Early intervention approaches for children with visual impairments

¶ … Journals of Herrera and Gottleib Books

A healthy child is the joy of the family. Social and academic development of a child depend on his ability to use his eyes and ears effectively. When one of these organs is impaired, the child will face challenges to communicate or see effectively, which will affect the child's social and academic developments. When a child has developed a vision or ear impairment, early intervention is a critical approach to addressing this disability. Typically, young children with one or multiple disabilities have unique challenges and needs. Some of these children struggle to see or communicate their needs. Parents and professionals must identify the needs of each child to ensure that young children with disabilities are able to participate actively and make a meaningful progress in life. Thus, medical, and non-medical interventions are the crucial approach for young children with disabilities since they may exhibit a delay in motor development that can result in sitting, mobility and standing difficulties. When professionals develop a needs-based approach, it will be possible to assist these children in identifying their needs and integrate them into the natural environment. Moreover, professionals are required to have the greatest confidence in themselves to make positive impacts on the child. However, delivering high-quality intervention services for infants with multiple disabilities can present challenges. Their complexities may not be addressed effectively using a single approach, thus, multiple approaches may be essential and a number of service providers will need to be involved.

Critical Reading Reflection for Module 7

Salcedo & Chen (2008) believes that early learning is obtained through observation, visual experience and imitation. However, a baby with a visual impairment may experience a fragmented world making the image of mother blurred and incomplete to the child. It should be noted the ability of children to establish effective social relations and excel in their academic performances depend on the children ability to see images and differentiate the images. While the baby with a visual impairment may hear other people talking, however, the talking may be incomplete unless the adults assist the baby with the systematic instructions. When this instruction is lacking, a child may have a developmental delay. Thus, it is very critical for parents to detect their children visual impairment very early before the issue becomes complicated. Moreover, the parents need to observe their children during their early year to detect any eventuality in the child's impaired development. One way to identify whether a child has a visual impairment is to observe the child when crawling or walking. If the child has the challenges in avoiding obstacles and has a habit of bumping into the obstacles, this is a sign of a visual impairment. Some of the causes of the visual impairments include infections, heredity, or prematurity. This study believes that medical intervention is the first strategy to correct a child's visual impairment using the ocular health, and vision assessment. I believe that the parents need to make a great effort to intervene as early as possible to correct their children visual malformation. However, the intervention should not be done alone; it should be done in collaboration with the healthcare providers. It is very critical to understand that children with visual impairment can face difficulties in establishing effective social relations in schools which can affect their entirely life process. (Herrera, Morales Cabral, & Murry, 2013).

Factors influencing child's Vision Loss

The primary cause of child's vision loss includes prenatal, genetic, maternal infection, and preeclampsia. Other causes of eye vision loss include prematurity, difficult delivery, and asphyxia. Moreover, eye loss can be caused by trauma, intracranial pressure, and tumors. Typically, a child vision's loss can be influenced by the problem associated with visual acuity, which is the inability to see clearly. Moreover, a reduced in contrast sensitivity can lead to an inability to differentiate between dark and light shade. Sometimes, a child faces difficulty in processing his or her visual activities that result in understanding the object seeing. While some children may have one vision loss, some children may develop multiple vision loss. An intervention is an effective strategy to correct the problem child vision loss. Typically, an early identification is essential for the treatment and correction of eye disease. To make an early intervention more effective, the family members are to intervene as quickly as possible. Moreover, the child is to be referred to the pediatric ophthalmologists to diagnose his eye's problem and collecting the medical report about the child's vision disorder. The implication of the medical report is to collect all the medical information about the child's vision and use the medical intervention to correct the problem to assist the child in seeing clearly.

