Child Daycare Specialist - U.S. Career...

Child DaycareSpecialistInstruction Pack 4 Lessons 17-19

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Lesson 17: Ways to Enhance YourChild Daycare Program

Lesson 18: Special Needs Children—Understand and Accommodate

Lesson 19: Putting It All Together

Instruction Pack 4

Child DaycareSpecialist

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Copyright © 1995-2012, Weston Distance Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 0201301LB14D-22

For more information contact:

U.S. Career InstituteFort Collins, CO 80525 ● 1-800-347-7899

www.uscareerinstitute.edu

Acknowledgements

AuthorsLeslie BallentineJulie Reed

Editorial StaffTrish BowenBetsy Banks-GolubLindsay HansenStephanie MacLeodRachel Metzgar

Design/LayoutConnie HunsaderMary RoseSandra PetersenD. Brent Hauseman

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Table of Contents

Lesson 17—Ways to Enhance Your Child Daycare ProgramStep 1 Learning Objectives for Lesson 17 ................................................................................ 1Step 2 Sneak Peek ....................................................................................................................... 1Step 3 An Example of Connection ............................................................................................. 2Step 4 Events That Encourage Family Participation ............................................................. 3Step 5 Connect to Community ...................................................................................................5

The Benefi ts of Community for Children ..............................................................5Connect through Field Trips ..................................................................................6

Step 6 Practice Exercise 17-1 ..................................................................................................... 9Step 7 Answers to Practice Exercise 17-1 ................................................................................ 9Step 8 Connect Parents and Families to Local Resources ....................................................10

Connect Parents and Children to Quality Products ...........................................11Step 9 Create Cultural Awareness ..........................................................................................26

Experiment with Foreign Language ....................................................................27Use Geography to Connect—International Food, Holidays and Dress .............27Other Suggestions for Cultural Activities ...........................................................28

Step 10 Practice Exercise 17-2 ...................................................................................................29Step 11 Answers to Practice Exercise 17-2 ...............................................................................29Step 12 Take Home Message .....................................................................................................30Step 13 Mail-in Quiz 16 ..............................................................................................................30

Mail-in Quiz 16 .....................................................................................................31Endnotes ...............................................................................................................34

Lesson 18—Special Needs Children—Understand and AccommodateStep 1 Learning Objectives for Lesson 18 ................................................................................ 1Step 2 Sneak Peek ....................................................................................................................... 1Step 3 The Americans with Disabilities Act and Child Daycare ........................................... 2Step 4 What Is Inclusion? ........................................................................................................... 3

The Benefi ts of Inclusion for Children with Special Needs ..................................5The Benefi ts of Inclusion for Children without Special Needs ............................5

Step 5 Know Your Heart ............................................................................................................ 6Step 6 Practice Exercise 18-1 ..................................................................................................... 7Step 7 Answers to Practice Exercise 18-1 ................................................................................. 9Step 8 How to Prepare for a Special Needs Child .................................................................... 9

Facilities and Equipment .......................................................................................9Communicate with Parents and Children ..........................................................11Contact Offi cials ...................................................................................................12

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Step 9 Terms to Know ..............................................................................................................13Individualized Education Plan (IEP) ...................................................................14Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).........................................................14

Step 10 Activities for Special Needs Children ..........................................................................15Seeing-impaired Children ....................................................................................15Hearing-impaired Children ..................................................................................16Developmentally Disabled Children ....................................................................16

Step 11 Practice Exercise 18-2 ...................................................................................................17Step 12 Answers to Practice Exercise 18-2 ...............................................................................18Step 13 Take Home Message .....................................................................................................18Step 14 Mail-in Quiz 17 ..............................................................................................................19

Mail-in Quiz 17 .....................................................................................................20Endnotes ...............................................................................................................24

Lesson 19—Putting It All TogetherStep 1 Learning Objectives for Lesson 19 ................................................................................ 1Step 2 Quiz Preview .................................................................................................................... 1Step 3 Mail-in Quiz 18 ................................................................................................................ 2

Mail-in Quiz 18 .......................................................................................................2

Answer KeyLesson 17 Answer Key ...................................................................................................................... 1

Practice Exercise 17-1 .............................................................................................1Practice Exercise 17-2 .............................................................................................2

Lesson 18 Answer Key ...................................................................................................................... 3Practice Exercise 18-1 ............................................................................................3Practice Exercise 18-2 ............................................................................................5

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Ways to Enhance Your

Child Daycare Program

Lesson

17

Step 1 Learning Objectives for Lesson 17

After you have completed the instruction in this lesson, you will be trained to do the following:

Design fi ve events that encourage family participation in your child daycare community.

Thoroughly discuss fi ve of the benefi ts of community connections for children.

Describe fi ve benefi ts children receive when they connect to the community through fi eld trips.

Describe benefi ts children receive when you provide visitors to their classroom.

Explain fi ve ways you connect parents and families to community resources.

Give examples of quality products for children newborn age through school-age.

Describe fi ve ways you create cultural awareness in the children you serve.

Design a cultural theme or event.

Step 2 Sneak Peek

Consider your child daycare as an outsider for a moment. What makes it different from other programs? What can you add to your child daycare to make it stand out from the crowd? Basic care is no longer enough. Parents expect more. They want their children to learn and grow while at child daycare. They expect providers to build connections between children and their community, to bridge the gap between families and public institutions and local resources. Parents want the child daycare they choose to support every aspect of their child’s development. That’s a tall order. This lesson shows you how to reach out to parents and involve them in their children’s care, how to create cultural awareness among your student population and how to forge connections between children and their local community.


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Step 3 An Example of Connection

At the age of four, Samantha is new to your child daycare program. She comes with her parents to visit a couple of times prior to the fi rst day and things go smoothly. Both Samantha and her parents are a little scared about being apart for several hours a day. To help ease their minds about this new arrangement, you take special care to welcome Samantha into your child daycare family. You help her establish the tentative beginnings of friendship with two other little girls, pay special attention to her interests and do everything you can to help her feel included. Gradually, Samantha learns to play games with others, shares more easily and says goodbye to her parents without crying. After one month, Samantha is happily adjusted to her new environment. Her parents adjust too. Following a four-year break from the full-time work world, her mother starts a part-time job in a whole new fi eld.

Once a month, the children in your care and their families gather together at a local park to eat dinner, listen to a local storyteller, play games, get child daycare updates and free play. You call the event Family in the Park, and of course, Samantha and her parents attend. This event gives families a chance to meet and mingle and allows you to build connections with all of them. Samantha’s parents meet another family who, unbeknownst to them until the event, lives just down the street from their house. They have a daughter close to Samantha’s age and the two of them really enjoy one another’s company. By the end of the night, the two mothers exchange numbers and look forward to future play dates (and maybe a girls’ night out too)! The storyteller involves the children in a sing-along and tells a tale about the local Native American legend, Billy Eagle. They learn to count to fi ve in native Cherokee language. As they leave, Samantha asks her mother if they can go to the library and get a book about Billy Eagle. Everyone says goodbye as they leave, smiling.

Create connections through your child daycare

program.

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Lesson 17—Ways to Enhance Your Child Daycare Program

In one night, friendships form. Cultural awareness is heightened. Parents connect. None of this would have been possible without your Family Day in the Park. Because of this family friendly event, bridges are built—between people and between cultures. What other events encourage family participation, expand children’s world view and bridge the gaps between people and community resources?

Step 4 Events That Encourage Family Participation

The simplest but most important way to create community within your child daycare program is through the involvement of parents, friends and family in daycare events and activities. First, create situations and events for families to participate in at the child daycare itself. For example, invite parents to an art show where they can view their children’s work, enjoy refreshments and get a chance to socialize. Hold monthly potlucks and story time readings. Invite grandparents, siblings and neighbors. Have a meet-your-pet get-together on the weekend. Hold a mother’s day brunch or a father’s day ball game. The possibilities are endless.

Also, create events that occur outside of the school. For example, invite families to meet together at a local pizza restaurant or at a park on the weekend. Have a swim day at the pool, go bowling or attend a children’s theatre production together. Families get a much-needed break from their routines and have opportunities to focus on social connections, relaxation and fun!

Sometimes events that encourage family connections overlap with those that encourage connection to community. For example, Millicent is a 31-year-old potter from your community. She makes beautiful bowls, cups and honey pots from clay that she fi nds in a nearby riverbed. Millicent comes to your child daycare on a Friday evening as part of your Wonderful Workers series. Once a month, local business people visit your child daycare and explain and/or demonstrate what they do for a living. Millicent plans to help each child create their own paperweight out of clay, give demonstrations at her potter’s wheel and answer questions. The event itself builds connections between the people and various families that attend, and Millicent’s presence helps build connections to community.

A simple pizza night creates connections between parents and families.


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Some more examples of events that encourage family participation, build connections and create community within your child daycare program include the following:

Play Days. One example of a family activity is a play day. Families gather to play games together inside—Checkers, Chutes and Ladders, Simon Says or Charades—and out. They play Hide-and-Seek, Red Rover, participate in a jump rope challenge, play catch, dribble and shoot basketballs or have a three-legged race. Check out an activity book from the local library to get great suggestions. Of course, play days don’t have to consist of games. Gather families together to paint a colorful mural, clean up a local park, dig a children’s garden, plant fl owers or create a craft project together.

Family Potlucks. The family potluck is a great way to bring people together without complicated planning or expense. When families bring their favorite dishes, everyone has an opportunity to try new foods. Eating is a great icebreaker—events like these spark conversation and recipe sharing. Parents contribute to the event and this helps them feel more connected to you and the other families. Plan a few activities to try after the meal—perhaps viewing children’s artwork, a puppet show or an ice cream sundae party.

Book Fairs. No one can resist a book fair! Ask for book donations in advance (from the larger community) and sell the donated books for a minimal fee. Of course, the books don’t have to be sold. Create a book swap, where parents bring their own books to exchange with others. Ask parents to bring in a predetermined number of books to contribute. They’re free! Events like these are as big or small as you want them to be. If you’d like your book fair to involve an entire community, consider the time it takes to plan, publicize and fi nd volunteers to work. Scholastic.com is a good source of information if you plan to hold such an activity. Involve parents and children as volunteers—this brings them together.

Potluck events create conversation and build connections between families.

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Step 5 Connect to Community

On Tuesday you decide to take the children to the children’s wing of the downtown science museum. The children board the bus and you introduce them to your driver. You go downtown, disembark, and the children line up to go into the museum. In the midst of the city, the children see people from all over the world. They hear snippets of various foreign languages and notice the different dress of the people they pass. The children greet the security guard who chats with them. They get to walk through larger-than-life exhibits and participate in some of the special hands-on science exhibits designed for children just their age. Your fi eld trip gives them a glimpse of the larger world, introduces them to new concepts and allows them to see and interact with a wide diversity of people. There are connections at every turn.

The Benefits of Community for Children

Five-year-old Justin and his dad help their next-door-neighbor, Mr. Harris, hang a door on his new shed. Once that portion of their job is complete, they take turns painting it red. Justin enjoys dunking the paintbrush into the can and slathering on thick coats of color. Mr. Harris brings him a scrap piece of wood and shows Justin how to carefully hammer nails into it. Justin feels remarkably happy. He has fun hanging out with the two men, getting messy and doing “big boy” jobs. Mr. Harris, an older retired man, appreciates having young Justin around, and in the future, he invites Justin over to teach him new things, talk and play catch.

