we pay if we fail torecognize and effectively address therisks that confront our children startingat the very beginning of their lives?Are they more likely to fail in their ado-lescent years, setting the stage to fallshort of their dreams of realizing afruitful adulthood?

Of Pennsylvania's nearly 3 million children,more than 925,000 are currently under agesix. How well do we as leaders, parents,teachers and caregivers recognize the impor-tance of the early years in our children's livesand the critical role they play in the develop-ment of loving, helpful, intelligent, capable,and responsible adults? How can we seizethese opportunities and avoid the risks?

Infancy & Early Childhood: Opportunitiesand Risks seeks to shed some light on braindevelopment in these formative years and toprovide a basis for a more informed discussionabout the need to make preventive invest-ments that foster healthy development of ourchildren.

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_

Shedding Light On Early Brain DevelopmentOver time, experience stimu-

lates brain cells to specialize and"solder" these connections, form-ing what will soon become thevital pathways for vision, hear-ing, language, emotions, andmovement, through which a babylearns and encounters life.

Simple interactions with a par-ent or child care teacher help tobuild these connections.

A baby's brain is a work in:progress. At the time of birth, an;infant has 100 billion nerve cells, or.neurons, in the brain. It is believedthat few or no more are producedfor the remainder of life.

At birth, many tentative connec-tions or wiring patterns are estab-lished just waiting for daily experi-ences to shape and eventually "hardwire" these connections.

3 (continued on Page 9)

Pennsylvania KIDS Count Partnership

Positive ParentingProvidesSpecial Opportunities

Babies learn attachment, language,and much else from the ordinaryacts of parenting. Below is an

example drawn from parent trainingmaterial of Zero to Three, an organiza-tion that promotes the importance of thefirst three years of life.

An 8 month-old baby boy has been sit-ting in a jump seat sleeping for a shorttime. He awakens when the door slamsand he hears a deep voice.

Immediately, he begins to bounce andcrow. Every inch of him is excited. Hisfather enters the room, puts down hislunch pack and walks toward him, say-ing, "And hello to you big guy comeand give your old man a hug." The babygrips his father's shirt and reaches forhis cheek and his father nuzzles thebaby's hand with his mouth.

The father asks if his son is ready towatch some of the ball game. The babymirrors his father's happy feeling andresponds with a chain of babbling. Thefather widens his eyes and listens, thenasks his son's opinion of today's startingpitcher. The baby looks away calminghimself. The father waits and the babyturns back, locks eyes with his father,and produces a long string of syllables,ending in a laugh. His father grins andsays, "You may be right."

The baby's mother then asks thefather if he'll change the baby's diaper.The father grimaces, but agrees.Throughout the diaper change, the babyand his father continue a dialogue full ofbaby movements, facial expressivenessand vocal exchanges.

This baby anticipates the pleasure hewill have with his father. He has alreadylearned that most of the time his fatherfeels very good with him and he feels verygood with his father. He has also learnedto have "conversations" with his fatherto initiate, be intentional, take turns, lis-ten and respond.

He feels respected and understood.He likes himself

2

Windows Of Early Learning:Special Opportunities

A thoughtful look at the pivotal stages of early braindevelopment offers some intriguing insights and specialopportunities for parents, educators and policymakers toimprove the well-being of children in their care.

Attachment and Security: The presence of a warm,caring, stable relationship with at least one other per-son, usually a parent, is the single most importantearly experience for newborns. It is through these

earliest interactions thatbabies learn the skills neces-

The spoken language sary to care, love, socialize,has an unmatched and empathize throughout

impact on an infant's their lives. Attachment beginsbrain development immediately at birth and

and the child's future should be nu rtu red .prospects. Research tells us that chil-

dren who do not experiencesuch positive attachments by

age four may experience long-lasting problems. Theearly attachment period can be a time of extremevulnerability, during which later life outcomes can beadversely affected. Lengthy maternal depressioncan lead to neglect, which can change the structureand chemistry of a baby's brain, as can child abuse.Such ongoing distresses can create deficits in achild's intellectual abilities and compromise emo-tional development.

Vision: Babies can see at birth, but not well.Research has revealed that the prime time for learn-ing to focus on an object is very early in the life of anewborn. The vision center of the brain experiencestremendous growth from age 2 to 4 months, openingup the world around the infant. Babies also begin todevelop depth perception and distinguish shapesand the faces of people throughout their first year oflife. Data show that babies have the benefit of a wideopen window of opportunity to enhance these morecomplex visual skills throughout the years beforeschool begins.

Language:The spoken language has anunmatched impact on an infant's brain developmentand the child's future prospects. Researchers saythe number of words an infant and toddler hearseach day is a strong predictor of later levels of inteIligence, school success, and social competence inlater life. However, there is one catch the wordsmust come from an attentive, responsive, humanbeing "up close and personal."