Critical Reading Reflection for Module 8

Apart from the visual impairment, children can also develop a hearing loss. The hearing is the ability to discriminate and detect sounds. From birth, a normal child will be able to differentiate between speech and sound. However, a child with a hearing loss will face challenges in understanding the meaning of speech as well as the meaning of other sounds. (Wayne-Myck, & Chen, 2008).Thus, the parent is required to observe their children, and evaluate a degree of their hearing loss to enhance a greater understanding of the children auditory capabilities. While there are different strategies to address the problems of the hearing difficulties in children, however, these strategies have strengths and limitations. For example, audiometry test can be carried out to measure the child's ability to hear sound through the hearing test to provide the quantitative and accurate results. Moreover, the use of tympanometry is also effective in detecting the movement of the eardrum. The behavioral observation audiometry can also be used to observe the child's faces and change in the child's faces. Moreover, the visual reinforcement audiometry assists in detecting a child's ability to respond to sound. The conditioned play audiometry is effective in teaching a child to respond to a particular action. Thus, it is critical for parents to inform the healthcare providers about their children health conditions as early as possible if they detect that their children have challenges in hearing.

Strategies to encourage listening skills in Children with a Hearing Loss

Different strategies can be employed to encourage listening skills in children with hearing loss. First, the auditory verbal is one of the communication strategies to improve the listening skills of children with a hearing loss. The auditory verbal involves using therapeutic approach to enhance natural communication and assist the child in involving actively in daily activities. The auditory-oral approach allows children to use face-to-face communication. However, this strategy requires the use of hearing aids allow the children to understand speech. Total communication is another strategy to encourage the listening skills of a child. This strategy allows the child to use different communication modalities to assist him to be linguistic competent. In essence, the total communication uses different strategies such as sign language, lip-reading, finger spelling, amplification, and gestures. The bicultural / bilingual approach is to make the child be fluent in English and American Sign Language.

The other strategy is to use the hearing aid; the tool can be used by children of any age. Moreover, the hearing aids will make the sound louder; however, they are unable to make sound clearer. With the intervention of audiologist, it is possible to select the hearing aids that will enhance the listening skills of children. The benefits of using the hearing aids are that it can be adjusted to suit the specific characteristics of a child's hearing loss as well as enhancing the frequency amplification. The digital or analog are the two types of digital hearing aids to improve the listening skills of children with a hearing loss. Typically, a digital hearing aid assists in transforming the sound and convert it into the small segments before amplifying the sound signal. The benefit of digital hearing aids is that it assists in amplifying the soft sound over the loud sounds. The "behind -the --ear- hearing --aids (BTE)" (Chen, 2008 p 25) is another tool to improve listening skills of children experience a hearing loss. The benefit of the BTE is that it assists a child to adapt faster to the hearing aids.

The relevance of what I have read.

This study has enhanced my greater understanding that the early intervention approach has been an effective tool to correct children hearing and visual problems, which will make me, intervene as early as possible when I discover that one of the children has a problem in the school. My goal as an educator is to ensure that children get the best from the school. As an educator, I will use the knowledge I have learned to assist the children identifying their visual and hearing problems. At home, many parents are unable to understand the symptoms of their children visual or hearing problem. I will apply the knowledge I have acquired in the course to identify children with hearing and visual difficulties, contact their parents, and advise them to contact the appropriate healthcare providers to take immediate health actions to correct the children visual or hearing problems.

Connection --Analysis of the Reading

At present, I have had more than 5 years teaching experience, which has enhanced my greater understanding about children developmental and educational capabilities. While some children are able to express themselves very early between the age of 2 and 5, some children are unable to express themselves after 5 years of age. My experience has made me understand that the factors responsible for hearing problems of these children are either genetically or medical. In my undergraduate and Master's level, I have taken some courses that relate to the early intervention educational program. These courses have elaborated difference socio-cultural factors that may affect children learning. The experience I have already acquired with the knowledge I have just acquired make me understand that an early intervention is an effective strategy that can assist parents and healthcare providers to correct the hearing and visual problems in children, and these problems can be corrected if the parents and healthcare providers intervene very early.

