Canada – The needs of Canada’s aboriginal children

The situation of many aboriginal children and their families is dire, and the increasing proportion of aboriginal children being taken way from their families and put in government care is a clear indicator of how the situation is worsening. In B.C., recent Ministry of Children and Family Development reports show that 54 per cent of all aboriginal children are in care.

International agencies such as UNICEF and the OECD have condemned Canada for its record on aboriginal children. The Canadian Senate committee on poverty has decried the lack of early-childhood strategy for children living in poverty. On this measure, too, aboriginal children and their families are among the poorest of the poor. Social workers who work with aboriginal children and their families are appalled and stressed by the situations in which they are placed.

Well-documented evidence presented a month ago by the Assembly of First Nations at a UN human rights tribunal shows that spending on the education of first nations children in Canada is less than that spent on other children.

Our organization’s 2007 environmental scan of early childhood development and care government programs for aboriginal children shows that fewer than one-third of children aged six and younger are accessing early-childhood programs on reserve. Federal funding for early childhood development and care programs for aboriginal preschool children has not increased for several years, and we are hearing that cuts to on-reserve child care are likely on the way.

The federal flagship Aboriginal Head Start program has been shown to be effective in preparing disadvantaged children to succeed in school, but it hasn’t increased in several years, and, according to University of Victoria professor Jessica Ball, it serves only 10 per cent of eligible aboriginal children.

All the position papers and studies and all the international and national condemnation don’t seem to be making any difference. What will it take?

Karen Isaac Executive director,

B.C. Aboriginal Child Care Society

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/needs+Canada+aboriginal+children/3214662/story.html

US – Veggie Project expands to fight childhood obesity

Sergio Escafuller hopes to change the way people think about fruit and veggies.

He’s landed his first job at The Veggie Project, which brings farmers’ markets to communities that tend to have the lowest concentrations of grocery stores and poor produce selection.

The project is open for the season, having expanded to six locations this summer.

At eight years old, Sergio knows enough about cabbage, zucchini, green beans and Southern peaches to get customers to leave with an armful of produce.

He uses his warm personality, handwritten signs and chants like ‘get your fruits and veggies to make you healthy” to get people to visit the produce stand.

“Eating fruits and veggies makes my body strong,” the St. Edward student said. “Even if they look disgusting, they are still actually good.”

Sergio is paid veggie bucks for time worked and uses them to buy produce like tomatoes, corn and peaches at the market.

“He is being reaffirmed about the value of vegetables,” said Dalmus Sanchez, Sergio’s mom. “He feels he has a job and is working for something he cares about.

“He wants to eat what he buys with more gusto than he would if I was feeding it to him.”

Vanderbilt launches program

The Veggie Project aims to address childhood obesity, family nutrition and food security issues. It recently opened for the season.

To educate children about nutrition, youngsters are recruited form the community to run and advertise the markets. They are part of the Youth Leader Board, a summer-long program in which they man the market as well as participate in weekly field trips and nutrition education classes.

The Veggie Project, which began as a dissertation project of a Vanderbilt University student in 2007, is a grant-funded community development and research program through the http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.org/interior.php?mid=3648″>Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Organizers load up their cars three times a week and set up shop in East Nashville, Woodbine, Wedgewood and North Nashville, bringing produce to some neighborhoods that otherwise don’t have access.

Last year the markets sold 6,864 pounds of food from 14 local farmers to over 1,200 customers.

“We hope the kids gain a deeper appreciation for the significance of healthy food and they start demanding more of it from their parents and community as well,” said Liz Aleman, healthy children’s program manager at Children’s Hospital.

“The hope is that they will began to change their behavior after they have sold and been a big part of providing access to fruits and vegetables to their neighborhood.”

All about veggie bucks
As an incentive to get people to patronize the market, adults can participate in the super shopper rewards program.

By signing up, they have an opportunity to earn veggie bucks for activities that promote learning more about preparing and consuming locally grown produce.

Participants can earn vouchers to the market for completing surveys, submitting healthy recipes or attending cooking classes.

Another benefit of The Veggie Project is that all food that comes into the community through the project stays in the community. Any leftover food is donated to local organizations and agencies such as homeless shelters and drug rehab centers.

“We are trying to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables to change the environment,” said Liz Aleman, healthy children’s program manager at Children’s Hospital.

“We partner that with nutrition education and are giving out recipes and facts about the products we sell.”

Benefits for all, says doctor
Many children in neighborhoods that are considered food deserts often eat what is available and least expensive, mostly fast food or processed foods.