A SPECIAL REPORT: Opportunities and Risks For Pennsylvania and Its Children

Pennsylvania KIDS Count Partnership

As far as we know, radio and television do not pro-duce the same benefit.At the age of three months, a baby can distinguishseveral hundred different spoken sounds, which ismany more than are present in a native language.This is one of the reasons parents are advised totalk to their infants. It is also why it is critical to testfor hearing early in a child's life. If a child's hearingis impaired, the normal progression of languagedevelopment can be slowed.A fascinating study by Betty Hart and Todd R.Risley, University of Kansas psychologists, exploreddifferences in the early language environments ofchildren by the socioeconomic status of their par-ents.Between the ages of 12 and 36 months, toddlers oflower socioeconomic status parents heard, on aver-age, 600 words an hour, while toddlers of middlesocioeconomic status parents heard 1,200 words anhour and those of higher socioeconomic status par-ents heard 2,100. At three years of age, the num-ber of different words the three groups of childrenwere saying paralleled these differences with oralvocabularies of 500, 700 and 1,000, respectively.For the middle socioeconomic group, the overallnumber and variety of words and the predominant

Figure 1: Early Language Environmentsof Infants and Toddlers

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

Lower MLidle Higher

Socioeconomic Status of Parents

Average # of Words Heard Per Hour 12-36 months

Average Vocabulary at 36 months

Source: Betty Hart and Todd Risley, Meaningful Differencesin the Everyday Experience Of Young American Children, 1995.

tone of language varied, but the differencesbetween the experiences of the most advantagedchildren compared with the least advantaged weresignificant. All quality features, such as variedvocabulary, positive tone and careful response to achild's comments, were present in everyday parent-ing activities of all families, but in differing amounts.

... For EnhancingAttachment andLanguage Development

Another 8 month old baby boy is sit-ting in a jump seat sleeping.

He awakens when the door slams andhe hears a deep voice. Now awake, hewiggles restlessly and looks in the seat'stray for something to hold. Everythingis on the floor. He makes a noise to con-vey his feelings of frustration. He is try-ing to communicate.

The father comes in and tosses hiscoat over a chair. The baby grunts andbrings his hand to his mouth. The fatherglances at him and then glances away.The mother calls to the father and saysthe baby probably needs a diaperchange and asks if he'll change the babywhile she finishes dinner.

Sarcastically, the father says,"Thanks a lot is that a special presentfor me?" He disappears. Suddenly, thebaby is abruptly lifted out of the seatfrom behind. The baby is surprised, butonly stiffens. He is quiet.

"OK stinko let's clean up yourpants." The baby is placed on his back tobe changed. He lies still chewing onhis hand.

Once, he twists, extends his arm tograsp an object and lifts his leg. Thefather pulls him back flat, lightly slapshis thigh and says sharply, "Stay stillI'm almost done."

The baby's eyes widen, but he staysquiet just chewing his hand. Thefather finishes quickly and returns himto his jump chair.

This baby is also learning. He islearning to be wary in what he commu-nicates to his father. He has learned tobe passive and to curb his curiosity. Hehas no sense that his father enjoys him.He feels neither understood nor confi-dent. He has learned little about turntaking, mood sharing, or dialogue withhis father.

A SPECIAL REPORT: Opportunities and Risks For Pennsylvania and Its Children 3

Pennsylvania KIDS

Parent Education: ChildrenReady to Attend SchoolWill Be Better PreparedFor A Brighter Future

Relying on a parent's innate ability andown prior experience is often not suffi-cient. Some parents may know how to

nurture their children and how to provide fortheir basic physical needs, but they may notknow how to talk or play with them or howimportant these activities are.

Upon arriving for the first day of school, achild will be expected to listen, to follow direc-tions, to be interested in tasks and toys, and tostart and finish small projects. The child willbe expected to express needs, to respect those ofothers, to be able to wait, and to know whenhelp may be needed.

Consider the school readiness of the follow-ing two children.

As one of 18 first graders, a boy busily worksin his activity center. He smiles as the teacherwalks by. With obvious pride, he circles theletters that go with the pictures (Z for zebra,etc.). Though he did not at first understandwhat to do, he asked the teacher to help himand watched the children around him.

Nearby, another boy sits anxiously in achair. A puzzled expression on his face, helooks around at the other children. Afterscribbling different colors on his sheet ofpaper, he gets increasingly restless.

He grabs a friend's pencil and starts taunt-ing him. The teacher reminds him of correctbehavior and places him in the "time out"chair in the back of the room. He looksrelieved.

He now knows what he will be doing for thenext few minutes. And, even better, no oneelse knows that he was confused by the assign-ment.

For these two boys, nature and nurture haveinteracted in varying ways for the developmen-tally most critical 5 years of their lives. One isnow ready to gain from the public's investmentin his formal education, and one is much lessprepared.Source: Adapted from Zero To Three: National Center forClinical Infant Programs; Heart Start: The EmotionalFoundations of School Readiness; 1992; Arlington, VA.

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A child who heard, "Did you see the yellowbus out the window?" or "It's cold. You needto put on a coat before you go outside?"tended to respond more positively than didthe child who frequently heard, "Stop that," or"Get your coat on -- NOW."All parents in the study started talking more totheir children by age two. But by then, the dif-ferences among children were already great.Those left behinddid not catch upby age 3, nor aslate as age 9.Every childlearned to use lan-guage and couldsay complex sen-tences, but thelanguage-deprivedchildren laggedbehind in vocabulary and in language-relatedacademic areas later in school.The implications of prime times is that experi-

ence should begin when a window opens, even ifit may be many years before that window closes.