Reflective Journal of Chapter 10 of the Gottleib Book

After studying the Chapter 10 of the Gottleib book, I realize that assessments are the effective strategy to measure and evaluate students' performances. (Gottleib, Katz, & Ernst-Slavit, 2009). In the United States, students' population are increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse, thus, over relying on the school test to evaluate the students' performances is becoming outdated. According to Gottleib et al. (2009), some students are native English speakers and very proficiency in English; however, some students are less fluent in English. A reflection of the experience of teachers in many schools in the United States reveals that students who are fluent in English are able to understand what they are being taught in the class than students who are less fluent in English. Thus, TESOL ELP (English Language Assessment) is an effective tool to address this problem, which will make all students participating effectively in class. Based on the challenges that many teachers are facing when teaching students from diverse ethnic groups, the TESOL will be an effective approach to assist the students developing English language proficiency. The benefit of the TESOL is that it assists teachers to develop a lesson plan that will enhance English proficiency of learners. My experience about the TESOL is that it assists teachers to collect information about the students' progress. Moreover, the TESOL assists all the stakeholders in monitoring the student's progress and performances.

Performance-based assessment and learning are set of strategies to assist in the acquisition of skills, work habits and knowledge through performance tasks. Thus, the teaching assessment through performances in a balanced based approach is to extend the traditional skill and fact instruction. Typically, performances-based teaching assessment helps in delivering better curriculum since authentic tasks are based on curriculum, which assists teachers to deliver the meaningful and authentic assignment for students.

Reflective Journal of Chapter 4 of the Herrera book

Acculturation is the process of a cultural change that occurs when an individual from different cultural background mixes with other people from different cultural backgrounds leading to a continuous, prolonged, first-hand contact with one another. The first-hand contact leads to a change in the individual identities, beliefs and values. Herrera, Morales, & Murry (2013) point out people from different background settle in the United States making the school compose of students from diverse cultural background. Thus, students are forced to be in contact with the cultures that are different from their cultures sometimes leading to a cultural shock. While some students can easily adapt when in contact with people from different cultural background, however, some student experience a cultural shock that may affect them academically. Thus, it is the responsibility of an educator or classroom teacher to assist the students to make the behavioral and cognitive adjustments. Moreover, it is very important for the teacher to intervene as early as possible because some students still experience the cultural shock based on the issues of families, friends, relative and community they left behind. Sometimes students express their cultural shock through anger, disorder behaviors, social withdrawal, and loss of appetite and a sign of depression. Thus, the teachers are required to facilitate the students' assimilation process in order to make them integrate and adapt to the new cultural environment. When the home students reject students from other cultures, the issues may make the students believing that the tradition and customs associated with their culture are inferior. Thus, the teacher or educator should encourage different forms of response from students during the classroom discussion to limit the inferiority of the students. Moreover, the teachers should prohibit all form of discrimination in the school, and encourage a climate that embraces individual differences.

Thus, cultural influence plays a critical role in the students' academic performances. Students who are native English are able to understand the lesson better than non-native English speakers because some of the non-native speakers face challenges in understanding the English language, which is the primary method of instruction in the U.S. schools. Moreover, some of the non-native speakers face challenges in understanding English in their early years in schools because native languages are used as the mode of communication at home. Thus, it is essential for teachers to be culturally competent to reflect a diverse cultural understanding in their teaching to assist the students understanding their teaching better.

Reflective Journal of Chapter 7 of the Gottleib Book

Gottleib et at (2009) point out that the TESOL is an effective tool to plan language proficiency for English learners, and the model TESOL ELP (English language proficiency) is used to create a rich learning environment for English learners. In the learning environment, people acquire skills and obtain content knowledge. Typically, effective instruction emerges from an understanding of students' strength as well as analysis of the challenges that students may face during the learning process. Thus, teachers should use different assessment to match students' performances in a specific area such as social studies and mathematics. By understanding the areas where students are proficient, the teachers will be able to enhance the learning skills of students. In my fieldwork experience, I have been able to assess students' language proficiency by using the formal language assessment, school test, informal language assessment and district tests. (Colorado Department of Education, 2012).