Beyond the enjoyment of painting and banging nails, what does Justin get out of this experience? The time he spends with his neighbor, a much-older man, helps Justin make connections. His time spent with his father and neighbor gives Justin a sense of community, even if he doesn’t realize it. Justin knows he matters to people other than his family. Those others, regardless of age, have important things to share with him, teach him and guide him through. What other benefi ts do children experience when they feel connected to community?

Children who experience a sense of community are happier children.

They develop a sense of belonging.

They feel supported.

They gain mentors, role models and teachers.

Children with a sense of community know that others care for and support them.


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They develop a sense of social responsibility.

They learn about trust and confl ict resolution.

There are more caring people in their lives and children learn to participate in social life in productive ways.

Educational programs today emphasize community, and many parents look for such an emphasis in child daycare settings. Such an emphasis is good for the community as well as children. When people feel connected with others, they are generally healthier and happier. People support others because they feel supported.

The child daycare environment is, in itself, a community. Children form relationships with you and their peers in child daycare, which can be a safeguard against risky behavior. They gain a sense of themselves from social interaction and learn about the joys and confl icts involved in relating to each other.

As a child daycare provider, you affect the tone of the community within the child daycare as well as the manner in which children relate to their larger community. Introduce children to the wider world through fi eld trips and visitors to your classroom. This helps them learn more about themselves and others. They learn about people of different backgrounds, about work and special interests. Children connected to their community come to appreciate and value the various resources in their community such as museums, libraries, zoos and parks. This knowledge serves them well as they grow older and begin to envision who it is they want to be and what they want to do.

Connect through Field Trips

Field trips connect children’s daycare experiences with those experiences in the community beyond their classroom. They provide children with experiences that cannot be created in child daycare settings. When you take advantage of all the learning resources your community offers, you provide children with real-world experience and hands-on learning. What other benefi ts do fi eld trips provide?

Field trips add a dose of reality into any area of interest or study. For example, Leslie is teaching her four-year-old and fi ve-year-old children about farms. During the week, she asks them to create collages of farm animals, they read children’s books about life on a farm and a dairy farmer comes to speak to them about milk production. At the end of their week-long theme, she ends their study with a fi eld trip to a local farm. The children meet a real farmer, get a tour of his family’s farm, feed chickens, gather eggs in small baskets and milk a cow. Although their experience in the classroom has been educational and valuable, it cannot compare to the authentic, unforgettable moment of touching a real cow or feeding a chicken out of their hands. Leslie helps her class form lifelong memories, and the children have a new appreciation for the milk they drink every day.

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Field trips also provide children with an opportunity to enhance their social skills and feelings of citizenship. Children learn appropriate and polite ways to behave outside of the child daycare setting. For example, they must learn to use “inside voices,” greet adults, sometimes keep seated or still for longer periods of time, listen attentively and say “please” and “thank you.”

Field trips increase awareness about the community and the people who live in it. For example, when Charles’ preschool class visits a food bank the week before Thanksgiving, his class becomes aware of people in need. This plants a seed in the minds of children. They learn how the food bank makes a difference and they wonder how they can make a difference too.

Examples of fi eld trips include visits to fi re houses, petting zoos, farms, soup kitchens or food banks, nursing homes, science museums with children’s exhibits, train trips, greenhouses, historic homes, even swimming pools or parks. When children are exposed to the greater community, beyond their families and child daycare, they begin to understand how big the world is. There is so much to see and do and explore.

Remember to plan for fi eld trips well in advance. It’s also helpful to connect classroom learning with the fi eld trip experience. Talk about upcoming fi eld trips, refer to them often and share what the children can expect to see, hear and do. This makes the many transitions of travel and the experience of new places easier for the children and you! Send home notifi cations about future ventures, call or post the information on your Web site. Give parents plenty of notice, recruit parent volunteer chaperones or drivers and always obtain written permission via signed permission slips. If you plan to use a van or other child daycare vehicle, be sure all of the children have safe seating. Booster seats and child safety seats are necessary for children under forty pounds.

Field trips increase children’s knowledge and understanding

of a subject.


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Connect through Classroom Visits

One fun and exciting way to build connections to the wider world is through classroom visitation. Parents, friends, relatives or neighbors visit your child daycare to talk about their work, culture, special interest or religion. They may talk about their professions as a doctor or lawyer, carpenter or teacher. Some may be from foreign countries. They share their favorite foods, wear clothing from their culture or demonstrate what their native language sounds like.

Consider the following scenario.

Rubina’s family is originally from Pakistan. Rubina grew up in the United States, but her parents were raised in Pakistan and they are practicing Muslims. Mr. Ahmed, Rubina’s dad, comes to visit the child daycare to tell the children about his native culture. He holds them spellbound describing his childhood in Karachi and the daily life of his extended family as they gathered together and cooked meals in large pits.

Mr. Ahmed wears a beige salwar kameez, a long, loose shirt over loose cotton pants with a drawstring and sandals. His skin is dark and his hair black, like his daughter’s, but unlike Rubina, he has an accent. He talks slowly so the children can understand him. He brings some samosas for the children to try. They’re made of potatoes and peas wrapped in a fl our shell and fried. The samosas are spicy and the kids like them. Mr. Ahmed plays music that is unlike anything the children have ever heard before. He shows them family pictures of birthday celebrations and family life in Pakistan.

Mr. Ahmed explains how hot it is in Pakistan and because the sun shines a lot, the people who live there have dark skin like he and Rubina. He tells the children how his family eats food that is even spicier than the samosas, and they scoop it up with pieces of warm bread torn off of a bigger piece called naan. Sometimes the bread even has potatoes in it!

The children learn more about Mr. Ahmed and Pakistan in his one-hour visit than they ever could through pictures, stories or movies. They think it’s interesting that people in Pakistan don’t use knives and forks—and nobody seems to mind! To them, Mr. Ahmed is handsome in his light colored clothes. They like his accent and want to touch his long dark hair. After his visit, they appreciate their classmate and her differences in a way they didn’t before. They know that there are people in other countries very different from them, and even so, they are the same in so many ways. People everywhere love their families, love to share food and celebrate with loved ones, play and be a part of their community.

Pause now to refl ect on the material you’ve read with the following Practice Exercise.

Meeting people from other cultures helps children

understand that though people are different in many ways, we are also very much the same.

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Step 6 Practice Exercise 17-1

For questions 1 through 4, write your answers in the spaces provided.

1. Describe fi ve events that encourage family participation in your child daycare community. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Explain fi ve benefi ts of community connections for children.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What are fi ve benefi ts that children receive when they connect to the community through fi eld trips? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Describe some benefi ts of bringing visitors to the classroom or daycare center. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 7 Answers to Practice Exercise 17-1

Compare your answers with the Answer Key at the end of this instruction pack. Correct any mistakes you may have made.


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Step 8 Connect Parents and Families to Local

Resources

“I didn’t know there was a reading program at the library just for toddlers. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“North Town Church has a free mother’s day out program every Monday, Wednesday and Friday? I wish I’d known!”

“The immunization clinic is open on the weekends? Why didn’t my physician fi ll me in on that?”

It’s often difficult for busy parents to keep up with community events and local learning opportunities. As a child daycare specialist entrusted with the fostering of their children’s development, you are a bridge to local happenings, particularly when it comes to available, ongoing resources that they may not be aware of yet. Make it a point to stay abreast of your community’s resources by providing parents and families with information and tools to support their children. Here are some suggestions to use as you help parents form these connections.

Make parents aware of your local Parks and Recreation Department. Have seasonal catalogs available at your child daycare for them to take home. They’ll fi nd a variety of rich educational and experiential classes offered for children of all ages, infant to teens. These might include arts and crafts classes, numerous sport classes (like swimming, ice skating karate, gymnastics, tumbling, rock climbing, baseball, soccer, basketball and tennis) and playgroups.

It’s easy for parents, especially mothers, to feel overwhelmed, and everyone needs a break now and then! Find out if and when Mother’s Day Out programs exist in your community and connect parents to this valuable—and fun—opportunity! Parents drop off small children for a few hours on designated days of the week. Children get a chance to socialize, and parents have a few hours to themselves.

Offer parenting classes as part of your program or fi nd out what local agencies offer these educational experiences. Post the days and times they’re available in e-mails, newsletters or notes home.

It’s hard for busy parents to keep up with available enrichment opportunities for their children.

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Help parents discover their own ways to connect with their community through volunteer experiences. Search for information from your local United Way, Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, nursing homes and hospitals and share this knowledge with parents.

Encourage parents to search for a community calendar online. Local events such as parades, holiday celebrations, festivals, fairs, theater productions, symphony performances and the like are usually advertised through the tourism department of every community or through the Chamber of Commerce. Encourage parents to check the local event listings in newspapers or scan/copy the postings into newsletters or notes home.

It’s easy to lose track of necessary medical updates like well-check visits and immunizations. Find out when and if local pediatricians offer shot clinics and remind parents to keep their children’s shot records up-to-date.

Parents often have the best of intentions when it comes to providing enrichment experiences for their children. However, with the fast-paced and often stressful nature of everyday life, these intentions don’t always become a reality. With a helping hand, you can bridge the gap between the thoughts and actions of well meaning parents.

Connect Parents and Children to Quality Products

If you’ve walked into a toy store or opened your mailbox lately, you understand just how overwhelming shopping for children can be. Help parents fi nd the best books, toys, computer programs and movies for children of all ages. You can also use these lists to purchase quality toys for your child daycare.

It often seems that the available number of

toys, books, movies and computer games is endless!


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Books

Every child, regardless of age, reaps the benefi ts of a good book! For your convenience, the following lists of recommended reading material are arranged according to age group. Of course, these lists are limited. Ask your local librarian for recommendations, lists of Caldecott and Newberry Award winners or books that other child patrons have enjoyed.

Books for Infants

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

Pat the Bunny by Edith Kunhardt Davis

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman

Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rothman

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss

Toes, Ears and Nose! by Marion Dane Bauer

Mrs. Mustard’s Baby Faces by Jane Wattenberg

Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton

Touch and Feel Animals Box Set by DK Publishing

Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

White on Black by Tana Hoban

Books for Toddlers

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

When Sophia Gets Angry Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang

Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle

Freight Train by Donald Crews

The Napping House by Audrey Wood and Don Wood

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What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Robin Page

The Happy Egg by Ruth Krauss

Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli

Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough

Counting Kisses by Karen Katz

Sheep in the Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw and Margot Apple

Baby Happy, Baby Sad by Leslie Petricelli

Books for Preschoolers

The Red Book by Barbara Lehman

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

Knuffl e Bunny by Mo Willems

Sparky the Wonderfi sh by Gillian Lee Hutshing

The Pigeon Has Feelings Too! by Mo Willems

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

Animals Should Defi nitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord

“Stand Back,” Said the Elephant, “I’m Going to Sneeze!” by Patricia Thomas

Books encourage imagination, the development of language skills and children’s growth of

personal knowledge.


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Books for School-age Children

The Twin Princes by Tedd Arnold

Stanley’s Party by Linda Bailey

Tracks of a Panda by Yu Rong

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan

A Dog’s Life—The Autobiography of a Stray by Ann M. Martin

The Scarecrow and His Servant by Phillip Pullman

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

My Teacher Likes to Say by Denise Brennan-Nelson

Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin

City Dog, Country Dog by Susan Stevens Crummel

Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric A. Kimmel

The Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French

Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson

Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

Prince Cinders by Babette Cole

Owen by Kevin Henkes

Searching for Velociraptor by Lowell Dingus and Mark Norell

Recommended Family Movies

The amount of movies and shows available for rent, sale or free via online sources boggles the mind! It is diffi cult and time-consuming to sort through the onslaught of information to fi nd movies with positive messages, are educational and benefi cial for children to watch. The following list includes many “never get old” classics as well as some newer movies. The movies are arranged by age, though many of those listed for younger children are enjoyable for older children and even adults!

