In considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically it is our
commitment as educators, parent’s and other professionals connected to the
growth and development of all children rights to ensure the well-being
and protection, privacy and safety and understanding of the children as a
individual whole person. Therefore what, how and when a child mental and physical ability can
play a important role of their health considering if any psychological disorder
influence their personal factors involving decision making that may affect him
or her mentally and physically in the future within their society. Why? I
believe all children should be a protective factor for being measured or
assessed upon their psychological disorder. The reason I believe genetic
testing plays a valid role in the child physical ability to perform for the
well-being of the child. It can cause an impact of a child mind, health and
physical, abilities in performance social and emotional in school and society
up to adulthood. The effective way children growth and development in each of
these domains plays an important role that involves their cognitive, social
emotional, physical abilities when implemented in an individual test is not
always measure and assessed based on all children genetic testing some children
are not evaluated are diagnosed incorrectly and go undiagnosed there are some
who are altogether over looked in public schools, parents, and by medical physicians didn’t
detected. The reason I can say it is important for parents and teachers to
suggest or recommend Genetic testing is base on
true story about myself and one of my children and what we experienced
in our own personal life having a disability and what challenges we faced.
I graduated from High School in 1977 and I was
born July 28, 1959 I attended public school for 12 years of being a child who
could have fell though the cracks of education but I was blessed with a
creative mind and a supporting family, plus I was determine to learn. Considering, I was one of the
children who had a disability but no one notice and if they did they never had referred
or tested me. I suffered from embarrassment, children made fun of me because I
couldn’t read as good as they could when the teacher had us to read out loud in
front of our peers. I couldn’t comprehend the information enough to pass a lot
of my testes so they made better grades then me and sometimes, called me
dumb which that hurt. Growing up with a disability impacts a life of a child
though out their adulthood. I put a lot of effort in studying and trying to
learn my school work. Therefore, without being consider for having a learning
disability during this time in my life cause challenges that impacted my life and will impact other children physically and mentally abilities if they go undetected at a young age. During this time I knew I was
different then most of my friends in school as far as learning.
I tried clues and strategies and had longer
then usual study hours, but that was my creative way of helping me overcome
fear in learning, because I didn’t want to fail in school.
Therefore, I created will-power. I convinced
my self I could learn I just needed support from my family, friends, and
teacher’s. If it meant sometimes putting in extra time applying myself in
studying my class work. I went unnoticed, undetected and undiagnosed for 12 years in the public school
system. The only way I passed my classes in public school is by doing extra credit work or loosing play time.
However, once I attended Junior Collage, I discover I had a problem remembering
or comprehending information when studying for a test. Therefore, I took upon
myself to I speak to a counselor about my problem who preferred me to go and have a Genetic
test for mentally and physically pertaining to my educational performance
abilities. I made an appointment to The Department for Students with
Disabilities Services. Once I was tested and diagnosed with a disability, I was
able to get support services threw them to help me maintain my grade level and comprehend
information at a given time to overcome my challenges that were created by poverty and become
successful academically. When I was attending public school my parent wasn’t
educated on every different disability that could effect a child educational
performance and the school didn’t have (IEP)
Individualized Education Program to evaluated or tested a student
mentally or physically abilities in academic performance. My parent couldn’t
afford to pay to have me to take a Genetic test for Psychological Disorders. the services help me to prepared how, what and when I needed to use certain strategies about how I
could cope with my daily or weekly assignments and testing in school. For
example, “Although dyslexia is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders
affecting children, prevalence is uncertain and available data are scanty and
dated. The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of dyslexia in
an unselected school population using clearly defined and rigorous diagnostic
criteria and methods.” (
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048082)
“Results
; We recruited 1774 children
aged 8–10 years, of which 1528 received parents’ consent to participate. After
applying exclusion criteria, 1357 pupils constituted the final working sample.
The prevalence of dyslexia in the enrolled population ranged from 3.1% (95% CI
2.2–4.1%) to 3.2% (95% CI 2.4–4.3%) depending on different criteria adopted. In
two out of three children with dyslexia the disorder had not been previously
diagnosed.” A cross national comparison of dyslexia prevalence in Italy and in the United
States confirmed that dyslexia is more prevalent in the United States than in Italy. (http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048082.)
The ways school-age children assessed in Niagara I don’t have a personal
affinity for the way the school-age children are assessed in Niagara
because I think it is great they have individual help that are trained and offer parent involvement,
also, the program is designed to help parents understand their child
disability. Plus, it will educate the parent about what intervention plan to use for their child disability. “
According to The Learning Disabilities
Association of Niagara Region currently offers multiple programs: Reading
Rocks!, Reading Rocks Junior, Let's R.E.A.D., B.E.S.T., and S.L.A.M. for
children and youth who have undiagnosed /diagnosed learning disabilities/ADHD.
For parents, P.A.C.E. is offered to provide information, strategies, tools
and support for raising a child with a learning disability, and an Adult
Support Group is offered when interest is shown for adults who are living with
a learning disability/ADHD. Furthermore;
Please note
applicants will be screened for other exceptionalities (i.e. autism, down
syndrome, FAS, developmental delays, etc.) as LDANR's mandate is to offer
programs and services for those with learning disabilities. LDANR
is not designed to treat students with severe mental health or
students with severe emotional and behavioral issues. B.E.S.T. and
S.L.A.M. programs are not behavioral programs, but rather programs to support
children with learning disabilities through LD awareness, self-advocacy, building
self-esteem and social skills.
