Rayans Hearing Impairment - Essay Example

Case Study Rayan is three years old and has just moved into a new consisting of 25 three to five year olds. She has been diagnosed with a disability, i.e., hearing impairment and she has to be assisted in developing higher levels of interaction with her peers to bring about inclusion. An FM receiver is already being used and this appears to have been helpful. Her mother does not speak English very well and requires the services of an interpreter during intervention sessions. Since Rayan is from a non-English speaking culture, it appears quite likely she would need assistance in terms of language. She has already been availing the benefits of a bi-cultural worker and this may have helped her to some extent because she is already on the way to inclusion in early childhood(Grisham brown et al, 2005). Rayan’s teacher in the baby class has provided some important information about her habits. Firstly, she appears to share a good relationship with her father because she enjoys gardening with him during the weekends. Secondly, the teacher also informs that she likes playing with dolls and smiles at other children but does not actively play with them. Both of Rayan’s parents want their child to be more actively involved with her peers and to interact with them. Relevant issues which may need to be taken into account in terms of preparing an effective plan of action would be the Disability Standards of 2005, which have mandated that all students must be accorded more or less the same treatment and have equal access to educational facilities and learning. Since Rayan is hearing impaired, she has a disability and as a result, applying the provisions of the Disability Standards may require some adjustments to be made, such that Rayan can be treated on par with the other non disabled students she is in class with. It may be necessary to consider how best Rayan’s hearing impairment can be tackled and compensated for so that she does not miss out on any of the learning activities. In order to achieve higher levels of participation from the child, it may be vital to ensure that measures are put into place to deal with the hearing impairment, so that conditions are created which will facilitate interaction between Rayan and the other children. While the FM receiver has been used in the baby classes and Rayan has also enjoyed the support of a bi-cultural worker, this does not appear to have translated into higher levels of social interaction. The major objective that needs to be achieved in Rayan’s case is to ensure inclusion, so that her levels of interaction with other students improve. On the basis of the above, it is important to note that the teacher of the baby class has reported that Rayan does smile at the other children, thereby suggesting that Rayan may not necessarily lack the will to reach out to her peers and be friendly with them. What is holding her back? One of the factors could be her disability; since she is unable to hear what the others are sasying to her, she is unable to respond or communicate effectively. Secondly, based upon observation of the fact that her mother also does not speak English well and needs the services of an interpreter, the lack of fluency in English could also be one of the barriers hindering Rayan’s effective participation. It may thus be necessary for the team to take the following factors into account in designing an effective inclusion plan for the child. (a) Does Rayan need the services of additional personnel apart from the bicultural worker? (b) Can Rayan’s performance in school and in her interactions be improved by providing her additional specialized help by using a teaching assistant? (c) Does Rayan’s level of deafness need to be assessed by an expert, so that the efficacy of lip reading can be assessed in Rayan’s case? (d) How can the classroom environment be improved to take Rayan’s disability into account and provide her equal access to learning and to educational materials? (e) What measures can be taken to improve Rayan’s fluency in English, so that she is encouraged to reach out to other children? (f) What teacher strategies could be appropriate in Rayan’s case, to improve her performance? (g) How can the classroom environment, teacher strategy and school support be drawn upon and structured to achieve the goal of inclusion for Rayan? These are some of the critical aspects that will have an impact on inclusion for Rayan. The inclusion plan must therefore attempt to arrest Rayan’s potential exclusion and draw her into the mainstream, so that she can develop on a level; footing with her peers. As Johnston and Dixon have stated, bringing about favourable outcomes would require that early childhood workers intervene by identifying needs “as early as we can....to do this, those additional needs must be identified by those who have contact with infants and young children within their family and community.” (Johnson and Dixon,2005:4). The aspects detailed above, discussed at the meeting on Rayan’s case, in order to arrive at an effective inclusion Plan, is detailed further below. Part B: INCLUSION PLAN FOR RAYAN Surname: First Name: Rayan D.O.B. Age: 3 Centre Prepared by Inclusion Plan Start Date: ASAP Inclusion Plan Finish Date: In One year Latest Review on: Three days before the expiry of the one year period Important Information: (Medical, health and safety issues – health plan attached where applicable) Safety Issues to be applied in Rayan’s case would be similar to those applied to