“Children are less familiar with vegetables than they used to be,” said Gregory Plemmons, director of the Pediatric Weight Management Clinic at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

“Fresh fruits and vegetables are affordable, but if not available, people won’t buy them. Everyone needs to eat more fruits and vegetables, not just overweight kids. If you increase your intake, you lower your risk of cancer and heart disease. It benefits all the kids in these neighborhoods.”

Jose Serrano says the best part of working at the market is getting a chance to buy produce.

“The fruit is so delicious,” the 10-year-old said. “Since I see the fruits and veggies every week, it makes me more hungry to eat them more, instead of fast food.”

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100629/DAVIDSON/100629019/Veggie-Project-expands-to-fight-childhood-obesity-

School-based food and fitness programmes may cut diabetes risk

Schools can play an important role in lowering children’s risk of type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests. Researchers found that secondary school students were less likely to be obese and to have other risk factors for diabetes if their school offered healthier food, more vigorous PE lessons, and expanded health education.

What do we know already?

Roughly 1 in 7 children in the UK are very overweight (obese), and that number is rising. Obese children are at higher risk for several health problems, including asthma and high blood pressure. They are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. People with this disease have too much glucose (sugar) in their blood. Over time, this can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease and kidney failure.

Reducing rates of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes is a public health priority, and schools are a logical place to start, as they can influence what children eat, their activity levels, and their health awareness.

To test the potential of school-based programmes, researchers have done a three-year study involving more than 4,600 children, from around age 11, at 42 schools in the US. Half of the schools were instructed to provide students with healthier food and drink options, more vigorous periods of exercise, and education promoting healthy behaviour. The other 21 schools (the comparison group) were not instructed to make any changes.

What does the new study say?

After three years, students who had been overweight or obese at the start of the study were 21 percent less likely to be obese if their school had adopted the changes. Students at these schools also had other signs of a lower diabetes risk, including smaller average waist sizes, and lower levels of insulin in their blood after not eating for a while. (High levels of ‘fasting’ insulin can indicate a greater risk of type 2 diabetes.)

While children who were overweight at the start of the study did better if they took part in the diabetes prevention programme, surprisingly, the researchers found no overall difference between the schools in their percentages of overweight or obese pupils. In fact, both school groups had similar declines in their total numbers of overweight students. The researchers can’t be certain why this happened, but they offer a couple of theories. All parents were notified if their child was at high risk of diabetes, so perhaps some parents made changes at home to help their child lose weight. Also, the comparison schools might have implemented their own programmes to improve their students’ health without the researchers knowing.

The study didn’t say how many students developed type 2 diabetes.

How reliable are the findings?

This was a randomised controlled trial, which is the best type of study for finding out whether a treatment works. It was large and followed students for a long time. This makes it less likely that the findings were down to chance.

However, we need to be a bit cautious about some of these results. The study was designed primarily to spot differences in the overall numbers of students who were overweight or obese, and this guided how many schools and students were recruited for the research. However, some of the study’s most compelling findings came from looking at a subgroup – students who had been obese or overweight at the start of the study. This was a much smaller group of students, so we can’t be as certain about these findings.
Also, all the schools in the study were based in the US and had a high proportion of black, Hispanic, and low-income students – three groups at higher risk of type 2 diabetes in the US. So, we can’t be certain that we’d find similar results with other groups of students.

Where does the study come from?

The research was funded by grants from the US National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association. It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which is owned by the Massachusetts Medical Society.

What does this mean for me?

This study shows that a school-based programme focused on diet, exercise, and health education may help decrease certain risk factors for diabetes, such as being obese. This is good news. However, such school-based programmes are not yet widespread.

What should I do now?

If your child is overweight or obese, a healthy, low-fat diet and regular exercise can help them lose weight and decrease their risk of diabetes. And they don’t need a school programme to do this. Encouragement and guidance at home is probably an even better approach.

From:

The HEALTHY Study Group. A school-based intervention for diabetes risk reduction. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010. Published online 27 June, 2010.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/besttreatments/2010/jun/29/schoolbased-food-and-fitness-programmes-may-cut-diabetes-risk

US – Obesity decreases with better school food and gym says new study

School administrators have long maintained that their processed food and shrunken (in Chicago, once-a-week) gym programs were not the sole causes for childhood obesity. Of course, there is no single reason why 34.9 percent of Illinois kids are obese or overweight. But there are a few really big factors. And one of them appears to be schools, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week.

In a two-year study of 4,600 at-risk, California students, researchers found that school interventions (including better food and more physical activity) brought obesity and overweight levels down by 21 percent compared to the kids in the control group where no interventions were launched. Students in the intervention schools also had lower average levels of fasting insulin (a diabetes risk factor) and smaller average waist circumferences.

