Welcome to the Spring 2017 EDI Newsletter
The Early Development Instrument team is proud to share an exciting collaboration with researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children and St. Michael's Hospital.
This edition also features a thought-provoking Globe and Mail article, the latest EDI publications, information on upcoming conferences, and much more.
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Fit for School, Fit for Life
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Over the last 30 years childhood obesity rates have nearly tripled. This is a troubling trend as children who are obese are at risk of developing a range of problems. Growth and weight changes in early childhood may even impact school readiness and school achievement.
Other child health and developmental factors may play a role in emerging school readiness as well. Physical activity, sleep, and nutrition are all very important.
Fit for School, Fit for Life is a new study that uses the EDI to explore the impact of these early life factors on child development at school entry. The study features researchers from the Offord Centre for Child Studies, the Hospital for Sick Children, and St. Michael’s Hospital.
Fit for School, Fit for Life includes children from TARGet Kids!, a large research study of over 8,000 healthy children between 0-5 years of age. Children join through their pediatrician or family doctor.
When children visit for a scheduled appointment, doctors measure the following:
- height
- weight
- waist circumference
- lifestyle (nutrition, physical activity, and amount of screen time)
- and collect a blood sample
Once these children enter kindergarten, the researchers ask their teacher to complete an EDI questionnaire. Teacher participation in the project is voluntary.
The main goal is to find out if there is a link between growth trajectories in early childhood and EDI vulnerability in junior and senior kindergarten.
The secondary goal is to examine whether other health factors are related to school readiness, including:
- physical activity
- sedentary behaviours
- sleep
- nutritional risk
- cardiometabolic risk
- risk of developmental delay
- emotion regulation
If they are, do these affect the relationship between growth trajectories and school readiness?
This study is important as young children and their families regularly attend primary health care. This is a great time to provide preventive care. Finding early factors related to school readiness can help develop interventions and prevention strategies early, before children enter school. This means helping to set children on a healthy development path as early as possible.
The researchers plan to complete data collection in 2019.
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EDI data show kids with late birthdays struggle compared to peers
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Kindergarten students born between October and December are more likely to be vulnerable across all EDI domains.
The Globe and Mail published an article highlighting the problems young children face by the time they enter kindergarten. The article was based on EDI research from the Toronto District School Board.
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The data raises questions for families registering their children for kindergarten. For children born in October, November, and December, is it better to wait a year?
TDSB is reminding principles to tell parents of their option to hold their late-birthday babies back a year.
Kindergarten is voluntary, but children must attend Grade 1 when they are six. But children who turn six after the first day of school can wait another year. That gives parents the option of holding their children back if they are born later in the year.
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Learn more about the EDI at upcoming conferences
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Public Health - Halifax, Nova Scotia June 6-8, 2017
- Gender, Socioeconomic Status and Early Child Development: Are Boys from Low-SES Neighbourhoods Getting Left Behind?
- On Track: Examination of Demographics of Ontario Kindergarten Children with Adequate Development
International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI) - Montreal, Quebec June 28-30, 2017
- Linking Pan-Canadian Indicators
of Developmental Health with Socioeconomic and Administrative Data
- Prevalence and Geographical Variation of Anxious Behaviour and Comorbidity Problems in Children at School Entry Using Teacher-Reported Population-Level Data Over Time in Ontario
- What’s New in the Field of Measuring Early Child Development: Methodological and Empirical Advances in the Context of New Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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