Parent-Young Child ReadingNational initiatives have underscored the impor-

tance of parent-child reading as a cornerstone ofearly child development. The first of the eightNational Education Goals established by the

The implicationsof prime times

is that experienceshould begin when

a window opens,even if it may be

many years before thatwindow closes.

Figure 2: Parent-Young Child Reading80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

oLess than High School College

High School Graduate Graduate

Level of Parent Education

IUnder 3 Years of Age 3 to 5 Years of Age

Note: For two parent homes, data are based on the parent with thehighest level of education.Source: National Education Goals Panel, Special Early ChildhoodReport 1997, October 1997.

A SPECIAL REPORT Opportunities and Risks For Pennsylvania and Its Children

Pennsylvania KIDS COUNT Partnershipnation's Governors in 1990 is that "all children inAmerica will start school ready to learn" by theyear 2000. One of the three objectives of thisSchool Readiness Goal is "Every parent in theUnited States will be their child's first teacher anddevote time each day to helping their child under5 learn, and parents will have access to the train-ing and support they need."

Reading to children helps them associate orallanguage with printed text. Most important, read-ing to children builds their vocabularies and back-ground knowledge about the world around them.

Indicators of progress toward this national goalinclude the percentage of children below schoolage whose parents or other family member readto them every day. Those data, which likelyreflect Pennsylvania families as well, tell us thatonly 45% of children under 3 and only 56% of chil-dren 3 to 5 are read to by parents or other familymembers on a daily basis.

That means roughly, one in every two childrenbelow school age does not, for example, sit with aparent or other caring adult and have a bedtimestory read to them each day.

The Risks to Pennsylvania's Children

What are the major risks facingPennsylvania's children and families and whatrole do they play in influencing healthydevelopment?

Poverty - A Key Risk FactorOne in six

Pennsylvania children Poverty is thelives in poverty, greatest, mostPoverty is the greatest, consistent factor thatmost consistent factor accompanies nearlythat accompanies every major problemnearly every major of children and families,problem of children and and is perhapsfamilies, and is per- a contributor in andhaps a contributor in of itself.and of itself. Theseproblems include parenting insufficiency, abuseand neglect, school failure, juvenile delinquencyand more.

Family poverty, in turn, has been shown to beassociated with low parental education, poorparental employability, teenage motherhood, andsingle parenthood. Nevertheless, despite thesepoor economic conditions for families, some chil-dren do thrive. From a long-term Minnesotastudy, we learn that the primary protective factorthat seems to make some poor children moreresilient than others is a secure attachment with

their caregiver. Factors that enable some par-ents to care well for their children despite theirpoverty include knowledge of child development,social support available to the parents, and ther-apy for parents who have been abused orneglected themselves. 1

Community and Other Risk FactorsOther key risk factors include:

community poverty such as denselypopulated, very low-income urban commu-nities with low social cohesion and highcrime;family problems and conflict, includingdivorce, child and spousal abuse; anddysfunctional parenting, such as lack ofclear expectations for behavior and failureof parents to monitor their children, whichmay be accompanied by drug or alcoholproblems or mental illness.

Research underlying Communities That Care,a community-based, risk-focused preventionmodel now being implemented in Pennsylvaniaby the Governor's Community Partnership forSafe Children, indicates that community risk fac-tors associated most consistently with all adoles-cent problem behaviors are extreme economicdeprivation or poverty. The family risk factorsassociated most consistently across all adoles-cent problem behaviors are family managementproblems and family conflict. According to theresearch, the most consistently recommendedprogram strategies for reducing these risk fac-tors -- prenatal and infancy programs and parenttraining and early childhood education pointnot surprisingly to the prime time early years.A Compounding Effect

Perhaps one of the most telling aspects of riskresearch is that risk factors have a cumulativeeffect. On average, each risk factor that a childexperiences erodes the child's potential.

Evidence suggests that children may sur-mount one or two of these risk factors, but asthe number of risks in a child's life increases, thechances of failure mount rapidly. In the end, itseems to matter less which risk factors, butrather how many a child experiences.

Poverty does have debilitating effects, creat-ing a sense of helplessness and hopelessnessamong those it impacts. But every day inPennsylvania, poor single parents resourcefullymanage their households. Parents with elemen-tary school reading levels read to their toddlers,instilling a love of learning in their children.


Pennsylvania KIDS COUNT

Being a successful parent is not only aboutmoney, but money does matter and bolstersthe families struggling to offset the stresses ofpoverty and other risk factors.

Parents living in povertyreport more financial andpsychological stress. Theymay worry about the"basics," like food andhousing, or dangerousneighborhood conditionsand the lack of support

Perhaps oneof the most telling

aspects of riskresearch is that

risk factors have acumulative effect.

systems. Family incomeaffects not only these social resources, butalso the material resources available in thehome. Studies have demonstrated thatparental stress, depression, and perceptions offinancial strain account for some of the varia-tions in amount of nurturing children receive.2

Thus, low family income has effects aboveand beyond the other risk factors that oftenaccompany it.

