ECSE 340 Final Blog

I have really enjoyed taking this class this semester. I have always loved the thought of continuing on to Speech Therapy which is definitely something I am still going to pursue, but I also really like the idea of early intervention. Our baby and family that we worked with were INCREDIBLE. They were so willing to work on the activities that we introduced to them and were so excited to have us come over each week. This was because she was open about her desires and goals for her baby, and because of the relationship that we developed with the mom right from the start.

I have learned what Early Intervention looks like and how to work with families. I enjoyed thinking of and researching different activities that mom could do with baby to reach her goals. Sometimes it was difficult to find more resources for her, but the resources that I did find ended up being very helpful and beneficial.

Since mom was so willing to work with her baby and was so invested in helping her develop and grow, N was sitting up the ENTIRE last home visit. The week before she had sat up for a few seconds before falling to the side. Each week before that, her core muscles were just too weak to support her so she would just flop to one side or backwards. However, on the last visit she sat up the entire 30 minutes that we were there. It was so cool to see her progress and how far she had come. I also loved seeing the results of so much time spent on researching activities and writing out a lesson plan. Taking the time to help mom know what to do and then seeing results was so rewarding. N was not quite passing a toy from one hand to the next which was our other goal, but we noticed that she was able to grab things much quicker and firmer than she was when we had our first home visit. At our first visit, she would reach for a toy very slowly and barely grasp it. But now she is much stronger and able to hold things much better.

Overall, this class really taught me how to be an early interventionist and how to work with infants and families. It was so much fun and every assignment was extremely helpful to my learning and taught me a lot.

ECSE 340 RB 10

This week in our home visit, we introduced our DAP activity that we made for N. We made her a felt book that had interactive parts to almost all the pages. We decided to make a felt book because our goals this semester were sitting up and passing a toy from one hand to the next. As N uses the book, it will help her practice that motion of turning pages which will then lead to further development in problems solving and passing a toy from one hand to the next.

During our visit, we gave N the book and mom sat her down on the ground with the book in front of her. She leaned forward to play with the ribbon and the book. We could see that leaning forward helped her sit up and balance as she was sitting on her own. We feel that this will really help N to develop the skill of sitting up and help strengthen her core muscles. 

Weekly Quote:

"Somewhere around 9 months, she’ll reward you with a wave — and whether it’s a regal gesture or a funny, bird-like flap, this new attempt to communicate is something to celebrate."


Resource:


https://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/wave-clap/

ECSE 340 RB 9

During this weeks session, our home visit went great. We evaluated how Mom was doing with all the activities we have introduced to her. She said they are still doing baby sit ups, and have gotten from doing 5 to 10 sit ups before N gets tired. When we walked into the home, N was propped up on the couch in the corner, sitting up all by herself. She is not quite there yet, but she is getting so close! She was sitting up fine and you could tell her core strength has been increasing. Mom also started feeding her real food, starting with little rice cakes. When mom put them on her high chair tray, she instantly reached out, grabbed one, and started chewing it. 

This week we practiced having N on her tummy and reaching out for two rattles at the same time, one in each had. She did great on her tummy, but did not do it when we sat her up on a lap, which was super interesting. We also evaluated to see if she was sacral sitting or not. When she sits up, she definitely leans back. So we showed mom that she could stand her up against the wall to help her practice keeping her back straight. 

I do have a question though. I was wondering if maybe N is having a hard time sitting up because she is so skinny. She has acid reflux, and has had a hard time gaining weight since she was born. She seems to not have much weight to her in her core and I was wondering if that could be an issue as well?

Weekly Quote:

"She’ll need strong muscles to hold up her head, roll over, sit up, crawl, and eventually walk."

Resource:

Yesterday, we talked to Mom about her wanting to help Nora transition from co-sleeping to sleeping in a crib so I found this resource for her:

http://www.adventuresandpreggers.com/co-sleeping-to-crib/

ECSE 340 RB 8

Our intervention sessions are going really well. This past week, we checked up with Mom to see how our first activities that we presented to her were working. She said that they love doing baby sit ups, and have been doing them often. This week, we observed that N is starting to hold herself up a little more now, which means that her core strength is building. We tried to do the activity where mom laid N on her tummy and put a toy to the side of her, with the goal of her reaching for it and then rolling over. We think she was just tired from the first activity so she wasn't wanting to do it and started getting fussy. We then turned to having mom sit N on the edge of the couch and then just holding her hands. This allows for N to feel that sitting up on her own motion and then also strengthens her core muscles as she is sitting up. 

