For this week, I am putting together my ideal early childhood system and I will be introducing a hypothetical family that is in need of comprehensive services. To begin my hypothetical family is African American that consist of a mother and her three children. The mother is about 26 years of age and her children range in age from 5-10. The mother is in need of a child care program that can deal with her five year old son's aggressive behavior. Mom states that she first began noticing the aggressive behavior when the boy was about 3 years old. After speaking with the mother, I also find out that her son has been having trouble in his preschool class, she has spoken with her regular pediatrician on numerous occasions and he has dismissed the behavior as typical age related tantrums and that he will out grow them. However, mom consistently expressed that she believes something more is going on with her child. At this point her biggest concern is finding child care for her son that will be able to help her obtain the necessary resources to get her son help for his behavior. She fears that if left un-addressed he will miss out on valuable learning experiences that will aid in his grow and development.
As an added noted, I chose this type of situation, because in my own experiences as an early childhood professional, children with severe behavioral issues are often overlooked, disliked by teachers because of their behavior, considered to be bad or even stereotyped. However, this is not often the case, there really could be some underlying mental or health issues that are causing the child to behave in this manner. So as an early childhood system, families such as the one above can rest easy knowing that there's a system of programs and services put in place to offer her help and assistance to the best of their abilities. This will be good news to a parent whose may be feeling overwhelmed with frustrations, because she cannot find help for her child.
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About Me
- Priscilla Herron
- I am a Preschool Teacher at a private preschool in Tennessee. I have been in the early childhood field for 17 years. I have an A.A.S in Early Childhood Edcuation, a CDA, B.S in Child Development with a specialization in Preschool, and currently I am working on my M.S in Early Childhood Studies at Walden University.
Great post. I have a couple of questions. What is the socioeconomic status of the family? What is the specific need of the child?
ReplyDeletePriscilla,
ReplyDeleteAre there any other factors besides behavior? I know that for some children and their families, behavior can be a lot and enough on its own, but behavior can sometimes be linked to or with other things. Was the pregnancy normal? Were there any factors for mom or child from prenatal development to age 3 that could be linked to the aggression? He may need a one on one assistant to help him.
Priscilla,
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your scenario first hand. My youngest son was diagnosed with ADHD in second grade. You are very accurate in your assessment of how many educator misinterpret behavioral challenges, and are not aware that many of them are caused by neurological, or biological disorders such as ADHD. The challenges that my son and my family faced were overwhelming and almost unbearable. It is a very misunderstood disorder. Great scenario. I am looking forward to reading the comprehensive plan that you are developing for this family.