Infant and Toddler Program Module 9 PDF

Young Children with Special Needs stable for some time. However, the child can squat by himself, but lose balance in a Understanding young children with special short period. In this case, the child might be needs has been part of E...

Young Children with Special Needs stable for some time. However, the child can squat by himself, but lose balance in a Understanding young children with special short period. In this case, the child might be needs has been part of Early Childhood having a developmental delay in the gross Education even before the twentieth motor domain. century. As what expert says, detection of possible special needs of the children Disability usually arises in their early years. The earlier these can be addressed the bigger Disability is a characteristic of the person chance of nurturing the child holistically. that restricts or inhibits their ability in any of the major development domains-physical, The American Psychological Association emotional, cognitive, or sensory. (Nixon, defines the term “child with special needs” 2002) An example of this is a visually as a child who requires special education. impaired child, wherein he/she uses braille These children may have learning to gain information. disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or emotional difficulties. Moreover, the Collins Handicap dictionary defines the term “special needs” as an educational requirement of pupils or Handicap only arises when the disability students with any of a wide range of stops the individual from participating fully physical disabilities, medical conditions, in society. Handicaps are created by society, intellectual difficulties, or emotional or not by disability(Nixon, 2002). For example, behavioral problems. a child met an accident in the playground and it resulted in a broken leg. The child Hence, in this module, we will focus on needs to sit down in a wheelchair and needs understanding children with special needs. assistance in moving around. Definition of Terms Early Intervention Red Flag Early Intervention is the term used to describe the services and supports that are According to (National Training Institute for available to babies and young children with Child Care Health Consultants, 2010). Red developmental delays and disabilities in Flag is an informal term which indicates their families. (Morin, 2018). The main goal that some of the child’s development has of these services is to help the child been noticed as at risk for falling outside develop different areas such as physical, the range of deemed typical. Teachers and cognitive, language, social, and emotional. the parents are the first ones to notice Helping children 0-3 years old with these red flags through their daily developmental delay or any condition is the interaction with the child, standardized primary goal of the early intervention developmental screening, or through their program. simple observation. An Overview of the Child If red flags are being observed in a child, Development 0-3 years old the teacher should monitor closely and The development of different domains document important scenarios that across this period is associated with other happened in the class. Communication with domains. This is why some curriculum parents plays a big role. The teacher should specialists make sure that every learning have open communication with the parents experience is always integrated with the about with his/her observation with the other. Teachers must take time in planning concerned child. Inquiry of the child’s learning activities for children. behavior at home could further help the teacher to assess the child’s development. When the child learns to talk to his/ her parents the language domain and cognitive Developmental Delay domain are starting to develop. The Developmental Delay is when your child cognitive domain follows a sequence in does not reach their developmental child development, this is reflected in milestones at the expected times. It is an Piaget’s Cognitive Learning Theory. ongoing major or minor delay in the process CHILDREN’S of development. If your child is temporarily DEVELOPMENTAL DOMAIN (0- lagging behind, that is not called 3 YEARS OLD) developmental delay. Delay occurs in one or many areas- for example, gross or fine Physical motor, language, social, or thinking skills.(Boyse, 2010) Growth and health status- this refers to the physical growth of the child such as their For example, at the age of 1 year old, the height and weight child must be able to squat and remain 1 Sensory- refers to the development of the At 3 years of age, a child should five senses of the child be able to speak in complete sentences. Motor At 5 years of age, a child should be more complex and abstract Fine Motor- refers to the small muscle including the ability to understand movements such as grasping, scribbling or quantity concepts, label smaller even talking is part of the fine motor skill of body parts, form grammatically the child correct questions, and describe Gross Motor- this is the movement of the similarities. large muscles such as crawling, walking or any other large movements of the child Communication RED FLAGS Cognitive Not talking at 18 months of age. Not attempting to communicate Approaches to learning- refers to how needs and wants at 12 months of the child acquire new information or age. knowledge such as thinking, remembering No recognition of common objects or any other forms at 18 months of age. Communicative / Language Unable to understand simple commands (Examples: Are you Refers to how the child communicate and hungry? Do you want a bottle?) at understand his/her peers using verbal and 12 months of age. non-verbal cues such as body gesture Difficulty of intelligibility – understand less than 50% of Social/ Emotional (including mental language at 2 years of age. health) Stuttering, lack of fluency in speech after 4 years of age. Refers to the management of a child’s Unable to initiate conversations or emotions and feelings including ask questions at 2 ½ years of age. understanding themselves. (child’s behavior) Not using pronouns appropriately (me, mine, yours) at 2 years of age. Identifying Children with