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Movies for Toddlers

Blue’s Big Musical Movie

Clifford Tries His Best

The Wiggles Movie

The Fantasia Anthology

Goodnight Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales

Elmo in Grouchland

Harry the Dirty Dog

Kipper

The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh

Totally Teletubbies

Sesame Street’s 25th Birthday—A Musical Celebration

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends—Platinum Collection1

Movies for Preschoolers

Babar—King of the Elephants

Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear movies

Scholastic Video Collection—video adaptations of award-winning, classic children’s books

Once Upon a Forest

Charlotte’s Web

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Geo Kids Collection from National Geographic

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Doctor Dolittle

Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat

Arthur Video Series from PBS

Many movies have positive messages for children of all ages.


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Dumbo

The 12 Dogs of Christmas—one of many Feature Films for Families

The Jungle Book

The Looney Tunes Golden Collection

Maisy Video Collection

Mary Poppins

Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest

Peanuts Video Collection

Sesame Street Collection

Schoolhouse Rock! Special 30th Anniversary Edition

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The Veggie Tales Collection

Where the Wild Things Are

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Wiggles Collection

The William Steig Video Library

Yellow Submarine2

Movies for School-age Children

101 Dalmatians (ages 6 and up)

Babe (ages 5 and up)

Fly Away Home

Beauty and the Beast (ages 6 and up)

The Black Stallion (ages 7 and up)

Duma (age 7 and up)

Born Free (ages 5 and up)

Chrysanthemum . . . and More Kevin Henkes Stories (ages 5 to 8)

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My Dog Skip (ages 7 and up)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (ages 5 and up)

Free Willie (ages 6 and up)

Finding Nemo (ages 5 and up)

The Bear (ages 7 and up)

The Incredible Adventures of Wallace & Gromit (ages 6 and up)

Happy Feet

The Land Before Time Collection (ages 5 to 12)

The Lion King (ages 5 and up)

The Little Mermaid (ages 5 and up)

National Velvet (ages 6 and up)

Monsters, Inc. (ages 5 and up)

Shrek (ages 6 and up)

The Sound of Music (ages 6 and up)

Two Brothers (age 8 and up)

Toy Story 2 (ages 5 and up)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (ages 6 and up)

The Adventures of Milo and Otis (ages 5 and up)

The Wizard of Oz (ages 5 and up)3


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Recommended Educational Games

Games for children range from sports to board games. They help children develop fi ne and gross motor skills as well as cognitive ability and social awareness. Games teach children about taking turns, winning, losing and being a good sport. Games are a wonderful way to learn while the whole family has fun!

Games for Toddlers

Toddlers are improving their simple cognitive skills such as naming the letters of the alphabet, counting and differentiating colors and shapes. They need games they can play alone or that require limited complex interactions with others. They like to imitate, play mommy and daddy or doctor and patient. Imitating sounds or patterns is fun for them. They love to stack big blocks or attempt simple block puzzles. The following suggestions are great ways to introduce even the youngest toddler to the excitement of games.

Block puzzles

Drawing boards (Etch-a-Sketch or white boards with dry erase markers)

Simon Says imitation game

Matching cards

Soft doctor kit

Simple board games involving counting, movement or shape or color differentiation

Games for Preschoolers

Preschoolers want to use developing motor skills to throw and catch, ring toss, and climb or crawl through, over and under things. Preschoolers enjoy simple matching and board games as well as puzzles.

Ring toss game (wooden pegs and boards and rope rings)

Spelling/puzzle boards and big wooden letters

Matching cards

Simple board games

Games aren’t just fun, they’re educational!

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-19


Play clock

Parachute

Catch with large balls

Whiffl e ball and bat

Shooting balls into baskets or boxes

Simon Says

Follow the Leader

Games for School-age Children

School-age children want to challenge their cognitive and motor skills. Use jump rope, hand-held string games and complex board games to help them master new skills. They need complex thought and interaction.

Math and phonics games (such as Brainquest)

Monopoly

Scrabble

String game and book (Jacob’s ladder and cat’s cradle)

Jacks

Yo-Yo

Jump rope

Hopscotch

Rummikub

Quoridor

Kids on Stage

Bowling Set

Kickball

Parachute

Charades Jump ropes are inexpensive and challenging on multiple levels!


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Computer Games for Children

Computer time doesn’t have to be frivolous or addictive. Some of today’s computer games for children are interactive, educational and amazingly creative.

Computer Games for Preschool Children

At this age, children need computer programs that encourage reading skills, counting and color and shape identifi cation.

Puzzle Play Software: Dot-to-Dots, Hidden Picture and Mazes. This software lets children create their own games, color them in and use the alphabet or number line as a guide.

Konani Kids Playground Series. This program combines a fl oor mat with educational games. Children jump around on the mat as they answer questions about subjects related to math, pre-reading and logic.

Smart Boy’s Game Room and Smart Girl’s Playhouse. There are twelve games in each title that let children do everything from record a song (as a dog) to match a set of car horns. Math and reading concepts are used throughout.

Computer Games for School-age Children

School-age children are ready for more challenging computer fare! Help them learn while they use their imaginations.

Drawn to Life. This interactive software helps children create their own game as they use a stylus to sketch parts of it themselves.

Hot Brain. This program consists of a collection of logic games. The program tracks a child’s performance in fi ve categories, including math problems, memory tests and timed quizzes. Reading is required.

My Sims. This is a town building game in which children “enter” neighborhood homes, meet the residents and them help them restore their neighborhood. There are loads of creative options.

Computer programs are now available that actually help

children develop cognitive skills, creativity and imagination.

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-21


My Word Coach. A high-tech tutor, this innovative collection of word games allows children to race as they fi ll in missing sentences, build words out of letters fl oating in alphabet soup and much more. It’s a fun way to build up your child’s vocabulary.

PaRappa the Rappa. A musical game. Through a series of rhythm-matching games, players learn how to put together a comical, G-rated rap. It starts out easy and becomes progressively very diffi cult.

The Dance Factory. Forget sitting on the couch! This program is a cardio workout. Children dance to their own collection of music and choreograph their own dances.

The Sims 2 Pet. The Sims family is under your child’s control! They make the Sims go to work, pay bills and pick up their rooms. The Sims 2 Pet expansion pack allows the Sims to adopt pets. This program is designed for older school-age children, ages 12 and up.4

Other Recommended Games

CO2FX explores the relationship of global warming to economic, political and policy factors. (www.globalwarminginteractive.com)

Food Force (United Nations product). Players act as aid workers on a mission to feed the starving population of a fi ctitious war-torn island. www.food-force.com

The Oregon Trail. Children must guide a group of pioneers headed west through realistic challenges such as sickness, buffalo stampedes and food shortages.www.learningcompany.org

Recommended Toys for Children

Toys are wonderful learning tools. The simplest toys stimulate infants and help them learn about the world, understand object permanence and movement. There are many interesting toys that challenge children as they grow. Visit the following Web sites for ideas: www.discoverytoys.com, www.wonderbrains.com, www.brainbuildingtoys.com and www.best-child-toys.com.

Like games and computer programs, the best toys

foster a child’s development in several areas.


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Recommended Toys for Newborns

Newborns are new to the world but they develop keen senses quickly and have a need to interact with people and things around them. To engage newborns, offer any of the following toys.

Soft rattles in bold colors

Stuffed animals in bold colors

Soft rattle balls

Wooden rings or interlocking shapes

Mobiles in bold colors

Crinkle toys that make sounds when touched

Mirrors or toys with refl ective surfaces

Recommended Toys for Infants

Infants aren’t walking but most sit up alone and crawl within several months. Offer toys that are soft or pliable and of course, non-toxic—everything ends up in their mouths!

Mobiles in bold colors

Mirrors or toys with refl ective surfaces

Chimes, music boxes or toys that play music when touched or wound up

Soft dolls

Simple pictures of faces and other objects

Plastic or board books

Hard or soft rattles

Wooden rings or interlocking shapes

Blocks that can be held in their hands

Rubber animals

Stuffed animals

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Recommended Toys for Toddlers

Toddlers are just beginning to walk and they need opportunities to develop their balance and motor skills. Provide toys to push and pull and various objects to climb on, ride or rock on. The following suggestions will get you started.

Rolling sorter—wooden cylinder with bars and shaped holes in the ends with wooden blocks of various shapes that fi t into the holes

Walk N roll—a wooden push toy on a stick that rolls. Wooden balls roll and make noise

Playground balls—easy-to-grip and 5” or more in diameter

Ride on fi re engine or other “vehicle”—with tires and steering wheel

Blocks—all kinds, colors, shapes and sizes

Puzzles

Stacking blocks

Nesting cups

Dump trucks

Pounding toys

Play tunnels

Things to push and pull, climb on and rock on

Toddlers enjoy opportunities

to improve their physical skills while they have a good

time!


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Recommended Toys for Preschoolers

Preschoolers are ready to learn more about shapes, patterns and colors. They need opportunities to develop their fi ne motor skills and manipulative skills through assembly and building. And like children of all ages, preschool children need opportunities to develop gross motor skills. Simple throwing, catching, bouncing, climbing, riding and running are great ways to foster their physical development. And remember the toys that often accompany these physical activities—balls, bats, basketball hoops, rackets, mitts and helmets.

Lacing beads—various shaped wooden beads laced onto a string

Dado cubes—interlocking cubes for constructing various designs

Simple construction kits

Large blocks for stacking

Legos of various sizes

Magnetic and interlocking blocks and giant gear sets

Doll houses

Easels

Playhouses

Musical toys

Puppets

Transportation vehicles

Creative materials

Play-Doh

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-25


Recommended Toys for School-age Children

School-age children are still developing their fi ne and gross motor skills and they need opportunities for physical play. At this age, children learn to plan out projects and fi gure out solutions to more complex problems. School-age children are more independent and able to think for themselves so provide them with toys that spark their imaginations and leave room for choice and various outcomes.

Science kits

Play doctor or grocery sets

Lacing shoes

Mystery games—these introduce a scenario to children and they have to solve an associated mystery using only the clues that are available

Art supplies

Sports toys

Advanced construction sets

Jigsaw puzzles

LEGOs

Scrabble

Balls and bats

Parachute

Hula hoops

Yo-yosSchool-age children need play equipment that is open-ended

and imaginative.

Don’t Forget! Supplement Reminder

Five supplemental readings come with this course. One of them, Teacher Top Tens, is a great resource for you as a child daycare specialist. Be sure to refer to this supplemental reading for the latest and greatest recommended snacks, arts and craft activities, books and much more from real teachers in real child daycare programs.


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Step 9 Create Cultural Awareness

Children gradually develop identities and begin to discover how they fi t into the social world. Even infants and toddlers learn “what is me” and “what is not me.” By about age two, they recognize and explore physical differences. They learn to identify colors and they notice different skin colors.

As children grow older they classify information, though it takes time to understand and correctly identify different races. Their thinking is often limited, distorted or inconsistent, and it’s easy for them to believe stereotypes or pick up prejudices. Adults must help children accept themselves and others—differences and all!

