Abstract
Many parents agree that their children have developmental delays in terms of socializing and human interaction. Accordingly, the children do not have problems with recognizing the alphabet and simple calculations; however, they may choose to play alone, and face with issues in communication and socialising. In this case, early intervention is considered to be the primary solution in developmental delay in childcare and kindergartens. In this assignment, school, kindergarten, community, and system regarding the issue have been analyzed, and a corresponding action plan has been offered to sustain well-being, convenient social environment, and a proper school and kindergarten setting for children with an autism spectrum disorder.
Keywords: development delay, autism spectrum disorder, early intervention, kindergarten
Action Plan for Parents on ASD
Pediatric experts often identify various types of delays in children. These delays include communication, cognitive, social, physical, behavioral, and emotional areas (Dawson et al., 2004). However, a child may be affected more than one of these developments, which is considered a global developmental delay. In this assignment, communication, behavioral, and social areas of development resulted from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been analyzed in order to come up with an action plan that may aid both kindergartens, schools, families, and children to socialize and communicate better. Children with such developmental delays may often have trouble with socializing. Also, disorders such as autism spectrum and attention deficit hyperactivity could be the core reasons in specific cases (Christensen et al., 2019). Research findings suggest that children should start expressing their feelings at the age of 3 or 4 and taking turns with other children at 4-5 years (Dawson et al., 2004). Accordingly, the goal of the assignment is to improve awareness of parents on the social involvement of their children with an autism spectrum disorder.
Core Reasons for Development Delays
Children often experience developmental milestones in their surroundings. Usually, temporary and minor delays should not lead to an alarm; however, multiple and ongoing delays in sustaining communication, socializing and expressing emotions should be an early sign of future challenges for the children (Schopler & Mesibov, 1986). These kinds of delays may stem from various factors such as premature birth, problems with pregnancy, and heredity despite the fact that the cause is not always recognized (‘’Development of Children’’). On the other hand, these delays may sometimes indicate a condition that merely experts and doctors can diagnose (Fung & Reiss, 2016). In both cases, the well-being of the children and early intervention is of great importance for the progress and development into adulthood.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can lead to communication, socializing and interaction problems for children. Intellectual disabilities, socializing, and language delay is elements of classic autism spectrum disorder. The symptoms of the disorder are often apparent, but in such cases, it may not be noticeable until children reach 2-3 years of age. Resistance to cuddling, lack of emotional expression, repetitive movements, development of specific routines, resistance to playing with others, difficulty at speaking or carrying a conversation is often considered among the common symptoms (‘’ Social Relationships’’, n.d.). Unfortunately, no cure for ASD has been developed yet; however, early caring, education and intervention can be useful in terms of early proper development for children with ASD. The disorder is defined by two main symptoms: repetitive behaviors and lack of social communication.
Autism Spectrum Disorder and Social Skills
Many children with autism spectrum disorder should be encouraged in learning and acting towards various types of social circumstances. These children often want to interact with other people; however, they are unaware of engaging in a new environment or a friend group. Accordingly, personalized teaching stories regarding social situations such as going to a restaurant, handling bullying, potty training, taking turns, play date, and going to the store should be presented visually. Hence, children with autism will realize how to react to different situations or what is expected from them. Furthermore, children with ASD should be encouraged to take part in social skills groups that offer children to practice their social skills on a regular basis. However, an effective social skills group should provide predictability and structure, provide multiple and varied opportunities for learning, and improve self-esteem and self-awareness. Also, the group should work in pairs so that the needed partnership and cooperation are encouraged. As social skills development for children with ASD involves attention and focus on timing, support for improving communication and sensory, and a way to develop language and cognitive skills, the aforementioned groups are of great importance both for parents and children with ASD.
Building a Good Working Relationship with Children’s Kindergarten and School
The children with ASD disorder need to have a proper caring and individual treatment regarding their social surroundings, education institutes, and families. Hence, it is significant to sustain a convenient approach. Accordingly, parents should always be in communication with the school or kindergarten teacher and other relevant people (Positive Schooling, 2019). Also, in order to create a helpful and understanding social circle, the classmates of children with ASD should be informed about the disorder (Tonnsen & Hahn, 2016). As a child’s needs may alter in time, there are unfortunately no excellent programs. Students. However, being active in observing the child's learning, behavior at school and kindergarten, and their program hold an advantage for families (Matos et al., 2018). Informing everyone in the child's circle such as friends, family, and teacher is highly useful. Also, building a strong relationship with the child's teacher is significant in terms of the well-being of the children (‘’Strategies for School’’, n.d.).
Specific positive steps for ensuring a good relationship with the school and kindergarten are listed below;
- Providing relevant information on Autism Spectrum Disorder to the teacher if he/she does not have experience with children who have ASD.
- Participating in an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process is highly significant. At the beginning of the semester, families should communicate with the teacher and come up with a convenient creation of Individualized Education plan for the children with ASD.
