Critical Thinking On Working With Special Needs Children And Their Families

2. Three strategies that can be used for teaching special needs children how to play include modeling, prompting, and modification of the physical environment.
When using the modeling technique with children it is important to not use too many cues at once. Cues can be visual, verbal, or tactile in nature. By demonstrating to the child one or more times, for example, how to change the clothes on the doll, the child can watch the instruction being done, follow the cues, and mimic the result. It is important to give the child ample time and opportunity to practice and not succeed at first, but praise the child for his/her efforts. Celebrate initial periods of success with positive reinforcement such as a high five or thumbs up that the child knows and understand to be great praise. This technique is not only positive for children with developmental delays, but can be transferred to children with communication deficiencies by adding open-ended questions for the child to answer during the period of play. After the child appears to have mastered the skill, observe from a distance for a while to give reinforcement for independent efforts until the child is confident in his/her abilities.
Prompting can help a child who struggles or is unsure how to move from one step to the next. Some of these children might struggle with emotional issues, others with issues that have caused disabilities, and others just struggle to change from one action or activity to the next. Providing multi-sensory toys and objects are good for the child to explore, practice their skills, and are especially beneficial if there is no right or wrong sequence of change. Using some tactile or visual clues along with verbal instructions will work well for prompting. The goal is to eventually lessen the number of prompts when the child is in the same or similar situations.
Modifying the physical environment is necessary for children with mobility issues, ensuring that there are workspaces and the availability of objects is adequate is important for children who use devices to move around, such as wheelchairs or walkers. For children that have difficulty sitting upright, a restraint at a sturdy table may work and ensuring that desired objects are within arms’ reach. It is important to ensure that the pathways are kept clear at all times for these children to not have their movements impeded.
4. Five indicators that a child of kindergarten age should be referred for a speech and language assessment include being able to follow classroom rules, the ability to follow three step commands, have a vocabulary of about 2,000 words, show some interest in group play at times, able can speak at least 90 percent of words with clarity. With these diverse set of skills, having one or two deficits may account for other learning or developmental issues, but having three or more skills in this list that are lacking in the child my indicate some type of deficiency. Only a trained professional will be able to determine the exact dificincy and should be able to provide feedback on how to help assist the child in school, home, and the community.
5. Four possible types of hearing loss include conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, central hearing loss, and functional hearing loss. Although most people suffer from only one of these types, some people suffer from a combination of two or more forms.
Conductive hearing loss is caused by any condition that interferes when sound is being transmitted from the middle or outer ear to the inner ear. In most cases, this can be treated with success. Sensorineural hearing loss is when the damage is in the acoustic nerve, the inner ear, or both. This is usually referred to as nerve deafness. Central hearing loss is due to a problem in the central nervous system and somewhere within the brain. People can sometimes hear, but can understand what is being said. Functional hearing loss is an emotional or psychological issue. They hear, but do not respond. They otherwise have normal hearing.
7. An Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is a document and a process that is used to help assist families and also professionals to combine their efforts to meet the needs of a child with special needs from birth through the age of three.
The IFSP is used under the rules and regulations of the system of special education laws at both the state and federal level. Medicare and Medicaid services are also included in this plan. Depending on the state laws and income guidelines, the child may receive cash benefits and other assistance. In almost all circumstances, the family will receive help to cover the costs of the extra services. There is a process that is generally overseen by a case manager. It is considered to be a living document, and is subject to change at any time to best suit the child’s needs.
An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a document that provides supportive services to children, free of charge, to help them reach their full potential. Some students that have IEP’s qualify because the need supportive services for conditions such as learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, emotional disorders, hearing impairment, visual impairment, cognitive difficulties, autism, speech or language impairments, or developmental delays.
It is the goal of the team to offer support services in the traditional classroom setting with accommodations provided, if needed. The team can include a psychologist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a special educator, a speech therapist, a hearing specialist, and/or others, depending on the needs of the child.
Referrals for an IEP can begin with a parent, doctor, or teacher. The teacher notifies the school psychologist. At this time, data is gathered to view the student’s academic progress through a parent conference, conference with students, student observation, or analysis of the student’s work.
After the evaluation, there is a meeting to evaluate the results and decide what will be included in the child’s plan. There are specific guidelines to ensure that services are provided as soon after the meeting as possible. Parents’ do have rights and can be included in every step of the process.