I chose to take a closer look at developmental concerns and delays in early childhood children. It was not easy to simply pick one topic because I have such a wide variety of topic interests and need for further growth. However, I narrowed it down to the one I felt currently impacted me the most.
The topic of developmental delays was of great interest to me for several reasons. One was personal. I have a relative who was not diagnosed with a reading disorder until eighth grade. He missed out on valuable instruction and opportunities simply because he got overlooked. By the time it was finally discovered (because his parents got fed up with trying to go through the school system they took him to an outside agency for testing) it was almost too late. He's never really been able to bounce back or learn to adjust and the impact on his life has been fairly substantial. I know his parents have that "if only it was picked up on sooner" mindset, and who can blame them? As early childhood educators it is so important for us to watch out for potential problems, delays, or concerns and relay that important information to parents which is my professional interest in this topic. I think sometimes I tend to work the extremes. Either every little thing is a potential problem or everything is developmental and children will “get it eventually”. I want to be more knowledgeable about developmental concerns and delays so parents don’t have to wake up in 10 years going “if only they had caught this sooner”. This topic can be sensitive to discuss with parents as often times the early childhood teacher is the first set of non familial eyes and ears on the child. We could potentially be the first one to suggest there is something "not right" about their child so it's important to know what to discuss with parents and how to approach the sensitive subject. I also want to work on collaborating better with special education teachers so I'm not devoting all of my time to the few special education students and neglecting my others (which I tend to do now). Unfortunately for me (and my students) I only had one special education class in college, and it was not the greatest learning tool. With the amount of students coming into my classroom with developmental delays and concerns I realized my deep lack of understanding and vowed to fix this as soon as possible!
I think thus far, I’ve learned so much about the research process. Perhaps the biggest thing I discovered so far is how to design the research. This is such an important step and one that takes careful and deliberate planning. One small mistake should have huge implications for the validity of the study. Who would think something as simple as how many students to study could be a make or break decision? Design the study is one important building block in the process, but one I know little about implementing. I’ve never actually conducted a formal research project so my fear lies in setting it all up correctly! Research is so time consuming I would not want to be at the conclusion and realize my work is not valid due to a design failure.
What are your thoughts and/or opinions on my topic? Do you have any input that you think would help me out either with this study or in this class? I’d love to hear from you if you do!
The topic of developmental delays was of great interest to me for several reasons. One was personal. I have a relative who was not diagnosed with a reading disorder until eighth grade. He missed out on valuable instruction and opportunities simply because he got overlooked. By the time it was finally discovered (because his parents got fed up with trying to go through the school system they took him to an outside agency for testing) it was almost too late. He's never really been able to bounce back or learn to adjust and the impact on his life has been fairly substantial. I know his parents have that "if only it was picked up on sooner" mindset, and who can blame them? As early childhood educators it is so important for us to watch out for potential problems, delays, or concerns and relay that important information to parents which is my professional interest in this topic. I think sometimes I tend to work the extremes. Either every little thing is a potential problem or everything is developmental and children will “get it eventually”. I want to be more knowledgeable about developmental concerns and delays so parents don’t have to wake up in 10 years going “if only they had caught this sooner”. This topic can be sensitive to discuss with parents as often times the early childhood teacher is the first set of non familial eyes and ears on the child. We could potentially be the first one to suggest there is something "not right" about their child so it's important to know what to discuss with parents and how to approach the sensitive subject. I also want to work on collaborating better with special education teachers so I'm not devoting all of my time to the few special education students and neglecting my others (which I tend to do now). Unfortunately for me (and my students) I only had one special education class in college, and it was not the greatest learning tool. With the amount of students coming into my classroom with developmental delays and concerns I realized my deep lack of understanding and vowed to fix this as soon as possible!
I think thus far, I’ve learned so much about the research process. Perhaps the biggest thing I discovered so far is how to design the research. This is such an important step and one that takes careful and deliberate planning. One small mistake should have huge implications for the validity of the study. Who would think something as simple as how many students to study could be a make or break decision? Design the study is one important building block in the process, but one I know little about implementing. I’ve never actually conducted a formal research project so my fear lies in setting it all up correctly! Research is so time consuming I would not want to be at the conclusion and realize my work is not valid due to a design failure.
What are your thoughts and/or opinions on my topic? Do you have any input that you think would help me out either with this study or in this class? I’d love to hear from you if you do!
I've had several encounters’ with parent who we felt had a need for intervention for their child. I always break the ice with my own problems; maybe my own children, myself, or just other nameless children. I start sharing the positive results and benefits for the child when we start early. I have had 100 percent success rate with this method. Parents need to feel their challenge is not any different for others.
ReplyDeleteDeborah,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that research can be time consuming and I also fear of the lack of validity for my results if i were to compose my own study.
My thoughts on your topic decision, is that you picked a great topic! A topic that if researched is bound to be help hundreds of children who go overlooked on a day to day basis. And I think to help you further help the children you love it may be good to take an additional class on special education (here and there) when you can. It can only benefit you!
Hello Deborah,
ReplyDeleteI think that you have the right concept and thoughts behind "act before its too late". I always told my parents (in my school) that it would be better to test a child than not because if you suspect a delay and there isn't one, what was the harm? But if there is a delay and you do not do everything you can to test and gets services, then you are only harming the child's chances for success! I like your topic and look forward to learning more about it throughout the course. If I come across any resources and references that I feel could benefit your research, I will let you know!
This is a great topic to research. I have seen a few children brushed off because of age. Many kindergarteners are left unevaluated because we are told to give them time, they may grow out of it. I think catching a developmental delay early could definitely help.
ReplyDeleteI have teachers that ask all the time how to approach families when they feel like a child is not developing. We talk about the tools that we have in place and conferences that they can schedule, but sometimes a parent just don't want to hear it. The hard part is nowing how much you can help a little one if things are detected early. Great topic, I will interested to follow along with your research.
ReplyDelete