This week, we are going to evaluate N's sitting and if she is rolling back on her butt. If she is, we are going to have mom sit her up against the wall to help her not tuck her butt/lower back in when she is sitting. 


Weekly Quote:

"Gently encourage a rolling motion over onto his side and then his tummy. As this becomes easier, teach your child to roll from his tummy onto his back."

Resource:

https://www.livestrong.com/article/534502-trunk-strengthening-exercises-for-infants/

ECSE 421 RB 8

This week we got ready for our family project presentations and then gave them in class. I enjoyed giving our presentation and felt like it went really well. We were well prepared with all our information and resources to share. I also really enjoyed all the other presentations that were given. It was really interesting and fun to hear about all the different disabilities that were in each family and the resources that were found for each family by the students. A lot of the disabilities included speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, which is common. However, some of the groups were very creative with their material and informational resources as well. There was one group that found a website of toys made specifically for children with special needs, each toy intentionally catering to a certain skill. 


Weekly Quote:

"'Why didn’t you ever tell me you couldn’t hear?' He told me he didn’t know he couldn’t. He thought how he was feeling was normal." -Lauren (blogpost)

HWD:
This week I found another blog post from a mother who's son was diagnosed with severe hearing loss in his right ear in 6th grade. I loved reading her experiences with each of the stages of grief. The few that I have read have generally been the same, carrying guilt and shame and then leading to acceptance. One of my friends, who was my old roommates cousin, passed away 2 weeks ago. She was 21 years old. I didn't know her very well, but I have seen the stages of grief going on in my friends life, having to deal with the passing of her dear sweet best friend and cousin. At the beginning of the blogpost that I read this week, the lady who wrote it said that she always thought the grief cycle occurred when you experience a death. However, she quickly realized that it was not, when her son was diagnosed. 

ECSE 421 RB 7

This week we have been working on our Family Project. It has been fun but also a little challenging to find resources to help our family that has a child with down syndrome. I never realized all the different resources that the child and the family would need. There are so many things to consider that you don't think to consider. And then when you do figure out the resources that are needed, it is a struggle to locate and find those resources. Even in big cities, there is a lot you have to do to receive necessary services. However, it has been eye opening as to how to work with a family that has a special needs child.

Weekly Quote:

"No one tells you grieving can be a normal part in raising a child with special needs" -Katie Paulson


HWD:

This week i found a blog post from the above mother, Katie Paulson, about her experience with the grief cycle since she had her son who has panhypopituitarism. She goes through each of the stages of the grief cycle and how they affected her. It was really great to read this and see what the grief cycle is like for parents who have special needs. It is okay to grieve, in fact, it is essential. She went through all the stages and finally reached acceptance and hope. It took a while, but she reached it. She understands that the saddness and anger may still come back, but she still has hope.

ECSE 340 RB 7

Our home visit this week went really well! We came up with two different activities that we had Mom do. One to work on passing toys from one hand to the next, and the other to help N strengthen her core muscles. Mom did a great job and caught on to the activities quickly. As we were practicing during the home visit, we could already tell that N was progressing and that she was catching on as well. As mom did baby sit-ups with N, we could already see N contracting her core muscles and strengthening them. I am excited to see the progress that N makes in the next few weeks.

I do not have any questions or concerns, as it has been so great working with the family and with N. Mom just wants N to progress and wants her to sit up. So everything we do is geared toward that. Mom is not afraid to ask us questions or let us know what is going on with N's growth. I appreciate that she is so open with us, because we are able to really cater to their concerns and their needs.

Resource:

https://www.livestrong.com/article/299657-exercises-to-strengthen-babys-abdominal-muscles/

Weekly Quote:

"Just like adults, specific exercises can help your baby develop abdominal muscles he needs to become strong and mobile. The exercises can also be a fun and bonding activity for the two of you". -Jody Braverman 

This quote comes from the above resource and i like that it mentions helping baby with these exercises can be a bonding and fun activity for mom and baby. 

