Special Education and Children Essay

Early Childhood Special Education Curriculum, Instruction and Methods Projects

This beginning chapter delineates education to the young children with special needs. In particular, early childhood special education mirrors impact and acclaimed practices resultant from the special education and early childhood fields. In the present, emphasis that is laid on early childhood does not encompass whether these young children can be provided with special needs service in typical settings but focus is rather on how the design of these inclusive programs can be most efficacious. Therefore, taking this into consideration, it is necessary to have early intervention for children with disabilities. However, an important element that is delineated in the chapter is that in as much as these children have special needs, they ought not to be treated in a dissimilar manner. The programs of early intervention for kids and preschoolers with special needs have to be centered on the similar developmentally fitting methods and approaches that are deemed best practices for all young children. Their programs should be fundamentally similar to those of other children (Cook et al., 2012).

A key aspect of this chapter is that any child with special needs ought to first of all be perceived as a child and thereafter view the disability or the particular special need as being secondary. What is more, the best and most fitting way to understand children is within the setting of their families and households as well as day-to-day activities and not their suitability tags or their diagnoses of disability. Taking this into consideration, in order to effectually take into account young children with special needs, it is imperative for educators to undertake necessary curricular alterations and other changes. Child outcomes that are constructive are reliant on methodical and organized planning of receptive settings, bearing in mind the needs of an individual, relations between parents and professionals and cooperation amidst households and families (Cook et al., 2012). This information is beneficial in understanding special education in the sense that it outlines how special needs kids should be viewed, appropriate early intervention programs and the relations between families.

Discussion

The video can be beneficial in educating parents about Special Education. First and foremost, it shows parents that through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states that all children with disabilities must obtain free and appropriate public education. Therefore, parents or families should incur no cost and that the local school district can assist parents in finding the most fitting and effective educational options for their child. The five-step program is beneficial for parents in ensuring their children receive special education. Parents begin with referral for their children, asserting why they think or feel they need special education. Secondly, the parents can evaluate whether their children are eligible for special education and this can be done using the prevailing information, or through tests and observation. The third step is the individualized education program, which discusses evaluations and makes recommendations. The video shows parents that they play a key role in this program as they fully know their children, can completely participate and voice any concerns. More so, the parents have a right to convey any worries about the subsequent evaluation report and written plan. Fourth, there is placement, which is based on the IEP report and plan together with the curriculum needs of the child. In essence, the children should ideally attend the similar school setting as children without disabilities. Lastly, the parent should sign a consent form, be provided with reports from the school, communicate in a frequent manner and establish proper relations with the school. In addition, there is an annual review that assesses the progress of the child for such duration (Wisconsin DPI, 2008).

The U.S. Department of Education supplies information to parents and encompasses topics that inform teaching practices and working with parents. A vital topic is equity of opportunity in that all the young children, both with special needs and those without disabilities must have the chance and opportunity to learn and achieve. Secondly, there is the topic of family and community engagement in the sense that if students are to be successful and prosperous in school, there has to be the involvement of families and the communities in overall. Early learning is another important topic that is discussed, which delineates that all children that are 4 years old ought to have access and be provided with quality preschool education as this eventually enables them to thrive and succeed in school (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).

Student Concerns #1: Aaron

Some of the concerns for Aaron include lack of response to his name when called by not only his parents, but also other parties. It is also a worry that Aaron did not maintain but rather had fleeting eye contact during his evaluation. Aaron also does not adhere to simple commands, such as being told to sit down, or to come towards a person. In addition, it is a concern that Aaron did not make use of words or gestures to communicate. Aaron also failed to try to obtain the attention of other people. Some of the aspects to discuss with Aaron's parents include the progress of the child in the Early Intervention Program and whether he still fails to respond when called out by his parents. The information that I want to remember from the case study are Aaron's mental and motor scales from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II.

Module 2

Critical Reflection of Chapter 2

The second chapter covers the aspect of early intervention and provision of special education to children with special needs in partnership with families. A key aspect noted is that the experiences of the child should not be perceived as autonomous of the family. In particular, the family is acknowledged as the vital element of the caregiving setting that affects and is affected by the child over time, bringing about dissimilar results for both the child and family. In fact, a child with special needs can be understood solely within the perspective of the family. Subsequent to assessing the needs and emotions that seem to be typical of families with special needs, it is imperative to examine family dynamics from a family systems perspective. From this perspective, the shared relationship between children with special needs and their families becomes more apparent. Different families have different needs and concerns regarding the special needs children and therefore early intervention experts and specialists ought to be able to utilize an assortment of communication approaches to nurture the participation and meet the needs of individual families. What is more, having a clear comprehension of the variety of prospective cultural dissimilarities amongst families and respecting such dissimilarities is vital to effective and successful early intervention. Another key aspect that is discussed in the chapter encompasses what families go through. Therefore, experts in early childhood special education must obtain strategies for working with families that live in poverty or have developmental disabilities (Cook et al., 2012). This information is connected to the first chapter as it links the provision of children with disabilities with the important role that families play in this regard. With respect to application, the information from the chapter enables professionals in special education with information of the differing needs and worries of families and how to cope with such concerns.

IFSP Outcomes #1: Aaron

Aaron will show understanding and response to familiar persons, games as well as daily routines. Aaron's parents will make a determination of which people, routines and games to be targeted. Examples of persons will include mama and daddy; games will include running towards a person and showing where something is. Aaron will use signs and gestures with vocalization.

Discussion

1. Texting does not mean the death of good writing skills. First of all, this is because texting is shorthand and therefore limitation of words is quite understandable. Secondly, people write and read the texts in the manner that they speak it. For instance, the term "btw" would be read as by the way and therefore does not in any way harm the language skills of an individual. Lastly, texting can be perceived as a completely new way of writing that young individuals are making use of in tandem with their writing skills. Therefore, it can be deemed a second dialect in terms of writing, which can be deemed beneficial for young people (Mcwhorter, 2013).

2. One of the key concepts that makes the language immersion program successful is dual language learning. Every student within the program is expected to study an additional language, with a choice between Spanish or Japanese. This increases the chances of understanding the language. A second concept is project-based learning. The students learn Japanese and Spanish through different projects in Math and Science. Research indicates that these two subjects are easier to learn as a second language because of the numerous hands-on activities involved in the classroom. The third concept that makes the program successful is teacher collaboration and parent involvement. This…