Special Needs

Tips for Entering Little Lambs "with Special Needs"
Dealing with Feelings, Stress, and Behaviors in Preschool Transition
Learn About Preschool Programs
Developmental Delays
6 Ways Student Progress is Measured in Special Education
Picking a Childcare Center
Our Goals
Play Time
Financial Assistance


Tips for Entering LITTLE LAMBS "with Special Needs"

When Your child enters preschool, it is an exciting time that can also be stressful. Learn what you can expect as your child moves into preschool and what you can do to make the preschool transition go more smoothly for both of you. Transition is especially important for your child if she has developmental delays. Preparation can help ensure your child gets the services she needs to support her educational development.

Be Aware of Feelings When Entering Preschool – Changes Bring Mixed Feelings for Both of You. During preschool transition, parents and children can experience a range of emotions. It is a time of significant change for everyone in the household that can cause family members to feel:

• Stress and uncertainty about the future and fearful of change;
• Excited and hopeful about new learning experiences and meeting new friends;
• Concerned about your child’s readiness;
• Anxious about the new adults and children in your child’s life; and
• Optimistic about future learning.

These feelings are normal and to be expected.

Dealing with Feelings, Stress, and Behaviors in Preschool Transition

Not all parents and children feel stress and anxiety with preschool transition. In most cases, however, it is normal and to be expected. You can take steps to address anxiety when it occurs:

• List of items that concern you, and develop questions to ask your provider.
• Discuss your questions and concerns with your child's teacher. If you are not comfortable with the school's rules, routines, or staff, consider the need to choose a different program.
• Check if there are complaints or kudos about the programs you are considering. Your state's department of education will have information on public preschool programs and can direct you to the agency overseeing private programs.
• If you or your child feel stressed about transition, consider creating your own stress management plan.
• Any separation anxiety your child feels can worsen if he senses you are also anxious. Researching your preschool program can help both of your feel better about the transition into preschool.
• Some children may experience regression as part of separation anxiety. This is usually temporary and will go away as your child adjusts to his new routines. Having consistent rules and routines at home and preschool can help your child adjust.
• If your child experiences serious adjustment problems talk with her pediatrician her preschool teacher. Together, you can develop strategies that are right for your child to help the problem.

Learn About Preschool Programs

Know What to Expect in the Preschool or Early Childhood Program
Whether your child is moving from home, private childcare, or daycare setting into preschool, there will be some changes. Understanding those differences will help you prepare for a more successful transition.

• Research your preschool options before you need them.
• Be able to explain your child's abilities and needs to his new teacher.
• Most school districts provide free preschool screenings using tests such as the Battelle Developmental Inventory, the Learning Accomplishment Profile - Diagnostic, and adaptive behavior scales to assess children's developmental abilities and to determine if Developmental Delays are a concern.
• Developmental delays or not, screening results can provide important information to identify your child's developmental needs.
• Ask about parent involvement opportunities at the preschool. Can you assist in your child's class? Are there parent events where you can come to the preschool and get to know other parents?
• Regardless of your background, teachers can usually find tasks for you during volunteer time. Chaperoning field trips, preparing posters, handouts, and newsletters, assisting with repair and maintenance, reading to children or presenting to them about your work or a hobby, assisting as a classroom aide, managing fund raisers, are just a few of the activities that may be available for volunteers.
• Preschool is your first opportunity to establish your involvement in your child's education. Children with involved parents consistently fare better throughout their school years than those whose parents are not involved. Your involvement is perhaps the most important strategy in managing a successful preschool transition and the starting point for future educational success throughout the many changes to come.

Starting Preschool with Developmental Delays
If your child has been diagnosed with a developmental delays or other disability, he may already have a formalized service plan through early intervention programs. If so, your early intervention agency should schedule a transition meeting within a year of your child's transition to preschool. If not, ask them to do so. At this meeting, a representative from the local public preschool program should be invited. The district representative can share information with you concerning the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - Part B, which sets requirements to services for children ages 3-21. The meeting can address:

• Your child's current services and her developmental levels;
• A additional assessments that may be needed before your child transitions into a public preschool program;
• How an Individualized Education Program will be developed; and
• What placement options are available and what the least restrictive environments may be for your child.

The transition meeting to discuss the change from early childhood programs to preschool is a very important and addresses a lot of information, sometimes an overwhelming amount of information. Beginning the transition process early, as much as a year in advance, can be tremendously helpful and will give you:

• Adequate time to address all of your concerns;
• To research areas where you have questions;
• To allow time to properly assess your child;
• To develop an appropriate individual education program;
• To address your personal issues with transition; and
• To address your child's emotional and educational needs during the transition process

Parenting magazines and Web sites are full of advice on how to pick the perfect preschool for your child, but what might be perfect for a precocious or "normal" tot might not be the ideal spot for a child with special needs. Here are some factors to consider when choosing a preschool or daycare that will take the best care of your little one.

