Assignment task:
Early childhood educators play a crucial role in promoting the development of young learners in all developmental domains. To this end, early childhood educators collaborate with other stakeholders, including paraprofessionals, to meet a wide variety of needs of young learners with and without exceptionalities, particularly in social-emotional development. Together they identify students who may require additional support to be successful in the learning environment due to certain developmental delays. These may be specified in an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) or Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
For this assignment, review the "Social-Emotional Scenarios." The teachers in the scenarios have come to you for feedback and insight on what further interventions they should implement to help the students achieve their goals, and how they can utilize and communicate with paraeducators, tutors, and volunteers in the process.
In a 150-250 word response for each scenario, provide feedback to the teachers that includes the following:
Brief summary and analysis of the classroom teacher's challenges including student behavioral, developmental, and academic challenges and student data that identifies behavioral or academic needs of the student.
Select 1-2 executive function skills that the student needs assistance to develop.
Identify at least two play-based learning strategies/activities to support the development of the selected executive function skills.
Summarize the guidance and direction you would need to give to paraeducators, tutors, and volunteers that is appropriate to support the development of executive function skills with the activities. Guidance provided should be culturally and linguistically responsive, taking into consideration the environment and delivery approach to support individual student needs.
Explain the communication and collaboration with families about goals and next steps to promote positive outcomes. How can you demonstrate compassion and caring when communicating with families and students and how can this help students reach their goals?
In addition, select two of the following instructional methods and write 100-150 words explaining each, including examples of how they could be implemented to meet the needs of young learners with and without exceptionalities:
Cooperative/Collaborative learning
Experiential learning
Independent study
Project-based instruction
Support your work with 2-3 resources
While APA Style format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. Need Assignment Help?
Scenario 1:
Joseph is a three-year-old in Mrs. Roseland's preschool classroom. Joseph attends a Head Start developmental preschool where he has been identified as having an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to support social and emotional development. His goals centered around social and emotional skills to guide his emotional outbursts during structured activities and his ability to cooperatively play with other children. Joseph would yell and scream when another child joined in the play center and started to engage in parallel play with him, especially in his favorite centers. Sometimes he would try to hit the other child if the child tried to engage in associated play. The following goals have been set for Joseph:
- Goal 1: The student will identify feelings by using the feelings chart hanging in the classroom and pointing out 1-2 images that represent emotions with 90% mastery.
- Goal 2: The student will interact with a minimum of two students in a social setting inside or outside the classroom to include skills such as sharing and appropriately addressing conflict with 80% mastery.
As he entered the kindergarten classroom, Mrs. Roseland read through his IEP and began observing his behaviors in the classroom. She noted the following behaviors:
Mornings:
- Joseph will sit in group time for the duration of the activity. However, he often uses his legs to kick other students or touch their carpet area causing disruption.
- During the morning transition from carpet time to desk work, he goes straight to the free play area. The kitchen or blocks tend to be his preference. When asked to go to his seat, he refuses and hides under a table screaming and crying.
Afternoon:
- During free choice time, he once again prefers the blocks or kitchen centers. When other students attempt to play with him, he does not allow them to cooperatively play and often uses his hands to show his frustration.
Mrs. Roseland worked with the administration to have a paraprofessional work with Joseph for two hours during his school day. During the time he had a paraprofessional, Joseph was allowed to play in the kitchen area and select two friends to collaboratively play with. The paraprofessional worked on skills to encourage appropriate collaboration with peers and observed that Joseph prefers to play alone and does tend to act out or get overly upset when other peers are in the free play area. Mrs. Roseland is asking for support, intervention strategies, and how to encourage social and emotional development using play-based strategies and the paraprofessional to support Joseph.
Scenario 2:
Sheila is a second grade student in Mr. Drake's classroom. She has been at the same elementary school since kindergarten and was placed on an IEP during her kindergarten school year. Sheila was adopted at the age of three and displayed several concerns with trauma and attachment. She was identified in kindergarten as having severe emotional outbursts and lacked connections with peers or the teacher. Sheila would hiss and say mean things about other children. Additionally, Sheila would often sit by herself and scowl at her classmates playing. When she did try to engage with her classmates, she would follow the kids around and tell them how to play, instead of asking them if she could join in. She was placed on an IEP with the category of emotional and behavioral disorder to support social and emotional growth with goals focused on utilizing play strategies to encourage healthy attachment with the teacher as well as appropriate social connections with peers. The goals included in Sheila's IEP are as follows:
- Goal 1: The student will independently initiate social interaction with a peer twice a day with 90% mastery.
- Goal 2: The student will apply cool-down strategies by selecting a strategy from a visual chart and engaging in a cool-down strategy for 2-3 minutes when needed to minimize the emotional inconsistencies with 85% mastery.
Currently, Mr. Drake has noticed that Sheila prefers to sit at a table alone in the classroom, does not play with other peers during recess, and struggles to work in groups with other peers. Her anxiety seems to be of concern at this point and she is not able to use self-calming strategies to manage situations. Mr. Drake worked with the special education teacher to provide some additional support for Sheila. The special education teacher presented two strategies to Mr. Drake as strategies to apply to the classroom.
1. Sheila will be a peer mentor in the neighboring kindergarten class, allowing her to interact with more play-based environments and engage in imaginative play.
2. Mr. Drake has asked for a paraeducator to monitor Sheila in the kindergarten classroom as well as when she is out at recess.
Since implementing the two strategies, Mr. Drake has documented the observation results from both his classroom perspective as well as the perspective of the paraeducator. He has noticed that Sheila enjoys time playing with imaginative objects but does not do well as a mentor or with the younger children. She tends to have an increase in anxiety when asked to guide or mentor others. In addition, the paraeducator has noticed that at recess Sheila has been trying to interact with others but gets extremely emotional when others donot follow her direction or play preferences. Mr. Drake is asking for support, intervention strategies, and how to encourage social and emotional development using play-based strategies and the paraprofessional to support Sheila.
Scenario 3:
Ian is a kindergarten student in Mr. Mitchell's classroom. This is Ian's first formal school experience. Ian is cared for by his grandmother during the day while his parents are at work. Full-day kindergarten has been a difficult transition for Ian, who sometimes falls asleep after lunch or toward the end of the day. During lessons and independent work time, Ian has difficulty following directions and completing tasks. He often wanders around the classroom during independent work and center time and can be a distraction to others. He exhibits impulsive behaviors such as writing on other students' work, putting his hands on others around him, and throwing classroom materials. Ian enjoys making the children at his table laugh, playing outside during recess, free play time, and socializing with his peers, but needs help with socializing appropriately. He responds well when peers redirect him and provide assistance with his class work.
Mr. Mitchell is collecting data and working with Ian to try and figure out if his behavior is due to lack of school experience or if there is something more going on that needs to be addressed. Mr. Mitchell is in the process of developing strategies and interventions to help Ian in the classroom to determine if formal testing is necessary. The strategies and interventions will be focused on:
- Following 2-3 step instructions
- Successfully completing assigned tasks and transitioning to the next activity/task
- Asking for help from peers when he is unsure of what to do
- Socializing with friends appropriately
Mr. Mitchell is seeking help with developing supports, activities, and interventions to assist Ian in developing the skills listed.