Missed Investment Opportunities

Recent research on children and early braindevelopment shows us that the early years arecritical: Emotional stability is greatly affectedby how the brain develops in the first twoyears of life. An adult's potential vocabularyis influenced by the words filtered throughthe brain before age three. The neurologicalfoundations for math and logic are estab-lished before age four. And, by kindergartenthe process is half over.3

The gap between the two paths in Figure3 dramatically illustrates how Pennsylvaniainvests in children. We now know that if wefail to intervene in the lives of our youngestchildren we will miss windows of opportuni-ties that may be difficult to reopen later.

Pennsylvania needs to increase invest-ment in children before they reach kinder-garten. At the same time, it cannot decreasesupport for school-age children and adoles-cents.

Treatment and remediation services foryouth in need are critical to compensate formissed opportunities. In addition, we mustinvest in adult learners who want to continuetheir education and strengthen their skills.

These investments will providePennsylvania with excellent dividends inmore effective child rearing.

6

Partnership

In the end, providing adequately for youngchildren's development cannot be a zero-sumgame.

Targeted Early SupportOpportunities That Work

A recent RAND Corporation review of evalu-ations from nine very well researched pro-grams that help young at-risk children con-cludes that such programs can:

(1) benefit children and families; and(2) result in long-term savings for society

through up-front investment of dollars.

In RAND's Investing in Our Children: WhatWe Know and Don't Know About the Costs andBenefits of Early Childhood, "early childhoodintervention" is defined as:

"attempts by government agencies or otherorganizations to improve child health anddevelopment, educational attainment, andeconomic well-being, particularly among dis-advantaged children, with home visits bynurses, parent training, enriched preschool,and a variety of other programs."

In its study, RAND compared the later sav-ings to taxpayers versus the up-front program

Figure 3: Brain Growth Versus StateSpending On PA Children

Percent of Total Brain Growth

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Age

Source: Estimates produced by Pennsylvania Partnerships forChildren as part of the National Association of Child AdvocatesChildren's Budget Watch project.


Pennsylvania KIDS COUNT Partnershipcosts for the Perry Preschool program inYpsilanti, Michigan and the Prenatal EarlyInfancy Project in Elmira, New York (PEIP).

In the mid-1960s, the Perry Preschool pro-gram enrolled low-income, African-Americanchildren for a 1-to-2 year period in a part-timeenriched preschool where the teacher alsomade weekly home visits. In Elmira's morerecent PEIP program, disadvantaged, primarilynon-minority mothers received 32 home visitsfrom the fourth month of pregnancy throughthe child's second year from registered nurseswho had received additional training in parenteducation. In addition, the program establishedsupport networks for the mother, and linked thefamily to other health and human services. Thegroup of Elmira mothers who were "higher risk"were single parents and of low socioeconomicstatus. "Child" participants in the studies arenow 27 and 15 years old, respectively.

The savings of $25,000 per Perry Preschoolchild and $24,000 per Elmira higher-risk childfar and away exceed the costs of $12,000 and$6,000, respectively. The difference is a netbenefit to taxpayers and to society as a whole.The sources of savings included reductions inspecial education services, fewer repetitions ofa grade in school, reductions in criminal justicesystem costs, reductions in welfare costs, andincreased tax revenues due to increased earn-

but does notings. If a benefit helps participantsalso save taxpayer dollars, it wasnot counted as savings. To date,the savings of the lower-riskElmira program have notexceeded costs; this may changeas the Elmira children becomeadults. Nevertheless, the savingsdifference between the higher-risk and lesser-risk children illus-trate the value of targeting pro-grams to children who will benefitmost, if taxpayer dollars cannotprovide for all. Similar savingsare not guaranteed to result fromevery targeted early interventionprogram now serving families orbegun from here on out. Other lit-erature reviews emphasize thatsuccessful programs have well-trained, closely supervised per-sonnel, low ratios of children tostaff, and involvement of parentsas much as possible, and areintensive and expensive.

Seizing The Opportunities:Bridging The Investment Gap

With current knowledge of early child devel-opment and the cost-effectiveness experienceof targeted early childhood intervention pro-grams, Pennsylvanians can take some com-mon sense approaches that will help fosterearly learning opportunities and lead to healthydevelopment of its young children.

Promote Good Parenting: Connectionsin a child's brain are sparked by the mostordinary acts of parenting, such as "talk-ing with an infant" and "reading" a picturebook with a toddler. However, relying onsome innate ability of parents to provideordinary good parenting to their childrenis not enough. Parenting education, for-mal and informal, ranging from healthand safety to child development issues,needs to permeate our communities,through news media, and health care,child care, recreation, education and ser-vice providers who touch the lives ofyoung families.

Promote Healthy Children: One inevery eleven Pennsylvania children,including babies, toddlers, and preschool-ers, is without health insurance.

30,000

20,000

a)

10,000-a

Figure 4: RAND Cost-Savings AnalysisPEIP, Perry Preschool Studies

Cost

CISavings

I66% confidence interval

10,000Elmira PEIP

lower-risk familiesElmira PEIP

higher-risk familiesPerry

Preschool

Source: RAND Corporation, Karoly, Lynn A.. Greenwood, Peter W., Everingham,Susan S. et alia, Investing in Our Children: What We Know and Don't Know Aboutthe Costs and Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions, RAND, Santa Monica, CA,1998. To obtain, call 310-451-7002 or http://mvw.rand.org/publications/MR/MR898/.

