CHILD-HONORING CONFERENCE

Child psychologists, pediatricians, educators, and students gathered in Pitt’s William Pitt Union March 29-30 to discuss child-honoring—a philosophy that seeks to create a more humane and ecologically sustainable world by addressing the universal needs of the very young. The March 29 session featured a panel discussion and a keynote address and musical presentation by Raffi Cavoukian (pictured), an internationally renowned singer and songwriter who developed the child-honoring philosophy as a revolution in values—a children-first approach to global restoration.

Among the conference’s speakers was Herbert Needleman, a Pitt professor of child pediatrics and psychiatry who played a key role in the five-fold reduction in the prevalence of lead poisoning in American children. His work was instrumental in the decisions made by the Environmental Protection Agency to mandate the removal of lead from gasoline and by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban lead from interior paints.

Conference sponsors included the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood Education, Point Park University, the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children, and The Pittsburgh Foundation.