ECSE 340 Final Reflection

This has been one of my favorite classes I have taken in my college career, it had moments when it seemed very overwhelming, but it was eye-opening. Working with our infant and his mother was such a cool experience and really had me thinking at all times, I loved trying new methods and activities to encourage our infant to progress towards his goals. I really enjoyed the challenge of mentally breaking down the different elements needed in each of the domains and trying to guide the mother and infant in the activity to overcome that week’s challenge. I am so grateful for this experience and it has made me think more about early intervention and a chance to go down that avenue in my professional career. 

ECSE 340 Week 9

This week was a great intervention, I love going into the home and working with the mother and baby. It is such a neat experience to watch the baby develop and especially with babies they are constantly changing. This week I was focused on his ability to stand up from the ground independently. Our focus was to have him put toys away into a bucket that was not anchored by furniture. This will help him see the importance of standing up from sitting on the ground.

There was another baby and mother there this week and it really was distracting to the baby we are working with. Also there were a lot of toys out, even as we put them away he was not having it for a while. But at the end we got him to participate in the activity.

A question that the mother has is when should she be worried that her son is not talking, what mild stone should he be at right now at 15 months?

"We may encounter many defeats, but we will not be defeated." -Maya Andelou

ECSE 421 Week 9

This week in class we discussed the last project for a majority of the time. I am ready to get into it and finish it, this semester has been flying by and I am ready to finish. We also talked discussed how the gospel relates to this class. I am so grateful that I have the gospel, especially when I am dealing with grief both my own and consoling others. I will never understand fully why we go through what we do, but I do know that we can get through it.

With my Higher Wider Deeper I was able to conduct my expert interview with a Speech Pathologist that graduated in the last ten years and is now working in an elementary school. She was able to give me new perspective into what were the different elements of getting into graduate school and which programs demand what of you. She talked about why she did not stay at BYU from undergraduate to graduate and how some programs are more paper based and others can be more practically based and she chose to be a part of the latter. This has given me a few more ideas on what to present to the class.

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." -E. Roosevelt

ECSE 340

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This week was good, it was a little crazy. Our goal for our infant was to help him to walk. But the day before we came he started walking, and he was getting really good! Which is super exciting, but I did have to go to my Too-Easy activity. Which was good, but not as well thought through as my other activity. 

Luckily, the mother and the baby are great. They are very patient during our time. I had an activity where he was to kick a ball while he was walking either using the furniture or on his own. It probably was a little too hard for him to do that when he just first was starting to walk. 

The concerns the mother has right now is helping him to start feeding himself. Using utensils and different sippy cups. He has been really been dependent on being fed many different foods. So different activities to help him, or sippy cup ideas. 

ECSE 421 Week 8

This week as we were presenting and grading the Family Project, I am relieved that it is done! Grades are in I am satisfied and ready to get into the ending information. As we have discussed our different families and their struggles. I have really been anxious about helping these families, I want to be ready to help in anyway possible. 

In my higher wider deeper, I have been trying to focus on a few schools to really research and decide to learn about. I have been looking through which of the schools are highly recommended or known for their programs. At this moment of time, I have been looking at the University of Utah. It has the 13th best speech program in the United States. 

ECSE 340 Week 7

This week was our first full intervention with our infant. My partner and I were working on two domains one being gross motor and the other is communication. Our infant is almost 15 months old and he is not walking or standing independently for more than a few seconds. He is also communicating very little, he sometimes babbles but it is very inconsistent.

I felt extremely good with our intervention, my partner and I work extremely well together. We were able to transition between the different activities smoothly and gave the mother encouragement and new ideas to try with her infant. It feels very natural to come in and be with the mother and the baby at this point. She voices concerns and we give ideas to help her.

The activities we did this week promoted labeling objects to help the child recognize and eventually say the names of certain items. And it promoted standing independently for a period of time. The infant was very invested in both activities and the mother is excited to continue to work on them.

I just want to know of more activities that help boost an infants desire to walk. That is the biggest issue that we have encountered.

ECSE 421 Week 7

This week was all doing the Family Project with my group. We have been completing part C and now part D in preparation to presenting on Wednesday. Part C has been the hardest part, but it also has been the most interesting. How parents have to scour to find these different resources they need, and often times they just see something that is hard for the child or the family. But they do not know what they need to do or what resources are available. It has really opened my eyes to what they have to go through and how little the know about the symptoms. 

With my Higher Wider Deeper project, I went to the career fair to talk to the BYU representative about the Speech Program there. We just talked about the timeline of when I would come down and start the prerequisites for the program and when I would be able to apply to the Master's Program. 

