Tag Archives: children

TED talks on Autism and other child & family topics

Posted on June 1, 2016 | Leave a comment

maxresdefault copyDo you want to listen to ideas worth spreading?

TED.com is a website devoted to global conferences where experienced and respected people share their thoughts and ideas with the world. The TED annual conference series began in 1990, and since June 2006 the talks have been offered for free online viewing through the TED.com website, which now has over 2,400 talks. Altogether, the talks have been watched over one billion times worldwide.

A great talk to start with is ‘How autism freed me to be myself‘ by 16 year old Rosie King, who challenges stereotypes of people with autism and contextualizes the issue by asking us, “Why be normal?” Rosie’s talk is only 6 minutes long, but has been viewed well over one million times and has both a transcript and multi-lingual subtitles. There are currently seven other TED talks on autism at http://www.ted.com/topics/autism+spectrum+disorder.

Other child & family areas to browse within the TED.com video library include:

Play (14 talks)  http://www.ted.com/topics/play

Family (19 talks) http://www.ted.com/topics/family

Parenting (26 talks) http://www.ted.com/topics/parenting

Children (92 talks) http://www.ted.com/topics/children

TED is owned by a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation. TED’s speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. You can download most TED Talks in MP4 or MP3 format either directly from the website or through the TED app, which allows you to watch talks offline from your mobile device, although you will need to first download the TED app via iTunes or Google Play. This is great if you have a slow internet connection or you want to watch Talks when you’re travelling.80x15

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Free e-textbook: The Well-Being of Children

Posted on March 5, 2016 | Leave a comment

Well-Being of Children coverThis new book explores the questions related to the theory, practice, and policy of the well-being and well-becoming of children.

Studying and promoting the well-being of children is an interdisciplinary task. Furthermore, it has a strong ethical component, since it is connected to the questions of good life and just society. In this book, philosophers and social scientists approach the issue in close dialogue and shed light on some of the most challenging matters involved.

The 176-pages book is divided into two sections:

* Section I: Theories and Concepts of Children’s Well-Being (5 chapters)
* Section II: Children’s Well-Being and Well-Becoming (4 chapters)

The first section consists of papers that deal with conceptual issues and discuss how the well-being of children can and should be grasped in a meaningful sense. The second part of the book deals with practical issues, specific cases and social environments in which the well-being and well-becoming of children is secured or endangered.

This book is published by De Gruyter Open – one of the world’s leading open access publishers. It is available from the Google Play store for mobiles and tablets, and individual chapters can be freely downloaded as PDFs from: http://www.degruyteropen.com/book/wbcpssa/
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Free e-book: Transforming the workforce for young children

Posted on January 4, 2016 | Leave a comment

19401-0309324858-450Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children.

The National Academies Press in Washington publish more than 200 textbooks a year on a wide range of topics including Children, Youth and Families. This 2015 book edited by LaRue Allen and Bridget B. Kelly explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. It examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems.

The 700-pages book is illustrated with up-to-date colour and black-and-white diagrams and is divided into five parts:

I: Introduction and Context
II: The Science of Child Development and Early Learning
III: Implications of the Science for Early Care and Education
IV: Developing the Care and Education Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8
V: Blueprint for Action

Part II: The Science of Child Development and Early Learning, is practically a book-within-a-book at 160 pages long, and is an interesting and informative read for all members of the young children’s workforce.

We are fortunate to be able to download the PDF version of this title for free; the hard-cover version costs $75. To download a free PDF of Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8, go to:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/19401/transforming-the-workforce-for-children-birth-through-age-8-a

Next click Download Free PDF, then Download as Guest, where you just need to enter an email address to download any of NAP’s titles. This one is an 11MB download, or you can download chapters individually.

A short 16-pages booklet is also available as a companion to the full book. Professional Learning for the Care and Education Workforce (2015) summarizes considerations from the report for planning and implementing high-quality and coherent professional learning for this workforce.
You can download a free PDF of the booklet at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/21786/professional-learning-for-the-care-and-education-workforce

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