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Family observation, interview, and reflection

Miriam Sanchez

University of Massachusetts Global

ECED 301: Effective Supports for Children with Exceptional Needs and Their Families

Dr. Alise Paillard

November 21, 2021

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Step 1: Identify a target child:

Mylah

Step 2: Written Report on the observation

The child I chose for this observation is Mylah. She is 17 months old whose development

is physically delayed and has Duane syndrome. Mylah attended the child center at age 11 months

and a half. She could not crawl, only sit. Around 13 months she began to crawl and at 16 months

she started to take steps. She has a physical therapist that comes once a week. She was diagnosed

to have Duane syndrome as a newborn.

Running record

A picture of the running record will be attached

Step 3 – Interview your target child’s parent or guardian

I interviewed Mylah’s mother

1. What do you want your child’s teacher, and people in general, to know about your

son/daughter (you may need to help the parent elaborate)

The mother wanted her daughter’s teacher and other people to know that her daughter has

Duane syndrome and her development is slow so to be patient with her.

2. What do you want for your son/daughter’s future? (Hopes and dreams)

She wants her daughter to live a normal life.

3. Tell me about your experiences early on when you or someone else was concerned
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about your child’s development? What was the concern and who had it? What did you

do about it?

She said that her concerns were a lot, she was worried that she might be able to do a lot

of things.

4. How did your son/daughter eventually get diagnosed and become eligible for Early

Intervention Services (EI) or early childhood special education (ECSE) services? What did the

process feel like for you?

“At 2 months her eyes would roll back to the point where it would show all white. The

doctor said it was not normal so they sent her to get seen at the children’s hospital. The process

felt overwhelming”. She was also not not reaching developmental milestones for her age.

5. Describe your feelings about your child’s most recent IFSP/IEP meeting? Did you feel

fully included? What would you have liked done differently?

Her feelings were happy and grateful. She said that the therapy has made her daughter

progress a lot. She’s very happy that Mylah is doing things she thought she couldn’t do. Also that

her eyes don’t roll as much or get lazy.

6. How were your child’s goals developed and were you included in that process?

She felt included in the process. She said that the therapy is helping a lot with her

daughters’ hands and walking. She felt connected since there was always communication with

the therapist.
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7. How were you included in the conversation on how to best help your child meet those

goals at home?

She felt included in the conversation. She took notes to help meet those goals at home.

The feedback from the hospital was also helpful.

8. What services is your son/daughter is currently receiving? Are you satisfied with them?

Why or why not?

Her daughter is currently receiving communication therapy, physical development

therapy, and occupational therapy. She is very satisfied with the services since she sees

progression.

9. In what ways has your child’s disability impacted you? Your family?

She said that it didn’t really impact her or her family. She’s “different but not for us”. It

just taught them to be patient with her.

10. Speaking generally, what do you feel is important for new teachers to know about

families going through the process of eligibility or who have children with disabilities?

She feels is important for new teachers to know what the child’s disabilities are. Her

advice was to “love them and be patient”.

Step 4 – Reflect on the observation and interview

● What is the impact of the child’s disability on the family

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The impact of the child’s disability on the family is that it taught them to be patient. They

became more accepting and do not see her any different than others. They treat Mylah the same

as their other children. They developed a deeper faith since they saw how Mylah’s has been

doing things they thought she wouldn’t be able to do. According to the text, parents who are

involved no matter what their background is, the child is motr likely to improve and do better.

● How does the family adapt to accommodate for the needs of the child?

The way that the family adapts to accommodate the needs of the child is having

specialists for Mylah. Mylah is currently recieving communication therapy, physical

development therapy, and occupational therapy.

● How do the adult/child interactions support the child’s development?

The adult interactions support the child’s development by understanding her disability

and be able to accomondate her needs. They do not treat her any different than others. Her

teacher communicates with her and encourages her to do some movements. “That’s a maraca,

shake, shake, shake”. The teacher is very supportive; “Want me to help you walk?”, she holds

her hand and walks her to the carpet. Her teachers would always interact and play with her. One

thing I noticed is that Mylah loves playing peek-a-boo with her teachers, the 3 days I observed

her she will always play peek-a-boo. In the text, Allen and Cowdery suggest that having the

parents support their child involvement in school is a great strategy for addressing the

achievement gap. The children interactions also supports the child’s development because she

observes them. All her friends in her classroom walks, so she’s encouraged to walk. She will fall

a couple times but she would get up right away.

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● How does the child’s home environment (physical) support their overall development?