A SPECIAL REPORT: Opportunities and Risks For Pennsylvania and Its Children 9 7

Pennsylvania KIDS

71

And even with coverage, a plastic carddoes not insure against lack of parentunderstanding of the importance of well-baby check-ups, immunizations and regu-lar health screenings. Uninsured childrenneed to be identified and enrolled inhealth coverage and parents need tosecure a regular health care provider fortheir children. This "medical home" needsto provide whatever support is necessaryto assure that the child is seen for timelypreventive care.

Promote Good Child Care: Three outof five Pennsylvania children are in sometype of child care each day. We knowthat many caregivers have little training inthe most effective techniques of relatingto babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.Without financial assistance, low-incomeparents often cannot afford high qualitychild care. Mothers moving from welfareto work are not necessarily locating highquality child care without specific intervention. Promoting good child care canbe done via caregiver training and stand-dards for child care. Public financial sup-port must be in place so that all low-income families can access the carethey need.

Make Family Centers and FamilySupport Services More AvailableAcross the Commonwealth:Pennsylvania's family centers serve asmall percentage of families with youngchildren. A family center is both a placeand a means of connecting parents ofyoung children to resources, services,and supports. Family centers can be aplace where parents come with theirbabies to meet and connect with otherparents; gain parenting tips; and find a

A SPECIAL REPORT:10

COUNT Partnership

lending library of books, toys, equipmentfor their babies, and books and videos onparenting for themselves. Home visitorsmay work out of family centers. Thesefamily support efforts focus on families,build on family strengths, connect fami-lies with the community, are preventionoriented, offer a wide-range of supportand referral services, and allow familiesan opportunity to articulate their concernsand determine the services they mayneed. Expansion of family centers is awise investment in Pennsylvania children.

Find and Help More Abused orNeglected Infants and Children:Locating children living with a parent orcaretaker who is dysfunctional becauseof alcohol, drug abuse, mental illness, orother problems can prevent or reduce theincidence of serious trauma in the veryearly years and can make later treatmentinterventions easier. The goal should beto assure the child's safety and take allsteps necessary to improve the family'sfunctioning and keep it intact.If a family cannot successfully bereunited, a permanent placement for thechild should be secured as soon aspossible.

Target Preventive Early ChildhoodPrograms to More High-RiskPennsylvania Children:By design, Pennsylvania's EarlyIntervention program for children birth toschool age serves only children with dis-abilities or manifesting serious develop-mental delays. Head Start serves onlyhalf of Pennsylvania's eligible three-andfour-year-olds in poverty. Early HeadStart for children under three serves onlya handful of children. Thus, the availabil-ity of comprehensive early childhood pro-grams for high risk children inPennsylvania is limited.Since risk factors accumulate, and fami-lies and children at greatest risk are likelyto benefit most from early childhood inter-vention programs, increased targeting ofservices and expanding their availabilityto all children at high risk would benefitPennsylvania. The Commonwealth hassuccessful models, but they are notfunded to scale. We should establish agoal of offering early preventive programs

Opportunities and Risks For Pennsylvania and Its Children


to all babies at high risk and their familiesand make meaningful progress toward it.In addition, there is a need to expandcomprehensive pre-kindergarten (pre-K)programs, like Head Start, for at-risk four-year-olds, and make other early educationinvestments before school age.

Sustain Investment In High RiskChildren: While the opportunities pro-vided to children in their earliest years thegains made by these interventions mustbe sustained throughout life.

Therefore, for low-income children, effortsto offer or expand full-day kindergartenprograms and lower elementary classsize have been shown to improve laterschool performance.

Pennsylvania needs to seize these oppor-tunities for all children, and especially for chil-dren in poverty or otherwise at risk, to developinto caring, responsible, able future citizensand bridge the investment gap between poten-tial and reality.

Shedding Light On Early Brain Development(continued from page 1)

Production is at highest rates during theearly years, peaking during ages 2 through10.

In its zeal, the brain overproduces thenumber of connections. Those seldom ornever used, will be "pruned" or eliminated.Those used often enough during various dayto day experiences tend to survive and willbecome permanent.

During this ingenious process, individualbrain cells connect with thousands of others,so that by age 3, roughly 85% of the brain'score structure will be formed, laying thefoundation for who the child will become.

1 L.

As we continue to learn more about thebrain, age-old questions about the relativeroles of nature and nurture, genes and theenvironment are slowly giving ground to agreater focus on the variety of ways heredityand experience jointly influence this fasci-nating process.

In the past, the brain was thought to becomplete at birth. We now know that it islike some gifts under the Christmas Treeit comes with "some assembly required."

However, parents aren't provided with aninstruction booklet to assist them when theirchild is born, and often times parents andother caregivers miss critical opportunitiesto nurture the brain's development.

