Testing for Intelligence?

I feel that measured a child through holistic development allows a child to fully develop all areas. Below are areas in which a child should be assessed. I feel like today we are trying to fit our children into a bubble and have them develop into ways that are not them. We do not allow kids to be kids anymore, with technology and things we are pushing them in the opposite direction from when we grew up. We now have standards and goals to meet for kids that. A child is not one part of any development but the whole child should be assessed.

Holistic development is a process of self-actualization and learning that combines an individual's mental, physical, social, emotional and spiritual growth. The term can be used to describe forms of alternative education that are based on the more humanistic and democratic outlooks.

 

Holistic development in children focuses on addressing all of the needs of a child's life: emotional, physical, relational, intellectual, creative and spiritual. This perspective to development encourages caregivers and teachers to look at the child as a whole and not focus on the individual parts.

Brought into popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, the holistic approach to child development has steadily become more common and led to the development of alternative approaches to education, such as the Montessori method. In this approach, traditional fact memorization and passive learning is eschewed for a more open and explorative method of learning and development.

To nurture the child as a whole, the holistic approach encourages learning through engagement of the environment. Each child is looked at as an individual and will find different learning opportunities through different paths. According to ECE Educate, at any given moment, the child’s emotions, physical needs and creative openness will contribute to his development and learning, furthering the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A holistic caregiver will give children opportunities to engage in open-ended play while building warm relationships and recognizing the importance of the child’s spiritual and cultural development. Through this holistic approach, the caregiver can focus on the unique aspects of the child.

Methods for Implementing Holistic Approaches

While there is clearly no one method, Miller (2006) after review of a number of different holistic teaching methodologies, describes four key aspects of holistic approach based teaching:
1.       Learning is organic, emergent, experimental and based on cooperation.   Pre-planned teaching is facilitated only so far as to initiate open ended questioning and inquiry;
2.       There is a strong sense of community and engagement between children, parents and educators where those members feel strongly to care for one another
3.       There is a great respect for children’s interior life,  with methods ranging from environmental spaces that facilitate time out of competitive nosier environments, to time to ask deeper questions about the meaning of life and spirituality.
4.       There are strong connections to nature,  with the care and connection to the environment incorporated throughout the curriculum.
In another interesting article by Ron Miller he describes the aspirations of the holistic educator:

Holistic education aims to call forth from people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning. This is done, not through an academic "curriculum" that condenses the world into instructional packages, but through direct engagement with the environment. Holistic education nurtures a sense of wonder. Montessori, for example, spoke of "cosmic" education: Help the person feel part of the wholeness of the universe, and learning will naturally be enchanted and inviting. There is no one best way to accomplish this goal, there are many paths of learning and the holistic educator values them all; what is appropriate for some children and adults, in some situations, in some historical and social contexts, may not be best for others. The art of holistic education lies in its responsiveness to the diverse learning styles and needs of evolving human beings (Miller, n.d).

In the UK, some believe that if a child starts school to early then they could damage their learning for life. Children who start school around the age of 6 or 7 are believed to have developed theory-building and meaning-making capacities, giving them the confidence to explore their environment in a way that has real meaning and context for them.

Reference:
 https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/dec/10/school-starting-age-five-six-uk-eu

http://www.raiselearning.com.au/blogs/news/5818384-exploring-holistic-approaches-for-early-childhood-educators