Early childhood project off to a good start

Times Contributor

 

Early childhood development is everyone’s business, and Strathmore and area took its first steps to make use of the findings of an Alberta Education-funded program tracking the development of children aged 0-5 years. 

Approximately 20 parents, community members, childhood service providers and teachers met for a presentation by Donna Cushman, the southern Alberta Community Development Coordinator for the Early Child Development Mapping Project Alberta (ECMap) at the Civic Centre Tuesday, April 24.

ECMap collected the results of Early Development Instrument (EDI) assessments done by Golden Hills and Christ the Redeemer School Division Kindergarten teachers of their students, as well as socio-economic information from census data and inventories of resources for services, programs and facilities available for families with young children.

“According to the findings across the province, 25 per cent of the children assessed have great difficulty in at least one developmental area,” said Cushman.

The five developmental areas assessed include physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and thinking skills, and communication skills and general knowledge.

The goal of the project is to identify what areas children are having difficulty in and then find ways to address and if possible alleviate those challenges for the children and their families.

In addition to explaining the program, the meeting established a coalition, which can then access the data compiled by the ECMap. The coalition will be divided into two sub-communities: one made up of Strathmore, Carseland, Gleichen and Cluny, and the other comprising Rockyford, Standard, and Hussar.