other children. Greater care would need to be taken through extra vigilant observation by teachers and school workers and teaching assistants, to ensure that Rayan is not discriminated against by the other children and that her handicap does not become a tool for other children to exclude her. Regular ear checkups may need to be included as a part of periodic health assessments; the child could potentially require a hearing aid to be used if it is deemed necessary. The FM receiver currently being used will need to be assessed periodically for its efficacy and supplemented, as and when necessary. Team Around the Child Role Identify Case Manager by* Name (Tick if present at IFSP meeting) Involvement Signatures confirm this is a true and accurate record of team decisions Contact Phone: Email (optional): Class Teacher Yes Discussed the costs that would accrue to the school in introducing special adjustments in Rayan’s case ? Parent/Guardian/s Yes Insistent that Rayan needs assistance as determined through an expert assessment ? Notes: 1. Rayan has a hearing impairment, therefore the Disability Standards of 2005 will apply; the school will need to make reasonable adjustments to ensure inclusion of the child into education on a basis more or less similar to the other students. 2. An expert assessment may need to be made to determine Rayan’s specific needs; however as per Section 10.2 of the Disability Standards, the school will not be held liable if it fails to make adjustments on the grounds that it would cause unreasonable financial hardship for the school. 3. The extent of Rayan’s disability needs to be identified, i.e, is it very severe or mild? If residual hearing is very low, then British Sign Language or its equivalent may need to be used with the child. 4. An interpreter who uses sign language, or a Special Needs Teaching Assistant may need to work with the student in interpreting the teacher’s instructions, lessons and exercises. 5. Rayan’s performance in class might also be affected by her hearing impairment; for instance auditory memory will be less useful, vocabulary assimilation may be poor and reading fluency might be affected by the lack of inner voice – the condition being produced by the silence in Rayan’s external environment due to her deafness. Family Context Family Context Rayan is the older sibling of two children. She enjoys gardening on weekends with her Dad and travels to the intervention sessions with her mother. She does not speak much and her mother speaks very little English as well, needing an interpreter during intervention sessions. She appears to share a close relationship with her father and her communication patterns in school appear to suggest that her disability may be an active barrier in her communication with family and her classmates as well. Family’s Priorities for their Child - Statement of Aspirations - Vision for Rayan’s future The family is very keen for Rayan to be more involved with her peers; to communicate with them more and also to play with other children during her free time. Target Skill for Child: Fostering inclusion in order to improve child’s interactions with her peers by overcoming Rayan’s hearing impairment. Rationale: Dealing with Rayan’s hearing impairment is the most important issue in question and determining the nature and extent of adjustments which have to be made is primary in importance. The reason is that being able to hear through an intermediary would help Rayan to understand what other children are saying to her and also to communicate her own thoughts and ideas. The child’s communication skills need to be improved in order to escalate the levels of interaction with other students and enable her to be included with the others. To achieve this objective, adjustments to accommodate her hearing impairment would be vital. Surname: First Name: EQ#: Key Strategies for Goal Achievement Critical qualities of the EC environment for learning: The early childhood environment is critical in ensuring effective learning, because the nature and extent of the learning will determine the course of future learning. An early foundation is very beneficial in enhancing and promoting learning. As Schwartz has stated, “a primary goal of early childhood special education is to attempt to change children’s development trajectories by intervening early with specialized instruction.” (Schwarz, 2001:3). Ensuring inclusion for Rayan in these early childhood years could be invaluable in ensuring her progress (GrishamBrown, 2005). The following are the critical elements that must be present in the environment: 1. Conceptual framework: At the outset, the school must have a conceptual framework of ideas in place that includes elements such as respect for diversity. Quality of teaching, communication between parents and teachers and provision of adjustments in the school environment for disabled students would all be a part of creation of an effective learning environment. The requirement is: effective communication between Rayabn’s parents, teachers and assistants. 2. Infrastructure, planning and policy development: In order to ensure that the diversity requirements are satisfied, the learning environment must be such that reasonable adjustments can be made through the provision of appropriate devices to compensate for the disabilities of students and ensure that they can achieve learning more or less at the same pace as their peers. The requirement is: provision of hearing aids, or the services of a teaching assistant or deaf instructor. 