- Specific autism communities invite educational institutes to take part in awareness campaigns regarding children with ASD disorder. Accordingly, useful resources and activities are available for teachers to help children with ASD disorder at school and kindergarten. With these resources and activities, the teacher may help these children become more inclusive in social gatherings and friend environments.
- Children involve activities both at home, school, kindergarten and in the autism communities. Therefore, it is vital to inform the teacher regarding these activities that the child with ASD takes part in.
- Working with the teacher during the early school and kindergarten years is significant. In order to implement and design school and home communication plan for the children, parents should work with the teachers.
- Children with ASD may have shifting sleep patterns, medication etc. Hence, it is critical to inform the teacher and the school, and the kindergarten regarding new information on children with ASD because these shifts may affect a child's performance and communication at school and kindergarten.
Overcoming Difficult Situations
The children with ASD disorder often have difficulties with expressing their emotions, sustaining healthy communication, and social life resulted from the common symptoms. Parents, schools, and friends should always consider the symptoms of the disorder not to create a more significant problem from expected difficult situations. For parents, patience is the critical element in such situations as aggression will not be helpful in resolving issues that are stemming either from school, administration or regulation. An incident that is difficult to deal with may often arise. The parents should not become overly aggressive and confrontational in these situations because aggression creates defensive responses; however, calm assertiveness may provide mutual respect for probable solutions. Specific actions are recommended below:
- In such cases, parents should always contact the teacher first. Concerns relating to the implementation should always be addressed to the teacher. Unless there is a contrary argument, parents should try communicating at first. Calling the school principal for complaining in such cases is not helpful; instead, it can create a destructive approach that may affect a child's circle at kindergarten in a negative way.
- For the issues regarding the incident or situation, outlining the main concerns is the useful way.
- In such cases, when the teacher cannot fix the problem. Now, parents should follow the hierarchy chain. At first, communicating with the principal and other board staff, followed by the director of education, seem to be the right solution.
- If the school or kindergarten hierarchy cannot yet fix the issues, parents should contact the Ministry of Education. At first, District Special Education Officer, then the other relevant in the Ministry of Education are recommended.
- If the issue regarding the identification or placement, parents should ask the principle to organize an Identification, Placement and Review Committee gathering (IPRC).
- In some instances, parents should share information about the child's ASD disorder with their classmates. Accordingly, the autism community can provide the relevant resources to make children with ASD socially inclusive.
- Parents should not give up on the solution, and persistence is the key to challenging situations. Patiently following the hierarchy and finding the right people to ask for help are the core elements for handling difficult situations.
Recommendations for Effective Parent Handling
1- Defining long term goals for children with ASD
2- Concentrating on these goals regarding social inclusiveness and communication
3- Determining what will help the situation to achieve a better social condition
4- Developing a vision for the child with ASD that creates a communicative and social environment
Recommended plan for the social environment
1- Thinking all social options
2- Determining the positive and negative aspects of each social environment
3- Determining preferred environments
4- Defining short and long term results
5- Considering drawbacks of the preferred environment
Staying in contact with the School
1- Making phone calls
2- Writing letters
3- Attending meetings
4- Providing relevant resources to school teachers and administration as well as classmates
Evaluation
- Parents should observe any progress on the child's social development, and whether any changes are made to a child's placement, support and program at a school setting.
- If the process is not working well, parents should return to the previous steps and make sure that each of them is appropriately applied.
- If necessary, implementing another action plan by consulting people at higher hierarchy such as tribunal, appeal, or Ministry of Education is a good option.
Compiling a file on children with ASD disorder for the school and kindergarten environment
As some unexpected incidents such as moving to another place and school change may occur, parents should compile a file involving the necessary medical and social history of the child with ASD disorder. This approach and action will help the child adapt better to a new environment in the case of the situations as mentioned earlier. The elements that file should include are listed below:
- Relevant reports from occupational therapists, psychologists, speech therapists, hospitals and medical consultants should be included in the file.
- The school does specific assessments on children with ASD. The parent should obtain copies of psychological and educational assessments. They are often hard to get unless parents specifically ask for these documents. Parents should ask for the copies to document them in the file
- Including copies of child’s Individual Education Plans.
- Parents should add the letters and notes regarding the child's behavioral, communicational and social progress at school.
Certain sample forms are given below so that parents should keep up with progressive development analysis for the social development of children with ASD. Contact log and school personnel contact sheets are given below.
Conclusion
Pediatric experts often identify various types of delays in children, and these delays include communication, cognitive, social, physical, behavioral and emotional areas. In this assignment, communication, behavioral and social areas of development resulted from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been analyzed in order to come up with an action plan that may aid both schools, kindergartens, families, and children to socialize and communicate better. The goal of the assignment is to improve awareness of parents on the social involvement of their children with an autism spectrum disorder. Subsequently, the participation of families on school and kindergarten hierarchy, including the teacher, is of great importance. Parents should also perform a constant observation by filing all necessary progressions regarding the child's social improvement.
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