ECSE 340 Week 6

This week participating in the baseline visit was interesting, as we are assessing the child and his abilities. We are working on his gross motor and communication skills. And while we were assessing his gross motor, I see that he was able to do everything we were testing for. And the real issue is he just does not see a need. Which is for me seems to be the hardest part of development it can be.

As we were learning about the DAP project I was super excited. That we are going to really going to have to think this through to figure what we could do and continuous have him do to help him progress. It is neat to think how much a part of their life you are going to be as an interventionist.

Week 6

     Learning about Mental Health and the impact on family hurt, this is the one I have been impacted the most on. Losing someone to mental health struggles is full of sadness, guilt and for many Mormon families as well confusing and almost hopeless. That mother was talking about how she can just imagine herself being in the shoes of those mothers of the shooters. It made me sick, having someone in your life that you love so much that is that unstable. It is just sick, and it makes you want to just give up. It is seemingly impossible to know how to help someone with severe depression, often you find them distancing themselves from you and it hurts. But after talking about it, as a class it does help a lot to know how I can better start to understand and help the individuals and the families.

     With my Higher Wider Deeper project I am focusing on, just how long it will take me to get into the program. Planning out your life almost never works your favor it is nice to dream. With 4 more semesters here for my ECSE degree, then starting the pre requisites in Winter 2020, that means I need to be applied to it by the end of Spring 2020. There are only 2/4 of the schools that would let me start in the winter. So it most likely would start for me Fall of ’22.

ECSE 340

When we were learning how to read and assess the Ages and Stages Assessments. When I was giving the test last week I was able to see how these little prompts align with their development. As I have started planning for his lower domains of development. I am nervous about finding activities that are going to help him progress. I don't know how I am going to help the parents plan activities that are going to flow into the parents routine. 

My questions are how do you decide what he needs to work on? Like if he can't crawl, how do you find out that he needs more core strength or something?

ECSE 421 Week 5

This week we were learning about how having someone with a disability effects the rest of the family. We focused on the father relationship, and fathers in education. How there is the expectation that education and caring for children is singularly the mothers job. That we plan meetings and appointments for times when working parents are in the office, making it harder for a father to be part of his child's education. 

This has just made me aware that we have to really plan to have the parents work together as a team if they have a basic nuclear family. And to help the parents see that it is both of their jobs. 

In researching for my Higher Wider Deeper project I have been trying to see what pre-requisits I would have to take before applying to the Master's Program. And for my first choice school the University of Utah there are 25 other credits you need to take. That would take a year of schooling post-under graduate. 

CSD 2200: Physics of Speech and Hearing CSD 2201: Physics of Speech & Hearing- Lab CSD 3100: Phonetics CSD 3120: Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech CSD 4400: Language Science and Hearing Mechanism CSD 4500: Introduction to Audiology CSD 5380: Speech & Language Development CSD 5520: Aural Rehabilitation 

ECSE 340 Week 4

This week as we were learning how to write an intervention plan in class, I was extremely overwhelmed. Even just writing the goal, I did not know how I was going to do it. Then we went into our infants home and administered the Ages and Stages test, and not only did it begin to make more sense. But I was able to see it come together, as we talked about and witnessed the babies skills. Now this doesn't seem as daunting and the motivation is starting to really kick in. 

My question is how do I know if the baby is ready to move onto the next skill or not?

ECSE Week 4

This week we learned about a few really useful things. Learning more about the crisis cycle and how different people go through it. As we were talking about it, I immediately started thinking of myself and what my triggers were and how I respond. This has also helped me see others and how they deal with things, and how to help them and not hinder them. I think that this should be explained more wide-spread to help people through there normal crisis. 

I was talking to a speech therapist about a program that is about to open at home in Las Vegas. That they are offering part time master's programs to teachers who exclusively work in the school now. And that the full-time starts in just a few months for their inaugural class. 

ECSE 340 Week 3

We discussed a lot about how we are to effectively use the Ages and Stages test on our infants. We were learning about how to do this test, and to choose the proper domains to work on to help the child be developmentally on par to where they need to be age wise. We talked just about how to get the family involved and how to talk to the parents about the test and to make them feel secure in their parenting. 

How do you breakdown what part of the domain that they need? 

ECSE 421 Week 3

 This week we were talking about the Family System Theory. Which has been really eye opening for me, so the idea is that if you want to be a support in the family you have to keep in mind the entire family. As an interventionist, you often think that you are singularly focusing on the child, but in reality you need the entire family on your side to make any progress.

