These past two weeks have been very informative to me in my search for answers in the special education filed. The sight that I am working in is a private daycare that is associated with a private Catholic school in Normal, Illinois. One of the concerns that I have about working in a private daycare is the availability of resources for children that have special needs that need to be addressed. Finding the resources that are available to us is a difficulty that I have come across in working in a private daycare. You are able to see the warning signs and know that a child needs help, but we do not have the resources to use that other state funded programs have. One interest that I have is finding out how to go about getting these resources for the children when the state is not the one providing the resources.
I really want to focus my paper and research for this class on helping children specifically with mental health issues. I have found in that often times these children are the ones that need the most help, however, they are often the hardest to get help for. After talking to the director at my site I found that both she and her teachers felt that this too was an important issue and one that was difficult to approach sometimes. She explained to me how often times when they approach parents about a child they take any issues with their personal mental health to be a slam at their parenting. Often times the parents think that a child is a certain way because of something that they did wrong, which is often not the case. One of the teachers at the center indicated to me that they would love some help in navigating through this process.
From my own personal teaching experience it has been the parents that are the biggest obstacle when it comes to getting a child help. They are often in denial about an issue with their child and will blame the child’s behavior on anything except the child. I had a child that had a sensory disorder in my class last year and it took many conferences and subtle suggestions before the parents would have even thought of sitting down to discuss the bigger issues and to get the child evaluated. This too was another issue that some of teachers stated they had struggled with in the past. Sometimes the parents get offended and would pull their child from the program..
Has anyone come across any of these issues in their own experiences with work? What kinds of things did you do for that situation?
This is a tough situation when you are in a private school. You want to keep the children in school plus be able to help the ones who need it. Problems arise when parents don't want to believe that there could be something wrong. It is a big thing to hear about your child, and it opens up a whole new world, one that wasn't planned on. That can be difficult for some peopole. I would suggest that the child may need to be evaluated by a specialist for whatever specific reasons there are. When a person who specializes with an impairment tells a family that there is a special need, it might be easier to accept. When I was at a private pre school, we were lucky to have parents who were accepting of possible problems. In my time there we never had parents that either threatened to remove the child or had any negative reactions. Some parents will already know that there may be issues.
ReplyDeleteFinding resources is always difficult, especially in a private setting. As you mentioned, we can see the warning signs and know that a child might need some help, but finding the appropriate resources can be challenging. One thing that my school offers is a free Vision and Hearing screening to all enrolled children ages 3-5. This helps a little bit, because sometimes the assessors have connections to other resources that might be available.
ReplyDeleteI have a child in my afternoon class this year who will be old enough to go to kindergarten next year. She is on an IEP and is receiving services for language delays. While she has made a great deal of progress, she still has a way to go before she could be successful in a kindergarten classroom. We really feel that she could benefit from an extra year of preschool so that she has an opportunity to develop more language. Her parents really seem to be against this (we have a meeting scheduled for Monday) because they do not seem to realize how behind their child is. I can see how you would not want to admit that something is wrong with your child but once your child has been identified and staffed in, why wouldn't you want to give them every chance to catch up? Have you ever seen the poem about "A Trip to Holland"? It is a nice way to help parents "come to terms" with their child possibly having a delay and it also helps others understand what parents are going through.
ReplyDeleteAddressing parents about a concern is always a touchy subject and needs to be handle with care. When I have a concern, I always start my conversation out by asking parents if they have any concerns. If they don't I go on to ask if they have seen a particular senerio at home and if not, I tell them we are keeping an eye on it and we may have additional questions later. I never diagnois their child and they are more apt to come back to me. After a crtain time period I revisit the topic with the parent any offer suggestions. I always start out by ruling out health issues that may be the under lying cause. Such as a child not listening. My recommendation is a hearing test first.
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