For this first assignment I interviewed several different people to better help me understand what areas would be most interesting for me to work on which areas needed an impact outside of what I can see at the time. I interviewed the center director at my internship site, a teacher at the daycare that I work at, and the parents of a former child that I had that was diagnosed with special needs. There were several different needs that each person brought insight to base on different needs they see on a day to day basis.
I want to focus my research in the field of Special Education. These are some of the issues that we discussed. One issue that was addressed is the need for early intervention for the child and how to best include a child in the classroom. Another issue that was discussed was how to provide the correct care and how to deal with the costs that were associated with the correct care for the child. Also, how to go about starting the process and what sort of documentation is best to use with the parents. Another concern comes from the teachers wondering whether they are doing enough to meet the new needs of the child. Is the care that a certain center can offer the best fit and appropriate for a child with specific needs? An interesting issue that came up was the idea that people are wanting to make a diagnosis to “fix the problem” rather than putting in extra work to help the child succeed on the both the teacher’s and parent’s efforts.
I feel that these interviews have led me to go in a different direction that I originally was anticipating. I want to create a project that gives teachers and parents support when they feel there is specific issue to be addressed. I want to help both find ways to seek outside help that is both time and cost effective. I had originally thought that I would want to focus more on early intervention, but I really have a passion for working with preschool children. One thing that I have learned from the whole process of seeking help is that early intervention goes up to age two and preschool classes are age three to five.
My focus for this project will definitely be in special education. These are some of the subtopics that I am considering. One is identifying what care is appropriate and the costs to implement them into a daycare program. Another topic could be on the materials and technology that would be needed to help the child in your room meet their needs. The third topic I am considering is how to better educate and equip teachers to be prepared for meeting the needs of special needs children in their classrooms.
If you have any additional ideas about topics that I could consider I would love to hear them! Do you think that these ideas are too broad or are worth looking at?
Hello Kathleen: I enjoyed reading your post. I think that we are in agreement about children, parents and teachers needing support when there is a concern the the possibility or a determined special need. I too had thought about making support for children with special needs my topic but as I began discussing the topic and writing about it, I determined that if policies and practices were in place they would serve as a foundation for directing parents and teachers. It would allow for those concerned to know how to begin the process of addressing the need. I will be focusing on effective policies and practices that best serve getting children the support they need. I am looking forward to reading your blog to gain ideas that may broaden my thinking.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteIt was great that you recognize that the interviews had taken you in a different direction, other than the way you had plan on going. I feel that Special Education is a great topic, and I like the ideas that you have chosen. Have you consider being more specific. When I think of special education, I see children that are autism, ADD, ADHA, special needs, and that are developmentally delayed. Is this what you think also?
I am focusing my research on Autism. I think that special education in general is in need of a lot of understanding. I really like the point you brought up about how to better educate and equip teachers to meet the needs of special education children. Taking the time to learn the different techniques and strategies of accommodating and teaching special needs children in to a daycare program can benefit a child with a mild case of ADD to a child with profound disabilities like autism or downs. I defiantly think that the ideas you presented are worth looking at, anything to have to do with the field is worth looking at.
ReplyDeleteKathleen,
ReplyDeleteI think that your selected topics are a great start for you to begin researching. Another topic to consider is children in poverty that have diagnosed or suspected special needs. Does poverty have a large impact on children getting special education and intervention services or their lack of services? Is access to resources for children who have diagnosed or suspected special needs limited as a result of their poverty? What about children whose families who are unable to afford preschool and have to wait until they are eligible for lottery funded pre-k or even kindergarten to get a better idea of what special need their child has? While there are early intervention programs such as Babies Can’t Wait (BCW) for GA families and their children, what about families who have no idea that their child is missing developmental milestones and therefore miss the birth to age three deadline for free services in programs such as BCW?
I appreciate your topic of “how to better educate and equip teachers to be prepared for meeting the needs of special needs children in their classrooms” (Kathleen). I think that this topic brings up an important point regarding the need for more teacher training especially in preschool classrooms. I taught preschool for a couple years and did receive training through the state required continuing education classes and conferences that I was able to attend through work. However, I always desired more training in my position and think that your desire to provide teachers with more education and training is a wonderful aim for an advocacy plan. Better equipping teachers with tools and knowledge will ultimately have a positive impact on the children that they work with on a daily basis.
Summer
Kathleen - You comment - "An interesting issue that came up was the idea that people are wanting to make a diagnosis to “fix the problem” rather than putting in extra work to help the child succeed on the both the teacher’s and parent’s efforts". is the most perfect explanation as to what our government views what we as special educators to do for students with special ed. - fix the problem. Can' fix what's neurologically, emotionally, physically, or behaviorally is broken.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathleen:
ReplyDeleteI think that that is a wonderful topic that you would do fine with observing and writing your paper on. There is always a need for Special Education issues. Unfortunately, I find that there is a widespread need for this, which is either good or bad. Good that there are resources in place to accommodate the child, at the state and national level at a minimum. Bad, however, that there is such a need for this. It must be a tough call for those that need to made the diagnosis between ADHD and behavioral issues for instance.
I think that it is a given that the child needs to be incorporated into the mainstream classroom as much as possible. I can see that over the years of my own children and how they talk of classmates that it is not a big deal about the child that gets pulled out for whatever reason, reading, behavioral, etc. However, I do not know of any major special needs issues that have been serviced at my children's school. My instructor in my "Exceptional Needs" class when I was getting my associates degree had pointed out that the public school system just has to have a school available for a particular need. So say the issue is autism. The child would go to the nearest school that could accommodate that issue for many students. I guess the thinking is you can't have all of these specialists in one school for just a student or two with this issue. However, my instructor knew of families who had their child ride almost two hours each way from Woodstock IL to Chicago IL so half of their child's day was in transit.
I think your ideas are good about trying to incorporate that into the preschool years and you may want to contact your local "Zero to Three" program that is set up through the state I believe. Here in my school district (I am not sure if it is state-wide or just county-wide) a child can have an assessment done and placed where they may need to be.
Good luck with your endeavor! Vickie Chedgy