Early Childhood Screening: A Case Study

The team will look into the child’s cognitive abilities such as IQ, learning styles and adaptive behaviour. These are important as well for possible treatment

If a practitioner see that the child is struggling with certain things, there could be an influence on other areas of development, because as we know each area of development are connected, and practitioner can use special screening programmes what can help the to pick up any areas of difficulty that child maybe suffering.

The assessor should feedback to the candidate what they have achieved as soon as possible after assessment has taken place.

A child will be assessed by an educational psychologist if there are concerns about their intellectual, communication and behavioural development. Assessments can be arranged by the SENCO or independently. The aim of the assessments is to find out why the child is not progressing and what support is needed in order for them to progress. Specific learning difficulties are often identified in this way such as Dyslexia, AHAD, Dyspraxia. Support and targets for the child are then set to help them achieve. The outcome of the assessments may involve the child referred to other professionals e.g. occupational therapist, optometrist, speech and language therapist, psychiatrist. The psychologist will advise the school on how to promote development for example, keeping verbal instructions simple. Keep stories and group activities short to match attention span.

There are always key elements to assessments and reviews, including the family and friends. Everyone has a responsibility to support individuals and bearing in mind ‘need to know’ information. The aim being able to achieve the highest goal to maintain effective open channels for everyone.

The evaluator first chooses a client and gathers background information (Ray et al., 2010). The evaluator then determines what tools he/she will use to measure the baseline and intervention phases, as well as how many phases the evaluation will have (Ray et al., 2010). Ethical considerations, such as gaining parental permission for minors, are addressed before starting the evaluation (Ray et al., 2010). During the evaluation phases, the evaluator describes in detail what is happening with the client (Ray et al., 2010). Finally, the evaluator analyzes the collected information and makes a final conclusion (Ray et al., 2010; Danner et al., 2009). Morgan and Morgan (2001) suggest putting the information into a graph to judge the effectiveness of the

Having a Special Educations Needs Co-ordinator in a school is a legal requirement along with a Head Teacher and a Deputy Head. Another statutory role in a primary school is a Foundation Stage Manager. The SENCO is responsible for monitoring and managing the provision for pupils with special educational needs. Their duties will include liaising with other professionals and parents with regard to pupils with special educational needs, providing support and advice, ensuring that all relevant background information about individual children with special educational needs is collected, updated and recorded, ensuring Individual Education Plans are in place. An Individual Education Plan has targets and planned

The setting has Special Educational Need Co-ordinator (SENCO) involved in supporting the teacher and /or parents. The SENCO organises further assessment of the child’s needs if required.

Early intervention is a sequence of steps and guidelines on how to improve the child’s developmental skills, which are performed by the

Sometimes a child or young person in a setting such as a nursery or school may need extra support from other setting. That’s why it is important for you to know how these referrals are made.

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ 2010, (WTtSC 2010) instructs organisations and individuals working with children on how actions such as assessments should be done in accordance with the CA1989 and ensures that professionals understand what their responsibilities and duties are. This specific documentation assisted my understanding of the format in which assessments should be conducted as well as my understanding of multi-professional work surrounding A and his needs. Following guidelines from the Assessment Framework (WTtSC p.44), I was able to establish what A’s specific developmental needs were so they can be addressed during my mentoring sessions. Areas such as his education, family and social relationships and stimulation as well a look at the wider family unit and his environment. This multi-professional meeting was in fact my initial assessment.

Children’s development is influenced by a variety of different personal factors. Such factors can include Cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, dyslexia, and many more.

If the information needs to be passed on to another professional agency, the parent will have to be notified by the school and sign a consent form before the information can be passed on.

Parents and educators will not always agree on what is best for their child. Murdick, Gartin, & Fowler (2014) state, “the parental view of ‘what is good for my child’ may not be consistent with the school district’s view of what is good for all those in the school” (p. 239). Therefore, it is important that parents know and understand they have rights when it comes to the education of their child. As well, there are legal options available when disagreement occurs. These rights and options come in the form of the procedural safeguards outlined in part B of IDEA. Schools are required to provide parents a copy of the procedural safeguards explaining their rights and legal options upon referral of services, when a complaint is filed, when a change of placement decision is being considered, and anytime upon parental request (“Procedural Safeguards Notice,” n.d.).

The first item is to build trust among students, parents and school staff, so that they feel comfortable coming to the counselors to address their issues or concerns. While confidentiality could be a challenge working with minors, it should be kept as much as possible. They also need to feel that when they meet with the school counselors that he or she has the individual’s best interest in mind.