Square One: A Division of the Virginia Business Coalition on Health.
Entering School Ready to Read/Learn
What does it take for a child to enter school ready to learn?
Social-Emotional Development
- Children who lack social and emotional skills cannot succeed in school
- 10% of all kindergarten children exhibit problematic behavior
- Children who enter school lacking social and emotional competence are less likely to be
successful by the end of the first grade (US Dept. of Education 2002)
- Ways to improve:
- Ensure quality early childhood programs
- Promote family economic security
- Deliver services aimed at socio-emotional domain
Emergent Literacy
- Importance of first years of life
- Interactive and experiential process of learning language
- Foster natural curiosity of skills through enjoyment of books, importance of positive
interactions, and the critical role of literacy-rich experiences
Children With Special Needs
- Sensory integration dysfunction - Sensory integration is a neurobiological process in which the brain analyzes, interprets, and acts on sensory stimulation taken in from the environment (Ayres 2005; Hatch-Rasmussen 1995).
- Tactile sensation - Tactile sensation is felt and processed by the nerves in the skin and experienced in the brain as touch, temperature, pleasure, pain and pressure.
