I chose to advocate for more inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood programs. I believe there are many benefits for children of all abilities to play and learn side by side. Having a child with a special need in a typical classroom situation requires more work, planning, and patience from a teacher. Many teachers that I have spoken to are not comfortable having a child with special needs in their classroom. They have expressed concern over their lack of special education training and they often do not have enough information on the child. I understand this way of thinking because I have been in the same situation before. This is why I would like to advocate for action plans to be in place at the time of registration in a class. Whether it be a park district program, preschool, daycare , or scouts.
The challenges I am facing on this advocacy issue is getting my message out to other programs besides preschools and daycare. Most towns have special education programs in place for activities and sports but I would like to see all children to have the option of being included in a typical program. The children in our country see diversity everyday. They need to learn to view diversity in others in a positive light. We often just hear about the negatives in inclusion situations.
I found a quote by Fred Rogers aka Mr. Rogers that I think sums up advocacy for children.
"Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me."
hi Cynthia I don't have no problems having children's with special needs in my classroom, I've been working for 8 years with children's and I had an experiences with a child with Autism I love having the child in my classroom with the other students, I think the same way children's learn from each others and teacher, we also learn from the children's. My only concern is the help from social workers or any other person working in the program. Sometimes we as teachers need resource and people do not provide the appropriate resource to the staff.
ReplyDeleteI find this advocacy issue to be extremely interesting. I work in a early childhood setting based off of special needs and high risk issues. We are currently in discussion to discover if children learn and develop better in mixed classrooms of various needs or if we should create classrooms based off of similar levels and needs. I would appreciate learning more about your thoughts and ideas.
ReplyDeleteI really like your quote. Great post.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. I also like the inspiring quote you choose. It is necessary to help children in any way possible, especially in ECE as this is the ladder they need to become successful later on. When we work with children we have to treat them as the individual they are, in order to fully understand their needs so they can be met. An excellent early childhood educator is one that can adjust according to children's needs.
Therefore a teacher has to facilitate learning in all areas and enhance development by assessing children’s development and learning needs by establishing reciprocal relationship with families that is developmentally appropriate also. Teachers must then be able to make children feel well secured in a nurturing environment, while maintaining positive approaches to learning. Since each child is an individual teachers need to get to know and respect each child as such, to be successful in their learning environment.
Hi Cindy, you are discussing a great topic of which I can see the concerns with teachers and for the department of special education. I think what you are trying to accomplish is a great thing/tool. I do believe some teachers may need training as they may have not had any students with the specific need a child may present in his/her classroom. I can vouch for that because 3 years ago as a teacher assistant I was given directions on assisting a kindergarten student who has autism. It was quite a challenge and I had no clue to what or how I was to assist. I was trained and given a schedule where he was to use and follow and this worked out very well. But my problem was how to respond to the child when he did not want to follow or do something. I did not know what to do and the student distracted the teacher and other students. I had to get the special education teacher to assist in calming him down. Again with no training it is very hard. So I believe that what you are suggesting and putting into place is a wonderful type of training that will help teachers and teacher assistants extremely.
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy. What a great topic to advocate. Many schools are wanting to include the children with special needs within all the classrooms, but is that benefiting them? Schools and teachers have said that they have children with special needs in their classrooms to show that these children are not secluded and that they can be treated the same as everyone. But does that really help? I believe that children with special needs do need to spend time with other children but for learning and educational purposes, I believe they should be taught by special education teachers who are knowledgable on how this child learns and offers the help this child needs to succeed. It does put a lot of pressure on teachers because they are not trained on how to deal with children with special needs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that a lot of educators dont have training to deal with special need children. I think that there should be funds that can help teacher receive the proper training so that can run an effective classroom. Its important that parents are included in the process. Its hard to make peeople understand, but if there were resources that parents can turn to it might help with the process of getting the children the proper help they need.
ReplyDeleteI understand your issue with presenting your message to other programs. Our program, where I work, they like people to come and share their thoughts and ideas, but unfortunately, we are not capable to receive children with physical needs. We do not have materials, resources, and/or equipment to help children with severe delays. Very sad, because I feel the same way you do, all children should have the opportunity to be included in a typical program.
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ReplyDeleteI think you have a very important topic for your plan. I think that educators who are nervous about inclusion need further training and can use veteran teachers as a valuable resource. Head Start like many programs serve children before during and after testing and development of the child's Individualized Education plan. Other agency that serve and support special needs children could help you get your message out as they are already champions for your cause. Parent support groups could provide you with the extra manpower needed to educate and network.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think its a good Idea to have inclusion is a amazing idea for young people to be with all their classmates to learn but at the same time it can be challenging for the teacher to focus on the ones with disabilities and the other children the class. Some times those with disability get left out or overwhelm or even scared because they don't know what to do with the help of the children. I do believe that every child should have that opportunity to learn just like everyone else. It's just hard for everyone in a inclusive classroom. If we didn't have the a team for each child with a disability I feel that we would be lost.
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