Early Identification and Intervention

1
Early Identification and Intervention

• What does it mean to have a good start in this
  world?
• Today we will talk about
• Disabilities
• The people behind the labels
• Identification and Interventions
• Early success in school is necessary but not
  sufficient to success in later schooling.
• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/intro.h
  tml

2
Who are people with disabilities

• http//adaptiveenvironments.org/neada/site/student
  _videos
• Are they so very different from those without
  disabilities?
• What about the social and academic sides of
  disabilities? They are both behaviors.

3
Just a few of many examples of people with
disabilities

• Einstein (physicist), Edison (inventor),
  Washington (President), Wilson (President),
  Rockefeller (Vice President), Cruise (actor),
  Bell (inventor), Disney (corporate entertainer),
  Patton (General), Glover (actor), Von Braun
  (rocketry), Wright brother (inventors), Lennon
  (singer), Winkler (director), Ford (actor), Smith
  (actor, singer), Leno (comedian), Bush
  (President), Flagg (author), Stonewall Jackson
  (General) ...
• Listed in such work as Blessed With Dyslexia by
  Stacy Poulos and LDA-Ontario by Eve Nichols.

4
Types of Disabilities (SC)

• Mental Disabilities (MD or ID)
• http//www.aamr.org/content_100.cfm?navID21
• Emotional Disabilities (ED)
• http//www.schoolpsychologistfiles.com/EmDisabilit
  y.html
• Learning Disabilities (LD)
• http//www.overcoming-learning-disabilities.com/de
  finition-of-learning-disabilities.html
• Some extras
• Autism Spectrum Disorders, Attention Deficit
  Hyperactive Disorder, Oppositional Defiant
  Disorder...

5
Characteristics of high-incidence disabilities

• Reading Problems -
• Written Language Deficits -
• Math Underachievement -
• Nonverbal / Social Skills Deficits -
• Attention Problems and Hyperactivity -
• Behavioral Problems
• Physical / Motor Delays
• Processing and memory

6
LD prevalence data

• 5.6 of all people
• Estimates as high as 15
• Over half (52) of all students in special
  education are LD
• Widely varies across US (RI63 AL26)
• Placement (as of 1998)
• 43.8 served in general education class
• 39.3 in resource rooms
• 18.8 in a separate class
• lt1 in separate school, hospital, residential
  facility
• 98 of states exclude below average intelligence
  and environmental disadvantage
• 52-70 of children identified do not meet state
  and federal criteria (MacMillan Speece, 2000).
  Many could be labeled MR (Gottlieb et al., 1994).

7
Why the increased number of students with
disabilities?

• Environmental concerns
• Changes in the home
• Instructional lapses
• Lyon said that LD is simply a sociological
  sponge to wipe up the ills of general education
  (Bolick, 2001).

8
Some Possible Causes of Disabilities(no one
cause exists)

• Brain Damage Some students with learning
  disabilities show definite signs of brain damage,
  which may be the cause of their learning
  problems. Some professionals believe that all
  children with LD suffer from some type of brain
  injury or dysfunction of the central nervous
  system.
• Biochemical Imbalance Some researchers believe
  that biochemical disturbances within a child's
  body are the cause of learning disabilities.
• Heredity Siblings and children of persons with
  reading disabilities have a slightly greater than
  normal likelihood of having reading problems.
  There is growing evidence that heredity may
  account for at least some of family linkage with
  dyslexia (Pennington, 1995).
• Environmental Factors Some educators believe
  that the majority of children labeled LD are the
  products of poor instruction, cultural
  differences and misunderstandings, or
  disproportionate expectations.

9
Acknowledging a Disability

• Parental Conflict
• Doctor Shopping
• Defensiveness
• Find the Cause
• Find the Cure
• Acceptance v Rejection
• Parent Help
• http//www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/parents/help/index.
  asp
• Family Stress
• http//www.greatschools.net/LD/family-home-life/le
  arning-disabilities-and-the-family.gs?content1081

10
Conferencing with Parents

• Trust of educators varies upon parents
• Meetings
• Take A L A P
• Avoid barriers to communication
• Watch your educational vocabulary but still
  explain everything
• avoid distance
• do not blame
• work with parents
• avoid labeling, just describe

11
Legal support for young children

• Head Start (1964)
• 92-424 required Head Start to include 10 of
  enrollment to children with disabilities
• 99-457extends 94-142 increases support to ages
  3-5 (sets intervention or econ support) and adds
  support 0-2
• 101-476 IDEA brings services to infants who are
  exposed to substance abuse.
• 102-119 expanded 99-457 to include comprehensive
  services to students with disabilities ages 3-5
  and begin IFSP and multidisciplinary evals for
  ages 0-2

12
Identification and Prediction Issues

• Prenatal
• Alpha-fetoprotein blood test to determine birth
  defects or Down syndrome
• Sonography (Ultrasound) to see proportions and
  body
• Amniocentesis to test placenta to determine a
  number of disabilities
• Postnatal screening
• Apgar test to determine weaknesses
• Heart rate, respiratory effect, muscle tone,
  physical state (e.g. skin color)
• Evaluations with Curriculum (presented later)
• What is the predictability of such tests and
  evals?

13
Interventions Services

• Hospital
• May provide interventions from first day
• Home and Family
• In-home interventions to account for in-home
  routines
• Early Childhood Intervention Center
• Aimed at working with children at center and in
  home
• Therapists to work with children up to 45 min/day
• Use developmentally appropriate practices (e.g.
  exploration)
• Day-Care and Early Childhood Center
• Usually not designed for students with
  disabilities
• Teachers usually need additional training
• Lead to many positive personal and social effects
  long term due to abilities to make decisions
• School possible between ages 3-5

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Intervention Curriculum

• Assessments
• Type- motor development, fine motor, speech and
  language, social and emotional, self-help
• Format- transdisciplinary play (assesses in a
  natural setting)
• Curriculum
• Special Equipment (wheelchair, hearing aid ..)
• Segmentation and task analysis (drinking, eating
  ..)
• Exposure to a variety of educationally sound
  experiences (phonemic and phonological)
• Highly interactive
• Explicit strategies both behaviorally and
  academically

15
Do not underestimate people with exceptional
learning needs

• http//www.stservicemovie.com/
• Will you be a Johnny for life????????

16
Summary

• What are the possible placements where an infant
  with a disability can be served?
• How is a child assessed before birth to determine
  if a disability may be present?
• How is a child tested after birth?
• What is needed to help struggling children
  prepare for school?
• What is the job of the early childhood teacher?