By kindergarten, many children enjoy learning about people from other cultures, the places they live and the food they eat. As they grow older, they understand feelings of shame and pride and they become aware of racism against their own or different groups of people. As children age they are also better able to empathize and are more and more interested in learning about the world. Give them accurate information that helps them develop more sophisticated thinking. It’s helpful for children to learn that people have different customs, ideas and values. Through acceptance of differences, children interact more easily with the variety of people they meet and work with throughout their lives. Encourage children to feel positive about their own race, culture and religion as well as those of others.

Teacher Timeout—Create Your Own Top Tens

As a child daycare specialist, you have experience with children and resources and ideas of your own. Take a moment to think about your successes and failures in planning activities. What resources were helpful to you? Which ones did the children particularly enjoy? Which ones did not work as well? What books, games, toys or snacks have you and the children enjoyed?

Come up with your own top ten lists for the following categories—favorite books (by age), favorite physical activities or games and favorite quiet time activities.

Children are naturally curious about the

differences among people.

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-27


Plan activities in your child daycare program that expose children to other cultural differences. Teach them words from another language, try a sample of a different food, see pictures of clothing and listen to someone from another culture talk about their daily life and cultural practices. Take children to cultural events in your area, an Islamic dance or a Chinese New Year celebration. The more children see and hear, the bigger and better their world seems.

Experiment with Foreign Language

One way to increase children’s cultural awareness is to introduce them to other languages. For example, if there is a child of Hispanic background in your class, let her give you and the other children Spanish lessons—classmates learn to count in Spanish and learn the words for everyday objects and actions. Let the child act as a translator—when children say something in English, ask for a Spanish translation. Listen to Spanish on tape. Rent or purchase the Muzzy Video Collection, an excellent resource for teachers and parents who want to expose their children to various foreign languages.

Use Geography to Connect—International Food,

Holidays and Dress

When children learn about geography—foreign lands, mountain ranges, the oceans and jungles of the world—they also learn about the people and animals that live there. Let them tour the world through maps, photographs and videos. Read stories about far-away places. All of these things expands their worldview and helps them grasp that they are a meaningful piece of a very diverse and complex puzzle.

Use globes in your classroom. Talk about the weather in foreign places, the food eaten there and what children their age enjoy. Check with your local librarian for books-on-tape, videos and books that help children understand and relate to diverse populations and places. Talk about their reactions to this new knowledge, questions they would like to ask a child in a faraway place or arrange to have international pen pals.

If you decide to teach children more about a specifi c place—say, Australia—build connections through hands-on activities. Construct paper boomerangs together, color koala bears or paint their faces in the tradition of Australia’s Aboriginal people.

An item like a globe or map creates opportunities for

discussion about the world.


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Consider any of the activities that follow. There are many fun ways to introduce children to other cultures. Ask parents for their ideas. Parents may have connections in their communities, or with friends or acquaintances willing to share their heritage and culture with the children.

Other Suggestions for Cultural Activities

Try any of the following as part of your child daycare curriculum. Have an international food day and ask parents to bring in foods from

their heritage for children to taste.

Celebrate holidays of different cultures such as Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas by reading books about these holidays and making a food associated with them.

Put up posters of people from different countries wearing native dress.

Visit a mosque or a synagogue.

Go to a dance or a play from another culture—Native American, Hawaiian or any other culture.

Play music from other cultures.

Teach children dances and songs from other cultures.

Explain a custom or practice from another culture and have children try a version of it. For example, have children paint their skin with henna as they do in Indian weddings or put on Hawaiian leis and try hula dancing.

Pause now for a brief review of the material you’ve just read with the following Practice Exercise.

Arts and crafts projects can reinforce children’s learning as it relates to other cultures.

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-29



For questions 1 through 4, write your answer in the space provided.

1. Explain fi ve ways to connect parents and families to community resources.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Give two examples of quality products for each of the following age groups: Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers and School-age Children.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Describe fi ve ways you can create cultural awareness in the children you serve. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Design a cultural theme or event. Describe it in the space below and explain the benefi ts of this event.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




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Step 12 Take Home Message

In this lesson, you took time to take a step back and view the bigger picture of your child daycare’s role in community and the world. You considered how to involve parents and how to serve families by connecting children to the various people and places in their own community. You learned about the crucial role that communities play in children’s and families’ lives.

You also thought about useful resources to take advantage of and use with in your child daycare program, such as books, movies, toys and games. And you considered the resources outside of child daycare such as gardens, cultural events and libraries that give children new learning experiences.

You learned about the opportunities to connect children with people from different professions, cultures and religions. And you considered how to introduce children to the differences among people and create heightened cultural awareness. Such early exposure to different cultural practices and customs helps children appreciate the diversity of the world and to have empathy for people in general. This sensitivity will serve them throughout their lives.

Step 13 Mail-in Quiz 16

Follow these steps to complete the quiz.

a. Be sure you’ve mastered the instruction and the Practice Exercises that this quiz covers.

b. Mark your answers on your quiz. Remember to check your answers with the lesson content.

c. When you’ve fi nished, transfer your answers to the Scanner Answer Sheet included. Use only blue or black ink on your Scanner Answer Sheet.

d. Important! Please fi ll in all information requested on your Scanner Answer Sheet or when submitting your quiz online.

e. Submit your answers to the school via mail, fax or, to receive your grade immediately, submit your answers online at www.uscareerinstitute.edu.

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-31


Mail-in Quiz 16

For questions 1 through 20, choose the best answer from the choices provided. Each correct answer is worth 5 points.

1. The simplest but most important way to create community within your child daycare program is through _____.a. camping in a local parkb. visiting city hallc. involving parents, friends and family in daycare events

and activitiesd. talking about what community means

2. Child daycare can help families connect to resources in all of the following areas except _____.a. child health careb. communityc. employment attendanced. recreation

3. Children who experience a sense of community have a(n) _____.a. increased inclination to stay homeb. increased sense of belongingc. decreased sense of supportd. decreased level of happiness

4. Parental visits to your child daycare classroom might help children learn about _____.a. foreign countriesb. different occupationsc. special interestsd. all of the above

5. Child daycare today places an emphasis on _____.a. disciplineb. trainingc. playd. community


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6. Field trips provide all of the following benefi ts except for _____.a. knowledge about the communityb. easy transitionsc. real-world experienced. increased understanding of a subject

7. The experience of learning about another culture provides children with all of the following benefi ts except _____.a. development of more sophisticated thinkingb. acceptance of themselves and othersc. making the world seem bigger and betterd. giving them opportunities to create bias

8. Toddler games might focus on any of the following except ______.a. letters of the alphabetb. complex social interactionc. colors and shapesd. counting

9. Toys for preschoolers could include all of the following except _____.a. balls b. simple construction kitsc. rattlesd. transportation vehicles

10. Ideally, exposing children to other cultures helps them develop _____.a. the beliefs of their parentsb. stereotypesc. an expanded worldviewd. different habits

11. When you plan a fi eld trip, give parents plenty of notice, recruit parent volunteer chaperones or drivers and always _____.a. bring a change of clothes for each childb. have a backup planc. obtain permission from parents in written formd. have extra money on hand

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-33


12. One suggested way to help parents stay abreast of community events is to _____.a. provide them with Parks and Recreation Department catalogsb. ask them to volunteer at your child daycare c. invite older children from the child daycare to come talk about

their time in preschoold. give them coupons for the local toy store

13. One suggested way to help children learn a foreign language is to _____.a. begin speaking the language for longer and longer periods of timeb. purchase foreign language dictionaries for each childc. ask a multicultural student to teach your children a few

much-used termsd. hire a foreign language major to work in your classroom

14. _____ at child daycare provide opportunities for children to develop their physical skills, cognitive abilities and problem-solving skills.a. Television programsb. Cultural eventsc. Snacksd. Toys

15. One suggested way to bring cultural awareness to your child daycare classroom is by _____.a. creating arts and crafts popular with in the culture of the

children you teachb. celebrating Halloweenc. doing an arts and craft project that’s not a part of your

children’s cultured. playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano

16. The _____ of your community provides rich educational and experiential opportunities for children of all ages.a. Chamber of Commerceb. mayor’s offi cec. shopping outletsd. Parks and Recreation Department


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17. All parents need a break now and then, and children need opportunities to socialize. One suggested solution that meets both of these conditions and builds connections to community is a _____.a. Mother’s Day Out programb. parenting classc. local festival or celebrationd. volunteer opportunity

18. As part of a weeklong Hawaiian theme, you and the children you care for listen to Hawaiian music, eat Poha berries and loco moco and create leis (garlands of fl owers) for the children to wear around their necks. Everything you do that week is _____.a. designed to help the children build up cultural awarenessb. meant to challenge the children’s ideasc. supposed to help the children appreciate their own cultured. designed to help the children learn more about the seasons

19. School-age children want games that challenge their cognitive skills. You provide them with _____.a. beanbags and basket gamesb. math and phonics gamesc. simple construction setsd. puppet games

20. You care for eight three-year-olds in a popular child daycare. You decide to put a globe at the front of your classroom and hang colorful posters depicting the lives of children in other countries. A parent asks you why you do this. Your response is that it _____.a. brighten up your classroomb. enhances your professionalismc. reminds you to talk about how blessed we are in our own countryd. reminds you to talk about the weather, food and everyday lives of

children elsewhere

Endnotes

1 Parents.Com. The 50 Best Videos for Kids. 2004. www.parents.com2 Parents.Com. The 50 Best Videos for Kids. 2004. www.parents.com3 Parents.Com. The 50 Best Videos for Kids. 2004. www.parents.com4 Parents.Com. Video Games Kids Should Play. 2008. www.parents.com

0201301LB14D-17-22 17-35


Don’t wait for your quiz results to continue with Lesson 18.

You’ve completed

Lesson 17

CONGRATULATIONS


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0201301LB14D-18-22 18-1

Special Needs Children—

Understand and Accommodate

Lesson

18



Describe how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to child daycare.

Defi ne the terms accommodation and inclusion and describe at least four benefi ts of inclusion for children with special needs and those without.

Explain prejudice as it relates to special needs children and describe three reasons why such prejudices exist.

Describe three overall ways to accommodate a special needs child.

Describe the services available to special needs children and how to acquire them.

Compare and contrast an IEP and an IFSP.

Describe activities appropriate for seeing-impaired, vision-impaired and developmentally disabled children and explain the value of these activities to the children’s development.

Step 2 Sneak Peek

It’s bright and early on Monday morning. Carolyn, a home child daycare provider, has no children with her today because it’s a national holiday, and all of “her” parents have the day off to enjoy with their children. She’s taking advantage of a child-free day to meet with new parents so that she can fi ll an open spot in her child daycare program.


18-2 0201301LB14D-18-22

Carolyn’s fi rst interview of the day is Barbara, whose four-year-old Katie needs part-time care. Armed with her standard questions, as well as the forms and releases she requires of child daycare parents, Carolyn is sure she’s prepared when Barbara rings her doorbell.

But she is wrong! Carolyn forgot to prepare in one important way. She failed to consider that new applicants for her care might have special needs, and it is immediately evident that Katie has many. Wheelchair-bound, the talkative preschooler has mobility needs due to spina bifi da. As a result of spina bifi da, Katie’s mobility is impaired because her spinal nerves were exposed at birth rather than being safely tucked inside the body, surrounded by the protective spinal column. Spina bifi da is a congenital disorder; that is, it’s present at birth.

As we move through this lesson, we’ll consider what Carolyn learns after she accepts Katie into her care and strives to competently meet her needs. Read on to learn how to better understand and accommodate the special-needs child.