ECSE 340 RB 6

This week we had our baseline visit with N and her mother. We explained the results of the first assessment that we gave and then we asked a few more questions for the next assessment up to challenge her. We then evaluated some skills needed to work on the goals we set for N in sitting up and problem solving (passing a toy from one hand to the other). We found that N has good depth perception and can grasp toys pretty easily. We need to work on the passing motion from one hand to the next. We then evaluated her head control, balance, self correction, and core strength. She has great head control, but we need to work on her core strength, which will then increase her balance and self correction.

I think our visit went great and we were able to do all that we needed to. N's mother was happy with our goals and is excited to work on sitting up and passing toys to different hands. For next week, we will write our intervention plan and create activities to work on. We will then begin our intervention activities next week.

Resource:

www.babybigstep.com (blog that has a 7 day step program for helping a child to pass a toy from one hand to the next including activities).

RB 6 ECSE 421

I really enjoyed our discussion this week about working with parents. It really is important to communicate with the parents and have a good understanding of how to work with them. I never realized all that was included in working with parents. But it is the teachers responsibility to foster that good positive relationship and do what you can. I like the idea of home visits, calling the parents about good news, praising the parents for the good they are doing, and including the parents in everything. I know that if we do this, they will feel more in charge of their child's learning and growth. They will feel that they have a major part in deciding what their child needs and actually doing it. I am going to apply all of these into my future career either as a teacher or a developmental specialist.

Weekly Quote:

"Identify habits or attitudes that interfere with effective communication". I like this a lot because I say "like" SO much that it annoys my husband. So, I now realize that I need to work on not saying it so much so I can be taken seriously and be more professional.


HWD:

Since I changed my topic, I was looking up articles about the grief and crisis cycle in children with special needs and the parents with those children. I have not found many articles yet, but I have found that there are many resources in dealing with children with special needs and the grief cycle is a very real thing when it comes to that. I am excited to learn more about all the different parts of the grief cycle.

ECSE 340 RB 5

So this week Brynn and I did our first home visit. It went really well and we are so excited to start our intervention lessons. We administered the Ages and Stages assessment to our infant and go pretty high scores for all the domains. Because of this, we have to go back and give her the next age up in the assessment to figure out where she is low so we can base our intervention plans off of that. This was definitely something that I learned this week. It makes sense though, because if we could start early on intervention that will help in the future, then the infant and parents will be greatly benefited and much better off.

An additional question that I have is about the baseline visit. I am still a little confused at what that means and how that goes, but I guess we will figure it out. I don't understand how that is different from our first visit if we have to give her another assessment.


Weekly Quote:

"Goals have to be measurable, specific, and observable".

ECSE 421 RB 5

I really enjoyed our classes this week. I am a hands on person and I much rather enjoy having a conversation and hearing about real life experiences. So I really liked the videos we watched and the guest lecture that made everything so much more real for me. 

The guest lecture was such an eye opener for me. I love hearing real experiences of parents with children that have disabilities. They are all just so real and down to earth. They are real about the hard and bad parts about the disabilities and real about the good times as well. I also really like that they treat them just like any other child. I could tell that the mom that came to speak to us loved her children so much and would do anything for them. But I could also tell how hard it is sometimes, and that is OKAY! Sometimes we think that it is not okay to suffer or not okay to cry. But that is just a normal part of life. We just have to learn to love life through the trials. So when it comes to having a child with a disability, you accept that that is your life and that it will be hard but love them anyways.

One thing I really liked was that she put on her powerpoint that having children with a disability created stress in her marriage. I just like that she was honest about that. Especially after having 6 other kids of her own that were typically developing and then adopting 3 with disabilities. I can totally understand the stress it would create. But the amazing thing is that they worked through it and they continue to work on it everyday to create the best life for their children that they can.

Weekly Quote:
"Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't know that slapping my child would cure him of autism!"-Jenn

HWD:

I found this really cool website while researching this week. It is: https://www.homecity.com/creating-a-home-where-your-child-can-thrive-with-a-disability

It is a real estate website, but has so many ideas and resources for parents when it comes to modifications for the child with special needs! It has so many different ways you can modify your house so that your child with a special need can thrive and live comfortably. I think it was really cool that that was available for parents to refer to.