3. Financing: This is yet another important aspect, because the lack of finance functions as a significant limitation in promoting the objectives of inclusion; i.e, disabled students may need additional aids and enhancements which are expensive, such as hearing aids, Braille computers, and similar devices. 4. Human resources: The human resources includes teaching assistants who are able to work individually with those students who have special needs and other similar facilities, i.e, SEN teaching assistants who would work with the disabled child in the normal classroom and interpret the teacher’s communications. Alternatively, additional human resource needs could also include special teachers for the deaf children or the blind children, or the mentally challenged children. 5. Data, research and evaluation: The achievement of successful learning outcomes in the case of disabled children would depend to a considerable extent upon effective record keeping and reporting, hence the requirement is: developing a file where Rayan’s progress is meticulously recorded. 6. Individual learning Plan: The early childhood environment is especially critical in the case of disabled children; developing an individual learning plan that is specifically tailored to the student’s needs is vital to ensure the goals of inclusion and ensure that the disabled child is able to gain equal access to learning and be able to benefit from it on par with non disabled students. The major objective of the above environment should be to promote inclusion for Rayan and as Brown and Conroy (2001) have suggested, using educational support workers and structuring the environment to accommodate Rayan’s disability could ensure that Rayan’s peer interactions are improved. Child’s Competencies, Strengths, Interests Impact of Disability on Learning (across development and curriculum - social, self-management, communication skills) Implications for Learning - including Adaptations and Modifications to access to curriculum (environment, routines and activities). The objective/goal: to ensure inclusion for Rayan by promoting interaction with her peers. Inclusion would mean that Rayan would have equal access to learning on par with other students. 1. Rayan is hearing impaired but may not be completely deaf. Hearing impairment is not as severe as complete deafness, because Rayan would benefit from teacher strategies such as speaking clearly to allow Rayan to lip read, using facial expressions and gestures for communication with other students. Rayan’s impairment of hearing is likely to have an effect on her learning outcomes, causing an impairment in the processing of linguistic information through hearing. An expert assessment would reveal the extent of her hearing loss, because being deaf would mean that Rayan needs to work with a teacher for the deaf on a regular basis, because her educational performance would be adversely affected otherwise. 2. Rayan tends to smile at the other children, indicating that she potentially has latent social skills which could be tapped if proper measures are instituted. Her failure to speak and communicate with them often may also be caused by her lack of English fluency. The development of social skills and higher levels of interaction could be invaluable for Rayan, because it would dispel any feelings of isolation or exclusion and put her in a better state of mind to benefit from in the external learning. It would also improve her learning tremendously, because she would be exposed to many more visual stimuli in the external environment, her understanding of which would be enhanced through the facility of communication using an interpreter. 3. The child enjoys gardening with her father on the weekends. Rayan’s enjoyment of gardening indicates that she enjoys outdoor activities with someone she loves and she feels at ease under such conditions. This could be replicated in the school environment, by allowing Rayan to feel the same sense of security with an educational support worker who supports her and is with her during play time leisure activities, which could include playing in the sand pit. 4. Rayan’s mother does not appear to speak much English and needs an interpreter during the intervention sessions. In a similar way, Rayan also smiles at the other children but does not communicate much. The lack of knowledge of the English language could be a barrier in this instance, preventing Rayan from reaching out to other children to say hello and communicate. If Rayan’s knowledge and understanding of English could be improved with the help of an ESW through the preparation of an individualized learning plan, it might help Rayan overcome the barriers to communication. Surname: First Name: EQ#: Teaching Plan Team Responsibilities Evaluation Observable Outcome or objective Must be SMART Embedded Learning Opportunities available to achieve this objective Explicit Child Directed Instructions to support learning Who, What, When Monitoring and evaluation strategy Ensuring the goals of inclusion, i.e, that Rayan is not left out by providing a friendly external environment with greater intensity of visual stimuli to compensate for Rayan’s lack of auditory stimuli Provide an external environment that is conducive to Rayan feeling included and accepted, so that her learning is facilitated. Provide more pictures on the classroom notice board, for example two named children sitting together with dialogue bubbles over them, showing them conversing - for example, “Hello Martha!”