Course Reflections...

I have truly enjoyed this class. I found it surprising the bias that people project on to others. I also found it interesting to determine what bias I projected on to others as well. I was able to look deeper into my challenge of working with English Language Learners. I hope to further my knowledge and education on what factors teachers use to determine that a child needs special education. Providing teachers with proper training will help them to be more knowledgeable on the different cultures in their class. My future aspirations are to continue learning more about ELL students, learn more about stress, trauma and resilience. Teaching resilience in the midst of trouble helped to motivate me in this profession. Reading several articles of families that assimilated into the culture and the various resources they need fuels my passion for working with ELL students and their families. This class has truly added to who I am as a scholar-practitioner!

Interview Process and Course Project Update

This interview process is going well. I am interviewing the English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in my school and the Assistant Director of the Bright Beginnings program that I work for. I had the pleasure of sitting down with the ESL teacher while we planned our second Spanish Family Social.Sitting with this teacher I have learned so much about how Spanish children develop and the effects of not having early intervention and what resources these families are lacking in. Throughout the interview process with the ESL teacher I appreciated her letting me see what assessments she uses with the K-5 children. I also appreciated the collaboration to put on another social for our Spanish families. With interviewing the Assistant Director of my program I appreciate her taking time out of her busy schedule to allow me to interview her. I have been very successful in setting up a meeting time to interview them because I understand that their time is valuable,

An important experience that I can relate to both interviewees is that neither of them started out working directly with English Language Learning (ELL) children. I realized that they both started as general education teachers and saw a need to reach out to ELL children later in their career. As more and more ELL children enter school younger I am thankful for teachers that take the time to assist in their development, I am especially thankful to my Assistant Director who identified that teachers needed more training on ELL students and referring them for special education. She has provided effective professional development that has shaped the way teachers view ELL students. We still do not have a concrete approach but we are working towards one.

This leads me to my course project. My project will seek to understand what factors teachers use to identify an ELL student as needing special education. This quantitative study will examine the views and opinions of teachers and therapist that directly work with ELL students. From this project more direct professional development can be implemented to train teachers on  working with ELL students and understanding when they should recommend an ELL student for special education.  I have found several articles about the risk factors and stress that ELL families endure especially when it comes to education. In previous classes I never considered the risk and stress that ELL families experience and the stress of teachers working with ELL students.

Questions:

Does your school system provide professional development on ELL students and families.
Do you ever recommend an ELL child for Speech and Language Services? What factors led you to make this decision?



2nd Spanish Family Social and resource distribution! 

The Challenges of working with English Language Learning (ELL) students

Let’s take a second to reflect…

• Have you ever had a child walk into your class that doesn't speak primarily English?
• Have you ever had a child walk into your class that speaks a language you may have never heard of?
• What strategies did you use to help this child and their family feel welcomed?
• Did you feel confident in knowing what to do with this student or did you feel like it was the ESL teacher’s job to help them?
• Does your county have sufficient resources such as interpreters for various languages?

            These questions led me to identifying a challenge in my school system.  I often hear teachers saying that a child needs special education when they are an English Language Learner and often times especially in preschool that is not true. A challenge that I see educators with educators is over identifying students as needing special education.  I became interested in this topic last year when I realized there were limited services available for those families who speak a different language. I was able to put together a social for the Spanish speaking families which you can read in the previous blog post and share important information that some families didn't know were available. I hope to seek a solution for what factors teachers identify before referring students for special education and what inclusion strategies they are implementing. Building the trust of a family assimilating into the American culture is very important to me.

The whole reason that I became a Speech and Language Pathologist is because I believe that everyone deserves a voice. These families deserve to be included and offered that most ethical solutions for success. With the rise of ELL students entering school at a younger age there needs to be a protocol or checklist that teachers can use to identify if the child is demonstrating a disorder or a difference in their expressive and receptive language abilities. Teachers have to be given proper and effective training on working with these families. I truly believe that it is up to the administration to make a plan on how they will include ELL students and their families and implement that plan through teachers, therapist and other staff who directly work with these students.

How do you include ELL families in your classroom?

What factors do you look for before determining that these students need special education services?

