Interview With a Parent of a Child with Special Needs

The mother reports that the child responded well to different people and family members and friends reported the child was easy to care for. The mother however reported that being a single mother was stressful.

For this assignment, I interview a service provider for special education services. The service provider I interviewed, takes part in the educational team, and provide services. The service provider is developmental therapist. I was able to develop a better sense of the importance of inclusion. After interviewing the service provider, and learning her philosophy of inclusion I have was able to better understand the accommodations and modifications for special needs students.

All across the globe, there are children growing up in single-parent households, and through some research

One psychosocial factor is the family’s socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic statuses has been researched to be on of the most influential factors in rather or not a family will succeed or face challenges, it can be a determinant in the development of mental health, physical health, and emotional health. A parent’s educational level, their occupation, and income could place the family in either a beneficial or hindering situation, in return, affecting the way a parent could establish attachment with their child. For example, a single parent raising their child and having to manage two jobs, could result in limited attachment to their parent or primary caregiver. Parental stress and their adverse childhood experiences is another psychosocial factor which can determine a child’s

I interviewed several service providers in my school, Stephen Knight Center for Early Education, that included the psychologist, special education teacher and a general education teacher. I interviewed Ms. Iris, the school psychologist, Ms. Kathy, the special education teacher, and Ms. Hilary, a general education teacher. Ms. Iris’ responsibilities include working with students who have social emotional needs. This can include behavior challenges, learning new social skills, managing grief, etc. She works directly with parents and teachers to provide resources regarding the child’s well-being, and ensure good attendance by setting up plans. Ms. Iris works with children in general education, counseling groups, and one-on-one situations, including special education minutes. Ms. Hilary is a general education classroom teacher. She is responsible for the well-being of her students academically, socially, physically and developmentally. Ms. Hilary also advocates for families and students to receive the support that they need to feel successful in their first years of school. Finally, Ms. Kathy is the staffing

The special education teacher interviewed, co-teaches algebra into three class periods. She is able to teach up to 50 students. In her classroom she can teach children with disabilities or up to 25 at-risk students.

Data taken from the 1997-2008 National Health Interview Surveys of US showed that 1 out of every 6 children had developmental disabilities (Boyle et al, 2011). These disabilities were tabulated as including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other forms of developmental delay. According to the survey, these disabilities increased and now require more health and education interventions. Children aged 3-17 years old participated in the survey. Parent-respondents reported their children's diagnoses as including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, autism, seizures, stuttering or stammering, hearing loss, blindness, learning disorders and other forms of developmental delay. These disabilities were much more prevalent in boys than in girls. They were lowest among Hispanic children as compared with non-Hispanic white and black children. Low income and public health insurance were associated with the prevalence. The rate of these disabilities increased from 12.84% to 15.94% in the last 13 years. Autism, ADHD and other developmental delays increased in all socio-demographic sub-groups, except for autism among non-Hispanic black children. The survey called for additional research on the influence of changing risk factors and changes in the acceptance and the benefits of early services (Boyle et al).

According to my interview with Jaden’s mom, she let me know that he was born a healthy child with a normal birth weight. She did not have any complications during the time of birth. He was growing up at a normal rate until he was registered to the daycare center when he was about 7 months. She let me know that there was an assessment done on Jaden done during the time he was enrolled at the school and her son had passed the assessment. When he turned nine months, the teachers did another assessment on him and they became concerned that he was not doing well at problem solving and gross motor skills. She let me know that she argued a lot with the teachers at that time and she was upset to the extent that she had to speak to the administrator. She let the administrator know that the teachers did not know what they were saying. She further stated that the administrator referred her to the health and disability coordinator of the school and she was informed about

Antonio is very loving towards his daughter Anessa and is happy she is enrolled in daycare. Antonio picks Anessa up after daycare and takes the child to his home in Somerville. Anessa spends some nights with Antonio and will at times go back with her mother at night. Antonio has appropriate space for Anessa and the home is clean and free of hazards. I have observed Anessa with Antonio and his interaction is appropriate. Antonio agreed to the Early Intervention screening and was present during the evaluation process. Michelle Sharp from the Guidance Center reported Antonio asked thoughtful and inquisitive questions and appeared to have a good understanding of things Anessa should be doing given her age of 1 year.

During this assessment, I interviewed a single-family home with a 32 year old mother, M.S, with a 4 year old daughter, M.S. II, from Costa Rica. The daughter was in pre-school and the mother had graduated high school and immediately worked with event planning. The family does not attend church, but practices under the Catholic traditions. I would place this family under the preschool stage of the family life cycle due to the oldest child is 4 years of age and the mother is adapting to her child’s needs in growth-producing ways. M.S and her daughter love spending time outdoors taking walks and visiting gardens. M.S. sews various items, including lunch boxes and aprons in her free time too.

In order to make the mother feel comfortable the interview was conducted in her home. Further, the mother was provided with an accurate description of what the interview was about and how the information from the interview would be shared. Further, the mother was also assured that no names would be identified. During the interview the mother was made to feel at ease through the use of basic counseling skills such as the use of minimal encouragers, active listening, and open-ended questions. The use of open-ended questions and follow up questions about topics the mother brought up allowed the mother to feel at ease because she was able to talk and discuss topics that were important to her.

The father reported when the child was in third grade there were behavior problems in school. He indicated that the child would go school, but would not go to class. He stated that Thekli would sit at the security desk or in the principal’s office and or in door of the classroom. Mr. Chronis stated that Thekli would fight every morning with the mother (the child would change her clothes three times) and the mother would get upset. He indicated at times Thekli would not get out of bed or brush her teeth. The father reported that she would be obstinate and difficult when it was time to get ready for school. The father stated that did not think that the treatment with Dr. McGrath was productive for the child. He indicated that the clinician met

During the years, single parent families have become a more common thing. This is starting to become a problem, because family dynamics can really influence a child’s life. According to studies it affects not only the child but the parents too.

Children of single parent households may find that they do not feel as close to the parent that they live with. This can be because the children are a different gender than the parent or because the parent has increased the children’s responsibilities. Children that are a different gender than the parent that they live with may find that they are unable to confide in or ask questions of that parent due to the gender difference. An example of this could be that a daughter raised by her father may miss out on advice that only a mother can give. Children of single parent households may also find an increase in their responsibilities as the single parent is no longer able to perform all the household duties that they were able to prior to becoming a single parent household. A single parent will spend more time outside of the home and may be unavailable to make sure that the children are fed at night and do their

Mother: We tried for several months to get pregnant before we were successful. We both were reluctant to try for a child again because of a traumatic miscarriage I experienced several years prior. We both really wanted to be parents and made a tough decision.