Now it is autumn, and maple leaves are turning red. We hope you enjoy the magic and splendor of this beautiful season.

 

This issue has several items of interest. They are: an overview of Child Trends, some KIT research findings, a brief profile of Prof. Ching-Ching Cheng at National Chiayi University, and a book review of Someday, a storybook written by Alison MeGhee about children’s growth.

 

Child Trends

Child Trends is a U.S. non-profit research organization. With an aim to improve the lives of children and youth, Child Trends conducts independent research and works together with practitioners and policymakers. The databank it created consists of statistics and journal papers relevant to children in the U.S. Since Child Trends studies children from infancy to early adulthood, information collected by the databank covers a variety of topics, including children in poverty, child welfare, early childhood development, education and parenting, health and safety, family formation, teens pregnancy, and youth development. Child Trends presents study results through straighforward texts and clear figures, which makes readers with different backgrounds easily understand the data and evidence it provides. To attract more attention from the public, their research findings have also been posted on social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. Please visit https://www.childtrends.org/ for more information.

Highlight of KIT Findings

Cognitive development: In a public place, when you ask the child to lower his/her voice, he/she follows the instruction immediately and stays that way for at least several minutes.
Children at 1 year of age (N=6874)
[Proficient: 10.2%, Intermediate: 5.5%, Beginning: 18.1%, Not yet: 66.1%
Children at 1.5 years of age (N=6866)
[Proficient: 11.1%, Intermediate: 21.8%, Beginning: 39.1%, Not yet: 27.9%
Children at 2 years of age (N=6775)
[Proficient: 25.5%, Intermediate: 33%, Beginning: 33%, Not yet: 8.4%
Language development: The child at 1 year of age can utter sounds such as “ba”, “ma”, or “da”. (N=6874)
[Proficient: 76.2%, Intermediate: 15%, Beginning: 7.3%, Not yet: 1.5%
Physical-motor development: The child at age 1 can throw a ball overarm using one arm. (N=6874)
[Proficient: 8.8%, Intermediate: 7.1%, Beginning: 11%, Not yet: 73.2%
Social-emotional development: When I come home, the one-year-old child shows his/her joy immediately by smiling or greeting me. (N=6874)
[Always: 76.6%, Often: 24.4%, Sometimes: 6.5%, Rarely: 1.1%, Never: 0.4%
Responds from parents: My spouse and I work together as a team in educating our one-year-old child/children. (N=6874)
[Strongly agree: 31.1%, Agree: 56.2%, Disagree: 9.4%, Strongly disagree: 1.0%, Not applicable: 2.3%
Responds from caregivers: I read stories to the one-year-old child (without looking at books). (N=465)
[ Strongly agree: 7 times or more a week (more than once per day): 7.3%, 5~6 times a week: 25.8%, 3~4 times a week: 18.9%, Once or twice a week: 25.8%, Less than once per week: 5.4%, Never provided: 16.6%

About Prof. Ching-Ching Cheng

Prof. Ching-Ching Cheng is the chair of Department of Early Childhood Education, National Chiayi University. She has been involved in the KIT project since its pilot study started. Also, in Phase I & Phase II of the project, Prof. Cheng was the coordinator of the study conducted in the central region of Taiwan. Prof. Cheng has been devoted to interdisciplinary research for many years, and she has published extensively in the fields of application of digital technology in education, professional development of preschool teachers, and early childhood education assessment.

Book Review

Someday, a picture book written by Alison MeGhee about children’s growth, illustrates the love and dream of every mother. Its English version is available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Someday-Alison-McGhee/dp/1416928111), and readers can find its Chinese version at Books.com.tw (https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010634299). Click https://youtu.be/g2Ll0gleh1w to listen.