Resources

Reeves, A & Van Tuyle, V (2014) Preparing Principals for Success with English

Language Learners Challenges and Opportunities in Illinois. International Journal of Education Leadership Preparation, 9 (1)

Paradis, J (2011) The Interface between bilingual development and specific language

impairment. Applies Psycholinguistics. 

Reflections...

In my 4 years of working with preschoolers I truly believe that children all learn differently. After learning more about English Language Learners and  how children around the world learn it truly does make this world a beautiful garden. We have to be accepting of others cultures and values and work together to improve the quality of childhood education! 

Providing a positive environment where children are free to learn and explore is necessary in early learning. Children hear and understand more then we give them credit for! We can not demonstrate a non caring attitude such as letting our personal lives carry over into the classroom, being on the phone or computer instead of interacting with the children, not providing individual attention to children not picking up concepts quickly, poor interactions with the families and inappropriate materials in the classroom to name a few. I hope that one day all children regardless of race, religious belief or social status will be provided a quality early childhood experience. 

Resources from my Global Early Childhood Development class that I have found thought provoking:

Association for Childhood Education International. (2011a). The decade for childhood 2012-2022.Retrieved from http://www.acei.org/acei-news/decade-for-childhood-initiative-highlights-childrens-rights 

Learning about the decade of Early Childhood was extremely interesting! The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) and the Alliance for Childhood allotted the years 2012-2022 and the International Decade for Early Childhood. A cohort of ambassadors from around the world meets at a biannual Global Summit on Childhood to discuss problems and solutions related to early childhood education.  I think this is an important resource because as scholars of change we have to be aware of what practices are effective as well as what current trends are prevalent around the world. This allows a time for advocates to build partnerships that will help change the children of the future.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.c). Retrieved October 23, 2012,from www.naeyc.org

            The National Association for the Education of Young Children is one of the largest organizations that work on behalf of children. Within their website you are able to learn about how to become a member, literature on early childhood education, exploring developmentally appropriate practice, information on attending the annual conference and expo, finding accredited programs, pursuing accreditation for your program and policy updates. This website also provides a Code of Ethics that all teachers and therapist should abide by. The most important thing I valued in this code was having respect for your peers thoughts and ideas. We will not all get along but everyone’s ideas should be valued and not talked about behind the persons back. The worst thing is to work in an uncomfortable environment. I think if more people referred to this Code of Ethics it would eliminate the static among teachers who don’t get along. We should all have the same goal which is to educate children and their families ethically.

What inspires me???

The thing that inspires me most is seeing children make progress. As a Speech Therapist I often see children as young as 1 who have articulation and language delays or disorders. Seeing these children grow and move on to Kindergarten sometimes not needing an Individualized Education Plan ( IEP )touches a special place in my heart. I know that all the hard work was all worth it.

I also found a passion for working with Spanish speaking families. As I researched how English Language Learners learn and are assessed I found some of the research to be challenging. Current research is limited and program implementation is scares. Through it all I found a great motivator. This year I teamed up with the ESL teacher and school psychologist to offer the Spanish families a time where they could gain information from the community such as libraries, English classes, translation services, free recreation activities and more. We were able to provide 18 families with food, books and clothing when they attended. All the children were in a separate room watching a movie with my school’s principal and assistant principal. I am so grateful for the support and partnership that is demonstrated at my school. This social helped to bring awareness to what information these families are not aware of. They provided feedback that we were then able to share with the teachers. It was such a great feeling to see these families gain information that they didn't previously know. I hope to do this again and extend it to other schools as well!!!!

 

 Resource Links

http://www.acei.org/acei-news/decade-for-childhood-initiative-highlights-childrens-rights 

www.naeyc.org

Innovative Strategies: Project-Based Learning Approach

An innovative approach to learning is the project-based learning approach. Project- based learning is a technique teachers are using to incorporate a method of teaching an in-depth study of a particular topic conducted by a child or a group of children. The project-based approach is incorporated into the curriculum but does not always constitute the entire curriculum.

Teachers let the children’s ideas lead the project. The teacher can make a topic web with the children to find a topic they are most interested in. The teacher can then create a lesson plan with step by step procedures of how they will achieve each project. This allows children freedom and creativity in the classroom. This is believed to promote brain development by encouraging children to collaborate with each other thought the project. Children’s learning is enhanced by field trips, art activities and real life connections.