Chicago’s children have been found with obesity levels almost 30 percent higher than kids in the rest of our state–which already has the fourth highest childhood obesity levels in the nation. If this study is any indicator there may, yet, be hope for Illinois children. That is if Illinois administrators acknowledge they have a positive role to play.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2010/06/obesity-decreases-with-better-school-food.html

Flame retardant may up risk of thyroid problems in pregnancy

Exposure to flame-retardant chemicals may reduce a pregnant woman’s levels of certain thyroid hormones that play a critical role in fetal brain development, a new study shows.

Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants are used in a large number of consumer products, including cars, electronics and home furnishings. PBDEs are found in the blood of most Americans, according to data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the new study, published online June 21 and in an upcoming print issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, measured thyroid hormone levels in 270 women, most of them Mexican-American, and found that those with higher PBDE levels had lower levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone.

Women with the highest levels of the flame retardant in their blood were more likely to have subclinical hyperthyroidism, which is defined as below-normal levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone with normal levels of the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4), the researchers found.

“Women with low (thyroid-stimulating hormone) may be above their natural set-point for the T4 thyroid hormone, which means that their thyroids may not be functioning normally,” study author Jonathan Chevrier, of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research at University of California, Berkeley, said in a news release from the journal’s publisher.

“Elevated T4 in pregnancy has been associated with increased risks of miscarriage, premature birth and intrauterine growth retardation,” study co-author Brenda Eskenazi added.

“A mother’s thyroid hormones affect her developing baby throughout her pregnancy, and they are essential for fetal brain development,” Eskenazi, director of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research, stated in the news release.

Source: HealthDay News

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=222267

IMPORTANT: Lower IQs found in disease-rife countries, scientists claim

Energy can be diverted away from brain development to fight infection, explaining ‘lower intelligence in warmer countries’

People who live in countries where disease is rife may have lower IQs because they have to divert energy away from brain development to fight infections, scientists in the US claim.

The controversial idea might help explain why national IQ scores differ around the world, and are lower in some warmer countries where debilitating parasites such as malaria are widespread, they say.

Researchers behind the theory claim the impact of disease on IQ scores has been under-appreciated, and believe it ranks alongside education and wealth as a major factor that influences cognitive ability.

Attempts to measure intelligence around the world are fraught with difficulty and many researchers doubt that IQ tests are a suitable tool for the job. The average intelligence of a nation is likely to be governed by a complex web of interwoven factors.

The latest theory, put forward by Randy Thornhill and others at the University of New Mexico, adds disease to a long list of environmental and other issues that may all play a role in determining intelligence. Thornhill made the news in 2000, when he coauthored a provocative book called A Natural History of Rape in which he argues that sexual coercion emerged as an evolutionary adaptation.

Writing in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Thornhill and his colleagues explain that children under five devote much of their energy to brain development. When the body has to fight infections, it may have to sacrifice brain development, they say.

To test the idea, Thornhill’s group used three published surveys of global IQ scores and compared them with data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on how badly infectious diseases affect different countries. The list included common infections, such as malaria, tetanus and tuberculosis.

The scientists found that the level of infectious disease in a country was closely linked to the average national IQ. The heavier the burden of disease, the lower the nation’s IQ scores. Thornhill believes that nations who have lived with diseases for long periods may have adapted, by developing better immune systems at the expense of brain function.

“The effect of infectious disease on IQ is bigger than any other single factor we looked at,” said Chris Eppig, lead author on the paper. “Disease is a major sap on the body’s energy, and the brain takes a lot of energy to build. If you don’t have enough, you can’t do it properly.”

The consequence of this, if we’re right, is that the IQ of a nation will be largely unaffected until you can lift the burden of disease,” Eppig added.

“It’s an interesting and provocative finding,” said Geraint Rees, director of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. “It explains about 50 to 60% of the variability in IQ scores and appears to be independent of some other factors such as overall GDP.

The authors suggest that more infectious disease could lead to lower IQ scores through an impact on brain development. This is an interesting speculation, but the data don’t prove it one way or the other.” “A bigger problem is that it might be driven by a third factor, that affects both infectious disease prevalence and IQ test scores.”

For reasons that are unclear, IQ scores are generally rising around the world. Thornhill suggests monitoring rates of infectious diseases in nations as they develop, to see if they decline and IQ tests scores rise.

Richard Lynn, professor of psychology at Ulster University, and author of the 2002 book, IQ and the Wealth of Nations, said disease and IQ is a two-way relationship, with low national IQs being partly responsible for widespread infectious diseases.

