Head Start Community Analysis

Social services play’s a big impact on every community. For some, it is a needed lifeline. It wasn’t until I started working as an employee at the Head Start organization, that I truly grasped the reality of the struggles families of all races faced. One thing they all had in common was they were all lower income.

Unfortunately, the Pratt community no longer offers the Head Start program, but does offer many social services to families with lower income. These government funded programs have a positive impact on not only the children but the families. To be able to help a child succeed to the best ability often times start with the parents and helping them with some of the many struggles they may be facing.

Social services are a government

Many children in low income homes, tend to score lower on test scores, and have higher drop out rates this may be due to lack of preparation, not having access to early childhood education programs, which means entering kindergarten, they are lacking the basic skills such as lack of vocabulary. Studies have shown, low income children enter school having heard 30 million fewer words than children from middle class families. These children also face poor nutrtion making it harder to concentrate and higher mobility, moving from school to school. Dysfunctional families also plays a role in a childs development, children coming home to stressful households can put a strain on them. (Jeanette DeForge January 08, 2015 http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/war_on_poverty_8_challenges_po.html)

Child development researcher Seth Pollak of the University of Wisconsin, believes there is a toxin in the environment that is actually altering children’s developmental biology and that is poverty. Pollack and his team analyzed 839 MRI scans from 301 economically diverse children across the United States from 2001 to 2007. The kids were representatives of demographics such as income, ethnicity, and race and one quarter were living below 200 percent of the federal poverty level at that time, which was $41,300 for a family of four. [Anna Almendrala, Senior Heathy Living Editor

Many services are available to these families such as, Assistive technology, Audiology, Family Service Coordination, Family training, Health services, Medical Services, Nursing Services, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Physical therapy, Psychological, Social Work Services, Special Instruction, Speech-language pathology, Transportation and Vision.

These services are crucial in discovering and diagnosing developmental disabilities and delays. Low-income children may not see the doctor that often so vision problems, dental problems and mental health issues do not get addressed as quickly and make it harder for children to learn. But with the services offered by Arrowhead West Inc., makes it possible to give the low-income children the things they need to succeed in life.

An example of a low income family that could benefit from these services is a Latino Agricultural worker. Poorer health among these farm workers and their children have been proven. Higher mortality rates have also been recognized among the children in these communities. Many of these children have vitamin deficiencies, which can contribute to infection rates. A lack of independent means of transportation, knowledge, and demand of their jobs played a factor in the high mortality rates. Fortunately, early childhood programs such as Arrowhead West Inc. has shown positive effects in improved growth rates in children of Latino migrant workers. (Annual Editions, Race and Ethnic Relations Nineteenth