Special Needs Fine Motor Skills One of the primary roles of Early Childhood Educator is to track the child’s development. Infants age birth to 3 months We are to observe, assess, document, and should be able to bring their provide the needs of every child. For us to hands to their mouth and grasp keep track of the child’s development and hold an object. appropriately there are developmental At 1 year of age a child should be milestones that serve as our guide. A child’s able to stack blocks and turn development follows a sequence, wherein it pages in a book. starts from an easy level to a difficult one. At 2 years of age, a child should be able to imitate scribbles and The following developmental complete simple puzzles. domains map out the major At 3 years of age, a child should typical skills and some possible be able to string beads and use warning signs. Please note that good hand and finger coordination. this list is not all-inclusive. Between ages 4 and 5, a child will be able to color within lines, copy Communication: shapes, and use scissors in a coordinated fashion. Infants can distinguish between happy and angry voices within Gross Motor Skills weeks of birth. At 1 year of age, a child should be From birth, infants should be able using 3 to 10 words consistently. to turn their heads from side-to- At 2 years of age, a child should side. At about 3 months, they be able to utilize two to three- should be able to roll in both word phrases and be able to directions. engage in two-way communication At 1 year of age, a child should be with a caregiver. able to squat and resume a standing position. 2  Between 12 and 18 months of age, numbers, letters, and colors and a child should begin walking understand size concepts. independently. At 2 years of age, a child should Cognition RED FLAGS be able to use stairs independently, jump, run, and No eye contact at 3 months of age. enjoy ‘rough and tumble’ play. No exploration of toys at 6 months At 3 years of age, a child should of age. be able to hop on one foot and Not reaching for toys at 9 months easily avoid obstacles while of age. moving around his/her Lack of interest in playing with environment. toys at 9 months of age. Between ages 4 and 5 balance, Easily distracted extremely short coordination and agility should attention span at 12 months of improve and increase. age. Inability to retain information at Motor RED FLAGS 12 months of age. Difficulty focusing on activities at Abnormal movement (extension or 18 months of age. arching) and 3 to 6 months of age. Preference to play alone all the Extreme variations in muscle tone time at 3 years of age. (low or high tone) at birth to 3 No cooperative play at 5 years of months of age. age. Highly favored head position at 2 months of age. Behavior RED FLAGS Not walking independently by 18 months of age. Negative behavior occurs multiple Toe walking (extreme) at 2 years times per day. of age. No self-calming and difficulty Hands remain fisted after 2 calming with intervention. months of age. Self-injury (head-banging, hitting, Sensory concerns such as etc.). aversions to certain textures or Behavioral interventions fail and movements, avoidance of looking do not impact behavior. at certain objects, or seeking out After implementing routine and input (rocking or mouthing structure, the negative behavior objects). still occurs. Difficulty with hand-finger Adapted from National Center coordination (trouble picking up for Learning Disabilities Every small objects, inability to cross Child is Learning: A Training mid-line, etc.). Program for Parents and Teachers (2020) Cognition FOUR MAJOR TYPES OF Infants will momentarily look at an SPECIAL NEEDS AND object held in front of them, turn DISABILITIES (Landman, their heads toward the source of a 2018) sound, and enjoy exploring with their own hands. Physical At 1 year of age, a child will enjoy putting objects into a container ( Muscular Dystrophy, Epilepsy, and then dumping them out. At Cerebral Palsy) this age, a child will also start to vary play and move around A physical special needs disability is barriers to get toys. any condition that prevents normal At 2 years of age, a child will body movement and control. While begin to sort shapes, begin to there are many different types of understand the concept of ‘one’, physical disabilities, muscular and will be able to complete dystrophy and cerebral palsy are simple puzzles. common. A child with muscular At 3 years of age, a child begins to dystrophy will have weakened enjoy pretend-play and start to muscle fibers while a child with show interest in how things work. cerebral palsy will have brain damage. There are many causes of Between the ages of 4 and 5, a physical disabilities and include child will start to identify shapes, genetics, serious illness, spinal cord injury, and brain damage. 3 Developmental (Autism, Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome) Developmental disabilities are generally detected early on because mental or physical impairments cause these disabilities. Common developmental disabilities are down syndrome and fragile x syndrome. Those who have down syndrome are born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, which affects brain and body development. Fragile X is another developmental disability that is thought to cause autism in boys. Behavioral or Emotional (ADD, Bipolarized, Oppositional Defiant Disorder) A behavioral or emotional disability has many possible characteristics. Many include an inability to build or maintain interpersonal relationships, an inability to learn, and feelings of depression or anxiety. ADD is one common behavioral disability, which includes symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Bipolar disorder is a common emotional disability, which includes symptoms of depression, irritability, and distractibility. Sensory Impaired (Deaf or Limited Hearing, Blind or Visually Impaired) Sensory impairment disabilities are when one of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, spatial awareness) is not at the average functioning level. Common disabilities include limited hearing or visual impairment. While injury and infection can cause sensory impairment, genetics can also play a role. 4