Step 3 The Americans with Disabilities Act and

Child Daycare

Before she opened the door to Barbara and Katie, Carolyn hadn’t really thought about including a special needs child in her child daycare program. Of course, she knows that she’s required, by law, to accept a special needs child if she is able to provide care safely. But because the need had not arisen sooner, her recall of the Americans with Disabilities Act is rusty. As soon as Barbara and Katie leave, she goes online to her state’s childcare provider Web site. She locates the FAQs about how the Americans with Disabilities Act impacts child daycare providers. She wants to be sure that she provides Katie with all she is entitled to under the law.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted by Congress in 1990. As Carolyn reviews its provisions, she learns:

Title III of the ADA requires businesses, including childcare operations (home- or center-based), to provide accommodations to individuals with special needs.

Admission policies that exclude people with disabilities are illegal.

You may one day get the opportunity to care for a child with special needs.

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-3

Lesson 18—Special Needs Children—Understand and Accommodate

There are very few situations in which a daycare provider can refuse to accept a special needs child into her care. These include situations in which (a) caring for a special needs child poses a risk to that child or others in the provider’s care and (b) the accommodations—adjustments needed to make the facility meet the needs of the disabled child—are not reasonable for the childcare provider to provide. (The Department of Justice determines whether needed accommodations are reasonable.)

Resources to help caregivers meet the needs of special needs children are available in the community. Carolyn learns that, among other services, her state has an agency that connects the parents of special needs children to community resources and support groups.1

Carolyn thinks for a moment. She could make accommodations, or adjustments, to meet Katie’s needs. There is no reason why she cannot accommodate Katie. With a little furniture rearrangement, she is certain that Katie will be able to navigate her house in a wheelchair with ease. Making a mental inventory, she thinks she will probably need to get a table that will be just the right height for Katie when she is sitting in her chair. She is sure there are other questions to consider, so she starts a list of things to ask Barbara, and plans to make a phone call the following day.

Step 4 What Is Inclusion?

Kyle is a six-year-old boy with a developmental disorder called Asperger’s syndrome. Kyle has diffi culty forming social relationships—a problem that is compounded by sometimes-inappropriate behavior. Unlike Katie, Kyle does not look “different.” But it doesn’t take long for caregivers and other children to conclude that he has special needs.

Even small things like changing

the arrangement of furniture in a room can help

to accommodate some children with

mobility issues.


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Kyle’s parents register him for kindergarten at their local elementary school. There, he is included in a regular classroom with children his own age. A special education teacher works with Kyle’s classroom teacher to make sure that his routine and activities help meet his special needs. A classroom aide is assigned to Kyle to give him extra help staying on task. For the fi rst few months of kindergarten, Kyle’s aide stays in the classroom with him at all times. At fi rst, it’s very frustrating for Kyle. He has frequent tantrums that might disrupt the class, except his aide is at the ready to head the tantrum off at the pass or remove him from the classroom. With time, however, he learns the classroom expectations and routines, and no longer needs extra one-on-one attention.

As its name suggests, inclusion involves integrating—or including—special needs children into regular activities with their typically-developing peers as much as possible. Central to the concept of inclusion is belongingness—not just of children with special needs, but of all students. In an inclusive childcare environment, the needs of all children are met.

Recall Katie and Carolyn. Katie is the benefi ciary of inclusion in Carolyn’s home child daycare setting. Katie starts at Carolyn’s child daycare about three weeks after she and her mother meet the caregiver. During the intervening time, Carolyn consults with Barbara to make sure that the physical layout of the space can accommodate Katie’s wheelchair. She also makes sure she has other equipment and materials that Katie needs. Some of these things, Barbara provides. Others, Barbara brings from Katie’s previous child daycare center, which used state resources for disabled children to purchase the equipment for Katie. Carolyn is especially interested in these items because they would cost a great deal of money to any caregiver. She eagerly records the information Barbara offers about the state agency that addresses children’s needs in daycare, in case she needs to replace or add new equipment for Katie or other children she cares for.

Classroom aides give children with special

needs guidance and extra help in school settings.

Parents can help you meet the needs of special needs children in your care.

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-5


Katie is quickly and warmly welcomed by the fi ve other children in Carolyn’s care. To Carolyn’s delight, they are sensitive to Katie’s needs, but also encourage her to do as much as she can for herself. Even her youngest charge, two-and-a-half-year-old Davey, seems to know just when to tell Katie, “You try!”

With just a few adjustments in layout and thinking, Carolyn did something very important for everyone: she made the world a better, more tolerant place by teaching the children in her care that, while everyone is different, everyone is valuable.

Scientists back up Carolyn’s anecdotal fi ndings. Research shows that inclusion benefi ts both special needs children and children without special needs. Their fi ndings are summarized below.2

The Benefits of Inclusion for Children with Special Needs

Special needs children who are included with typically-abled children experience any of the following:

They feel a sense of belongingness to the group and to society.

They experience a stimulating environment that encourages their growth and development to their fullest potential.

They feel like a member of a welcoming, diverse community.

They experience a boost in self-esteem and self-respect.

Their individuality is affi rmed—and the individuality of other children.

They see examples of peer models.

They have more learning opportunities with a diverse group of peers.

The Benefi ts of Inclusion for Children without Special Needs

Typically-abled children who enjoy the presence of children with vision, hearing, physical or other limitations experience any of the following:

They have opportunities to learn about and appreciate human diversity.

They grow to appreciate individual qualities in their peers.

They begin to feel respect for those who are “different.”

They experience increased patience with the limitations of others.

They feel a sense of empowerment to make a change in the way the world views people.


18-6 0201301LB14D-18-22

They gain the ability to teach others.

They have feelings of increased empathy.

And the benefi ts of inclusion do not stop with the children involved. They extend to caregivers, teachers, parents and society as a whole!

Step 5 Know Your Heart

Historically, people with disabilities have often been isolated from others in society. Pressure to be “politically correct”—behaving in a way that does not offend people who are different—has forced even those whose attitudes toward the disabled haven’t changed to behave more appropriately, at least publicly.3 But prejudice and discrimination linger. According to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), discrimination continues in areas such as employment, housing, education, recreation, health services and access to public services.4

One reason for this is that many of us feel uncomfortable around people whose needs are unfamiliar. Another reason is that our society emphasizes youthful fi tness—and people with certain disabilities do not fi t the “mold” we have come to think of as attractive and desirable. Finally, fear can motivate discrimination. All of us have the potential to become disabled, which is a frightening notion. Being around people whose sensory and motor abilities are impaired reminds us of our own fragility.

What is your attitude about people with disabilities? Do you feel differently about visible disabilities than you do about ones that you cannot see? Identifying your own feelings about people with disabilities can help you become a better caregiver. Greater awareness of situations that make you uncomfortable can spur you to prepare in advance, reducing your anxiety and making your interaction much more rewarding.

In a moment, you will learn more about how Carolyn prepared to care for Katie. Before moving on, however, take a few minutes to complete the Practice Exercise.

How do you feel when you see someone with

a disability?

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-7



For questions 1 through 9, choose the best answer from the choices provided.

1. Which of the following statements about the Americans with Disabilities Act is true? _____a. It is always illegal to refuse care to a person with a disability.b. The only time a caregiver can deny care to a person with a

disability is when it is unsafe to care for him or her.c. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission oversees child

daycare providers’ adherence to the ADA.d. A caregiver may turn away an applicant if the accommodations

needed to safely provide care are unreasonable.

2. Children who attend child daycare with children with different needs _____.a. develop empathy and learn to respect individual differencesb. have less patience for people with different needsc. tend to form prejudicesd. often develop a fear of becoming disabled in the future

3. Kelly is hearing-impaired. She attends daycare with four other children who have typical hearing. Which statement best describes Kelly’s experience in daycare? _____a. She feels isolated because no one understands her special needs.b. She feels different because she is the only one wearing hearing aids.c. She feels the sense that she belongs to the group.d. She wishes she could attend a child daycare that had only children

with hearing impairment.

4. How might inclusion of a disabled child in a small daycare impact society as a whole? _____a. When children learn to embrace the differences among individuals,

society benefi ts.b. Inclusion of the disabled child gives him a place to stay during the

day so that the government does not have to provide care. c. It is less expensive to pay an in-home child daycare provider than it

is to institutionalize disabled children.d. It does not impact society as a whole.


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5. Why is it important for caregivers to identify their feelings about people with disabilities? _____a. If they know they are uncomfortable, they can decide not to care

for any children with disabilities.b. If they know their feelings, they can prepare well and reduce their

anxiety about caring for children with disabilities.c. They need to overcome their feelings because it is wrong to have

negative feelings about people with disabilities.d. It really isn’t critical that caregivers examine their feelings because

feelings do not impact the quality of care they give.

6. Inclusion _____.a. involves integrating children with special needs into every

group activityb. involves including children with special needs in activities as

much as possiblec. cannot be carried out in an in-home child daycare setting

because in-home providers do not have the same resources as child daycare centers and public schools

d. is a failed hippie-generation concept left over from the 1960s and 1970s

7. Carolyn rearranges furniture in her home to make way for Katie’s wheelchair. This is an example of _____.a. inclusionb. empathyc. accommodationd. courtesy

8. The children in George’s care are making mosaics using colored beans. Patrick is vision-impaired. Instead of beans, George gives Patrick tiles with different textures so that Patrick can tell them apart. This illustrates _____.a. inclusionb. accommodationc. neither inclusion nor accommodationd. both inclusion and accommodation

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-9


9. Written policies that exclude disabled children _____.a. are illegalb. can only apply to cases in which reasonable accommodations

can’t be madec. can only apply to cases the Department of Justice approvesd. are examined on a case-by-case basis and then deemed legal or illegal

For questions 10 and 11, write your answers in the space provided.

10. Describe how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to child daycare.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Defi ne the terms accommodation and inclusion. Describe four benefi ts of inclusion for children with and without special needs.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Step 8 How to Prepare for a Special Needs Child

Carolyn was fortunate. Barbara was well-versed in her daughter’s needs, and was able to guide the caregiver as she prepared for Katie to join her child daycare program. As you will learn, communication between caregiver and parents and children is crucial—it makes the transition simpler for everyone concerned.

Facilities and Equipment

The fi rst thing Barbara tells Carolyn is that Katie’s wheelchair is 24” wide. She points out that a standard household doorway is 32” wide, so there are no worries about Katie’s ability to get from room to room in Carolyn’s house. Nor is getting into the home a problem; Carolyn lives in a wheelchair-accessible apartment building with an elevator.


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Sometimes, Barbara points out, access to buildings is a problem. Most public facilities Carolyn visits with the children in her care, such as the library, children’s museum and zoo, are also accessible. Other accommodations may include ramps or elevators instead of stairs, doorways wide enough to allow the broadest adult wheelchair to easily pass, and bathroom facilities large enough to allow a wheelchair to turn around in a stall.

Barbara tells Carolyn that she has discovered, through trial and error, that Katie needs at least 28”—two inches on each side of the wheelchair—of space between objects to pass through in her wheelchair. She points out that Katie’s chair is about the same height as most dining chairs, so Katie can be wheeled up to the kitchen table to do work on curriculum materials, do artwork or enjoy a meal or snack.

Because Katie has full use of her arms and hands, she is able to transfer from her wheelchair to the toilet with minimal assistance. Barbara tells Carolyn that there are many retailers who specialize in adaptive equipment for children who need more help than Katie does. Outfi tters such as The Adaptive Child (www.adaptivechild.com) offer special toileting equipment, classroom furniture, clothing, computer software, adaptive toys, speech development tools and other equipment a child with special needs might need. She explains that using an online search engine such as Google can help Carolyn fi nd whatever a child in her care might need.