"The Best" May Not Be Best

Super-rigorous academic programs for kids as young as preschool age are often selling points for schools for little learners, yet very good schools with very lofty reputations can be very bad places for children with special needs. A school that sells itself based on seriousness or exclusivity is not likely to allow wide latitude for behavioral or developmental differences. And constant emphasis on learning may be stressful for your child, and stress can bring out even worse behavioral problems.

Toilet Training

Many preschools and daycares prefer that children be toilet-trained at a particular age. Often, children with special needs are late in reaching this milestone, and it may not be an appropriate goal until a much more advanced age than the school requests. Before deciding on a program for your child, find out whether a lack of toileting skills will be a problem, and whether there are personnel on hand who will be able to do whatever diapering your child will need.

Public vs. Private

Be sure to check with your school district to find out if your child is eligible for special education preschool offered in the public schools. Special education preschool provides education and services appropriate to your child, and will accommodate children who are not toilet-trained and who have specific physical or behavioral challenges. These are usually half-day programs, but you may be able to have your child bused to another preschool for the rest of the day if needed.

Language Modeling

Children with developmental or communication disabilities benefit enormously from being talked to a great deal and hearing plenty of speech to model. If many of the caretakers at a preschool or daycare speak a different language than you speak at home, there is a potential for confusion with a language-impaired child, and at the very least you will lose the benefits that bombardment with one language would bring.

Individual Attention

Your child may benefit from having a one-on-one aide, whether for physical or medical help or to handle behavioral difficulties. Ask if the preschool or daycare has enough staff to devote someone to your child, or if you can pay extra to hire such a person. Ideally, this will keep your child from becoming a burden on the teacher or a nuisance to the other students, while also providing a lot of beneficial individualized contact. Just having extra staff in the classroom may be sufficient.

An Inclusive Atmosphere

In the end, the best preschool or daycare for your special-needs child may be one that already has worked with children with special needs. Other programs may accept your child with a "well, we'll see how it goes" attitude, but that kind of pins-and-needles situation isn't healthy for your child or for you. Ask for recommendations among parents you know from early intervention and support groups. You want to find a place that's really able to serve a child like yours, not just willing.

Child care is a challenge for all parents, but even more so for those whose children have special health-care or behavioral needs. How do you find someone to watch your child for an evening, a weekend, every weekday so you can work? Here are some tips and resources for finding safe and appropriate care for your special child.

Developmental Delays

All children develop at different rates. In some cases, children with delays require early intervention to prevent future disabilities. In many children, delays in mental and physical development can improve. In a small percentage of children, however, developmental delays can suggest a possible future learning disability. How are Developmental Delays Different from Other Learning Disabilities? Developmental Delays differ from other types of learning disabilities in that they may improve with intervention and may eventually disappear. For that reason, it is important to be aware of early signs of a problem.

What Causes Developmental Delays?

Some types of delays and disabilities are linked to exposure to risk factors during the prenatal period. Fortunately, some of these disabilities are preventable through appropriate maternal health care and healthy lifestyle choices. Developmental delays can also be normal for your child, and she may catch up with her peers without the need for further intervention.

What are the Types of Developmental Delays?

Developmental Delays can exist in one or more of the following:

• Cognitive Skills;
• Communication;
• Social and Emotional Functioning;
• Behavior; and
• Motor Skills

What Services are Available for Children with Developmental Delays?

Students with developmental delays are eligible for special education services such as full evaluation, development of an IEP, specially designed instruction and related services.

How Can I Find Out if My Child's Developmental Delay is Serious?

Public schools offer screening and comprehensive assessment services to determine if your child has a developmental delay, how significant the delay is, and whether special education is needed. Evaluations can help determine if your child's delays are early signs of a learning disability.

Measuring student educational progress is important in developing and implementing instructional strategies and evaluating program effectiveness for your learning disabled child. Learn about the most common ways teachers measure student educational progress for special education programs, and gain valuable tips that will help you make educational decisions for his special education program.