“In recent decades, HIV has been a serious infectious disease, and it is has a high infection rate in low IQ countries, especially in southern Africa, where it is present in around 30% of the population …

“This is attributable to the low IQ of the population who do not understand the way the infection is contracted, and have erroneous beliefs about how to prevent infection.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/30/disease-rife-countries-low-iqs/print

Australia – Program developed to treat children’s anxiety

Child health experts estimate that about one in 10 children suffer from anxiety, ranging from extreme shyness to an irrational fear of global problems.

Experts says the issue can even occur among preschoolers.

Macquarie University researchers in Sydney are treating children as young as two and say anxiety is nowhere near as well understood as illnesses like depression.

It is estimated that about 11 per cent of children suffer from anxiety compared to 3 per cent who suffer from depression.

The researchers have recently developed a program for parents of preschoolers with anxiety, which is showing signs of success.

Macquarie University Centre for Emotional Health director Professor Ron Rapee says children can suffer from anxiety, which can range from separation anxiety to being worried about global issues.

“[There are] kids who just worry about everything,” he said.

“They worry about starving kids in Africa or they worry about the world ending, they worry about the lights being left on or their parents finances – just all sorts of things.”

Mr Rapee says problems that exist when a child is young can often get worse as they get older.

“You tend to find that the worries and the shyness get a little bit worse as kids get a bit older and so the really full-blown, severe problems with worry and shyness are more common in the teenage, early teenage years,” he said.

“But you can see kids as young as four, five and six who are already very shy and worried.”

Program

Macquarie University PhD student Elizabeth Lau has set up a 10-week program at the Macquarie University Centre to treat preschoolers suffering anxiety.

The program focuses on teaching parents how to respond to their children’s behaviour.

“At three-and-a-half [years old] I’ve had kids who have said ‘I’m afraid mum might die’,” Ms Lau said.

“They also say things like ‘I’m worried… should I pick this toy? But if I take this toy, who is going to pack it up later?’

“So, thinking about things that [they should not worry about] for their age.”

Ms Lau says the moods of parents can have a big impact on how a child develops.

“Kids who at a young age show really high levels of anxiety and who also have a parent who is a bit anxious or depressed, have a seven to 11 times higher risk of developing anxiety than other kids would,” she said.

“We’re trying to pick out this high risk group of kids and trying to really change their developing trajectory away from developing anxiety in the future.”

Ms Lau says the program has been showing positive results.

“Definitely clinically it looks really good,” she said.

“One thing we find is that parents feel a lot more confident, a lot more empowered in terms of number one, ‘I know how to respond to my child’, and ‘I know I’m doing the right thing’ and I think that’s really important for parents.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/29/2940429.htm?section=justin

Prenatal smoking could make kids unruly later

Researchers have found yet another reason for mothers not to smoke while the baby is in utero — they may be unruly later!

“Mothers who smoke while pregnant increase the risk that their child will develop psychological problems, a new study finds,” according to WebMd.

Researchers from the United Kingdom and Brazil say there is reason to believe that mothers who smoke may expose their fetuses to harmful substances that may affect the behavior of the kids later. The study appears in the July issue of Pediatrics.

” ‘There was some evidence that maternal smoking in pregnancy is associated with greater conduct/externalizing problems [aggressive behavior, rule-breaking behavior] in the offspring at the age of 4,’ the authors write.”

“Mary-Jo Brion, PhD, of the University of Bristol, tells WebMD by email that babies exposed to smoke may be prone to rule breaking, such as lying, cheating, bullying, and disobedience.”

I completely agree that it’s not good to smoke while you’re pregnant but your kids can turn out unruly anyway. I’ve never smoked ever in my entire life and my kids are always wild. Hmmm …

Another study featured in that same issue of Pediatrics found that second-hand smoke from father or other people could create weight problems for the children even if the mother is a non-smoker.

http://blogs.ajc.com/momania/2010/06/29/prenatal-smoking-could-make-kids-unruly-later/?cxntfid=blogs_momania

States failing on Aboriginal child health checks

ABORIGINAL child health checks are occurring at only a fraction of that rate in other parts of Australia.

These checks are widely performed by doctors in the Northern Territory under the federal intervention.

Medicare Benefits Scheme data reveal that fewer than one in five Aboriginal children received a health check between 2006 and 2009 in all states excluding the Northern Territory, where the majority of indigenous children have received the service.

The Medicare item “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child health check” was created in 2006.

The federal government provided extra funds for child health checks in the NT as part of the federal intervention, which sent teams of doctors to remote communities.

