State Sen. Nicole Akins Boyd of Oxford, who chaired the Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families last year, wants to improve Mississippi’s First Steps early intervention program. “We’re not doing a good job on this,” she said on SuperTalk radio.
“The statistics came out that we were one of the worst in the country,” she said, pointing to just over 1,500 children served when between 10,000 and 12,000 needed services.
The Senate has passed a bill Boyd introduced that would establish a special task force to propose changes to improve and expand the existing First Steps program.
Five years ago the University of Mississippi Graduate Center for the Study of Early Learning, headed by the late Dr. Melody Musgrove and Dr. Cathy Grace (now retired) brought experts to Jackson to inform state leaders about the importance of early intervention.
“What one thing could Mississippi do to have a more competitive workforce, a healthier population, more college graduates, fewer welfare mothers, better school performance, fewer special needs children, less drug usage and pay for itself seven times over?” I wrote after attending the lectures.
The answer remains true today. “Improve cognitive development in at-risk children right from birth.”
Sound too good to be true? Science says otherwise. Cognitive development deals with fundamental brain skills that enable children to think, read, learn, remember, and pay attention. From these fundamental skills, children develop their capacities to speak, understand, calculate, interact, and deal with complex systems.
Long-term research has shown two things conclusively: 1) cognitive abilities get firmly set based on what happens to children during their first weeks and months after birth; and 2) targeted early interventions can make a profound difference.
This research was the life work of Drs. Craig and Sharon Ramey who began pioneering brain development research at the Civitan International Research Center at the University of Birmingham. By 2018 as distinguished research scholars and practitioners at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, the Rameys had pulled together over 40 years of scientific research and tracking to irrefutably show that "cognitive disabilities can be prevented in early childhood."
"The health, education, and well-being of children forecast the future of communities and states," said Dr. Craig Ramey. "If we don't get a significant sector of the population started early, it is hard to make a difference later."
Significant impacts from early interventions include leveling the playing field in educational performance for at-risk children, improving their college going rates by four to one, reducing their use of public assistance by five to one, and improving their average earnings by 50%. The cost-benefit analysis of these targeted interventions by Dr. James Heckman, Nobel Prize winning economist at the University of Chicago, showed a 7.3 to 1 return on investment by adulthood.
Hopefully, Sen. Boyd can finally spur action on this.
“Train up a child in the way he should go” – Proverbs 22:6.
15 comments:
No mention of fathers in the equation, whats up with that?
No "early intervention" program will ever be able to compensate for the absence of married and loving mothers and fathers. Children who fail to thrive are a symptom of moral decay, we cannot "fix" them without addressing the larger issue.
“What one thing could Mississippi do to have a more competitive workforce, a healthier population, more college graduates, fewer welfare mothers, better school performance, fewer special needs children, less drug usage and pay for itself seven times over?” I wrote after attending the lectures.
The answer is very simple. Quit paying women to have babies. Force fathers to take care of their children. Refuse to pay to raise a child that does not have their father's name on their birth certificate.
Well sounds like we’ve identified the problem. Now they just need to find creative ways to fix it. Easy part is done
“Improve cognitive development in at-risk children right from birth.”
How about starting with having a dad in the house?
Watched the movie Idiocracy a few weeks ago. If you have not seen it, check it out, because this is where Mississippi is now.
The only people that are ever held to a standard are those that actually have the ability to contribute to society.
How about giving the women a way out , before we have to deal with dad along with the other things she won’t get support from?
You don’t need a father present to be a decent human being and have morals. You don’t have to have a mother either FYI.
3:12pm
"...don't need a father (or) a mother either"?
Right, just rent them out, like the Cartels do.
"You don’t need a father present to be a decent human being and have morals. You don’t have to have a mother either FYI."
It's this type of thinking that is destroying the Republic.
2:38pm
"...give the women a way out..." They have a way out, Free Will and/or Birth Control. Of course two parents' guidance helps.
Choice and Vouchers will vastly improve education and peer group pressure.
Bring back DL Gardner.
Bring back James Tulp.
Bill and Sid need Captain Obvious to proofread their writings.
You have no choice but to have them, it’s your problem .
May not solve all the challenges. But may mitigate. Or just say sorry, too bad?
5:34 PM, They do have a choice if they have babies. Hasn't someone ever gave you the talk? Babies are not really brought by a stork. Birth control of free. The one big problem is the people having the babies are not smart enough to know how to use birth control.
3:12 pm said...
"You don’t need a father present to be a decent human being and have morals. You don’t have to have a mother either FYI."
And thank you, Director of Hatcheries & Conditioning, for your trenchant comments.
Post a Comment