State Early Childhood Advisory Council of MS

Risks for Childhood Obesity

SECAC of Mississippi — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:41:20 +0000

A recent article in the LA Times reports on risks for childhood obesity beginning during the prenatal period:

“Today, one of every three U.S. children is overweight — but it’s much easier to prevent obesity than to treat it. That’s why pediatric obesity experts now say intervention should begin early — very early. The risk of becoming overweight or obese, it increasingly seems, begins before a child is born, establishes roots in infancy and may be entrenched by the time a tot starts kindergarten.

In recent studies, researchers concluded that some risk factors for childhood obesity exist even before birth. Further, they’ve found, obese 3-year-olds already show the signs of inflammation that is linked to heart disease in adults.

The notion that a person’s lifelong weight trajectory might be programmed early in life is startling — and potentially revolutionary, says Dr. Nicolas Stettler, an associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania.”

Click here for the rest of the article.

Filed under: Health Access

New Report on State Data Systems

SECAC of Mississippi — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:36:15 +0000

The Data Quality Campaign, a national collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement, has released a new report. The report, Inaugural Overview of States’ Actions To Leverage Data To Improve Student Success, examines states’ actions to use data effectively, including efforts to:

expand the ability of state data systems to link across P–20/workforce (i.e., preschool to college and/or workforce) pipeline
ensure that data collected can be accessed, analyzed, and used by practitioners and policy makers
build the capacity of all stakeholders, such as researchers, educators, and the public, to use longitudinal data

A copy of this report can be found on the Data Quality Campaign website or by clicking here.

Filed under: Data

Free Webinar from Child Care Aware Parent Network

SECAC of Mississippi — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:03:14 +0000

Child Care Aware Parent Network have announced another free webinar. This evening session features Mario Luis Small, author of “Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life,” discussing how child care centers support the formation of social networks within a community. As families connect with one another through their childrens’ child care, they form social relationships that can provide anything from parenting advice to job referrals and can help them develop stronger ties to their communities.

The webinar, hosted Tuesday, February 16th 7:00 pm, will describe the most important characteristics of child care centers that encourage parents to form social networks and share what you can do to help make your child care center the center of your community. To register, go to https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/734149587.

Filed under: Coordinated Service Delivery, General

Abuse of Children Under 5 More Damaging

SECAC of Mississippi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:07:13 +0000

Researchers from the University of Minnesota found that children who were abused before the age of five had more emotional problems and poorer coping abilities later in life than children abused after this critical period of development. Findings include more frequent reports of depression and major dysregulation of the stress system, indicating that the childrens’ ability to cope with stress has been significantly compromised. Read more at PsychCentral

Filed under: Coordinated Service Delivery, Health Access

Changes to the DSM Disorder Categories

SECAC of Mississippi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:53:02 +0000

The American Psychiatric Association has released the proposed changes to the official listing of disorders and their criteria for diagnosis to be published in the upcoming 5th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Changes that may affect young children include:

elimination of a separate diagnosis of Rett’s Disorder
elimination of a separate diagnoses for Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified to be included under the category of Autism Spectrum Disorder
addition of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Preschool Children
propose Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Disphoria as an alternative to pediatric bipolar disorder
addition of Learning Disabilities (that will now include the previous diagnoses of disorder of written expression and learning disorder not otherwise specified)
addition of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury
moving Pica, Rumination Disorder, and Feeding Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood to the Eating Disorder category (no longer included in Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence)
moving Separation Anxiety Disorder to the Anxiety Disorder category (no longer included in Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence)

The draft of the disorders and disorder criteria that have been proposed by the DSM-5 Work Groups can be found online here. You can read about the proposed changes to the specific disorders, especially those that affect early childhood, by following links to each section. Please note that the proposed criteria listed are not final; they are initial drafts of the recommendations that have been made to date by the DSM-5 Work Groups. Comments will be welcomed until April 20, 2010.

Filed under: Health Access

Lifestyle Related to Childhood Obesity

SECAC of Mississippi — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:38:07 +0000

Researchers from Ohio State University and Temple University published findings that point to the cumulative effect of three specific lifestyle choices on childhood obesity: young children least likely to be obese ate dinner with their families six or seven times a week, slept for at least 10.5 hours each night and watched less than two hours of television per day.

NEMS Opinion supports early childhood education

SECAC of Mississippi — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:27:37 +0000

Chris Kieffer posted an opinion article supporting early childhood education efforts “to reach children during their most formative years [to] benefit the state economically and give more children the opportunity to succeed.”

Click here to link to this article.

Filed under: General

SECAC Meeting 2/3/10

SECAC of Mississippi — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:00:27 +0000

The SECAC will be holding a public meeting on February 3rd from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. in the East Conference Room of the Woolfolk Building at 501 North West Street.

The following agenda items will be covered:

Updates from the Chair (Nadine Coleman) and Executive Director (Stacy Callender)
Committee Reports: Data Committee Report (Kris Kaase), Workforce Development Committee Report (Louise Davis), In-Home Provider Registry Committee Report (Jill Dent), Coordinated Service Delivery Committee Report (Steve Renfroe), Health Access Committee Report (Rhea Bishop)
Business: ARRA State Advisory Council Grant (Nadine Coleman), Statewide EC Resource Directory (Stacy Callender), Guidelines for Public Comments (Stacy Callender)
Public Comments

The public is encouraged to attend!

Posted in General

New Reports and Articles on Child Care in America

SECAC of Mississippi — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:53:44 +0000

Several reports and articles have come out this month about child care in America including:

National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies – State Budget Cuts – Jan 6, 2010
US Department of Health and Human Services – Head Start Impact Study – Jan 13, 2010
Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine – Nurse Home Visitation Program reduces criminal behavior in girls – Jan 2010
Wall Street Journal – Should the Government Help Provide Child Care? – Jan 5, 2010
New America Foundation – Federal Context & Funding Opportunities for PreK-3rd – updated Jan 12, 2010

Posted in General

Health Access Committee Meeting

SECAC of Mississippi — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:54:20 +0000

The Health Access Committee of the SECAC will meet on Tuesday, January 19th at 3:00 p.m. The meeting will take place in the Governor’s Office (Sillers Building, 550 High Street, Jackson, MS 39202).

This committee is responsible for assisting with the implementation of the 2008 recommendation to develop and implement a process by which health access issues are addressed for children ages birth to five. At this meeting, the committee will be developing their proposal for a state grant application through ARRA (i.e., Stimulus bill). This grant is intended to assist the state in developing and implementing the recommendations of the State Early Childhood Advisory Council.

In addition, the committee will review the newly release needs assessment of the Mississippi State Department of Health concerning the Maternal Child Health Program. [see below]

This meeting is open to the public. For more information, please contact the SECAC Executive Director at 601-576-2049 or scallender@governor.state.ms.us.

Posted in Health Access