The planning process to incorporate language into the language design can be implemented in many ways. Teachers are to use the ELP standards by identifying the different level of students' learning to assist their learning process. More importantly, students are to learn the English content to alleviate them developing vocabularies. The content objectives also assist students in developing knowledge and skills. I realize the importance of TESOL during my teaching experience. The TESOL enhance students' learning experience and their English proficiency. Moreover, teachers are to integrate instructional support in their teaching strategy. An important component in the instructional planning process is to assist students developing the language skills. Essentially, support plays an important role in enhancing the language assessment and instruction, which will improve students' language level. Gottleib et at (2009) argues that incorporating language in the lesson design is one of the critical aspects of the language teaching because it makes students be more competent in the English language. For example, the teacher should use the instructional program to evaluate the learning level of students. It is also used to assess whether students are able to meet the school and language development.

Reflective Journal of Chapter 8 of the Gottleib Book

Many teachers face challenges when designing new unit especially when a new student joins the class. To solve this problem, elementary school teachers are to take the account of the language needs of the students using the standard --based instructional framework. Since a large number of children enroll in the elementary school, this is the time the academic base of children is established, thus, teachers are to develop the language-based curriculum framework in their teaching because this the time children are to develop a strong competent in oral language. Without a strong competent in the oral language, children may face challenges in academic language proficiency that will assist them achieving academic success in life. Essentially, teachers are to use words to teach children because word knowledge is very crucial to the academic success and reading comprehension. The ability to understand the words increase yearly as children progress in schools. Thus, teachers are to deliver a deliberate English language instruction to make learning be user-friendly. Moreover, children are to learn everyday vocabularies, and grammar in schools to make them competent in the English language. When children are able to master grammar and learn different vocabularies, they will be proficiency in English and have the ability to express themselves without grammatical errors. Moreover, teachers are to assist the schoolchildren developing the listening skills using the videotaped. Since the oral communication is one of the important aspects to help students developing listening skills of children, teachers should incorporate language into the lesson design by matching the ELP (English language Proficiency) to the language demand. This strategy will assist the teacher to match the appropriate language domain such as listening, writing, reading and speaking to enhance students' performances.

Reflective Journal of Chapter 3 of the Herrera Book

To engage children intellectually, teachers are to treat students as a person, and knowledgeable. The RTI (response to intervention) is an important aspect that forms a relationship between instruction and assessment. Assessment is a teaching tool to measure teachers or students level of understanding of what they require to teach or learn. In essence, students' failure can be reduced if the U.S. academic community uses the teachers' assessment to evaluate teachers' level of understanding in teaching. While there is a different type of assessment, however, pre-instructional assessment is an effective tool to teach a wide range of students. Moreover, the assessment method assists in understanding the skills, knowledge, and experience that the students have gained in schools. It is very critical to understand that the schools have to engage their students in the different type of learning; the best strategy to achieve this goal is to use the summative and formative assessments. The summative assessment determines students' level of understanding in a particular subject. Some of the examples of the summative assessment include:

State assessments

Interim assessment or District benchmark

End-of-unit tests

End-of-term exams and Semester exams.

A formative assessment is an instructional progress incorporated in the classroom practice. Examples of formative assessment include goal setting, observation, questioning strategy, peer, and self-assessment. While formative assessment is used to achieve the students' needs, however, personalized instruction makes the students document what they have learned in the class. The method makes parents view the contents of what the students have learned in schools. The standard is also an effective tool to assess students' performances. For example, assessment is very effective to measure students' standard of reading instruction. Using the assessment tool, teachers can measure the reading standard of students.

A RTI (response to intervention) is the strategy of close monitoring the students' progress. The goal is to intervene and help students in the early years of their learning. The pre-assessment allows schools to assess students learning skills to identify their competency and shortcomings before starting the school session. The strategy will assist the school to plan an effective RTI to help students to achieve their learning goals when teaching starts. My current school uses the RTI to help students achieving their academic goals.

