canceled

Tanya Brandt Comment by Eackloff, Robyn: Hi Tanya, I am pleased to evaluate your assignment today.

2/26/23

Touchstone 3: Presenting a Research Plan

TOPIC:

Disability services for children in Preschool.

The Non-Profit organization that I will be referring to is the Community Action Agency. Its motto is, “Stronger together-because people need community.” Community Action is an agency that focuses their help and resources to low-income families and families or individuals who are homeless. Community Action offers Early Head Start (EHS) for ages 6 weeks-3 years, and Head Start (HS) for ages 3-5 years old. To qualify, you need to be homeless, low-income or have a disability. However, a disability does not automatically mean you qualify. Community action can accept 10% over income and 10% with disabilities, but that is as a whole agency. In Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac counties, Community Action has 3 Early Head Start Center Based Programs, 4 Early Head Start Home Visitors and 9 Head Start Centers. Comment by Eackloff, Robyn: You name and describe your chosen community group.

QUESTION:

What steps does a teacher need to take to get the proper help for someone with a developmental delay in Preschool?

Independent Variable: The teacher’s views on disabilities, like strategy and help needed.

Dependent Variable: Child’s demonstration of the skill learned.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Lauren Worcester, T.F. McLaughlin, Anjali Barretto. International Journal of English and Education, 2015. “Use of a Functional Behavioral Assessment to Address Tantrum Behavior with a Preschooler with Developmental Delays.” Volume: four, Issue: one. www.ijee.org Google.Scholar.com Comment by Eackloff, Robyn: Good work on the literature review.

While researching what steps a teacher needs to take to find proper help for a child with developmental delays, I read many articles. This article talks about the functional behavioral assessment. This is an assessment that assesses the tantrum and the negative behavior of a child with developmental delays. When children lack the appropriate communication skills, it often results in tantrums. This article talked about the use of a communication board. The board was used to help the child ask for a toy through a social story. “Check-ins” were used to make sure the child understood how to use the board. The results of this assessment show that the tantrum was maintained and even decreased with the use of the communication board. This is a great assessment tool, but not steps a teacher can take to get to this point.

Michael J. Guralnick, PhD. Infants Young Child, 2010. “Early Intervention Approaches to Enhance the Peer-Related Social Competence of Young Children with Developmental Delays.” P. 73-83. Volume: twenty-three, Issue: two. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Google.Scholar.com Comment by Eackloff, Robyn: Please be sure to sort references in alphabetical order.

While researching what steps a teacher needs to take to find proper help for a child with developmental delays, I read many articles. This article talks about Peer-Related Social Competence. This refers to the child’s ability to achieve interpersonal goals. This article also talks about how building relationships with peers being so important for a child’s development. This article talks about how give and take conversations between adults and peers create forms of social competence. Most often, these are interactions that are measured during free-play or unstructured conversations. Group play has been identified as being an issue for children with delays. This article talks about different ways to work with children with developmental delays that proved efficient, but I’m looking for the steps that a teacher needs to take to get the different programs or help that a child needs. How does a child get help?

Safani Bari, Nur Aishah Abdullah, Noraini Abdulla, Mohd Hanafi Mohd Yasin. International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, 2016. “Early Intervention Implementation Preschool Special Education Students in Malaysia.” Volume: four, Issue: six. www.ijier.net Google.Scholar.com

While researching what steps a teacher needs to take to find proper help for a child with developmental delays, I read many articles. This article talks about how early intervention implementation is very crucial for students with special needs or developmental delays. This article states that Early intervention implementation in preschool special education classes have failed. This failure has been linked to teachers who don’t have the knowledge or skills for early intervention. Teachers need to be more aware and help children with Developmental delays. It is best to get children intervention as soon as possible. The first five years are especially important to a child’s development. This article didn’t say that early intervention always fails, just when the teacher isn’t trained. How can a teacher work in a special education classroom, but not be knowledgeable in early intervention implementation?

Committee on Children with Disabilities. American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001. “Developmental Surveillance and Screening of Infants and Young Children.” P. 192-195. Volume:108, Issue: one. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.108.1.192 Google.Scholar.com

While researching what steps a teacher needs to take to find proper help for a child with developmental delays, I read many articles. This article focuses on the child’s pediatrician as the main person to diagnose a developmental delay. This article talks about how early interventions services are widely available for children with developmental delays. Since the first 5 years of a child’s life is important for development, it is crucial to get them help as soon as possible. Once the Pediatrician diagnoses the child with a developmental delay or a disability, then teachers can start to implement these tools and assessments to get the child the proper help. Many of these professionals will come right into the child’s classroom and work with them and is very convenient for parents who work.

Soheir S Abo El Elella, Maha A M Tawfik, Wafaa Moustafa M Abo El Fotoh, Naglaa Fathy Barseem. Original Article. “Screening for developmental delay in preschool-aged children using parent-completed Ages and Stages Questionnaires: additional insights into child development.” Volume: ninety-three, Issue:1104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2016-134694 Google.Scholar.com

While researching what steps a teacher needs to take to find proper help for a child with developmental delays, I read many articles. Out of all the articles I listed and reviewed, this is the article that best describes the steps a teacher can take to get proper help for a child. This article talks about the use of Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ’s). These questionnaires ask questions based on where a child should be in the stages of development. They are broken down into areas such as fine motor, gross motor, communication etc. There are regular Ages and Stages Questionnaires and there and Social Emotional questionnaires. Ages and Stages are just one tool a teacher can use, but it is a very helpful tool when filled out right.

HYPOTHESIS:

If a child receives proper help with developmental delays while young, then they have a better chance of succeeding.

PROPOSED RESEARCH METHOD:

While writing this research paper, I chose to use two preschool classrooms at the Chippewa Mackinac Luce Community Action Agency. These centers are both full day centers with one located on Drummond Island, MI and the other located in Cedarville, MI. I went to each center and was able to talk to the teacher in each classroom. Out of 11 children at the Drummond Island Center, only one child has a developmental delay. This child enrolled into the center already having a delay. This child sees a speech therapist who goes to the center to work with him. Out of 14 children at the Cedarville Center, there are 9 children who have experienced one of the following: Low ASQ scores, behavioral observation and intervention, speech delays, occupational delays, physical delays, trauma and loss intervention. Some of the tools used by teachers to get proper help for these children are ASQ’s, Child observation records, informal observations by professionals, speech evaluations, occupational evaluations, physical therapy evaluations, behavior tracking, notes from the child’s pediatrician and IEPs or IFSPs. The steps a teacher makes to get proper help would be to observe the child, pay attention to their observations and then fill out a referral. This referral will go up to the Disabilities coordinator at the Central Office. The disabilities coordinator will then make a referral for a behavior observation with their child psychologist. If it is speech, occupational or physical, a therapist will come to the center and evaluate that child. Once a delay or disability is identified, The center allows the professionals to work with the children in the comfort of their classroom. Every center has a trauma and loss practitioner. This practitioner will work with individuals who have been through the loss of a loved one, domestic violence, child abuse, etc. this program has proven effective, if done right and works well with children who have major behavioral issues. Comment by Eackloff, Robyn: This is an appropriate research method for this study.