All participants must have the ability to behave in a small group setting. Reading
Rocks! is our flagship program that we have been offering at Brock for the past
6 years. In this program, children will work one-to-one with a trained literacy
volunteer. The Reading Rocks program responds to an identified need for some
students who benefit from explicit instruction and positive re-enforcement and
motivation as they develop their phonological awareness and processing skills.
This program targets children and youth who struggle with reading and writing skills
because of a reading disability. Through one-on-one instruction students work
on a variety of literacy skills including: phonics, sight words, fluency,
reading and listening comprehension, spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and
more. Trained therapy dogs from St.
John’s Ambulance also visit the program where the
children practice reading to the dogs to help improve their reading
abilities!
(ages: 5 – 16 years)Furthermore LDANR
is the fortunate recipient of an
Ontario Trillium Foundation grant
that supports these three programs (Reading Rocks! B.E.S.T. & S.T.E.P.S.).
Therefore, there is no fee for these three programs while LDANR receives the
OTF grant. However, LDANR is a non-profit organization and relies on donations
to continue offering services and programs in the Niagara Region. There are
many families that now have access to these programs at no cost thanks to the
OTF grant. We do ask of those who can afford to make a donation to please do so
when registering for a program so that LDANR can continue offering these
programs to families at no cost
once the OTF grant ends.”( http://www.ldaniagara.org/programs.php)
Also, of one of my children faced challenges in
school it started in Head Start and enter in the public school she was consider
to be target as a child with behavior problem in kindergarten. Everyday I was
called at work that she was a hitting other children and being a distraction in
the classroom. Never once did the teacher consider a plan of action that she
may need to use interventions to help my child or myself on how to cope control
impulses, concentrate, and organize. Such as, implementing a (IEP) which stands
for Individual Educational Program, handouts on positive or negative prevention
or intervention signs to look for or learn how to develop a plan of action on
helping a child cope with different stressful situations. For instance, therapy
and a support team in order for her to focus in a school setting with other
children. However, I decided to talk to one of the school counselors and she
suggested that she be tested. The counselor set up a meeting with the teacher,
administrator and myself meeting in which they implemented the (IEP) In the United
States an
Individualized Education Program, commonly referred to as an
IEP,
is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In Canada and the United Kingdom, an equivalent
document is called an
Individual Education Plan. An IEP defines the
individualized objectives of a child who has been found with a disability, as
defined by federal regulations. The IEP is intended to help children reach
educational goals more easily than they otherwise would. In all cases the IEP
must be tailored to the individual student's needs as identified by the IEP
evaluation process, and must especially help teachers and related service
providers (such as paraprofessional educators) understand the student's
disability and how the disability affects the learning process. The IEP
describes how the student learns, how the student best demonstrates that
learning and what teachers and service providers will do to help the student
learn more effectively. Developing an IEP requires assessing students in all
areas related to the known disabilities, simultaneously considering ability to
access the general curriculum, considering how the disability affects the
student’s learning, forming goals and objectives that correspond to the needs
of the student, and choosing a placement in the least restrictive environment
possible for the student.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualized_Education_Program).
Therefore, there is no charge for any parent like myself willing to take part
in helping a child become successful in life.
The government pays for it.
However, (ADHD) stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It
is condition that affects the areas of the brain that help us to control
impulses, concentrate, and organize. Studies have shown that it can be treated
with medicine, therapy, and other support. (http://www.quillivantxr.com/understanding-adhd)
doesn’t have anything to do with a child
behavior. Therefore, my point is genetic testing should be consider because it
can affect a child learning capabilities and physical abilities to perform the
best of their abilities and every parent, educator and other professions should
be educated and train as for as performance and commitment to the well-being of
a child to ensure a safe, healthy setting in the public school where children
can gain the highest quality of education to meet their individual needs. In
considering to viewing young children holistically it is our commitment as
educators, parents and other professionals to have a plan of action and I don’t’
believe it should consist of a child taking medication in order to cope with
the educational activities in school. Why? For example the prescription drug
Quillivant XR that treats ADHD
is a “federally controlled substance (CII) because
it can be abused or lead to dependence. Keep Quillivant XR in a safe place to
prevent misuse and abuse. Selling or giving away Quillivant XR may harm others
and is against the law. Tell
your doctor if you or your child have (or have a family history of) ever abused
or been dependent on alcohol, prescription medicines, or street drugs.”(http://www.quillivantxr.com/understanding-adhd)
The
additional suggestions and/or concerns related to assessing young children I would
like to share with your colleagues will to keep and open mind. If you feel that
their may be a concern about a child’s performance don’t be so quick to judge
them because there is a reason for a child not being able to gain knowledge due
to the evidence of their mentally or physical performance. For example, It
maybe children are
intelligent
or maybe not be intelligent and may need more of a challenge therefore we as educators need to suggest a
plan of action to gain their interest in learning. I believe every individual
learns differently and we have to find out what’s best for their individual
needs. I suggest asking the parent what are their concerns about their child
and what do they think can help them in their long term goal? Whether, it’s the child’s
mental and physical abilities to become productive in meeting their individual
goals in the future. Next, ask the parent what is it they would like from you
as their child or children educational care provider in order to help their child or children to become skillful and successful in education and their life in general within society.