:CY

A SPECIAL REPORT: Opportunities and Risks For Pennsylvania and Its Children 11 9


Facts Behindthe Faces ofPennsylvania'sChildren:

DropoutsEach year, more than 21,000students, or nearly 4% of stu-dents enrolled in Pennsylvania'shigh schools, drop out.Youth who drop out of school areless likely to be regularlyemployed well into their 20s.Jobs available to dropoutsgenerally do not pay well,are unstable, and havelimited opportunities for upwardmobility.

Juvenile DelinquencyEach year, Pennsylvania'sjuvenile courts place more than4,200 youths in institutions.This means one in 300Pennsylvania youth aged 10-17are on a problematic path toadulthood and have diminishedcommunity safety.

Table Outcome LegendPerforms Much Better Than AveragePerforms Better Than AveragePerforms Worse Than AveragePerforms Much Worse Than Average

Table Source: Children's Data Base of Office of ChildDevelopment, University of Pittsburgh. Methodologysimilar to The State of the Child in Pennsylvania, 1997,Appendix. Note: The poverty estimates have a widemargin of error. For example. the 19.7% statewide isplus or minus 1.8%.

10 12

Pennsylvania

CountyAdamsAlleghenyArmstrongBeaverBedfordBerksBlairBradfordBucksButlerCambriaCameronCarbonCentreChesterClarionClearfieldClintonColumbiaCrawfordCumberlandDauphinDelawareElkErieFayetteForestFranklinFultonGreeneHuntingdonIndianaJeffersonJuniataLackawannaLancasterLawrenceLebanonLehighLuzerneLycomingMcKeanMercerMifflinMonroeMontgomeryMontourNorthamptonNorthumberlandPerryPhiladelphiaPikePotterSchuylkillSnyderSomersetSullivanSusquehannaTiogaUnionVenangoWarrenWashingtonWayneWestmorelandWyomingYork

Dropouts

Average #94-95--96-97

21,022

1171,506

80204

88635214149503249161

118270

36366

1435692

106240471554

51397237

4211

276255

1226727

264727133126379379243

77160100185568

20434194

947,334

1531

1864983

4724729

13465

24380

44931

670

Juvenile Court Delinquency tu

PlacementsPer 100

Students Average # Per 1000Grades 9-12 Outcome 1994 - 96 Youth 10-17 Outcome ;

3.96% 4,214 3.25

2.91% AA 17 1.80 AAA2.90% AAA 670 5.48 A

2.03% AAA 55.

0.61 AAA2.29% AAA 29 1.39 AAA3.24% AA 5 0.76 AAA %,3.77% AA 154 4.19 A k3.12% AA 32 2.03 AA4.08% Aa 7

;0.92 AA

2.01% AAA 214 3.23 AAA3.02% AAA 22 1.13 AA2.14% AAA 30 1.60 AAA ;.3.58% AA 2 3.652.95% AAA 8 1.19 AAA1.70% AA 15 1.44 A2.23% AAA 49 1.10 AA2.62% AAA 0 0.00 AAAA2.93% AAA 30 3.073.12% A 8 1.79 AAA2.44% AAA 3 0.40 AAA2.71% AAA 22 2.03 AA2.94% AAA 45 2.11 A4.47% A 155 6.05 A ;2.80% AAA 112 2.03 AA3.23% AA 4 0.95 AAA3.02% AAA 166 4.983.33% AA 22 1.23 AA1.84% AA 1 0.94 AAA .3.82% AA 21 1.45 AA3.46% AA 0.00 ALLA2.84% AAA 5 0.94 AA2.65% AA 7 1.44 AAA.2.71% AAA 12 1.16 AAA.2.66% AAA 16 2.82 AA2.32% AA 5 1.76 AA3.16% AA 58 2.60 AA,3.85% AA 140 2.672.62% AAA 14 1.30 AAA:2.39% AAA 29 2.143.06% AA 120 4.00 A;2.90% AAA 64 1.97 AA,3.97% A 57 4.11 A.

3.05% AA 7 1.25 AA ;2.63% AA 35 2.53 AA5.50% 5 0.86 AA .2.82% AAA 42 3.30 AA2.18% AAA 95 1.36 AAA2.37% AA 3 1.35 AAA3.72% AA 43 1.62 AAA ,4.37% A 16 1.52 AA3.71% A 8 1.43 AAA .

11.56% 1,278 8.07 i

1.47% AAAA 12 3.22 AA '3.06% AA 3 1.33 AAA2.89% AAA 31 1.89 AAA3.05% AA 4 0.84 AAA1.94% AAA 2 0.21 AAA1.26% AAAA 1 1.77 AAA2.67% AAA 7 1.42 AAA2.16% AAA 10 1.91 AAA2.32% AAA 4 0.93 AAA3.89% AA 8 1.07 AA2.78% AA 7 1.39 AA2.47% AAA 36 1.57 AAA3.01% AAA 7 1.28 AAA2.50% AAA 69 1.72 AAA ,2.06% AAA 4 1.03 AA3.77% AA 91 2.28 L


rennsywania miub l.A.JUlN I rannersnip

Births to Single Teens Children Below Poverty

Per 100

Children Receiving TANF

Per 100Average # Per 100 # Children # Children

1994 - 96 Births Outcome 1993 < 18 yrs. Outcome June 1998 < 18 yrs. Outcome

14,395 9.51% 582,194 19.7% 257,878 8.91%

73 7.39% AAA 2,328 10.8% 467 2.16%1,301 8.39% AA 60,849 20.8% A 26,860 9.60%

65 7.91% A 3,706 19.8% AA 764 4.25% A193 9.11% AA 9,549 20.7% 2,717 6.12%58 10.82% AAA 2,695 21.0% A 282 2.25%

455 10.03% AAA 14,792 17.6% AA 4,917 5.85%169 11.21% AA 7,651 22.8% AA 2,188 6.75% AA72 10.50% A 3,494 20.2% A 863 5.06% A

