Rachel Gillen's Blog

If I had the ability to conduct any research I wanted, I would look into a research study that would study the long-term effects of Early Childhood Education. Are there any? What are they? Are they positive or negative? Does it make a difference the type of program a child went to or different aspects of the program? I have always known that there are skeptics in our world about the benefits of Early Childhood Education but, I have always seen the positive effects on every child I work with. I gave a tour one time to a single mom who was worried about convincing her ex-husband to send their daughter to preschool. She informed me that he did not believe in early childhood education. This tour made me think about the lack of knowledge or understanding on all of the benefits early childhood programs bring for children. I know there have been studies that have looked into this but, I feel like there are not that many due to the challenges that come up with completing long-term research l

Working with children in a residential treatment facility, I have become increasingly interested in mental health. All of the children we work with have had some form of trauma, abuse, or neglect in their early childhood years which has greatly affected their mental health. I see everyday the affect adverse experiences can have on our mental health. This Youtube video had a great impact on my overall interest in early childhood mental health. Due to my interest in mental health and the early childhood field, my research simulation topic is, if a child in a high-quality early education program that focuses on social emotional development, will see a positive impact on their mental health even if they are exposed to adverse experiences like the ones discussed in the video above? An insight I have gained so far through this course is the literature review. This has always been an extremely hard concept for me. I have always been the person who looks for articles and studies that are