MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN FAMILIES

Inclusion of Children with Special Needs

ECEP 233

Course Professor: Chris Cadieux

Student Name: Chen Ouyang

INTRODUCTION CHILD AND FAMILY – PART 1

Laila, who is a 15 months child in my infant room, has been diagnosed with severe vision impairment.

Her parents are very concerned Laila’s vision impairment, worry about her safety in the environment and how she will form friendships in the child centre.

Her parents are new to the city and are expecting their second child.

They ask me about the services in the area.

What Laila and her family needs

Resources to understand severe vision impairment

Provide inclusive environment

Use developmental milestones guideline to identify Laila’s strengths and weaknesses

Programs with parents involvement to meet Laila’s special needs

Agencies and programs in the communities to support Laila and her family’s needs

INTRODUCTION TO THE INDIVIDUAL SPECIAL NEED – PART 2

What is a visual impairment?

A visual impairment is the consequence of a functional loss of vision.

Visual impairment is defined as impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s interaction with his environment and may affect the ability to access early learning opportunities and educational material.

There are four levels of visual function according to the International Classification of Diseases:

Normal vision

Moderate visual impairment

Severe visual impairment

Blindness

THE CAUSES OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT:

The major causes of visual impairment in globally are:

Uncorrected refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism), 43%

Unoperated cataract, 33%

Glaucome, 2%

WHO IS AFFECTED?

The rate at which visual impairments occur in individuals under the age of 18 is 12 per 1,000. Severe visual impairments (legally or totally blind) occur at a rate of 1 per 2,000.

WHO IS AT RISK?

An estimated 19 million children are visually impaired below age 15. Among that, 12 million children are visually impaired due to refractive errors, a condition that could be easily diagnosed and corrected; 1.4 million are irreversibly blind for the rest of their lives.

CHARACTERISTICS OF VISUALLY IMPAIRMENT CHILD WITHIN SPECIAL NEEDS:

Children with visual impairment or low vision would obstruct their development in various areas:

CHARACTERISTIC IN COGNITIVE LEARNING

Vision is one of significant importance to the learning process. Without vision, some concepts can never be fully understand and grasp for the child with vision impairment.

Visual impairment itself would not affect the child’s cognitive processing but would limited them contact with the environment.

Visual impairment often require individualized instruction, as well as specialized books, materials for learning through alternate modes.

CHARACTERISTIC IN PHYSICAL LEARNING SKILLS

Children with vision impairment are generally below normal physical development.

Children with vision impairment may take more time to complete an activity

Child with vision impairment could walk cautiously as they cannot see clearly. The environment setting is essential for them

CHARATERISTIC IN EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL LEARNING

Since the social learning and interaction with peers very depend on visual imitation, children with vision impairment could feel isolated or have negative attitudes.

Child with vision impairment could find their social and play experiences are more limited due to their communication with sighted peers are affected.

CHARACTERISTIC IN COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

Lack of life experiences could cause children with vision impairment’s speech limitation.

The topics or activities might more concentrate on their own interests rather than on other’s needs.

Children with vision impairment may experience difficultly to understand the words symbols, They have to use combination of vision or other senses to learn the meanings of vocabularies.

MEETING THE NEEDS IN THE CHILD CARE CENTRE – PART 3

STRATEGY IN ENVIRONMENT SETTING:

Laila’s cubby – use bumpy texture making her name tab and has a star on it.

Equipment should be kept in one place for consistently and at the child’s level.

Furniture should be kept in the same place as a predictable environment, use protector to fit on to the corners of furniture.

More lighting source should be provide in the infant room and sitting area.

STRATEGIES IN SENSORY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Touch - Provide toys that have a variety of textures, shapes, sizes, and weight, hand on interaction with real objects

Vision - Allow Laila to hold materials at whatever angle or distance that is best for her and encourage her to move close to me at story time or circle time

Hearing - provide experiences that focus on people's voices and sounds related to activities

STRATEGIES IN COGNITIVE LEARNING

Provide Auditory Books

Enlarged materials, text

books and pictures

Provide copy of picture or books

in Braille

STRATEGIES IN SOCIAL SKILLS & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Learning social skills in the classroom: Sharing in group in activities Take a turn in conversation or interaction Use circle time as an opportunity to share experiences

and information

A partnership between parents, child, and professional:

Listing to what family need and how they want for the child

Parents are Laila’s first teacher, get them involved in all family activities

Family and professional have a balance realistic expectations

STRATEGIES OF ACTIVITY WITHIN THE LARGER GROUP OF

CHILDREN

Child with visually impaired can get benefits of cooperative learning activities within a larger group of children too.

Environment setting should be spatial, bright and without obstacles

Children can sit or stand on the carpet Activity plan should be age appropriate Play more body awareness games

OVERVIEW OF REFERRED AGENCY/AGENCIES AND RESOURCES –

PART 4Resources Summary:

1. Toronto Preschool Speech & Language services

Blind – Low Vision Early Intervention Program: Family support: Early intervention Child care consultation Public awareness and professional/parent education

Who can receive these services:

The Blind – Low Vision Early Intervention Program services are available to families who: live in Toronto

have a child from birth until school entry are concerned about their child's vision have a child that has been diagnosed by an ophthalmologist (a

medical doctor who specializes in eyes) as being blind or having low vision.

http://www.tpsls.on.ca/blv/services.htm

2. Markham Stouffville Hospital – Child Development Programs:

They provide three program:

York Region Preschool Speech and Language Program Tri-Regional Infant Hearing Program Tri-Regional Blind-Low Vision Program

The Tri-Regional Blind-Low Vision Program serves children aged

birth to grade one entry who have a diagnosed visual

impairment. The geographical areas served include York and

Durham Regions, Peterborough, Northumberland and Haliburton

Counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes.

http://childdevelopmentprograms.ca/vision/program-information/

BIBLIOGRAPHYCity of Toronto early childhood services team. Learning together. Every step of the way. From

http://connectability.ca/?s=visual+impairments&search-go=go

Education Committee, National Coalition for Vision Health. Canadian National Standards For the Education of Children and Youth, Who are Blind or Visually Impaired, Including Those with Additional Disabilities. From

https://www.apsea.ca/MainPage/Cdn_Nat_Stands.pdf

AFB American Foundation for the blind. Expanding possibilities for people with vision loss. From

http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/teachers/inclusive-education/1235

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9710.php

Picture resource:https://www.google.ca/search?

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https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1440&bih=754&q=child+with+visual+impairment&oq=child+with+vi&gs_l=img.1.2.0l3j0i24l7.5372.13336.0.16865.15.11.1.3.3.0.148.1293.1j10.11.0....0...1ac.1.36.img..2.13.1098.5qyvKZFX8QY#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=ooFQeFodG3mynM%253A%3BdiEN7Q3LeTsOPM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.victa.org.uk%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2013%252F11%252FvictaRoyalBlindSocietySupport.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.victa.org.uk%252Ffamily-support%252F%3B584%3B265

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