The checks revealed a high incidence of chronic ear, nose and throat problems and respiratory infections, with large numbers of children being referred for specialist treatment. By midway through last year, 14,610 Aboriginal child health checks had been performed in the NT. But in Western Australia — which has about 3000 more indigenous children aged under 15 than the NT — GPs billed Medicare for less than one-third of that number.

Just 4469 Aboriginal child health checks were performed in WA between July 2006 and June 2009. If it is assumed that each health check relates to a different child, only 17 per cent of WA’s population of indigenous children under the age of 15 has received an Aboriginal child health check.

In South Australia — which like WA has children based in very remote, exclusively Aboriginal-populated communities — just 1061 Aboriginal child health checks were billed to Medicare in the same three-year period.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated population projections, in 2009 SA’s indigenous child population was 10,215, meaning only 10 per cent of children received a GP check-up.

In NSW, 8137 Aboriginal child health checks were performed by GPs between 2006 and 2009, with 835 checks conducted in Victoria and only 33 GP checks in Tasmania.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/states-failing-on-aboriginal-child-health-checks/story-e6frg6n6-1225885889713

Are there Bullies in Pre-schools ?

Take a look through the windows of any preschool facility and the usual picture would be one of happy, active children busying themselves with the important task of play; a cheerful, colourful and noisy place with children generally playing harmoniously side-by-side.

Preschool youngsters do have their share of tantrums and squabbles but in comparison to the hierarchical world of the school yard, where competition to find a placing among the assorted social groups can lead to undesirable behaviour, our preschoolers are still safe for a year or two yet. Or are they? Is our perception deceptive?

Can Pre-schoolers be Bullies?

“Assume it is a given that bullying can and does happen in the preschool centres,” says Evelyn Fields, Counselling Psychologist and Author of ‘Bully Blocking – Six Secrets to Help Children Deal with Teasing and Bullying’,

“Your child could be a target or a bully or both and if so, this behaviour could extend through all their school years and possibly their working years too.”

“Parents have to be aware that there is bullying in preschool and they need to be responsible for checking on how their child is behaving,” states Evelyn .

“Also, I think it is important not to give in to the ‘I only want to know if my child is being bullied not if they are the bully’ syndrome. If they are a bully, their future is just as much handicapped as if they are a target.”

Statistics show that bullies are more likely to have a criminal record by age 23. They may experience being on the ‘outer’ in their workplace, find making friends very difficult and end up living an emotionally lonely life.

Bullying isn’t limited to pushes and punches in the schoolyard. Psychological bullying is behavior that intentionally harms another person, and has nasty consequences.

Behaviour of a Pre-school Bully

In Evelyn Field’s book she describes two types of bullies; the malicious ‘mean kids who do not care’ and the non-malicious ‘care-less children who do not mean to hurt’.

The first group are children who are unable to show empathy and have behaviour to match, e.g. enjoyment over hurting animals and other children, have an uncaring attitude.

“An example of this type of bully would be a child who doesn’t give Mummy and Daddy care,” says Evelyn.

“If Mummy says ‘You pinched me and that hurt me’ this kind of child would respond with ‘So what’. This is a really bad sign.”

A child with these types of behaviour needs help and intervention – the younger the better.

Thankfully most bullies fall into the second category. These children are surprised they have caused pain and often feel ashamed. It is as if they have not given thought to how the other person would feel.

Behaviours of a preschool bully would be pushing, shoving, screaming at other children, excluding others from play, name calling, manipulation, teasing and lying.

While some children would show these behaviours now and then, the child who is consistent and seems to go for the same target could be a bully-in-the-making.

Behaviour of a Child Being Bullied

Preschool children are more likely to act out than speak about what is going on and will not always have the verbal awareness to say ‘This kid is being mean to me’ but will tell you through their behaviour.

Most children go through stages of not wanting to go to their preschool but a child who consistently pleads and finds excuses to keep away is saying ‘I am not happy there!’

Discovering what is happening for your young child at their preschool can be tricky as little girls and boys can be unintentionally evasive with answers leaving a well-meaning parent frustrated. Short, simple dialogue works best.

“It’s about drawing it out of them with the right questions,” Evelyn points out.

“‘What did you do today? Who did you play with? Were any children nice to you? Were any children mean to you? What did you do? Did you tell the teacher? What did they do?’ If your little one knows that you are interested and will listen, they will tell you.”

“Basically what we are looking for are inappropriate behaviours,” expresses Evelyn. “Use your eyes and seek feedback!”

Source

Evelyn M. Fields; Counselling Psychologist, Author, Melbourne, Australia

Julia Wade; Psychotherapist, Hibiscus Coast, New Zealand

http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/bully-blocking—are-there-bullies-in-pre-schools-