. Including this with pictures of other children provides a visual projection of what Rayan could do to interact more with other children and be a part of the classroom unit. Include Rayan in classroom and play activities and allow her to take turns with other children, so that she feels she is one of them and is able to do all the things that they are doing despite her handicap. Provide easy access to all areas of the classroom, a friendly atmosphere and access to all the activities by taking turns with other children. Encourage Rayan to share pictures, pencils and other materials with other children, eat her meals while sitting with other children and speak up when she has something to say . The Educational Support worker or special needs assistant could be standing by to provide Rayan with a feeling of security, as the child engages in play activities with other children, such as playing in the sand pit. Other children could be encouraged to use smiles and hand gestures to communicate with Rayan, as well as clear speaking by opening their mouths properly, so that Rayan is able to lip read what they are saying. A special needs teaching assistant , or educational support worker who is familiar with both English and Rayan’s cultures, working exclusively with Rayan, would be able to communicate with her and help her communicate with other children, not only during classes but also during the lunch and play breaks (Dicarlo et al,2000). Two or three of the other friendly children could also be encouraged to specially make an effort to include Rayan in their own activities. The SEN assistant maintains a separate file on Rayan, notes any initiatives taken by Rayan in reaching out to the other children and vice versa. She also makes notes everyday on specific events that appear to upset Rayan, or events that appear to have worked in her favor, so that such activities can be the focus of future efforts. The classroom teacher would also need to observe Rayan’s interactions in the classroom and any improvements which are taking place. Individual Learning Programme for Rayan, so that her overall participation is improved, both in class and during recreational activities. One of the problems Rayan faces is not being able to keep up with the others, because she cannot comprehend everything that’s going on. With an educational support worker communicating with her in sign language, Rayan would be informed about what the teacher is teaching and what she’s expected to do to complete the assignments. It would help even more when the ESW is able to use her hands to communicate to Rayan what the other children are saying, so that Rayan can understand and participate more fully with them. An essential aspect of preparation of an Individualized Learning Plan for Rayan includes the teaching of English, so that Rayan can actively reach out to other children on her own initiative and communicate with them. Some of the smarter and more outgoing children in Rayan’s class could be taught some simple elements of the sign language, so that when their speech is too quick for Rayan to understand, the accompanying finger talk would be an effective substitute (Ashman and Elkins, 2005). In the classroom, simultaneous explanations by the ESW would help Rayan to understand the classes, complete the related activities. Special praise could be provided by the teacher if Rayan does something well, for instance drawing or art work, and her work could be put up on the noticeboard with the work of other children that is judged by the teacher to be very good. This would boost Rayan’s self confidence and embolden her to reach out more to the other children. The major player in this respect would be the educational support worker, working alongside Rayan on a close one-on-one basis. As time moves on and Rayan becomes more outgoing, moving beyond the smiles to actual communication with other children, the ESW’s participation would gradually reduce. The other children and the teacher would also be important, in making the extra effort to ensure that Rayan is included in all activities and treated like the other children as much as possible. The bicultural support worker would be invaluable in this aspect, because she would be able to work with Rayan at home, to help her overcome cultural barriers through improvement of her knowledge of English. The evaluation would need to be done on a day to day basis, both by the teacher and the ESW or Special needs Assistant. Feedback could also be obtained from the other children, on how they feel about Rayan and whether they like including her in their classroom and play activities. References: Ashman, A., and Elkins, J. (Eds.). (2005). Educating children with diverse abilities. (3rd ed.). Sydney: Prentice Hall. (Especially Ch. 9) Brown, W.H., Odom, S.L. and Conroy, M.A. (2001). An intervention hierarchy for promoting young children’s peer interactions in natural environments. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 21(3), 162-175. Di Carlo, C., Banajee, M. and Stricklin, S.B. (2000). Embedding augmentative communication within early childhood classrooms. Young Exceptional Children, 3(3), 18-26. Grisham-Brown, J., Hemmeter, M.L. ND Pretti-Frontczak, K. (2005). Blended practices for teaching young children in inclusive settings. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes. Sandall, S., Schwartz, I. & Joseph, G. (2001). A building blocks model for effective instruction in inclusive early childhood settings. Young Exceptional Children, 4(3), 3-9. Read More