Reflective Journal of Chapter 5 of the Herrara Book

Herrara et al. (2013) in their book discusses the strategies that can be employed in assessing the English language proficiency which include:

Informal assessment of English language proficiency, and Formal method of language proficiency

The rationale for the assessment is to enhance the language proficiency and acquisition of students. The key elements of language proficiency and acquisition include morphology, phonology, pragmatics, semantics, and syntax. The informal assessment includes parent interview, and home language survey. However, the programming related with reference to the language proficiency include identification, placement, and monitoring. Moreover, the assessment of the skills and knowledge of the students' primary language is very important to help teachers planning the method to address students' academic challenges. For example, teachers are to use pictures, and graphic to teach students the language concepts. However, when assessing students, teachers should realize that some CLD students can develop skills in one language and not able to possess the skills in other languages. Thus, probing students' knowledge is very effective to determine students' skills. In the United States, English is the primary method of instruction, thus, the ability of the CLD student to benefit from the English language depends on the teachers' ability to plan a lesson in order to minimize the students' potential learning barrier. Teachers ought to assist students learning different contents in phonology, syntax, semantic and morphology. For example, the semantics is the study of the meaning of words, sentences, and phrases. It also involves an ability to understand concepts and their relationships. Since students learn morphology, syntax, and phonology from their primary and native language, which continue to develop in students' life, the semantic knowledge will continue to improve the student's vocabulary. Since students' listening, reading and writing skills are developed from their native language, it is the responsibility of the teachers to develop these skills through formal and informal assessment of language proficiency.

Reflective Journal of Chapter 6 of the Herrara Book

In the contemporary learning environment, integration of students' culture, language, and experience in the learning environment are the effective strategy to enhance learning. When educators or teachers ignore language, experience, and culture within the classroom environment, the students will be at the disadvantages. Thus, teachers are required to plan the way culture, and language is integrated into the classroom given the myriad of the diversity of culture, and language in the classroom environment. Thus, assessment of students' learning ability will assist the teachers to understand their level of understanding. For example, the informal formative assessment helps to understand the academic progress of students. The informal formative assessment is also very effective in developing curriculum to address the problem that the LCD students face in their learning progress.

A common type of informal formative assessment is an inquiry assessment that responds to student learning behaviors. The teachers also derive benefits from the inquiry assessment because it becomes the natural way of teaching. Herrara et al. (2013) believe that the informal formative assessment assists teachers to understand the level of students understanding through observation. In my field experience, I use the self-assessment to evaluate and rate students' work. Typically, the traditional grading systems are beneficial because it helps in motivating students. Contrarily, the grade-learning assessment can be harmful to the CLD students because it makes teachers' pay less attention to construction or the learning process.

The technologically based assessment has also been integrated into teaching with the advance in the technology and has met the critical needs of the LCD learners. In the information age, a carefully chosen technology will assist students to be competent in the language comprehension. The technology also helps the native students to improve their comprehension. Moreover, the technology provides the contextual supports such as pictures, audio, video, and other authentic learning resources to help students understanding the language comprehension.

Reference

Chen, D., (2008). Early Intervention in Action Working Across Disciplines to Support Infants with Multiple Disabilities and their Families. Paul H. Brooks Publishing.

Chen. D. Klein., M.D. & Minor, L. (2009). Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Early Intervention Professional Development in Multiple Disabilities through Distance Education. Infants & Young Children. 22(2):146-158.

Colorado Department of Education (2012).The Standards-Based Teaching / Learning Cycle (Second Edition). The Colorado Coalition of Standards-Based Education.

Gottleib, M., Katz, A., & Ernst-Slavit, G. (2009). Paper to practice: Using the TESOL English language proficiency standards in PreK-12 classrooms. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. ISBN: 9781931185554

Herrera, S., Morales Cabral, R., & Murry, K.G. (2013). Assessment Accommodations for Classroom Teachers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, 2nd ed. Boston: Pearson. ISBN 9780132853354.

Salcedo, P. & Chen, D. (2008). Module 7: Vision Development and Vision Impairment in Early Intervention in Action Working Across Disciplines to Support Infants with Multiple Disabilities and their Families. Paul H. Brooks Publishing.

Wayne-Myck, J. & Chen, D. (2008). Module 8: Hearing Loss in Early Intervention in Action Working Across Disciplines to Support Infants with Multiple Disabilities and their Families. Paul H. Brooks Publishing.