Most public buildings are required to be accessible to

people in wheelchairs.

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-11


Communicate with Parents and Children

As Barbara talks, Carolyn becomes acutely aware of how crucial the communication between them will be. She has always prided herself on her communication with parents, fi lling out daily reports for each child to take home. She shares with them what their children are learning about, the activities they engage in, the foods they eat, whether/how long they sleep, and their toileting habits. If there are any incidents, she carefully documents them and gives the parents a copy, as well. When she identifi es a need, she passes it on at pick-up time. For example, she paid close attention to Emily’s complaints of headache for several days, and suggested, at the end of the week, that a trip to the eye doctor might be a good idea. Emily returned to school on Monday without a headache—and with new eyeglasses!

All parents need to be kept in the loop. The parents of special needs children are no different. This comes naturally to a good caregiver, who forms a close professional alliance with the children in her care.

There are tools that can ease communication at the end of a busy day. Instead of verbally reporting daily about the very same things (toileting, eating, and so on), a caregiver might use a checklist that allows her to quickly make note of the highlights of the day. Checklists can be especially helpful when caring for special needs children. A child with cystic fi brosis, for example, might require chest physical therapy. The caregiver can use a checklist to indicate when and what is done to keep the child’s airways clear.

Just like everyone else, parents of special needs children are all different. Some are very forthcoming with information to facilitate care of their children. Others are less so. And some are not well-informed themselves—and may learn new techniques from a savvy caregiver! As with every relationship, you will “feel out” the needs of others to assess what your role will be.

One-on-one communication is just as important to the parents of special needs

children as those who have children without special needs.


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Contact Officials

Child daycare providers often fi nd themselves in a unique position. They can be a liaison between a child’s school and her parents. Carolyn learns that this will be the case for Katie, who she will pick up at a nearby preschool three mornings a week. On those mornings, she fi nds herself getting a report from the aide assigned to Katie that is very much like the report she gives to parents at the end of a day in her program. The school also keeps a line of communication open with Katie’s parents—but for the day-to-day details, an ongoing dialogue forms between Carolyn and the school offi cials.

Early Intervention Service Coordinator

Katie is involved in a public special education preschool provided by the state. Because of her disability, she was evaluated before she was three years old. An Early Intervention Services Coordinator then identifi ed the services Katie needed and was eligible to receive at no cost.

The Early Intervention Services Coordinator paves the way for the special needs child to receive the best education possible. Her responsibilities include the following:

She acts as the single contact person for parents seeking services for their child.

She guides parents and children to early intervention and other services.

She continually assesses the child’s needs to ensure that she receives the services that best benefi t her development.

She makes sure that services are delivered in a timely manner.

She coordinates testing/evaluations of the child to assess her needs.

She develops, reviews and evaluates each child’s individualized service plan.

She helps families identify service providers.

She communicates with healthcare and medical providers.

She facilitates the transition to school.5

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-13


Committee on Preschool Special Education

Barbara explains that in addition to the Early Intervention Services Coordinator her family works with, another professional group has helped ensure that Katie gets the specialized services she needs. She tells Carolyn that any parent concerned about his or her three- to fi ve-year-old child’s speech/language, learning, physical or behavioral development can request that the Committee on Preschool Special Education determine eligibility for preschool special education. Barbara explains that this committee helped secure Katie’s spot in preschool, and will help pave the way for her entry into public kindergarten next fall.

Katie’s disability was readily apparent from birth, so Barbara was able to do plenty of research when she was very young. She knew the timetable for requesting placement. She points out that Carolyn might fi nd herself in a position in which she might make observations of a child that lead to the identifi cation of a problem requiring assessment. She tells Carolyn that she can inform parents of her concerns, and guide them to their school district’s Committee on Preschool Special Education. The parents will have to consent to a multidisciplinary evaluation including health history and physical examination, psychological examination, and observation of skills and abilities. The evaluation team assesses cognition, language and communication, behavior, physical development and social-emotional development. They recommend special education preschool for children who:

have a 12-month delay in one or more area(s)

have a 33 percent delay in one area or a 25 percent delay in each of two areas

meet criteria for autism, deafness, deafness-blindness, hearing impairment, orthopedic impairment, health impairment, brain injury or visual impairment6

Step 9 Terms to Know

Sometimes all the terms, committee names and special education-specifi c language make people feel like a second language is being spoken! Read on for explanations of some common terms you are bound to hear when you care for a child with special needs.


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Individualized Education Plan (IEP)

Barbara continues with her explanation. She tells Carolyn that the Committee on Preschool Special Education prepares an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). This plan identifi es the child’s strengths and weaknesses. It describes the child’s current level of academic achievement, and provides measurable goals and short-term objectives for learning during the school year. Each year, the IEP is reviewed and updated, so that goals and objectives can be revised as the child progresses. Barbara explains that she will attend Katie’s annual IEP Review Meeting, and will be able to discuss Katie’s special education and service needs.7

Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)

Though she now has an IEP, Barbara explains that until age three, Katie had an Individualized Family Service Plan, or IFSP. She points out that Carolyn might fi nd herself caring for younger children who she suspects need special services. When this is the case, the state’s program for infants and young children—called, in their state, the Birth to Three System—can help identify needs and provide resources. After evaluation, an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is created to provide the child with services that might include:

specialized instruction

speech and language therapy

physical therapy

occupational therapy

family training and counseling

assistive devices

audiology (hearing) services

health services

medical evaluation

nutrition services

psychological services

social work services

vision and mobility services

transportation to services prescribed by the IFSP8

Vision and hearing screening is a part of the Birth to Three

evaluation process.

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-15


Step 10 Activities for Special Needs Children

Confi dent that she can provide care for Katie—as well as direct parents of other children in her care to the appropriate resources, if need be—Carolyn is enthusiastic about her new role as caregiver to special needs children. She knows how to arrange her home to accommodate Katie, knows where she can get special equipment, knows who to contact to get resources and is committed to maintaining a close, communicative relationship with Barbara.

Carolyn is sure she can create a curriculum that takes Katie’s mobility impairment into consideration. As she researches and plans, she comes across information about activities for children with other disabilities. She has learned that she never knows who will knock on her door, so she takes notes!

Seeing-impaired Children

Children who cannot see, or cannot see well, have the same cognitive needs as other children. And like their sighted peers, one of their main tasks, as they grow, is to learn how to get along with others. Many times, they can approach both of these needs the same way as children without vision impairment. Favorite childhood games such as Cootie, Perfection, Simon Says and Hot Potato can be played with little modifi cation and can help children listen, take turns, hone their motor skills and interact socially. As you’ve learned, music can enhance development. This is especially true for seeing-impaired children. There are many musical toys available for children at all developmental levels. Playing instruments develops fi ne motor skills, provides sensory stimulation and teaches cause and effect.

Games can be modified to make play easier for seeing-impaired children. For example, you can:

Divide the sections of game boards with materials of various textures.

Add Braille labels to game boards, game pieces, dice and playing cards.

Tape record game instructions.

Use textures to indicate differences among game pieces.

Add brightly colored stickers to game pieces and game sections.

Make a tic-tac-toe board with a cake pan and magnet strips.

Play tic-tac-toe with pegs and pegboard.9

Seeing-impaired children love many of the same games and activities that

their sighted friends love!


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Hearing-impaired Children

Carolyn discovers that few adaptations are needed for hearing-impaired children. Though they cannot always hear the nuances of music, they can feel the vibrations, and still enjoy playing with percussion instruments. They can play many of the same games as children with typical hearing, and may especially enjoy bright, visually stimulating computer games. If you have mastered American sign language or otherwise mastered communication with the child in your care, coming up with fun activities will be a piece of cake!

Developmentally Disabled Children

More challenging to Carolyn are developmental disabilities. This term is used to describe physical, mental or a combination of physical and mental disabilities that interfere with normal growth and development. Developmental disabilities are typically all of the following:

severe and chronic, and likely to continue indefi nitely

apparent during childhood

a severe limitation in at least three areas of major life activity (self-care, language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, economic self-suffi ciency)

lifelong or extended-duration and result in interdisciplinary care and special services10

Carolyn fi nds this list quite daunting, until she researches further. Then she realizes that activities for a child whose development is “behind” those of a typically developing child can be directed to the child’s developmental age. A seven-year-old with the developmental age of a toddler will happily engage in the activities a two-year-old revels in! And a preschooler whose developmental age remains in infancy will enjoy the music and toys of a baby. Because Carolyn is familiar with child development, she is comfortable with the idea of providing developmentally appropriate activities to children, regardless of their ages.

In a moment, you will fi nish this lesson. Before moving on, take a moment to test your understanding with the following Practice Exercise.

You don’t have to know sign language to include hearing-impaired children

in your program, but additional training might

be worth considering if you plan to have any

hearing-challenged children in your

program’s future.

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-17



For items 1 through 5, match the term on the left with the description on the right and write the letter of the matching defi nition in the space provided.

1. Early Intervention Service Coordinator _____

2. Committee on Preschool Special Education _____

3. IEP _____

4. IFSP _____

5. Developmental disability _____

a. plan for birth to age three

b. a plan that identifi es a child’s strengths and weaknesses and provides measurable goals for learning

c. the single contact person for parents seeking services for their child

d. chronic severe physical and/or mental disability that impedes development

e. group that determines eligibility for preschool special education

For questions 6 through 8, choose the best answer from the choices provided.

6. Activities that are enjoyed by seeing-impaired children might include all of the following except playing _____.a. musical instrumentsb. Hot Potatoc. stimulating video gamesd. tic-tac-toe using a pegboard

7. When caring for a special needs child, _____ is/are always necessary.a. clear communication with the parents and childb. special equipmentc. special activitiesd. extra staff


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8. Three-and-a-half-year-old Cara’s speech does not seem to be developing appropriately. What might you suggest to her parents? _____a. They should stay home with her to give her more attention.b. They should request evaluation by the Committee on Preschool

Special Education.c. They should demand an IEP.d. They should wait until she outgrows the problem.

For question 9, write your answer in the space provided.

9. Describe one appropriate activity each for seeing-impaired, hearing-impaired and developmentally disabled children. Briefl y explain the value of these activities to these children’s growth. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Step 13 Take Home Message

By “watching” Carolyn gain comfort caring for a special needs child, you have learned that the most daunting part of the task is learning how to meet each child’s needs. This is something you already do with everyone you form a relationship with! Protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the child with special needs may require certain accommodations—modifi cations to your facility, special equipment and activities designed to help him reach his full developmental potential—but mostly, he requires the same individual attention you offer each child in your care. Clear communication with parents, keen observation, and cooperation with various early-intervention specialists will help you provide the very best care possible.

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-19


Becoming part of the special needs child’s care-giving team offers the child a sense of belongingness, a nurturing environment that encourages his growth and development to his fullest potential, boosted self-esteem and self-respect, affi rmation of his individuality and learning opportunities with a diverse group of peers. In return, you—and the other children in your care—will be rewarded with the gift of understanding, empathy and acceptance of each individual’s unique traits. It’s a win-win situation—and now you are prepared to reap its benefi ts.


Follow the steps to complete the quiz.






Children with special needs want

opportunities to succeed! Help

them make their dreams come

true.


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Mail-in Quiz 17

For questions 1 through 20, choose the best answer from the choices provided. Each correct answer is worth 5 points.