ECSE 421 RB #4

I learned a lot this week in class. I thought it was so interesting when we were talking about the grief cycle, especially in the context of being a professional working with families of children with special needs. Knowing the grief cycle can help us understand families and where they are at when we work with them. This is so good to know, so that we can better help the families instead of tearing them down. 

Another thing that really struck me hard was regarding the question, "Is our education system supporting a fatherless America?". I had never thought about this before. Of course we are! We are scheduling parent teacher conferences, IEP meetings, school performances, etc during the day when fathers are working and they cannot attend. We are inviting the mothers to come in and help out in the classroom, but not the fathers. We are not giving the fathers the opportunity to be available. During this discussion, I thought about how when I am a professional one day (if I decide to work in a school), I will do all that I can to prevent this from happening. I will schedule all those things at night, when the fathers can attend. I think it is so important, even if it cuts into my own personal time. Fathers need to be present. 

My father was so involved in my life, and I can see the impact it has had on my family and myself. Especially now that I am an adult and living away from home, I can see that I am who I am today because of my father and the man he was and is in my life. Every child deserves to be treated that way. 

Quote:

"It is important to wrestle and rough play with your children" -Sister Swenson in class

I really liked this because that is another reason why we need fathers, because they help in the development of their children in ways we never would have thought!

HWD:

In regards to my topic, I think having a father involved in the home can really help when it comes to families of children with special needs. I also liked the question posed in class, Do we spend money to fix the yard or do we go on a family trip? I think one of the best practices to balance the child with special needs and the children without is to just be a family. Do things together, and have fun!

ECSE 340 RB 3

This week we talked about RBI's and home visits. One thing that I thought was interesting that we talked about was when we are meeting with the parents in their home about their child, it is so important that everything is about THEM. When asking the parents questions about their child's development and interventions plans (if they worked or didn't), the worst thing you could do was start talking about yourself. This is a time when we need to really pay attention to what they are saying and asking good, understanding questions to better help them rather than just relate stories about ourselves to them, because that is not the goal.

I think this is something I can really work on with my friends and my husband. I have caught myself a few times doing this and just wanting to relate a story from my own life to them instead of really listening and being there for them.

This will really help this semester as we plan to go into a strangers home to work with their infant. We want to develop a good, lasting relationship that is based on trust and friendship so that we can better help them and their infant in their development.

ECSE 421 Reflection Blog #3

This week's class periods and discussions were very powerful to me. After talking about the definitions of an impairment and disability and the medical/social model, I got thinking about my views of those with special needs and how I can have a positive impact on our world today that focuses on the negative and is far from where we need to be when it comes to special education. The day that we talked about how in Denmark and Iceland as well as the US are encouraging women to abort their babies that might have the "possibility" of having downs syndrome, I felt sick to my stomach that that was a thing and was happening in our world. Later that day, I came across a speech given by a man with downs syndrome about his right to live. I was deeply moved by this speech and shared it all over social media, trying to spread awareness of how special those with special needs are. They deserve to live 100% and are the most special people in the world. I wish that everyone could understand that we all have some type of disability and when we talk about equality we are talking about those with disabilities as well.

Weekly Quote:

"I completely understand that people pushing this particular final solution are saying that people like me should not exist. That view is deeply prejudiced by an outdated idea of life with down syndrome".-Frank Stevens Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQJEoRhkapw

This quote really stuck out to me in this video because part of it comes from that fact that people just aren't educated about those with special needs. However, if we can educate them on the resources available and educate them on how keeping a child with down syndrome or any other disability is not child abuse and they still can have great, rich, fulfilling lives just like we do.

HWD:
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/581577_2
(Reichman, Corman, Noonan, Impact of Child Disability on the Family. 2008).

I found this article that briefly talks about the impact that a child with a disability can have on a family. There are positive impacts and negative impacts. The positive impacts include strengthening the family bonds, encourage community relationships and connections, a better awareness, etc. The negative impacts can be the financial costs and stress, other children feeling neglected, increased divorces, etc. As I continue to study this subject, I am curious to find what the best practices and approaches are for the parents to implement so that they can effectively balance both children.

ADA Reflection

The ADA assignment that I was assigned was, “You have ADD. While completing a reading assignment for school. You will need to get up and walk away from your reading every 5 minutes”. The first time that I attempted to complete this assignment, I was doing my reading for this class. I got up after 5 minutes and walked away. I came back to my reading and started reading some more. After about 5 minutes, my husband started to talk to me about something. After we got done talking, I got up to make dinner. After dinner, I remembered another assignment that I needed to complete and started working on that. After working on that for a little while, I remembered that I was in the process of doing my ADA assignment.

