ECSE 421 Week 5

This week I was greatly impacted as we talked about families and the grief cycle. We also had a guest lecture by a mother with who has 2 sons with various disabilities. In the grief cycle we talked about how it is important to be aware of the family’s needs at the current moment. They will go through the grief cycle many times as their children fail to reach milestones they would have expected for them. As a professional in the home we should become familiar with the grief cycle and label where they are in the cycle so we know how to approach interventions.

My greatest resource this week was the guest lecture. It is not very often as professionals that we get to hear the mother’s day to day routines that are difficult to adapt to. She has to plan her entire life around those boys and it is a struggle to keep the energy going in order to keep up with their hectic routines. She has realized that she gets to provide experiences for her boys instead of having experiences. I can imagine that is very exhausting.

To apply what I have learned this week into the future I would like to take on a new attitude. I need to realize that while I may know what the child is like at home, I am not at home with that child day in and day out. I do not know what those parents are going through because I have not experienced the everyday care of that child. I would like to be more empathetic towards parents and show them that I realize they know what is best for their child and I am there to provide the tools they need to accomplish their child’s goals.

 My peers learned a lot this week and I learned a lot from them. They participated in the class discussions and provided insight I had not thought of before. I appreciate how they are willing to share personal experiences with family members or people they know who have disabilities and what it is like in their home.

“Their behavior isn’t a reflection of my parenting.”- Guest Lecturer

As I venture deeper into my HWD project, I am coming across many ways to apply what I am learning into the field. I have been able to take strategies from ECSE 340 and apply them to early intervention. This week I focused on learning what and early intervention specialist does within the homes of the families. I learned that the main goal of the Developmental Specialist is to work with the parents to create goals for the child. As they look at the developmental checklist along with the parental goals, they will help the parent be the advocate for their child.

The families do not have to pay for these services, and the Developmental Specialist is able to create a plan for the family called an Individualized Family Service Plan. Through this plan the families will be able to learn how they can implement strategies into their daily routines. The Specialist helps them learn these strategies based on the child’s goal.  

I have also seen other careers in Early Intervention such as, Speech Pathologist, Physical Therapist, Behavioral Support, and Occupational Therapist.

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