6 Ways Student Progress is Measured in Special Education

1. Observation is a Helpful Tool to Measure Student Educational Progress Observations can provide highly accurate, detailed, and verifiable information on student strengths and weaknesses. Observation may be:
   • Systematic, wherein the observer gathers data on one or more precisely defined behaviors;
   • Nonsystematic, in which the observer watches the child at school in the setting of concern and takes notes on the behaviors, characteristics, and personal interactions that seem significant; or
   • Standardized, using professionally published systems.
2. Standardized Rating Scales Measure Progress in a Uniform Way Rating scales measure positive and problem behavior, attention, the child's independence skills and other areas. This information allows the IEP team to:
   • Determine how strong or weak his skills across settings;
   • Measure progress or lack of progress; and
   • Document performance over time in a reliable, valid manner. Rating scales are standardized questionnaires completed by teachers, parents, and others familiar with the student. They provide national comparisons as well.
   • Record Reviews Provide Comprehensive Information to Measure Student Progress A third method of measuring student progress is the record review. In record review, information can be gathered from school cumulative records, school databases, information from previous schools, medical and mental health data, samples of student work accumulated in portfolios, and anecdotal records. Parents may also choose to provide important family history for health and social issues.
   • Criterion Referenced Testing Shows Student Progress in Specific Skill Areas Criterion referenced tests measure specific skills a student has learned. They are not designed to provide scores for comparison to peers. Instead, they focus on specific skills within a subject area. In primary level basic math, for example, ability to recognize connections between numbers and quantities, addition of single digits, adding a single digit to a double digit, or other skills would be addressed. These tests provide specific information to teachers to design instruction for students' needs.
   • Authentic Assessment Measures Progress in Applied Skills Authentic assessment rates students' performance on real world tasks. To perform successfully on these tests, students must know the subject area and be able to use that knowledge to perform problem solving tasks. Activities used in authentic assessments may include:
     • Conducting research;
     • Writing a news article, poem, or short story;
     • Revising and discussing papers;
     • Performing an oral presentation based on a project or analysis; and collaborating with others
   • Standardized Achievement Tests Assess Reading, Math, Writing, and Content Areas
     Standardized tests may assess reading, writing, math, and content areas such as social studies and science. They provide information on students' abilities in these areas. The advantage of these tests is that they tell parents and teachers how students are performing compared to others on a state or national level.

Picking a Childcare Center

Building and Maintaining a Good Relationship with Your Child's Teacher Your child is your number one priority, and in a perfect world you could give them everything they need. But let's face it — you cannot do it alone. The best way to support your child's needs is to build and maintain a strong, positive relationship with all the people at school who play a role in educating your child. And, make sure your child knows that this is a team effort — you're all working together to help him or her succeed!

Here are some tips on how you can foster a sense of partnership with the teacher and administration to support your child's education.

Connecting Before the School Year Starts

• Begin your relationship with teachers and other school staff members by letting them know that you look forward to working with them as a partner in educating your child.
• Exchange email addresses with your child's teacher and agree to keep in touch at least monthly, even if your child is doing well.
• Share information about your child that they might not otherwise learn during the course of the school day, such as:
  • Your child's favorite books, movies, hobbies, and interests;
  • Learning activities and techniques that seem especially helpful for your child, and
  • Positive stories and anecdotes about your child, or important events in his or her personal life that may affect how they interact with others. Maintaining the Connection During the School Year
• Stay involved! Make a point to show up and participate in events such as the annual science fair, back-to-school night, and open house.
• When your child tells you something they particularly liked or disliked at school (e.g., classmates, activities, etc.), share this information with the teacher.
• Be on time, positive, and prepared for school activities and meetings!
• Offer to volunteer your time in the classroom or as a chaperone on class trips.
• Consider donating classroom supplies or a gift certificate to a store where teachers can purchase materials for the classroom. (You'd be surprised how many supplies teachers buy with their own money!)
• Contribute fun extras to the classroom like prizes, disposable cameras, and extra snacks, and look for ways to help the teacher maintain a fun learning environment.

Our Goals for Little Lambs Learning Center

Building Confidence in the Classroom
The Use of Positive Restructuring for Children is being presented to help you understand the very necessary foundational process we call confidence building with every child in the classroom. Without a foundation of confidence, learning, retention and thinking may be greatly affected. Positive Restructuring, an organized program for building confidence, is the vehicle that will allow you to accomplish this task in a developmental and organized manner which will ensure greater capacity and motivation for learning.

As teachers, you face problems everyday with children who are resistant, unmotivated, have fears of failure, avoid handing in work, are unwilling to participate and so on. Many times, these students’ symptoms are treated instead of the reasons why such behavior exists. Furthermore, the real cause of these symptoms is a lack of confidence in his/her ability. When children lack this foundation of confidence, numerous secondary symptoms occur, causing great strain on their self esteem and the patience of teachers.

Teachers are well aware of how great the classroom environment is for those children who have a sense of confidence. They participate, are motivated, have positive outlooks, willing to venture out, willingness to try new things, and enjoy doing their work and learn. However, one must ask what the difference is and in many cases it is nothing more than the perception of low confidence verses the perception of high confidence. Since perception almost always determines behavior, changing one’s confidence will change one’s perception and therefore increases the likelihood of changing behavioral outcomes.

Many educators have not been provided with a clear understanding of why children do what they do and what to do when they do it. Confidence building is too crucial to leave it up to trial and error.