In another attempt to complete the assignment, I was working on my ecomap today with a partner. As I was asking questions about her family, we got very distracted because I would start saying a story I remembered that related and other topics not related to the assignment. I realized that I was doing this assignment without even trying.

As I was doing these things with this assignment in mind, I at times would get frustrated with myself because I couldn’t just complete one simple assignment. As hard as I tried to stay focused and complete one task, I would still get distracted. I do not have any diagnosed ADD, however through this assignment I got a little more of a taste of how they feel. I was frustrated as well because a homework assignment that should have taken 15-20 minutes was now taking hours to complete.

When I think about those with this disability, it is one that is not physically seen on the outside. You can’t look at someone with ADD and say “Oh, that person has ADD”. It is a mental disability that can impair someone’s ability to focus on tasks that they are trying to complete. This can cause many problems in the classroom because teachers may not know right away and may not know how to first accommodate them. This can also be frustrating because they are trying to complete their work just like their peers but are unable to or take much longer because of this disability.

I think it is extremely important as teachers and humans to be aware of these disabilities, and that disabilities are not always physical, but mental as well. This does not mean that these people are any less smart as their peer sitting next to them. This does not mean that they cannot learn or be successful in school and life. This means that we treat them the same way as everyone else, but provide them with the resources and services available to make sure they are getting the education they need in the way that they need it. For example, possibly giving them the same assignment as the other students but shortening it so that they can complete it within their attention span time frame.

ECSE 340 Reflection Blog #2

Some information that I learned from this weeks readings that I didn't know before was the push to have the parents be the interventionists rather than the SLP or early interventionist. I really liked what it said in the reading how the job of the interventionist is to coach and teach the parents rather than coach and teach the child. This is important because when I decided to change my major to ECSE, I was first interested in the opportunity that I could be an early interventionist. I then thought about how great it would be to actually coach the parents on how to deal with their children with disabilities. Now, that is the push. We want to coach the parents and make sure they are the ones heading the intervention because they are with them the most and know them the most.

For the future home visits in this class, I learned that we should make plans according to the parents wants and what they decide the outcome to be. Once we work with the parent to decide the outcome, we can think of strategies and interventions that they can do in their home when we are gone. That should be our goal.

I do not have any additional questions at this time.

"The primary role is to WORK WITH and SUPPORT family members and caregivers. We should be behind the child or next to the parent".

Reflection Blog #2

From the readings this week, I learned a lot about the ADA and the process to how it all came about. We have come a long way in the last 60-100 years when it comes to the rights that those with disabilities have. The videos we watched this week were so interesting, and I never realized that those with disabilities have gone through so much. It makes me so sad to think about the fact that those with disabilities were being treated so poorly. We still have a long way to go, but now they are provided with the necessary services in schools and are able to hold and get good jobs which allow them to provide for themselves.

I really liked the videos we were assigned to watch. I learn well from visuals and videos. The readings were good as well, but I read them quick to get the main points out of the reading. From what we learned this week, I am prepared and ready to make changes in the way we address and talk about those with disabilities. I am going to try and say handicapped less, and special needs or disabilities more.

"Do we need to disguise ourselves to get closer?" I want to remember this quote later on to remind me that we don't need to disguise ourselves. We need to remember that everyone is a child of God and deserves to be treated the same. We shouldn't have to disguise ourselves, anytime.

ECSE 421 Week 1 Reflection

This week we have talked about FERPA and HIPAA. I knew what these topics were before this class due to taking Assessments last semester. From this class, I also learned how to work with a family in assessing their child and writing a diagnostic report. Through writing reports, I learned how to make recommendations based on data collected to help students with special needs succeed in their education. This included recommendations for the parents, the school, and the professionals. Therefore, I learned a little bit about what each can specifically do for the child.

However, I would like to know more about the community and what the community can do, which I am assuming would include resources available and such. Some other questions I have and things I want to know are how families can deal with a child with a disability. I know that it can be hard to deal with, and I would like to know what families can do to make their home the best learning environment for their children with and without disabilities.