Communities for Children held their kickoff event and data release last week, revealing to the public the results of survey done on local kindergarten students.
In the Barrhead-Fort Assiniboine area 84 children were analyzed using an Early Development Instrument (EDI), a questionnaire completed by kindergarten teachers. The questionnaire focused on children’s development in five key areas: social competence, language and thinking skills, physical health and well-being, emotional maturity, and communication skills and general knowledge.
Results showed the majority of children are developing appropriately, in many cases better than the province average. However, there is still a large percentage that are experiencing difficulty, particularly in language and thinking skills as well as emotional maturity.
Physical health and well-being showed 19 per cent of students experiencing difficulty or great difficulty; emotional maturity showed 27.4 per cent; communication skills and general knowledge showed 23.9 per cent; social competence showed 25 per cent; language and thinking skills, the highest risk area, showed 32.1 per cent of children experiencing difficulty or great difficulty.
Overall, 25 per cent of local kindergarten children are experiencing great difficulty in one or more areas of development, compared to 27 in all of Alberta.
Questionnaire results of children below age four and above age seven, who have been diagnosed with severe disabilities, or who have been in the kindergarten class less than one month and are therefore not well known by the teacher were not included in the final data results.
A group of parents, grandparents, dignitaries, and library and school representatives viewed the data release presentation, lead by Communities for Children member Pam Kollross.
Putting this data together can create a better understanding of how young children are doing, and the factors that may influence their development. Although language and thinking skills came up as a higher risk than the other areas, Kollross said she would like to see 0 per cent risk in every area.
“Twenty-five per cent at risk is not OK, so we’re going to be looking at every area,” she said.
Though the coalition plans to focus on all areas, Kollross said language and thinking skills is a nice area to start with because they can start with books. Parents can do story time with their children. Are their children able to open a book? Do they know reading basics? Do they know what a book is?
“It’s an easier place for us to start perhaps than the other areas,” said Kollross. “I think we’re going to get our feet wet with that one, and go from there.”
With a successful presentation under their belt, the coalition is currently brainstorming their next steps. Kollross said she is excited about getting the information out to everybody and to get everybody included in the process.
“Now that we have the data, we can really start to move forward and address these issues,” she said. “I’m hoping that everybody walked away from the presentation with a sense of optimism and hope, and feeling like there is a purpose here.”
Communities for Children is also sharing information with other coalitions in regards to challenges they had and how they overcame obstacles, as some coalitions received their data last year.
“I think a lot of it’s going to be pooling resources through the whole province, and collecting information from the community,” said Kollross. “I’m really looking forward to seeing the coalition grow with new members.”
“Moving forward now we’re going to work on looking at what’s available in our existing community, and how we can improve to respond to the needs that are out there,” added Communities for Children chairperson Melody Ulmer.
Communities for Children meets to discuss next steps Dec. 6 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. These gatherings are open to the public, and the coalition encourages anyone interested to attend. For more information on the coalition, contact Maureen Fiebich at [email protected].
