Teaching and learning skills

Course code: EDU 103

Topic: Early Childhood Special Education

BS Applied psychology
Instructor: Faisal Mumtaz Chahal
Department of psychology
Email: drfmc@lgu.edu.pk
 Objectives
At the end of presentation, students will be able to
• Understand early childhood special education,
early intervention and how it works and its
outcomes.
• know about selecting toys for young children.
• Understand screening, assessment and
identification.
Early childhood special
education
 Early childhood special education
It refers to educational and related services
provided to preschoolers ages 3-5.
 Early intervention
Early intervention refers to services provided to
infants and toddlers from birth through age 2.
It consist of comprehensive systems of therapies,
educational, nutritional, child care and family
supports all designed to reduce effects of
disabilities or prevent occurrence of learning and
developmental problems later in life for children.
 Selecting toys for young children
• John Dewey said, “Children learn by doing.” He
might said, “Children learn by playing.” Play
provides children with natural, repeated
opportunities for critical learning.
• If play is the work of childhood, then toys are the
child’s tools.
 Tips for selecting toys for young
children with disabilities

• Multisensory appeal. Does the toy respond with

lights, sounds, or movements? Are there
contrasting colors? Does it have scent?
• Method of activation. Will the toy provide a
challenge without frustration? What force is
required to activate it?
 Tips for selecting toys for young
children with disabilities
• Adjustability. Does the toy have adjustable
height, sound, volume, speed, and level of
difficulty?
• Opportunities for success. Can play be open-
ended with no definite right or wrong way?
• Self-expression. Does the toy allow for creativity
and choice making?
 Tips for selecting toys for young
children with disabilities
• Child’s individual characteristics. Does the toy
provide activities that reflect both developmental
and chronological ages?
• Potential for interaction. Will the child be an
active participant during use?
 Outcomes of early intervention
• to enhance the development of infants and
toddlers with disabilities, to minimize
developmental delay, and to recognize brain
development that occurs during a child’s first 3
years of life.
• to reduce the educational costs to our society,
by minimizing the need for special education
after infants and toddlers with disabilities reach
school age.
 Individualized family services plan
• Idea requires that early intervention services for
infants and toddlers be delivered according to an
individualized family services plan (IFSP)
• Developed by a multidisciplinary team that
includes the child’s parents and other family
members
 Activity

• How can we select toys for young children?

• What is IFSP?
Screening, identification and
assessment
 Screening, identification and
assessment
In early childhood education assessment is
conducted for at least four different purposes:
• Screening:
• Diagnosis:
• Program planning:
• Evaluation:
 Screening tools
• The APGAR scale: the ASPGAR scale measure
the degree of oxygen deprivation of an infant
experienced during child birth.

• Newborn blood test screening.

• Developmental screening test.

 Diagnostic tools
Tests are designed to determine the presence and
extent of development delay usually measure
performance in five major developmental areas
• Motor development
• Cognitive development
• Communication and language development
• Social and emotional development
• Adaptive development
Program planning and evaluation tools

CBA (classroom based assessment) tools enable

early childhood teams to
a. identify a child’s current levels of functioning.
b. Select IFSP goals and objective.
c. Determine the most appropriate intervention.
d. Evaluate the child’s progress.
 Curriculum and instruction in early
childhood special education

Curriculum and program goal:

Programs should be designed and evaluated with
respect to the following outcomes or goals.
• Support families in achieving their own goals.
• Promote maximum child independence and
mastery.
• Promote development in all important domains.
 Curriculum and instruction in early
childhood education
• Build and support social competence.
• Prepare and assist children for typical life
experiences with their families, in schools, and
in their communities.
• Help children and their families with smooth
change.
• Prevent or minimize the development of future
problem and disabilities.
 Developmentally appropriate
practice
• Developmentally appropriate practice is a set of
philosophy and a set of practice guidelines based on
that belief.
• “ DAP is a framework of principle and guidelines that
outline practice that promote children’s optimal
learning and development.
 Developmentally appropriate practice

DAP rests on core principles that is:

• Knowledge must inform decision making.
• Goals must be challenging and achievable.
• Teaching must be intentional to be effective.
 Using puppets in the early childhood
classroom
• Puppets can be effective tools for presenting
activities in class.

• Most young children are pleased by puppets

because of their colors, textures encourage
curiosity mostly among children with
developmental disabilities.
Using puppets during circle time
• circle time is important In preschool day
because it introduce activities and provide time
for review.
• One way to incorporate new concepts and revise
previously learned materials is to add
dimensions and excitement to circle time is by
embedding the actions of variety of puppets into
song, stories and games.
 Using puppets during transition times

• Transition time in preschools classroom can be

chaotic, disruptive or difficult for some young
children.
• A puppet may help the teacher signal transitions
between classroom activities making them
smother and less stressful.
 Using puppets to enhance social and
emotional skills
• Young children mostly have difficulty in
expressing their emotions and interpreting the
feelings of others.
• Puppets make young children well suited to
modeling appropriate emotions.
• Puppets can also help children to match their
own experience with language, teach them to be
an attentive audience.
 Service delivery alternatives for early
intervention
Early intervention services are delivered in a
variety of setting, depending on the age of child
and the type and intensity of support and she and
her family need.
• Hospital based program
• Home based program
• Centered based program
• Families: most important for all
 Service delivery alternatives for early
intervention
• In hospital-based programs, early intervention
services are provided to low-birth-weight and
other high-risk newborns in neonatal intensive
care units (NICUs).
• In home-based programs, a child’s parent act as
primary factors with regular training and guidance
from teacher or specially trained professionals who
visit the home.
 Service delivery alternatives for early
intervention
• In center-based programs, a child comes to
center for instruction, although the parents are
involved. Center program allow a team of
specialists to work with the child and enable the
child to meet and interact with other children.
• Families are the most important people in an
early intervention program. They can act as
supporter in educational planning.
 Service delivery alternatives for early
intervention
• Parents and families are the most
important people in an early invention
program. They can act as advocates ,
participate in educational planning,
observe their children’s behavior, help set
realistic goals, work in the classroom, and
teach their children at home.
 Activity
• What are screening and diagnostic tools?
• Explain how puppets help to enhance child’s
social and emotional skills?
 REFERENCES
• EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN: and introduction to
special education/(by WILLIAM L.HEWARD)