What did you learn about the families’ interactions with the early intervention or early

childhood special education services?

The child’s home environment support her development. Her family would interact with

her and encourage her to walk. I learned that the familie’s interactions with the services are very

helpful and communicative. They are very good at communicating and the mother would take

notes on how to help with her child’s development.

● What was the families experience throughout the initial identification process? Is this best

practice? Why or why not?

It was an overwhelming experience in the identification process for the families. Which is

normal for parents to feel like that, Allan and Cowdery says. At 2 months she was diagnosed

with duane syndrom and they also realized that her physical development was delayed. I

understand that this was an overwhelming experience of the process because they just want the

best for the child. They want her to “live a normal life” (Mother).

● To what degree did the family participate in the IFSP or IEP meetings? Is this

recommended practice? Why or why not?

The familys were included in the IFSP meeting. They would communicate with them and

give feedback on the child’s progression and ways they can help at home. This is a good practice

because they get to help the child at home.

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● To what degree is the family involved in the child’s intervention plan? (have they been

instructed on how to work with the child on their IFSP or IEP goals?) How does this

compare to recommended practices?

The family gets involved by communicating. They receive feedback of the process and

suggest ways to improve the child’s development at home and to meet their goals.

● Describe, in your own words, what it means to embed a goal. Use your text and other

class materials to support your response.

What it means to embed a goal is to create and meet a goal throughout the day. For

example, a goal for Mylah would be to use gross motor skills. She can walk from one area to

another. In order for her to meet the goal there needs to be adaptation in the classroom. The

classroom has clearly defined places (Allen & Cowdery). This will allow her to be able to

identify the areas in the classroom and be able to walk clearly through the classroom.

If the child has an IFSP or an IEP

● Describe, in your own words, what accommodation is. Use your text and other class

materials to support your response.

Accommodations is a type of support, an arrangement to help children with disabilities

feel included and to be able to do things in a way they can. An example mentioned in the text is

that some children with ADD may need accommodations suchs as extra time to complete their

work.

● Give examples of how the family embedded any goals. Make a statement if they

did not.

The family did not mentioned any embedded goals.

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● Recommend ways that the family can embed one of the child’s goals multiple times

across the day.

A recommended way that the family can embed one of the child’s goals multiple times across the

day would be to have functional gross motor skills.

● In the morning have Mylah get down from her bed.

● Have Mylah walk from one place to another

● Have Mylah go down and up the stairs.

• Describe environmental arrangement in your own words. Use your text and other class

materials to support your response. Describe any environmental arrangements that you observed.

What environmental arrangements would you recommend to the parents to make at home that

would encourage progress towards 1 of the child’s IFSP or IEP goals of a skill if the child has a

504 plan. This should be a different goal than the one used above.

Environmental arrangement is any arrangements made in the home to help accommodate

the child. Due to covid, I did not observe in their home environment but I did observe in the

classroom. An environmental arrangement I would recommend to the parents to make at home to

encourgage the progress towards one of the child’s goal is to have Mylah use fine motor

manipulation. Mom can put toys in a container with a lid so that Mylah can try to remove the lid

to get the toys out.

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4. Overall Impression (no citations required for this section. Each bullet point should be a full

paragraph)

• Generally speaking, what did you learn about families (in general) as a result of doing this

assignment? Is this information important for early childhood educators? Why or why not?

In general, what I learned about families as a result of doing this assignment is everyone

has goals and wants best for their children. People go through things and hope for the best. This

information is important for early child hood educators because theyy are their second

caregivers. They can impact the child’s life. Getting to know the family and their desires and

goals is important so you can help satisfy their needs and help their children succeed.

• Learning what you learned from the assignment and chapters to date, what would you do

differently as an early childhood educator that you might not have done before?

What I would do differently as an early childhood educator that I have not done before

would be to get to know my student’s family better and ask for their goals. I want to be able to

meet the child’s goals so I can help improve their development. I want was is best for them. To

make sure they are receiving the needs they need in order to progress in life. I learned that

inclusion is really important especially for those with disabilities. They deserve to be treated the

same and have the same opportunities like for those without disabilities. Like I mentioned in my

weeks 3 discussion post, what I have been learning in this class has validated my current

attitudes towards inclusion. “All children should be accepted and respected regardless of their

circumstances... With accommodations, they should be getting the same education and

opportunities as their peers”. Now that I have a better understanding of inclusion, I will do better

to include everyone equally.

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References

Allen, K. Eileen & Glynnis E. Cowdery. (2015). The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early

Childhood Education. Cengage.