Zigler, and Muenchow 4)
The part of the program that most stuck with Shriver was the fact that the program proved that it could actually increase the IQs of mentally handicapped children, significantly with the proper implementation of programs, a concept that was not accepted in academics at this time. (Zigler, and Muenchow 11)
The program used the same materials as a traditional nursery school, but in a manner designed to stimulate attitudes and aptitudes necessary for later school success. For example, the children loved to ride tricycles, but were only allowed to do so if they asked for them properly and identified the particular tricycle they wished to ride. Later on, the teachers set up the tricycles in a miniature traffic situation. The children learned to respond to traffic signs and to play traffic officer.
Zigler, and Muenchow 5)
One of the programs Shriver patterned Head Start after also emphasized early reading skills and read to children at least twice a day, from traditional reading materials, also encouraging them to dramatize the stories so they would be retained and their attitude about school and learning would hopefully continue to be positive. Shriver's intention was to reduce fear with regard to school and give at risk children a running "head start" for learning in the later grades. (Zigler, and Muenchow 6) The program also stressed access to health care (e.g. increasing immunization rates and screening for health disorders) and nutrition, a missing link in the lives of many of the at risk children it served. The program in conception and practice became a comprehensive one when the last fundamental of the system included a component that employed paraprofessionals, often the parents of the children at a high rate and also stressed parental involvement, allowing many opportunities for involvement. (Zigler, and Muenchow 7)
Head Start has since been implemented in nearly every community in the United States, retaining much of its original structure and expanding some mostly to meet the demands of new educational...
School districts are increasingly establishing prekindergarten programs, first for handicapped, deprived, and poor children, but ultimately to offer more universal coverage. Although part-day programs still predominate, in a growing number of school districts, prekindergartens and nursery schools are extending programs to a full school day to achieve child development objectives while meeting the care needs of working parents.
Kamerman, and Kahn 11)
Head Start is not only one of the most successful and long lasting programs implemented by the federal government it has change the face of how education and especially early education is viewed and adopted by the system. Early Head Start has now been implemented in many communities to further the original causes of Head Start. Research reviews of the system indicate that it is successful in many ways and needs to be expanded to include younger children and improve parental outcomes (e.g. The ability to follow through with intervention strategies for their children despite their obvious need to pursue basic needs). The long-term effects of the implementation of Head Start and Early Head Start seem to give an indication of success, as the children attending programs do prove better prepared for school, are screened early for intervention into any delays and tend to catch up with children in higher SES stratus. (Wall et al. 218)
Works Cited
Kamerman, Sheila B., and Alfred J. Kahn. Starting Right: How America Neglects Its Youngest Children and What We Can Do about It. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Wall, Shavaun M., et al. "Early Head Start and Access to Early Intervention Services: A Qualitative Investigation." Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 25.4 (2005): 218-222.
Zigler, Edward, and Susan Muenchow. Head Start: The Inside Story of America's Most Successful Educational Experiment. New York: Basic…
