[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5864-5865]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               HEAD START

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I rise today to commend and support 
my colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee 
for the hard work on the Head Start reauthorization bill.
  I would particularly like to thank Senators Dodd and Harkin for 
including important language in the bill regarding childhood obesity 
prevention as part of Head Start. Obesity is a serious health concern, 
especially in West Virginia where 64 percent of adults in West Virginia 
are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. An even more alarming 
statistic, however, is that 28 percent of low-income children between 
the ages of 2 and 5 are already overweight. Furthermore, overweight 
children have a 70 percent chance of remaining overweight into their 
adulthood. Obesity in children is usually caused by lack of physical 
activity, unhealthy eating patterns, or a combination of the two.
  If Head Start can play a role in preventing obesity in children and 
families, it will be a real achievement, and I strongly believe Head 
Start can because of our experience in West Virginia.
  In December 2004, a pilot program designed by Amy Requa, Head Start 
health specialist, and Dr. Linda Carson, director of the West Virginia 
Motor Development Center, West Virginia University was initiated in 
Head Start Region III, which includes West Virginia. The program, known 
as ``I Am Moving, I Am Learning,'' is designed to prevent and reverse 
obesity among children enrolled in Head Start by integrating physical 
activity and wise nutrition choices in their daily life and promoting 
general good fitness habits.
  According to the Surgeon General, children should exercise for at 
least 60 minutes per day. ``I Am Moving, I Am Learning'' is designed to 
improve the quality and quantity of exercise performed by children by 
incorporating it into daily classroom routines. After the first year of 
the pilot program, results showed that Head Start participants were 
less sedentary and able to meet the daily exercise requirement, in 
addition to being able to move with more intensity over longer periods 
of time.
  The benefits of ``I Am Moving, I Am Learning'' do not end at the 
classroom. Because the risk of overweight children becoming overweight 
adults increases when one or more parent is obese, participants are 
encouraged to extend their healthy physical activity and food choices 
to the home. ``I Am Moving, I Am Learning'' is also not an isolated 
program; it is easily integrated with other community programs 
targeting childhood obesity and family wellness.
  Overall the results after the first year of the ``I Am Moving, I Am 
Learning'' show remarkable success. Children enrolled in the initiative 
showed moderate improvement in body-mass index scores, indicating that 
they were at healthier weights than at the start of the program. Due to 
its success, starting this year ``I Am Moving, I Am Learning'' is 
extending into Delaware, Pennsylvania, and California.
  The goal of Head Start is ``to bring about a greater degree of social 
competence in the young children of low-income families.'' ``I Am 
Moving, I Am Learning'' succeeds in complementing this by creating 
positive self-esteem among children by removing the depression and 
social discrimination associated with obesity.
  Adding incentives for Head Start agencies to add prevention of 
childhood obesity is an important improvement. I look forward to 
working with my colleagues to ensure that the Head Start

[[Page 5865]]

program is reauthorized during this Congress. It was neglected in the 
past, and we should be sure to review and strengthen our basic 
programs, such as Head Start.

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