Theme areas

Early childhood development evaluation

Early childhood development evaluation: what cannot be seen, cannot be improved

It is known that every child develops according to their own individual rhythm. The process involved in acquiring these abilities, skills and functions, such as crawling, eating and talking, however, takes place in a sequential and coordinated order.

This is why every child needs to acquire the ability to focus the mind or be able to sit, before walking, for example. Science shows us that each stage prepares the child for the next phase and difficulties in acquiring one skill may make the attainment of the next much more challenging - or even inhibit it.

Monitoring the breakthroughs of each child in the development process is essential for ensuring the achievement of their full potential. This is why it is essential that a care network is constructed that is able to monitor, screen and encourage this development in order to be able to identify and act in advance and with a focus on the individual whenever necessary.

This network needs to work in partnership with the child’s carers to ensure that they are informed, engaged and empowered to provide the stimulus, encouragement and support that every child needs to understand themselves and explore the world at the beginning of life.

The majority of the information available on the main Brazilian databases focuses on factors that simply address survival, such as mortality, or biological aspects, such as weight and height - disregarding important development markers.

By calling attention to the advancement and monitoring of the growth and comprehensive development of the child, article 6 of the fourth axis of the National Policy for

Comprehensive Child Health Care shows that there have been advances in Brazil.

Implementation of the policy, however, still needs strengthening. Important tools for this end, such as the Child Health Care Handbook, and certain conditions contained in transfer of revenue programs, which provide mechanisms for monitoring child development, are not widely adhered to or suffer a lack of information.

This causes a structural scarcity of systematized data on the development of children in numerous areas: if we do not understand how our children are developing language skills, for example, we cannot be sure how successful the subsequent learning processes will be.

This insufficiency of information is an obstacle in the planning of public policies and ensuring that they operate effectively to provide the child with their needs, whilst also tackling the numerous inequalities that appear during Early Childhood and are replicated over the course of a lifetime.

Parenting

Strengthening those who care. Support for families in vulnerable situations, from pregnancy to three years of age.

The family, in its various forms, is the first and most important space for a child’s development. Parenting, which is nothing more than the adult’s relationship with the child, plays a central role in this process. The activities, affection, care and limits that the principal carers include in the routine with the child, aimed at supporting their survival and development, right from the time of pregnancy, can be crucial determining factors.

Playing, singing, talking, storytelling, praising and hugging children are all examples of positive practices that aid in the construction of solid and secure bonds - key-elements in ensuring that the development process takes place. On the other hand, shouting, hitting, swearing and ignoring are all examples of practices that can inhibit the development of babies and children.

Exposure to adversities and risk factors such as poverty, food insecurity, violence and others can make the lives of adults and children even more challenging and, similarly, be an obstacle to child development.

In Brazil there are currently more than 20 million children in the age group between birth and six years. Of these, it is estimated that 7.8 million are in a situation of poverty and another 2.2 million are in a situation of extreme poverty. And food insecurity is growing. The rates of domestic violence against children and women are alarmingly high. Slapping and other negative practices are still seen as part of the educational process. Gender, ethnic/racial, socioeconomic and regional inequalities are extreme.

It is therefore extremely important to guarantee that both families and infants in Early Childhood, above all those in vulnerable situations, are supported and protected, and receive access to all the rights to which they are entitled.

Public policies that provide for the adults and support them in their role in caring for, assisting in the development, and strengthening the ties with children, are effective in combating the challenges mentioned above. Programs facilitating the transfer of revenue, the strengthening of parenting, and promotion of development through the use of strategies based upon evidence, such as home visits and communication campaigns, are some examples in this area.

Important advances have been made in this country. Programs, services and benefits focused on the first stage of life, strong legislation that guarantees children’s rights, and a legal framework that clarifies the support available to families in relation to care and the promotion of development are some examples of these advances.

However, both the access to and the quality of the most important services, programs, benefits and public policies offered to the families and their children need to be increased and strengthened.