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Tampa Tribune Editorial: Focus on Early Childhood Improves Lives

Focus on Early Childhood Improves Lives

By Lise Fox
(This Commentary ran in the Tampa Tribune July 10, 2006)


For more than 30 years, the USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute has provided local, statewide and national leadership in identifying effective approaches for vulnerable children and their families.

We answer the call of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which in its latest Kids Count Data Book calls for a range of steps to ensure all children enter kindergarten with the skills and competencies necessary to learn and succeed in school.
As Casey Foundation president Doug Nelson states, “Strengthening early childhood development can help to assure that all children begin life on a level playing field.”

As director of the Division of Applied Research and Educational Support at the institute’s Department of Child & Family Studies, I have the privilege of working with many people involved in projects that meet the social and emotional needs of children and promote school readiness. Research shows that positive early childhood experiences can lead to better academic achievement and social proficiencies as children navigate adolescence into successful adulthood.

For example, the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program, funded by the Florida Legislature, is an early intervention/school readiness program that helps educationally disadvantaged parents provide academic enrichment for their preschool children.

We are also part of two centers focused specifically on early childhood. The Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior works to meet the needs of young children who have, or at risk for, problem behavior. The center is actively involved in conducting research and promoting practices that prevent and address challenging behavior in very young children.

Also, USF is one of six partners involved in the national Center on Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. This five-year project was designed to strengthen the capacity of Head Start and other child-care programs.

Locally, we have provided training and technical assistance to community early childhood education and care programs focused on promoting children’s social development. These efforts have been in collaboration with the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, which has made the support of young children its focus and provided outstanding leadership in the area of early childhood development.

I am proud to work with the many individuals dedicated to improving outcomes for disadvantaged children and their families. While I realize there is still much work to be done, I am encouraged by the collaboration of individuals, families, schools and communities who together develop successful strategies, activities and relationships.

Lise Fox, PhD, is director and a professor with the Division of Applied Research & Educational Support, Department of Child and Family Studies, at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute.

 

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