1. A(n) _____ plan is a plan that is prepared after a preschooler is evaluated by the Committee on Preschool Special Education.a. early intervention b. individualized family servicec. individualized educationd. specialized instruction

2. _____ is a developmental disability characterized by diffi culty in forming social relationships and often inappropriate behaviors.a. Alzheimer’sb. Asperger’sc. Epilepsyd. Special needs syndrome

3. In which situation can a caregiver refuse care to special needs children? _____a. When caring for the child poses a risk to that child or others in the

provider’s careb. When offering care to the child upsets the parents of other childrenc. When the child does not “fi t in” socially with the other childrend. Anytime; it is up to the discretion of the caregiver

4. A(n) _____ plan is a plan designed for a child from birth to age three.a. early intervention b. individualized family servicec. individualized educationd. specialized instruction

5. If the Department of Justice determines that extra accommodations for a special needs child are reasonable for a childcare provider to make, the _____.a. facility cannot refuse care to the childb. facility can still refuse care to the child at its own discretionc. parents of all children at the facility may vote whether to allow

care for the childd. child can attend the facility but may not interact with the

other children

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-21


6. The Americans with Disabilities Act _____.a. became law in 1999b. prohibits admissions policies that exclude people with disabilitiesc. does not apply to daycare providersd. matches special needs children with an early intervention

services coordinator

7. An Individualized Family Service Plan _____.a. sets goals for children to achieve during the school yearb. is only available after a child reaches grade schoolc. provides services such as specialized instruction, speech therapy

and physical therapyd. is available through most local boards of education

8. The contact person for parents seeking services for their child is the _____.a. Early Intervention Services Coordinatorb. physical therapistc. daycare providerd. Committee on Preschool Special Education

9. Which of the following statements about caring for special needs children is not true? _____a. The child daycare provider may serve as a liaison between school

and parents.b. The child daycare provider may make observations that lead to the

identifi cation of special needs.c. The child daycare provider doesn’t have an opportunity to interact

with this population of children.d. The child daycare provider can meet the needs of special needs

children and enrich their lives.

10. Jessalyn is anxious about caring for a special needs child. What would you advise? _____a. She should refuse care to the child.b. She should research the child’s needs to reduce her anxiety.c. She should visit a psychiatrist to get over her fears.d. She should only accept typically developing children into her care.


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11. A physical and/or mental disability that is expected to be long-term is known as a _____ disability.a. terminal b. permanentc. developmentald. temporary

12. Title III of the ADA requires businesses, including ____ childcare operations, to provide accommodations to individuals with special needs.a. home- or center-basedb. only home-basedc. only center-basedd. none of these

13. A(n) _____ paves the way for the special needs child to receive the best education possible by guiding parents and children to early intervention and other services.a. ADA Representativeb. childcare providerc. Committee on Preschool Special Educationd. Early Intervention Service Coordinator

14. Childcare providers who make an effort to identify their own feelings about people with disabilities are able to _____.a. separate those with disabilities from other children in their careb. become better overall caregiversc. diagnose mental and physical disabilitiesd. refuse to care for children with special needs

15. Necessary adjustments that allow a facility to meet the needs of a disabled child are called _____.a. interventionsb. accommodationsc. inclusionsd. admissions

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-23


16. Integrating special needs children into normal activities with their regularly developing peers as much as possible is called _____.a. interventionb. accommodationc. inclusiond. admission

17. The _____ determines the eligibility of children for preschool special education.a. Committee on Preschool Special Educationb. Early Intervention Services Coordinatorc. ADAd. IFSP

18. _____ is(are) severe and chronic, likely to continue indefi nitely, appear(s) during childhood and result(s) in severe limitation of at least three areas of major life activity.a. Asperger’s syndromeb. Developmental disabilitiesc. Social anxietyd. Hearing impairments

19. An activity appropriate for hearing-impaired children is a(n) _____ game.a. visually stimulating computerb. touch screen-activated computerc. audio-visual computerd. all of the above

20. When caring for a developmentally disabled child, you should provide toys and activities appropriate for his or her _____ age.a. actualb. preschoolc. developmentald. social


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Endnotes

1 Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Child Care Licensing: Questions Regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title 3 and Child Day Care Operations. 2008. www.dfps.statetx.us/child_care/ Information_for_Child_Care_Professionals/ada/asp-20-k

2 University of Northern Iowa. Children That Learn Together Learn to Live Together. 1999. www.uni.edu/coe inclusion/philosophy/benefi ts.html

3 Merriam-Webster Online. Politically Correct. 2008. www.merriamwebster.com4 “The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Titles I and V, The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Co

mission, 15 Jan. 1997. www.eeoc.gov/policy/ada.html5 Community Alliance for Special Education and Protection and Advocacy, Inc. Special Education Rights and

Responsibilities. Dec. 2005. www.pai-ca.org/Pubs/505201.htm#_Toc1222314356 Schalmont Central Schopl District. Committee on Preschool Special Education. 2005. www.schalmont.org

District/specialeducation/specialedpreschool.htm7 Schalmont Central Schopl District. Committee on Preschool Special Education. 2005. www.schalmont.org

District/specialeducation/specialedpreschool.htm8 The Connection Birth to Three System. What is an IFSP? 2008. www.birth23.org/Families/IFSP.asp9 Sewell, Barbara. Suggestions for Recreation and Leisure Activities for Blind and Visually Impaired Children. 4

Sept. 2003. www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/summer99/games.htm10 Children’s Division Glossary. Developmental Disability. 2008. www.dss.mo.gov/cd/info/cwmanual

section7glossary/d.htm

0201301LB14D-18-22 18-25


Don’t wait for your quiz results to continue with Lesson 19.

You’ve completed

Lesson 18

CONGRATULATIONS


18-26 0201301LB14D-18-22

0201301LB14D-19-22 19-1

Putting It All

Together

Lesson

19



Apply your daycare knowledge to real-world scenarios and complete your quiz.

Step 2 Quiz Preview

You’ve made it! You’ve nearly completed your Child Daycare Specialist course! After this, you’ll be ready to start your new career! This course has prepared you to care for children, create activities and meals and connect with parents. In addition, you’ve learned all aspects of the stages and ages of children—from the newborn to the school-age child. Congratulations on a job well done!

Your fi nal lesson is a comprehensive fi nal exam designed to bring all of your child daycare knowledge together. In this quiz, you’ll apply what you’ve learned in each lesson. You’re going to do great!

You’re almost ready to begin

your new career!


19-2 0201301LB14D-19-22


Follow the steps to complete the quiz.






Mail-in Quiz 18

For questions 1 through 35, choose the best answer from the choices provided. Each correct answer is worth 2.8 points.

1. The benefi ts of inclusion for children without special needs or limitations include which of the following? _____a. Feelings of respect for their peers who are just like themb. Decreased patience for those who take longer to complete the

same activitiesc. Feelings of respect for peers who are different from them and

opportunities to appreciate diversityd. Feelings of competition to fi nish challenging activities fi rst

2. How did the Industrial Revolution change the face of child daycare in the United States? _____a. By causing parents to work in city factories for longer hours outside

of the homeb. By leaving millions of parents jobless c. By forcing parents to leave their children at home to fi nd daily

temporary workd. By forcing more women to go to work due to a shortage of men

available due to military responsibilities

0201301LB14D-19-22 19-3

Lesson 19—Putting It All Together

3. How did World War II change the face of child daycare in the United States? _____a. By causing parents to work in city factories for longer hours outside

of the homeb. By leaving millions of parents jobless c. By forcing parents to leave their children at home to fi nd daily

temporary workd. By forcing more women to go to work due to a shortage of men

available due to military responsibilities

4. What is one way in which a quality child daycare provider could help toddler-age children to improve their hand-eye coordination skills? _____a. Give them a standard-sized basketball and ask them to throw it to

each other.b. Give them each a balloon and have them toss and try to control it.c. Have them aim and throw a balloon into a standard-height

basketball hoop.d. Have them bang on a tambourine.

5. Why is it important to a child’s emotional development to have one ever-present, dependable caregiver? _____a. A dependable caregiver supports the child’s self-esteem and uses

individual cues to help the child fl ourish and learn.b. A dependable caregiver is able to step in if something happens

to a parent.c. A dependable caregiver allows the child to develop dependency on

only one person.d. A dependable caregiver teaches the child to only look out for

himself in life.

6. Which of the following is the most effective way for caregivers to promote the development of language and literacy in the children under their care? _____a. By asking them to try to read challenging excerpts from textbooks

on their ownb. By setting aside time each day to memorize words and defi nitions

from the dictionaryc. By using simple words in their speech while listening and talking

to them equally at their skill leveld. By choosing one child’s home language and teaching it to all of the

other children


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7. _____ milestones include seeing things clearly up to about a foot away; maintaining interest in pictures; focusing on moving people and shapes; and anticipating events.a. Physical b. Cognitivec. Languaged. Aging

8. _____ milestones include being aware of nearby sounds; turning towards voices or noises; making cooing sounds; laughing; and vocalizing simple vowel combinations.a. Physicalb. Cognitivec. Languaged. Aging

9. _____ is a gradual process of growth that varies between every child but includes different stages in a similar order.a. Cognitionb. Inclusionc. Developmentd. Accommodation

10. Why is it useful for childcare providers to talk to the children in their care as much as possible throughout daily activities? _____a. It is a good way to discipline children in a large childcare setting.b. It is a good additional way to help toddlers develop language skills

of their own.c. It will discourage children from speaking too much during activities.d. It is a good way to show children how to run activities in a

childcare setting.

0201301LB14D-19-22 19-5


11. Of the following choices, which is the best way for a childcare provider to help children deal with anger in a positive manner? _____a. Encourage children to use their words rather than their fi sts.b. Intervene in confl icts only after they occur to teach children

hard lessons.c. Separate an angry child from the group and isolate him until he

calms down.d. Teach children that anger is not an acceptable emotion.

12. The Committee on Preschool Special Education recommends special education preschool for children who have a _____ one area of development.a. three-month delay inb. fi ve percent delay in anyc. 12-month delay ind. 25 percent delay in any

13. A child’s _____ plan undergoes an annual review and update so that goals and objectives can be revised as the child progresses.a. early interventionb. individualized family servicec. individualized educationd. specialized instruction

14. The “Birth to Three” system uses a(n) _____ plan to provide a child with special services.a. early interventionb. individualized family servicec. individualized educationd. specialized instruction

15. Which of the following best describes a characteristic of children with a healthy level of self-esteem? _____a. They feel they have no personal weaknesses due to their

high self-esteem.b. They avoid new activities or experiences with others because they

are too self-absorbed.c. They have trouble handling confl ict and resisting negative pressure

because they want to please everyone.d. They handle confl ict and resist negative pressure more easily.


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16. Empathy is a character trait that allows children to _____.a. feel sad oftenb. have enhanced cognitive abilitiesc. understand and process the viewpoints of othersd. progress more rapidly in the classroom

17. Which of the following statements best describes the concept of discipline? _____a. Discipline is an unpleasant response to inappropriate behaviors.b. Discipline involves training to guide, correct and socialize

children positively.c. Discipline is used only as a last-resort punishment for

violent behavior.d. Discipline is not effective in large childcare center settings.

18. Strict safety regulations govern which areas of home-based child daycare centers? _____a. Kitchens, bathrooms, outdoor play areasb. Bathrooms, garages, front walkwayc. Outdoor play areas and bedroomsd. Front walkways and entry ways

19. A(n) _____ is a method that can help to determine the necessity or demand within a local community for businesses such as childcare centers.a. needs assessmentb. business assessmentc. business surveyd. early intervention plan

20. Which of the following is true? _____a. Certifi cation allows an entire child daycare program to obtain a

license to operate.b. Accreditation is a process required by federal laws.c. Accreditation indicates that an individual care provider meets

standards set by an agency and has that agency’s permission to teach.d. Certifi cation indicates that an individual care provider meets

standards set by an agency and has that agency’s permission to teach.

