Senate Bill 0660e1

    SB 660                                         First Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to education; providing that

  3         state-funded education and care programs for

  4         infants and toddlers must foster brain

  5         development; encouraging family daycare centers

  6         to comply with specified requirements;

  7         requiring an evaluation and a report; providing

  8         an effective date.

  9

10         WHEREAS, at birth, a child has one hundred billion

11  brain cells that will be developed by the experiences of life,

12  and

13         WHEREAS, the stimulation that causes brain development

14  can be positive, such as conversation, music, and parental

15  love, or it can be negative, such as neglect or emotional and

16  physical abuse, and

17         WHEREAS, during the first year of a child's life the

18  connections between the cells, the synapses, increase

19  twenty-fold, making the first year a crucial time for brain

20  development, and

21         WHEREAS, infants develop synapses when they listen to

22  language and music, see colors and shapes, and feel and handle

23  objects of different sizes, shapes, and textures, and

24         WHEREAS, there is no other time in a child's life as

25  productive for brain development as the first year, NOW

26  THEREFORE,

27

28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

29

30         Section 1.  Each state-funded education and care

31  program for children from birth to 5 years of age must provide


                                  1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    SB 660                                         First Engrossed



  1  activities to foster brain development in infants and

  2  toddlers. A program must provide an environment rich in

  3  language and music and filled with objects of various colors,

  4  shapes, textures, and sizes to stimulate visual, tactile,

  5  auditory, and linguistic senses in the children and must

  6  include classical music and at least 30 minutes of reading to

  7  the children each day. A program may be offered through an

  8  existing early childhood program such as Healthy Start, the

  9  Title I program, contracted or directly operated subsidized

10  child care, the prekindergarten early-intervention program,

11  Florida First Start, the Head Start program, or a private

12  childcare program. A program must provide training for the

13  infants' and toddlers' parents including direct dialogue and

14  interaction between teachers and parents demonstrating the

15  urgency of brain development in the first year of a child's

16  life. Family daycare centers are encouraged, but not required,

17  to comply with this section.

18         Section 2.  The Executive Office of the Governor shall

19  contract for an evaluation of programs to stimulate brain

20  development in infants and toddlers and shall report the

21  results of the evaluation to the President of the Senate and

22  the Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 1,

23  2000.

24         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

25  law.

26

27

28

29

30

31


                                  2