Child development and Early intervention
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Most of the parents have concerns about their child development. Many of them often visit to paediatricians for regular physical and well being check-ups. In our countries due to the lack of awareness, many a time the development screening either does not complete or remains superficial. Moreover the paediatricians are busier in immunization or vaccination. Many a time they miss the developmental delay or forget to refer to early interventionist or developmental paediatrician for further evaluation.
Here as a parent, you should be aware of child’s development and behavioural growth so that you can share your concerns with the professionals and if there are issues then you can intervene earliest.
DEVELOPMENT
All children go through developmental “stages” in various developmental areas like motor, fine motor, cognition, speech and language etc – typical and predictable changes in the areas.
The next stage of development depends on the previous stage and hence they are interrelated.
Every child develops on his own pace.
DEVELOPMENTAL SCREENING
- The checklist which guides the child development with respect to normal population. Experts have developed a list of developmental milestones in all development areas. Most of the time, it is conducted by psychologist, early interventionist or a developmental paediatrician.
- Screening includes interactive session between parents and specialist. This may include a checklist or questionnaire about the family, prenatal, natal or antenatal history. The developmental history includes all developmental areas.
- According to evaluations and results, recommendations are made for further services.
IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENTAL SCREENING
To determine the healthy growth of the child and to monitor the child development.
To detect the developmental issues at earliest and intervene early.
CONTACT
Child’s paediatrician or EARLY INTERVENTIONIST or child psychologist can provide developmental screening.
Posted byNeeti at 11:09 AM 0 comments
Labels: autism, child development, child disability, child education, early intervention, education, knowledge sharing, parenting tips, red flag sign, screening
TV the idiot box...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Most of the times parents of children with language or communication delay complaint or have concern about their children watching television for longer time. Recently a parent approached me and had a concern that child talked very less and whatever he talked was monotonus or like parrot talking. During assessment it was found that both the parents were on full time work and they left the child at home alone. A nanny took care of him and most of the time child was kept in front of cartoon channel and there was very less human communication with child.
Other child of 6 years was indulged in watching a DVD. She had almost memorize the whole DVD and she could repeat the whole DVD without mistake. most of the time, child was preoccupied with the self talking and it was all about the DVD content.
Researches have proven that excess TV watching is associated with delayed language development. Research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers have a critical period for speech and communication development and that needs direct interactions with parents and other significant care givers for healthy brain growth and the development of appropriate social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Children who watched television alone were 8.47 times more likely to have language delay when compared to children who interacted with their caregivers during television viewing. As recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children under the age of 2 should watch no television at all, and after age 2 watch no more than one to two hours of quality programming a day. Therefore, exposing such young children to television programs should be discouraged. Parents should engage children in more conversational activities to avoid television-related delays to their children language development, which could impair their intellectual performance.
Posted byNeeti at 10:01 PM 2 comments
Labels: autism, child disability, child education, children, communication, developmental disability, disability, early intervention, education, Learning disability, parenting tips, speech therapy
Taare Zameen Par...
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Most of us here must have seen Taare Zameen Par, a story of a dyslexic child and an art teacher. If the art teacher role played by Aamir Khan, would have not realised the problem of dyslexia in his student, the child would have never done something special and hence, accepted by the society. The teacher has recognised the child so well and soon not because, he was teacher, but because he himself claims that he was dyslexic too. That’s all about a movie which always has to have a happy ending and that’s why called as a beginning. But like this special need child, there are thousands of children who are having some or other (personal/family) issues that continuously bother them. However, we can understand the problem better if we have been anytime in our life, have came across with it.
The regular school teachers should know or understand a little about the early sign or so called ‘Red Flag Sign’ of conditions like Autism, Dyslexia and other learning disabilities and Mental Retardation especially the borderline cases or mild to moderate cases. It is not to blame teachers, but I think it is the system that has always trained them for the regular students only.
In our country given the paucity of trained resources in the rehabilitation field, it is impractical to think replicating developed world model of health care. So, we need to develop resources locally, which can be available by training and developing skills to enhance care level. Empowering teachers, educate them with the basic child development and psychology can help in identifying the problem areas earliest. Any ignorance or lack of knowledge can aggravate the problem. In
Conditions like ASD (Autism spectrum Disorder), learning Disability, ADHD (Attention Deficit hyperactivity Disorder), mild/ moderate Mental Retardation; Family issues etc generally don’t attract attention early as the child grows physically normally. However, to handle the special need children the school may need the special staff if the child gets into inclusive education. Besides, family the teachers are the care takers and are considered to be the builder of a person. So, if the teachers are aware and educated about the above problems, they can help them by referring earliest. Hence, the child can get the benefits of Early Intervention. However most of teachers might feel uncomfortable to handle special needs children as they require more attention and effort.
Teachers can play an important role because:
Ø The parents think always optimistically and not ready to accept the problem or can easily be misguided by the surroundings. So, teachers should always be alert to notice the signs and then refer to further assessment and evaluation.
Ø Now days most parents are working so, they have little time to spare with their children. Maximum time of the children goes in their Pre schools with primary teachers. So, teachers need to be more prompt to realise the problems.
Ø Since, every parent wants their child to get proper education so they send them to the best schools as per their affordability. So, if teachers are aware that something is different with the child, they can inform parents and ask them to take professionals help.
The child development is flexible and its potential may vary with the environment. Every child is different and hence, special. The distribution curve shows that most children resemble with the average in many traits, but there are few children who deviate from the generally accepted norms in any one of many ways. These deviations may give rise to multifactorial problems of adjustment at home, school and social setting and thus, leads to addition of problems in deviation. Deviation can be in terms of physical, social, emotional and mental characteristics.
According to PWD ACT 1995, the differently abled children are to be integrated in regular school. Integration in regular school promotes personal, emotional and physical adjustment to establish healthy interpersonal relationship.
As very well said for teachers, "I touch the future. I teach." (Christa McAuliffe)
Teachers are one who polishes the child to diamond; otherwise no body can recognise the capacity of child. If the teachers are cooperative and encouraging, the slow learners and mild to moderate MR can learn in control and stimulated environment. However, the teachers have to bear the extra load of arranging the different curriculum and have to be creative. For these special need children, the teacher has to play a role of designer, instructor, motivator and trainer.
Posted byNeeti at 10:52 PM 4 comments
Labels: advocacy, autism, awareness, child education, early intervention, Experiences, guidance, inclusion, information sharing, Learning disability, tips
Looking for adopting a slum/unpriviliged govt school
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Sakshum team recently thought to find ways to reach to a wider community and benefit it.
Posted byUnknown at 5:31 PM 3 comments
Labels: child education, education
One year of smiles!!!
Monday, June 15, 2009
The information can be found at this link. All these children passed with good marks and we decided to continue to support them for this new academic session as well.
This year we are planning to sponsor one more children and will soon update on that.
Please reply us at info at sakshum dot com or look at contact us page at www.sakshum.com if you want to contribute for this program by paying the educational expenses of one or more children fully or some part.
Posted byUnknown at 6:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: celebrations, child education
