Interview Process: Developmental Delays

Interview Process: Developmental Delays 

When it comes to interviewing people about developmental delays I felt that I choose someone that works in close collaboration in this area. The two individuals, I chose to interview, were two women in the early childhood and elementary setting. The first lady, that I interviewed, was Mrs. Tracey Jones, Special Education Coordinator. The second lady is Ms. Jerin Towns, Pre-K Family Service Advocate.  These two women were helpful when it came providing answers to the questions that I asked during their interview process.

During the interview process with Mrs. Jones was very useful because she shared her experiences as a teacher and coordinator working with students that have developmental delays. She supplied excellent examples to show pros and cons for students that have developmental delays. She feels that all teachers should have professional development training on skills/strategies that can be used in regular education classroom for adaptations for all learners.

When it comes to challenges for these interviews it was scheduling time frames but when I was finally able to meet them it was a great experience and eye opener. It allowed me to understand the importance of a building relationship with my students. By building theses relationships it helped me see signs that might trigger my students to act out or noticed signs for developmental delays. 

Some of the questions that I asked during these interviews were:

1.      What does a successful family/professional relationship   consist of in your line of work?

2.      When you first started working in this field, what assumptions, biases, or values did you have in working with these families? How has this changed over time?

3.      What challenges and triumphs have you experienced in your position?

Notice some signs of Learning Disability

Project Topic: Learning Disabilities and Developmental delays

Subtopics: Understanding Learning Disabilities and Developmental delays

 Many people question rather or not teachers are effectively teaching students that have a learning disabilities or developmental delays.  Children with learning disabilities have to be in an instructional learning environment that is structured and not too busy.  It is important that they are in least restrictive environment and that meets the needs of their Individualized Educational Program goals.

As a regular educational teacher, I feel that we sometimes lack the knowledge when it comes to including our students that have learning disabilities or developmental delays in a mainstream classroom.  By having a learning disability the student might act out or grades are below average. This is why I feel it is important to understand what your students already know and how to reach them. Students that are developmental delayed can have difficulty expressing their feelings
and thoughts. Also, with developmental delays I will like to focus on the social and emotional strategies that can be implemented into a classroom.

  Even though these issues might be challenging for a teacher; it could also affect the parents. Having a lack of knowledge on how to handle a child with a learning disabilities and developmental delays can cause a parent to be stressed.  Parents should attend informational trainings on how to handle that particular disability. 

The participants in this group will be students ages 4-10, families, and the teachers.  I will focus at one particular elementary school.

 Links to great resources and blogs that I have find that are very helpful when it comes to ideas to teach the whole child and understanding each domain for child development:

 http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/

http://www.naeyc.org/

https://oldschoolteach.wordpress.com/category/elementary-education-blog/

http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org/

http://4theloveofteaching.blogspot.com/

Every Student Can Learn!

When it comes to inspiration related to child development I feel that this quote makes you look at the big picture of teaching the whole child.  Every child learns differently, so as educators we have to make sure that lesson plans are modified to reach all learns. When it comes to child development we have make sure we are focusing on each area  to allow to student to understand, explore, and discovery new things around them.

Making the Real World Connection Through Art

Real World Connection Through Art

In the classroom it important to make connection through life experiences to allow the student grow 

and discovery new things. Being creative allows them to take what they already know and creating 

new visual experiences. According to Janet Barresi, State Superintendent of Public Instruction 

stated that art focus on the following development of a child:  

Physical Skills: develop muscles used for fine motor skills, refine eye-hand coordination, fine motor control and the sense of balance.

 

Social/Emotional Skills: enhance self-expression of feelings, the ability to channel frustrations and anger in a socially acceptable manner, instill pride and confidence, foster an appreciation of differences, and promote cooperation and sharing on group projects.

Language Skills: enhance verbal expressions as projects are described, increase vocabulary through exposure to different materials, tools, colors, texture, and positional words are refined.

Intellectual Skills: provide opportunity for sorting, classifying, making choices, decision making, expressing knowledge of the environment; stimulate intere

What art activities do you use to make that real life connection in your classroom?

How do you keep your student engaged in the lesson?

Reference Page

Barresi, J. (n.d.). Early Childhood/Family Education Programs. Retrieved from The Early Childhood Learning Environment: http://ok.gov/sde/sites/ok.gov.sde/files/EarlyChildLearnEnv.pdf