We discussed elements and relationships in the home that effect the child. Different ways people act, and how families make decisions. You need to understand this to be effective, your family shapes so much of who you are, especially if you add someone with a disability into the mix.

ADA Blog-post 1/23/29

This last week I was given the opportunity to understand mental disabilities a little more. I was told I could only eat foods that were brown and yellow. I thought this assignment would have been so easy, it actually was not. I struggled to remember the entire day, but also to explain to others why I could not eat something I normally would love. 

My day started out normal, with a protein shake and a banana. I tried to do everything I could to make it as normal as possible. But it was absolutely not the purpose of this, and it was impossible to do that. From the beginning it was impossible.

When it comes to someone with a mental or physical disability it is not possible to make it completely normal. When I was with my friends having lunch that is when I really felt it. People would offer me a snack or something and I almost forgot. I had it in my hand, and I had to go no I can’t. Its not brown or yellow. Which is an oddity.

When you have a mental disability, especially people who have Autism it makes every social situation harder. As I continued through the day I started thinking okay, what do I have that I can eat. And it was not easy to think of things, even for just one day. It made me think how hard it must be for the parent to think of eating options for that child. It makes it really hard to have them eat nourishing foods. There are only few fruits and vegetables that are either brown or yellow.

Many times, that means that they make and entirely different meal for that child. Especially in homes with multiple children. It makes it hard for parents both in private and in public. Sometimes it can be embarrassing for parents in public situations. When children refuse to eat food that is offered for them. Or when you are grocery shopping you have to literally look for certain colors.

            These different opportunities I have had through various classes to try to understand the smallest bit of what this child must go through every day. Whether or not they notice it personally or not has been eye-opening. For the different people that are in these children’s lives. It also shows me that there is no reason to feel weird about what your children eat, do and want.

            We have to realize as a community that there is no wrong way to do things. You have things that you prefer, and you will have different ideas on how to parent and how to address things. We should not be embarrassed about little things.

ECSE 340 Week 2

This week we were learning about how to include the parents into the intervention process. And in class a bit about how we identify what is holding the child back from developing timely. One of the main things we talked about coaching the parent to intervene during different routines. Like for example if a  is struggling with head strength you could give the parents different things they can do throughout the day. I think it is so important to remember who is really going to change the baby's path to being on par. 

I am very interested in the test that we are going to identify what the child is behind in. I want to know more about the test and how it works?

ECSE Week 2

This week as we discussed the differences between IEPS, 504s and IFSPs I was able to see the different laws and how they came into play for our disabled community in America. Laws to protect individuals that are disabled are not very old we see that the 70s there were huge pushes for equal rights for these individuals. Creating the 504s, that protect individuals not only in their growing years but in higher education and the work field.

As we were reading, watching videos about and discussing these different documents I was able to learn so much about what they are. But I would love to see a mock-up version of these documents to help me understand how these different properties are used together. 

I did love to see the videos about individuals that were actually struggling with these laws. Especially to see the video of the sit in in the 70s helped further open my eyes about what they had to do to change the system. 

I feel roughly ready, I could figure things out. But again I want to see someone write an IEP/504/ISFP to understand how you would make it individualized for these people. 

I have a great group of girls that I work with and I feel like we are on the same page, I was able to help them think of more possible accommodations that could be used. When I worked for a Resource Team at a school, I do have some exposure to these elements. 

ECSE 340 Week 1

Intervention is done in many different settings, but the most essential place is in the home. This is where children and specifically infants spend the majority of their time. Through intervention with professionals are repetition with guardians we can see children progress whether they are developing properly or not. There are government sanctioned corporations in every state in the United States that is over children 0-3 years old and their development. When children are recommended by doctors or other professionals, these programs step into to help these parents use personalized interventions in their homes. 

Questions: How do you create a family intervention plan, for the parents to implement when the specialist leave? What programs are funded in Idaho, and who funds them?

Week 1

            I have had quite a bit of experience with working with families. I have worked in an elementary school as a paraprofessional, more specifically with the Resource Students. Working with these families can be extremely rewarding, but also can become difficult because you do meet more often than other teachers work and meet with their families. It is important to be a teacher first in all parent relationships, this helps shutdown inappropriate conversations and other altercations. I do not know as much to do with the community, but I do know it is important to know what you community has to offer to assist these families. Working with special needs students you will have a lot of opportunities to work with different professionals and help facilitate services to families.

            This semester I want to know what is appropriate to parents, how am I to kindly encourage them to help their children receive their needed services? What is a case manager or special needs teacher’s role in getting these children services in and outside of the school setting? I want to better understand the different kind of services that are available, and lastly and most importantly. How do I help these parents cope, what is appropriate?