297 4.04% AAAA 10,730 7.1% 2,821 1.88%127 5.96% AAAA 5,453 13.1% AA 993 2.36%183 10.92% . 7,821 20.1% A 2,377 6.40%

8 11.52% A 252 16.7% A 79 5.39%53 9.18% 2,200 15.9% AA 395 2.90% A66 4.95% A 3,148 12.6% 547 2.20% AA

285 5.27% AAAA 9,494 9.2% AAA 2,359 2.27% A37 7.84% AA 2,233 22.0% AA 452 4.55% A

101 10.75% AA 4,629 22.3% A 1,098 5.43%50 11.46% 1,953 21.6% ALA 541 6.16% AA52 7.87% AA 2,151 14.8% 425 3.00%95 8.79% AA 5,683 24.1% 1,472 6.34% AAA

145 6.31% AAAA 3,649 7.8% 566 1.23% A397 11.97% AA 11,086 18.3% AA 5,011 8.42%498 7.00% AAA 18,586 14.1% AA 8,940 6.91% AAA

35 8.14% AAA 1,057 11.3% 203 2.23% AA485 12.92% A 15,692 20.8% A 7,136 9.63%214 12.32% 12,448 33.9% 5,138 14.39% A

3 7.63% AAA 224 20.8% AA 23 1.85% AA144 9.71% AA 4,363 13.6% AA 764 2.43%

21 12.16% A 648 16.3% AAA. 137 3.50% AA45 9.87% AA 3,184 29.7% A 1,110 10.54%49 10.15% AA 2,131 19.9% A 413 3.89%63 7.01% AAA 5,017 22.7% A 946 4.41%45 8.40% AAA 2,497 20.4% AA 524 4.38% A20 7.13% AAA 787 13.8% AA 66 1.16% AA

194 8.33% AA 9,079 18.6% 2,516 5.33% AA501 7.51% AAA 18,515 15.2% 3,369 2.77%109 10.32% AA 5,935 25.3% 1,964 8.61%143 9.98% 3,575 12.1% A 963 3.32% AA330 8.95% AA 9,979 14.2% A 3,873 5.62%295 8.86% AAA 14,000 19.3% A 3,654 5.27% AA159 10.90% 6,262 20.1% A 1,567 5.22% AA65 12.69% A 2,699 22.5% AA 996 8.54% A

141 10.17% AA 6,609 22.4% AA 2,461 8.48% AA55 8.94% A 2,585 21.5% A 551 4.68% A89 6.22% A 3,489 11.9% AAA 904 2.98% AA

356 3.84% AAAA 11,314 .6.9% AAA 3,862 2.38% AA12 5.35% AAAA 570 12.5% 'AAA 102 2.29% AAA

245 8.47% AAA 7,008 11.4% A 2,165 3.55% AAA90 9.00% A 4,072 17.7% AA 824 3.72% AA46 8.39% AA 1,419 11.9% 255 2.14%

4,243 17.55% A 167,655 43.3% 129,134 34.69% .13 3.90% AAAA 1,037 11.2% AA 223 2.28% AAA19 10.13% AA 1,064 22.2% AA 325 6.88% AA

141 9.08% AA 5,699 16.4% AA 1,326 3.97% AA31 6.81% AAA 1,580 16.0% A 195 2.00%66 7.87% AA 4,471 21.7% A 712 3.56% AAA6 9.71% A 223 15.1% A 26 1.79%

37 10.67% AA 2,266 19.6% 477 4.21% A47 12.24% 2,395 22.1% A 403 3.79% AA25 6.57% AA 1,306 14.6% A 242 2.76% AA69 10.63% AA 3,691 23.5% AA 1,045 6.78% A46 9.56% A 1,955 16.8% 411 3.63% A

181 7.97% AAA 9,576 19.6% A 2,440 5.18% AA47 8.92% AAA 2,011 18.0% 413 3.69% AA

262 6.58% AAA 15,707 17.9% 3,638 4.28% AAA30 8.93% A 1,390 17.0% 259 3.18% AA397 8.89% AA 10,879 12.0% 2,989 3.30% AA

And. &NewGeneration

Births to Single Teens

One in 10 births inisPennsylvania to a single

mother under 20 years of age.These children are more apt tospend at least their early yearsin poverty and in a single parenthome both significant risk fac-tors.