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21. Five-month-old Beth loves to listen to rattles. You place one in her hand as she lies on her back in her crib. She manages to hold on to it with both hands and starts to bring it towards her mouth. She drops the rattle behind her head out of view. At this age, Beth will most likely _____.a. immediately start crying until someone comes to fetch the rattleb. roll over and try to reach the rattlec. have no response at all since out of sight is out of mind for an

infant this aged. try to throw something at you

22. You were just hired as the lead teacher in the infant room of a brand new child daycare center. Because you’re familiar with newborns and you have a child daycare specialist education to back up that experience, the management puts you in charge of designing the infant room. They want to paint the walls a cream color, but you know that newborns are much more interested in bright vibrant colors with lots of contrast. To the dismay of your employers you paint the room fi re engine red, black and lemon yellow. You also break up the colors with strong geometric shapes and thick lines in contrasting colors. Over the weekend the director buys some animal mobiles to hang over the cribs. The ceiling is high and they fl oat about three feet above each crib mattress. This arrangement is _____.a. perfectly acceptable because newborns like to look at thingsb. perfectly acceptable because parents like to see that special

arrangements are made for newbornsc. unacceptable because the newborns will be afraid of the animal

mobiles fl oating above their headsd. unacceptable because newborns are unable to see things clearly that

are more than about a foot from their faces

23. Izzie has a 20-month-old daughter, Magnolia. Izzie loves to talk parentese with Magnolia. She drags out her syllables and speaks in a high-pitched voice with a sing-song tone. This is _____.a. unacceptable because you should avoid speaking parentese in

the toddler stageb. unacceptable because, at this age, Magnolia should be conversing

more with other children than with her motherc. acceptable because toddlers prefer parentese over normal speech d. acceptable because parentese helps toddlers develop language skills


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24. Which of the following is a FALSE statement about the effect of peer infl uence on school-age children? _____a. Peer infl uence affects school-age children.b. Peers have more infl uence upon school-age children than they do

upon preschoolers.c. Peers’ opinions matter to school-age children.d. Peer infl uence lessens as a child grows older.

25. A teacher who awards special privileges to the students who fi nish their projects early is using a form of _____.a. extinctionb. positive reinforcementc. punishmentd. negative reinforcement

26. Which one of the following is the best way to help a child develop more healthy levels of self-esteem? _____a. Don’t be too affectionate with children.b. Identify and redirect your child’s inaccurate beliefs.c. Encourage children to move on to new skills before they completely

master old ones.d. Give feedback that shares your present emotions, even if

they’re negative.

27. To help picky eaters become a little less picky, you should try which of the following? _____a. Prepare food that children can’t eat themselves. Feeding it to them

is more fun.b. Let children help prepare the food.c. Give children a lot of choices.d. Keep mealtime exciting and stimulated.

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28. Marlina runs an in-home child daycare facility where she keeps her best friend’s child, Earl. Two-year-old Earl becomes moody, impatient and uncomfortable as the day moves on and by lunchtime he has a low-grade fever. Marlina should _____.a. call Earl’s mother and then give him some Tylenolb. give Earl some Tylenol fi rst and then call Earl’s motherc. give Earl some Tylenol and let him sleep comfortably in the living

room separate from the other childrend. call Earl’s mother and check for a medication permission form

before she administers any medication

29. You set up a new playground area at your in-home child daycare. You try to be careful and follow all the safety regulations. Which of the following is not a safe condition to have on your playground? _____a. Your air-conditioning unit is surrounded by a fence.b. You leave a baby pool full of a couple of inches of water so it can

warm up during the day before the children use it.c. Your slide and swing set sit on wood chips.d. You keep the garage door locked at all times.

30. Which one of the following should every mission statement include? _____a. The purpose of your business, the values and principles that

guide your business and the estimated marketing costsb. The purpose of your business, the nature of your business

and the values and principles that guide your businessc. The purpose of your business, the marketing costs and the

zoning requirementsd. The purpose of your business, the nature of your business and your

business logo

31. When you write your vision statement for your new child daycare business, you should _____.a. explain the purpose of your businessb. describe your business as it is right this momentc. describe how your child daycare business will look once you’ve

fulfi lled your mission statementd. provide in-depth descriptions of the guiding beliefs behind

your business


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32. If you’ve attempted to secure fi nancing for your new child daycare business and been turned down, the most logical place to apply for fi nancing again would be a _____.a. child care loan through the Child Care Loan Programb. fi nancing opportunity from the Small Business Administrationc. loan from a family member or friendd. real-estate secured loan

33. When you establish a working, positive relationship with parents, you get _____.a. a kind ear to listenb. cash donations to your programc. to know their child and family much betterd. more donated books and toys

34. Which of the following is NOT a recommended way to help parents form connections with their local community? _____a. Refer them to parenting classes.b. Ask them to volunteer at your child daycare.c. Connect them to volunteer opportunities outside your child

daycare program.d. Tell them all about the local Mother’s Day Out Program.

35. The Americans with Disabilities Act _____.a. became law in 1975b. makes it illegal to exclude people with disabilities from your child

daycare programc. applies only to child daycare providers at large centersd. is only applicable in certain states

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You’ve completed

the Child Daycare

Specialist course!

CONGRATULATIONS


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Child Daycare SpecialistAnswer

Key

Lesson 17 Answer Key

Practice Exercise 17-1

1. Describe fi ve events that encourage family participation in your child daycare community. Answers will vary. Events that encourage family participation in the child daycare community include those that get parents, friends and family to come to the daycare itself. This can include an art show to view their children’s artwork, or a potluck where they can socialize.

You also can create events that occur outside of the school such as bowling, a pizza party at a restaurant or a swimming day.

Another option is to create a family event that encourages connection to the community. This can include having a community book fair or again, a community potluck.

2. Explain fi ve benefi ts of community connections for children. Answers will vary. Children benefi t by spending time with neighbors and spending time with family. Other benefi ts to children include:

Children who experience a sense of community are happier.

They develop a sense of belonging.

They feel supported.

They gain mentors, role models and teachers.

They develop a sense of social responsibility.

They learn about trust and confl ict resolution.

There are more caring people in their lives and children learn to participate in social life in productive ways.


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3. What are fi ve benefi ts that children receive when they connect to the community through fi eld trips? Children receive several benefi ts from fi eld trips:

They connect children’s daycare experiences with those experiences in the community beyond their classroom.

They provide children with experiences that cannot be created in daycare settings.

They add a dose of reality into any area of interest or study.

They provide children with an opportunity to enhance their social skills and feelings of citizenship.

They increase awareness of the children’s community and the people who live in it.

4. Describe benefi ts of bringing visitors to the classroom or daycare center. Classroom visitation connects children to the wider world in a fun and exciting way. Children can learn more about a certain profession, culture, special interest or religion.


1. Explain fi ve ways to connect parents and families to community resources. Make parents aware of the local Parks and Recreation Department, fi nd out when Mother’s Day Out programs take place, offer parenting classes, provide information on volunteer opportunities, encourage parents to search for a community calendar online and fi nd out when local pediatricians offer shot clinics.

2. Give two examples of quality products for each of the following age groups: Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers and School-age Children. Answers will vary. Your answer should include two examples of books, movies, educational games, computer games or toys for each age group. Below is an example:

Infants: Books such as Pat the Bunny and hard or soft rattles.

Toddlers: Movies such as Elmo in Grouchland and an educational game like an Etch-a-Sketch.

Preschoolers: Ring Toss Game and computer games like Smart Boy’s Game Room.

School-age Children: Books like Diary of a Spider and games, such as Scrabble.

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Answer Key

3. Describe fi ve ways you can create cultural awareness in the children you serve. Answers will vary. You can create cultural awareness in children in some of the following ways:

Introduce them to a foreign language.

Teach children about geography.

Use globes in the classroom.

Bring videos and books about other countries.

Create hands-on activities for children that relate to a specifi c country.

Have an international food day.

Take a cultural fi eld trip.

Celebrate holidays from other cultures.

Hang posters of people from different countries wearing native dress.

Play music from various cultures.

Teach a song and dance from another culture.

Explain a custom or practice from a different culture and have children try it.

4. Design a cultural theme or event. Describe it in the space below and explain the benefi ts of this event. Answers will vary. You should design a cultural event, such as having an international food day, and describe the benefi ts of the event.

Lesson 18 Answer Key


1. Which of the following statements about the Americans with Disabilities Act is true? d. A caregiver may turn away an applicant if the accommodations needed to safely provide care are unreasonable.

2. Children who attend child daycare with children with different needs a. develop empathy and learn to respect individual differences.


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3. Kelly is hearing-impaired. She attends daycare with four other children who have typical hearing. Which statement best describes Kelly’s experience in daycare? c. She feels the sense that she belongs to the group.

4. How might inclusion of a disabled child in a small daycare impact society as a whole? a. When children learn to embrace the differences among individuals, society benefi ts.

5. Why is it important for caregivers to identify their feelings about people with disabilities? b. If they know their feelings, they can prepare well and reduce their anxiety about caring for children with disabilities.

6. Inclusion b. involves including children with special needs in activities as much as possible.

7. Carolyn rearranges furniture in her home to make way for Katie’s wheelchair. This is an example of c. accommodation.

8. The children in George’s care are making mosaics using colored beans. Patrick is vision-impaired. Instead of beans, George gives Patrick tiles with different textures so that Patrick can tell them apart. This illustrates d. both inclusion and accommodation.

9. Written policies that exclude disabled children a. are illegal.

10. Describe how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to child daycare. Title III of the ADA requires businesses, including daycares, to provide accommodations to individuals with special needs.

11. Defi ne the terms accommodation and inclusion. Describe four benefi ts of inclusion for children with and without special needs. Accommodations are adjustments made to meet someone’s needs. Inclusion is integrating a special needs child into regular activities. You should provide four benefi ts of inclusion. For instance, children with special needs experience a boost in self-esteem and self-respect. They also see examples of peer models. Children without special needs grow to appreciate individual qualities in their piers and they begin to feel respect for those who are different.

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Answer Key


1. Early Intervention Services Coordinator c. the single contact person for parents seeking services for their child

2. Committee on Preschool Special Education e. group that determines eligibility for preschool special education

3. IEP b. A plan that identifi es a child’s strengths and weaknesses and provides measurable goals for learning

4. IFSP a. plan for birth to age three

5. developmental disability d. chronic severe physical and/or mental disability that impedes development

6. Activities that are enjoyed by seeing-impaired children might include all of the following except playing c. stimulating video games.

7. When caring for a special needs child, a. clear communication with the parents and child is always necessary.

8. Three-and-a-half-year-old Cara’s speech does not seem to be developing appropriately. What might you suggest to her parents? b. They should request evaluation by the Committee on Preschool Special Education.

9. Describe one appropriate activity each for seeing-impaired, hearing-impaired and developmentally disabled children. Briefl y explain the value of these activities to these children’s growth. Answers will vary. A sample answer follows. Activities for seeing-impaired children include adding Braille labels to game boards and playing tic-tac-toe with pegs and pegboard. Games for hearing-impaired children include playing percussion instruments. Games for developmentally disabled children are many. They depend on the child’s development level. If a nine-year-old has a development level of a fi ve-year-old, then games such as Simon Says or Candyland might be appropriate.


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