I had the privilege to watch a teacher implement a project-based learning approach last year. This teacher comprised a group of 5 boys who shared a common interest in cars. Throughout the course of this project I saw the children build car ramps, build cars out of cardboard, racing cars to see which is the fastest, touring the parking lot to trace tire marks and they were even able to take a trip to see what a mechanic does. At the end the project the children were able to describe important aspects about cars as tell in detail what the project consisted of. At the end of the project the teacher made a slide show for the parents to see the development of the project. I thought this was an awesome approach because it got the kids involved in a topic that they were interested in and they were able to examine numerous aspects of it and form several questions.  

This is a more innovative approach because it involves children in their own learning. This is an approach to strategies that help teachers guide student’s to feel highly motivated and involved. Project-based learning approaches also allow the teacher to look at the whole child insuring each one is healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged.  Several preschools are adapting this more unstructured model.

Questions:

Would you use this approach in your classroom?

How would you incorporate the children as the whole class or several small groups?

How would this approach differ from a play-based approach?

 

Resources

http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1006203/what-is-a-project-based-preschool

http://illinoispip.org/lesson-planning.html

http://www.projectapproach.org/project_approach.php- Provides a link for trainers available to provide professional development on project-based learning.

 Here is the link to a video that demonstrates 7th graders using the project based learning model. This video gives insight on children, parent and teacher opinions on this model.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waKZQ9gaBkI
 

 

Pacifier Use with Developing Speech and Language Skills

An issue that is very important in child development is their Speech and Language Skills and when it’s time to remove the pacifier.  Pacifier use and its effects on speech and language skills is a topic that is highly debated. When is the best time to remove a pacifier?  Prolonged pacifier use and thumb sucking has been linked to dental problems and increased middle ear infections after age one. The American Dental Association reported that pacifier use in 3- to 5-year-old children led to anterior open bite, posterior cross bite, mean over jet, and smaller intercanine distance of the upper arch. While a pacifier is important for soothing it becomes a hindrance when it’s time for a child to develop speech. Imitation and babbling can be prevented if the child constantly has a pacifier. This is an important issue when beginning to articulate speech sounds. Dentition determines placement for some sounds and will come out disordered if not produced in the correct place.  I am always encouraging parents to explore other options besides a pacifier. If a child MUST have a pacifier it is helpful to limit the amount of time that they use it. In reading several blogs there are many different opinions about this topic. Parents are desperate to calm their child and they automatically resort to a pacifier. Being more aware of the long term effects a pacifier has may encourage parents to remove it in order to prevent future speech problems.

Other Blogs related to Pacifier use:

http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/?p=12

http://heatherspeechtherapy.com/2011/02/pacifiers-use-is-it-bad-for-your-childs-speech-development/

About Me!

I was born in Queens New York and I am the youngest of two children. Growing up I was always dancing at church or at dancing school. My favorite color is purple and I often dye my hair that color. I was born on February 14th but ironically I'm VERY allergic to chocolate. I have been a Speech Language Pathologist at a preschool for the last 4 years. This has been a very rewarding experience. Seeing the progress that these kids make always warms my heart. Being able to send a child to Kindergarten without an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) is such a joy!!!!!

I was always destined to attend Hampton University but school was just NOT my thing!!!! As a child I enjoyed school and was reading at an early age. As I got older my love for school diminished. I found it a horrible daunting task that would never end. That all changed when I first entered Hampton University. I fell in love with learning like the little girl in the picture above. As I pursue this doctorate I always tell the younger generation my story. Had I not had a family to push me to do better who knows where I would be right now. I keep this picture as a reminder of how much I loved to learn.

My Question for the readers:

What motivates you? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What new ideas can you contribute to Early Childhood Education?
We were asked to discuss this week do we believe in play or personal relationships? What are your thoughts? Look forward to the next post to discuss this further.

Greetings!

Welcome to my new blog!!!

I am a Doctoral student in Early Childhood Education and a Speech Language Pathologist. I will be using this blog to express my thoughts in comparison to research on Early Childhood Education. I hope to connect with other Educators, Parents, Therapist and those who are generally involved in children's development. Hope you enjoy this new journey with me!!!