Childcare Development Including Children with Disabilities

Question: Discuss in general what special needs means. Define what ADHD means, what it means for a child care development center, e.g. what impact special needs may have on staffing requirements. Describe how a center can provide services for special needs children, and then discuss the case study on how to work with the parent of a special needs child using the resources provided. Discuss the role of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in how your program can work with the parents and child. Explain the type of services that can be offered to this parent to help understand what quality care will have to be offered his or her child. Answer: Introduction: The special need children are helpless and they can do nothing without assistance. The childcare centers they tend to accommodate is a diverse environment for the parents and for the children with special needs. This essay will help in highlighting the requirements of a special need child and guiding their parents. Special Needs: The term special need is used for the functional development and clinical diagnostic for describing the individuals that require assistance for the disabilities, which could be psychological, medical or mental. These individuals require special needs as they might require therapy, medicine or some extra help. For example, a kid going to school might need braces to wake or a wheel chair. These kids have special needs. They need equipments for them to go around for this they might need elevators or special bus to school (thecommunicationtrust.org.uk, 2016). Definition of ADHD and meaning of it in a childcare development centre: ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a common form of mental disorder which starts from the childhood and which continues through adulthood and adolescence (Horn et al., 2000). The childcare development centers they try to recognize ADHD children showing levels of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsive type of behavior more than the other children do in the same age group. There is a need for the centers to staff specialists and doctors (Kidshealth.org ,2016). Services by a centre for a special needs child and ways of working with parents of special needs: The childcare centers for special needs have professionals who are seen to provide support consistently so that every child would be able to take part in the programs his family chooses. The services that are offered are early identification and intervention, program consultation, program adaptation, parent training, environment assessment and referral. The parents when they are trained and giving the proper guidance then they are able to work with the children with special needs. In a case study, it is seen Lena suffering from speech defects, after getting discharge from the language therapy service she was still unable to speak. The teachers have said she made minor progress. Later parents of Lena also were made to learn about the therapy programs. As a result, parents had to pay for independent assessment, huge emotional cost to the family and there was certain improvements for Lena. Role of Individualized Education Program (IEP): Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as federal law need that public school creates IEP for children who receive services of special education. The one who are eligible for IEP is from the age group of 3 years to a maximum age of 22 years. IEP will be helpful in the addressing of the unique type of learning issue of each child inclusive of the educational goals. The school is bind to provide everything promised under IEP (Filler Xu, 2007). The parents of the special needs children can participate in IEP meetings to monitor their progress. Type of service offered to parent of special need children: The childcare centers of special needs will help in providing services for the parents to get help for accessing the mental health services, helps in the accessing of the mental retardation or development disability services, access to the special medical equipments, access to special education services, parenting classes, anger management classes and many more. Conclusion: Thus, there is a huge importance of the childcare centers as there are innumerable services that are offered to a child with disabilities. The centers create a favorable environment in which the child can grow and interact. References: Filler, J., Xu, Y. (2007). Including children with disabilities in early childhood education programs: Individualizing developmentally appropriate practices.Childhood Education,83(2), 92-98. Horn, E., Lieber, J., Li, S., Sandall, S., Schwartz, I. (2000). Supporting young children's IEP goals in inclusive settings through embedded learning opportunities.Topics in Early Childhood Special Education,20(4), 208-223. Kidshealth.org. (2016).Kidshealth.org. Retrieved 7 August 2016, from https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/parents-support.html thecommunicationtrust.org.uk. (2016). Retrieved 7 August 2016, from https://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/media/13577/case_studies_report_-_final__june_2010.pdf