Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

I am profoundly thankful for all the research done relate to the brain.  My son may not be alive if the breakthroughs in brain science had not been made in the past 10 – 20 years.  Kevin was diagnosed with mental illness, a seizure disorders.  MRI’s and scans found that he had a brain tumor which was the cause of his illnesses; the tumor would not have been found and treated if research studies had not led to the procedures he had. 

Kevin has experienced debilitating depression since his surgery off and on for the past 12 years due to the scar tissue remaining in his brain and the subsequent feelings of inadequacy due to the brain injury making some learning and functions difficult for him (the tumor was in his left frontal lobe).  When he was having a particularly difficult time several years ago, I reviewed some research studies on depression and brain function being done at the Mayo Clinic.  They were implanting electrodes in patients whose depression was not responsive to traditional medical treatments.  These electrodes were similar to pace makers but placed in specific regions of the patient’s brain.  They were looking for participants and I tried to get my son into the trials but he was adamant that he would not have any further brain surgeries.  I have not followed the outcomes of the studies; however, I know similar research was being done at other prestigious medical facilities. 

The real miracle is that today Kevin is in college and getting straight A’s so far.  This is his first semester after a failed attempt shortly after graduating from high school.  He is living on his own and working and although, he still suffers from depression, he is finding ways to manage it so and finding joy in living.

My Thoughts for My Research Simulation

            I am planning for my research simulation topic to be Reaching Family Outcomes through Family Engagement in Head Start programs.  Anticipated topics related to my study are Family Involvement versus Family Engagement, Family Involvement and Family Engagement as a Continuum, and Does Increased Family Engagement lead to Improved Child Outcomes. 

             I think is a very heavy topic, but it is the one I am currently working with in my job with Head Start and Early Head Start programs and the questions I have are the same issues facing them.  I am hopeful that I will find some ways to collect the data that will lead to program improvement and possibly develop some templates to assist us in our work creating Family Engagement Implementation plans.

            I think that Family Involvement and Family Engagement will emerge as a sub-topic because programs are struggling with understanding if Family Engagement is just a substitution term for Family Involvement or if both involvement and engagement are important parts of the process.  Does involvement sometimes lead to engagement?  I am very interested in seeing if increased family engagement outcomes lead to increased positive child outcomes and I believe that this topic will also emerge as a sub-topic as programs begin child outcome data comparisons alongside family outcome data and other program data such as health and attendance. 

            These topics all seem huge to me but they are the related topics that Head Start and Early Head Start programs are currently struggling with.  My job is to support these programs in Montana through training and technical assistance and I think I will be better prepared to do this by working through the process alongside them.  These are significant issues in early childhood as we recognize the importance of caring for educating young children within the context of their families.  The relationship of data sources to family engagement should indicate increased developmental outcomes for children.  If my predictions are true, it will support the importance of including families in all early childhood programs using Head Start as a model for family engagement.

             I am very interested in any thoughts others in our course might have about how to approach this task.  The primary resource I have at my disposal is the Parent Family and Community tab in the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center Head Start sites.  The link to this site is  https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc I look forward to hearing about any and all ideas you will share with me.