Young Child Poverty

More than 500,000 Pennsylvaniachildren under age 18 live infamilies whose income is belowthe federal poverty level. InMontgomery, Bucks andCumberland counties, 7% of chil-dren live in poverty. In Greene,Fayette and Philadelphia coun-ties, 30% or more live in poverty.

Children in WelfareFamilies

Typically, children living in themost severe economic circum-stances are those living in fami-lies receiving welfare, now calledTemporary Assistance to NeedyFamilies, or TANF.More than 257,000, or one in 11Pennsylvania children, live inTANF families. Counties withthe highest rates of TANFchildren include Philadelphia,Fayette, Greene, Erie andAllegheny. Counties with thelowest rates include Juniata,Cumberland, Sullivan, Forestand Bucks.

Note: The number of Pennsylvania childrenreceiving TAIVF has declined 20% since March1997 when Pennsylvania began implementingchanges in welfare legislation. The economicwell-being of children no longer in welfare fain-ilies is not known.


titiNPRAMia,...1.61riaMMIIMM:rV...44E

References

1. Shore, Rima, Rethinking the Brain: New Insights Into Early Development;Families and Work Institute; 1997; New York, NY. Pp. 48-49 is the source ofinformation on Minnesota long-term study on role of poverty as a risk factorbased on the work of Alan Sroufe and others.

2. Aletha C. Huston, Children in Poverty and Public Policy, PresidentialAddress, American Psychological Association, Division 7 103rd Annual Meeting,New York City, August 1995.

3. Action Alliance for Virginia's Children and Youth, The Children'sAgenda,Richmond, VA, October 1997. Source of information is Simmons and Sheehan,Brain Research Manifests Importance of First Years, 1997.

Special reliance on the following: Office of Child Development, University ofPittsburgh, papers: McCall, Robert B., and Mark S. Strauss, The Brain andDevelopment: What the New Brain Research Says to Parent and ChildProfessionals, Special Report, September 1997. And McCall, Robert B.,Larsen, Lana, Ingram, Angela, et alia, The Science and Policies of EarlyChildhood Education and Family Services, unpublished paper, 1997.

Other references used include:

CIVITAS Initiative, Chicago, II, adapting from How Nurture Becomes Nature:The Influence of Social Structures on Brain Development by Bruce D. Perry,and Bruce D. Perry, Baylor College of Medicine and CIVITAS Initiative, HowExperiences in Early Childhood Create a Healthy Society.

Communities That Care, Developmental Research and Programs, Seattle, WA,What is Communities That Care? 1996.

Connecticut Association for Human Services, Connecticut KIDS COUNT 1997,Hartford, CT, pp. 5-30.

Nash, J. Madeleine, Fertile Minds, Time magazine, Feb. 3, 1997, pp. 49-56.

Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, Inc., Teaching Notes forIntroduction to Brain Development 101, Madison, WI, 1997.

TABLE SOURCES:

Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Information Systems,Division of Data Services. Public Schools: Secondary Enrollments. AnnualSeries. Public Secondary School Dropouts by School. Annual Series,

Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges' Commission. Center for Juvenile JusticeTraining and Research. Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Dispositions. AnnualSeries.

Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Health Statistics. PennsylvaniaVital Statistics. Annual Series.

Poverty data are US Census Bureau estimates obtained from http://www.cen-sus.goviftp/pub/housing/saipe/est9313A.dat.

Data on children receiving TANF obtained from the Pennsylvania Department ofPublic Welfare, Office of Income Maintenance, Division of Statistical Analysis.

Population estimates are US Census data obtained fromhttp://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/co_as.html

Waoixo .10.w tr.hi" Avkivevax ',Z2,^0A1.10.:44P.

The Pennsylvania KIDS COUNT Partnership

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children20 N. Market Square Suite 300

Harrisburg, PA 17101-1632(717)236-5680 (800)257-2030 E-mail: papartnerships.org

http://www.papartnerships.orgJoan L. Benso, Executive Director

Martha C. Bergsten, Director of Research and AnalysisRobert A. Bunty, Director of Communications

Founded in 1990, PPC works with individuals and orga-nizations in the public and private sectors to develop com-mon agendas and strategies that promote the well-being ofPennsylvania's children.

PPC advocates for children and their families throughgovernment relations, research and analysis, communityorganizing, public awareness, training and technical assis-tance. PPC is statewide, independent and bipartisan.

University of Pittsburgh Office of Child DevelopmentPolicy and Evaluation Project

121 University PlacePittsburgh, PA 15260

(412)624-5527 E-mail: [email protected] B. McCall, Co-DirectorChristina Groark, Co-Director

Beth Osborne Daponte, Research Associate

The University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Developmentwas founded in 1986 to build partnerships to advance issuesimportant to children, youth, and families through research andeducation.

Among its current activities, OCD promotes interdisciplinaryresearch and educational programs; stimulates, plans, and man-ages collaborative human service demonstration projects; coor-dinates and produces needs assessments and research briefson issues related to children, youth, and families; and provides arange of interdisciplinary program evaluation services and tech-nical assistance to human service agencies and funders.

Part of the information in this report was supplied by the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development. Public policy recommenda-tions expressed are those of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.

This Special Report is made possible by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement (OER1)

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

NOTICE

REPRODUCTION BASIS

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