Positive outcomes for children: Early Years Professionals effecting change

In the past decade early years education has expanded throughout England with progressive extensions in entitlement to some hours of free provision. Furthermore, there is consistent evidence that shows that early years education leads to improvement in cognitive and social development for children. This paper uses the latest data from the Millennium Cohort Study to consider whether, in an era of near universal provision, receipt of early years education still leads to better outcomes for children than for those who did not receive early years education and whether different characteristics of provision produce better outcomes. The outcome measures we consider are the Foundation Stage Profile Assessments that apply to all children in England.

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Family Foster Care: Let's Not Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater

Children Australia ◽

10.1017/cha.2017.23 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. 217-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Dominic McSherry ◽

Montserrat Fargas Malet

Keyword(s):

Foster Care ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

Basic Premise ◽

Journal Editors ◽

Family Foster Care ◽

Outcomes For Children ◽

At Home

In 2014, an article written by Dr Frank Ainsworth and Patricia Hansen was published in Children Australia entitled ‘Family foster care: Can it survive the evidence?’ The basic premise of the article was that evidence indicates family foster care either doesn't change the likelihood of positive outcomes for children, or makes it more difficult for positive outcomes to be achieved. Essentially, the view was that foster care is a risk to children in much the same way as there is a risk for children remaining at home with abusive or neglectful parents. As such, the authors stated that there should be a reduction in the use of family foster care, and increased efforts to keep children at home with supports. This article only came to our attention recently, and we had some issues with the conclusions that were drawn by the authors, particularly in terms of the evidence that is used to support their proposition. We were kindly offered an opportunity by the journal editors to submit this responding article.

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Community Connectors (CCx): the strategies employed by peer to peer connectors to foster relationships with early years caregivers to improve universal early child health and development

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-021-06184-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

C. F. Mills ◽

E. Lowrie ◽

K. Kinloch ◽

E. Hall

Keyword(s):

Early Stage ◽

Child Outcomes ◽

Study Data ◽

Early Years ◽

Sampling Frame ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Development Platform ◽

Economically Deprived ◽

Outcomes For Children ◽

The Impact

AbstractBlackpool is one of the most deprived Local Authority (LA) areas in England; in April 2015 the Blackpool Better Start (BBS) Partnership was allocated £45 million over 10 years from the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) as one of five ‘A Better Start’ initiative areas in England. The aim of the ‘A Better Start’ initiative is to improve outcomes for children from conception to 3 years of age. Co-designed by professionals and the community, the Community Connector (CCx) programme employs residents to directly engage caregivers of children, in seven of Blackpool’s most socio-economically deprived wards. The CCx follow a socioecological framework which proposes that caregivers will be positively influenced to engage in early years activities because of connections to trained peers. Peer support models are commonly applied within targeted early years health settings (i.e., infant feeding support, literacy) yet their role to improve child outcomes at a universal level has received little attention. This paper focuses on caregiver-level evidence of the strategies employed by CCx - part of an early stage pilot study supported by Frontiers of Innovation, the Harvard Centre on the Developing Child’s Research and Development platform.The study collated attendance data from Children’s Centres, these are publically funded community centres providing information and activities for families with children 0–5 years of age. The study data included individual interactions between a CCx and caregiver over a 1 year period (1st April 2018 – 31st March 2019). A sampling frame was created from which a total of 22 interviews with caregivers were undertaken in early years community settings. The interview data was thematically analysed; the findings highlighted the mechanisms by which CCx served to mediate service and caregiver communication boundaries, negotiate access to spaces, and encouraged sustained engagement in longer term activities such as volunteering and training. Value was embedded by the CCx in their process of establishing and maintaining connections with caregivers through the ‘everyday’ conversations, their individualised approach and in demonstrating self-efficacy behaviours. Further research is required to review the impact of the CCx role in caregiver’s recall of early years information, nevertheless the study provided important learning for establishing formalised CCx programmes elsewhere, and has implications for community health and early years policy and practice.

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Parents’ Perspectives on Their Child’s Music Therapy: A Qualitative Study

Journal of Music Therapy ◽

10.1093/jmt/thz018 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. 91-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luke Annesley ◽

Katherine Curtis-Tyler ◽

Eamonn McKeown

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Community Setting ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Music Therapists ◽

Outcomes For Children ◽

The Impact ◽

Perceived Outcomes ◽

Inductive Thematic Analysis

Abstract This qualitative study explored parents’ perspectives on their child receiving individual music therapy in a community setting in an NHS service in London, UK. Parents of children aged 6–11 receiving or recently discharged from music therapy took part. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews which were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following procedures of inductive thematic analysis. Music therapy was generally perceived to provide a nurturing environment for children, and communication with music therapists was mostly experienced as helpful, but with some perceived challenges. Parents perceived positive outcomes of music therapy, including children becoming calmer and engaging more with musical activities at home. Understanding of music therapy was perceived as an evolving process for parents. Some parents described a need for more information prior to music therapy. The findings of this study broadly support the model in the service of working with children aged 6–11 without parents generally present during sessions. However, there were indications that, for some families, a more flexible approach might be beneficial for the child. Participants’ commentaries on perceived outcomes for children indicate potential for intervention studies investigating the impact of music therapy, while broader perceptions of the value of music therapy indicate a need for studies exploring reasons for effectiveness.

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Evidence-Based Practices and Implementation Science in Special Education

Council review ◽

10.1177/0014402913079002021 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 79 (2) ◽

pp. 135-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Bryan G. Cook ◽

Samuel L. Odom

Keyword(s):

Special Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Implementation Science ◽

State Level ◽

Significant Advance ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

Evidence Based Practices ◽

Disciplinary Field ◽

Outcomes For Children

Establishing a process for identifying evidence-based practices (EBPs) in special education has been a significant advance for the field because it has the potential for generating more effective educational programs and producing more positive outcomes for students with disabilities. However, the potential benefit of EBPs is bounded by the quality, reach, and maintenance of implementation. The cross-disciplinary field of implementation science has great relevance for translating the promise of EBPs into positive outcomes for children and youth with disabilities. This article examines the history, extent, and limitations of EBPs and describes the emergence and current state of implementation science as applied in special education. Subsequent articles in this special issue of Exceptional Children address a range of issues related to implementation science in special education: the research-to-practice gap, dissemination and diffusion, adherence and sustainability, scaling up, a model for state-level implementation, and fostering implementation through professional development.

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Framing the Family Meal: A Comparison of Social Marketing Campaigns and Parents’ Views

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x15596196 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 78-103 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tracy Bacon

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

Single Parents ◽

Family Meals ◽

Meal Frequency ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

Family Meal ◽

The Family ◽

Outcomes For Children ◽

Social Marketing Campaigns ◽

Parents Experiences

Research suggests family meals are associated with positive outcomes for children, leading scholars to recommend their public promotion. Several organizations have created campaigns promoting family meals, but little research has been done on their efficacy. This article compares framing strategies of family meal campaigns with parents’ understandings of feeding work, based on content analysis of 10 campaign websites and interviews with 46 American parents. The analysis suggests that while the motivational and diagnostic frames campaigns use are likely to resonate with parents, their prognostic framing does not align with parents’ experiences. Campaign frames are least likely to resonate with single parents, who face more barriers to having the kinds of meals they want and have fewer ideas for overcoming them. To be more effective, organizations promoting family meals should focus on innovative but relatable strategies for improving family meal frequency and quality, with a particular emphasis on single parents.

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