Our goal is to bring confidence into children seem to share certain characteristics. In their relationships with both teachers and parents, they show in many ways that they are empowered, hopeful, autonomous, resilient, and secure. They are also accomplished, receive recognition for their accomplishments, and persevere even when things don’t go as they would like. Finally, for the most part they genuinely seem to enjoy life, both at school and at home. The ideas described here, if practiced in the classroom, will help students enjoy the environment they are in and believe in themselves as they never have before. The building of confidence in your students should be a process rather than a hit and miss approach. The following suggestions will enhance the factors in the human condition that lead to a sense of self worth and overall confidence.

Remember, confidence is based on actual successful experiences, not just telling a student that he or she is intelligent, creative etc. so providing these opportunities will be crucial. The main goals in building confidence are to provide tasks and an environment that results in sense of completion and a sense of accomplishment

Play Time

Trying on Play that Fits the Day

Stations also help our children who have processing difficulties stay focused. Each of our students will identified need has participated in a multidisciplinary evaluation prior to enrollment in our class. When reading the information discussed within the evaluation report our teaching staff often learn that a child exhibits difficulty processing sensory stimulation.

Some children will have a difficulty processing all the sights and sounds of a large busy room. When they enter a classroom she can get over stimulated. They has not learned to selectively attend and focus on important objects and people while "tuning out" unimportant background stimulation. They appear easily distracted and requires environmental supports to assist her in maintaining attention. Classroom organization should address her need for smaller work stations with clear visual boundaries to increase their attention span.

Samantha and I have set up four learning stations in different parts of the room. We have a transportation center, a sensory table, a technology station, and a dramatic play station. We have chosen these stations because we feel they reflect the interests of our students. We plan our curriculum and activity selection around our children's interests. When we do this we are acknowledging their individuality and building upon their strengths. We have taken into account the attention needs of each child when we designed each of the centers. The transportation station is placed on a carpet. When you look at the sensory table you see that we have placed it against the wall. When a child stands next to the table we position her so that their faces the table towards the wall. This position helps minimize the amount of visual activity so they can observe. Computer play in the technology station requires the children to sit still and coordinate her eye and hand movements. To assist them we have placed the computer in a study corral; a table top with sides that come up. You probably have seen these tables in libraries. They help all of us concentrate.

Sensory Table Station

Why do we use this station?

Providing sensory based experiences facilitates body awareness and motor control. The development of these skills can assist young children in developing increased self control. If you have a child who is very active and difficult to organize, sensory play can assist you in obtaining and maintaining his attention. For a child who appears challenged during directive play, open ended sensory play can modulate his behavior; there is more emphasis on exploration and little emphasis on following directions.

What materials do we include?
We rotate materials over time but they often include the following:

• Large sand and water table
• Smaller individual containers; dish pans
• We fill our tables and pans with materials that have diverse textures and that can be scooped and poured. We use sand, water, rice, macaroni, beans, bird seeds, pebbles, and smooth shells.
• We place cups, spoons, sifters, and water wheels and assorted beach toys. In our tubs.
• In our classroom there is a wide range of skill levels so we try to include some simple materials ( cups) with some more advanced item (dump trucks) so that children with diverse skill levels can play together.

What are some of our play activities?
The following activities can be done individually or in small groups.

• Simple open ended play: Our children enjoy exploring the properties of our sensory materials through simple scooping, digging, pouring, squeezing, and squirting. They engage in a process of observation and discovery: What happens if I do this or this to the beans? During this play teachers take on the role of facilitator; supporting and extending student's learnings. They encourage our students to engage in a wide variety of self directed experiments which teach important concepts (measuring) while simultaneously developing manipulation skills. The textures and sensations felt during this play can also be soothing and release tension.
• Creative Play: We place small toys in the tables to assist children in engaging in creative play. They often act out activities that they observe in the world around them; sailing boats, pushing cars, etc.
• Problem Solving Play: When children build sand castles or dump rice from a truck they have to develop a plan of action. Through trial and error children meet challenges and discover solutions. The key to all the above activities is to allow the child to take the lead!

Transportation Station
Why do we use this station? Our children love imitating the activities they observe in the world. This is particularity true of activities that involve motion and sound. All of our students travel from home by car or bus. Transportation is a relevant part of their daily life. They often express interest in their travels by recalling events they saw on the road. What better way to expand their understanding of their transportation world than to provide them with trucks, cars, and busses that they can control!

What materials do we use?

• We use a carpet that has a road and town design.(You can locate in many preschool catalogues.)
• We use small cars, buses, trucks, and trains.
• Mini size people and house that can be easily manipulated.
• We also rotate landscaping props such as bridges, fences, etc.
• Since our children reflect varying levels of development we ensure that all of our manipulative and small toys are safe and due not include detachable pieces. You may want to develop a "safety plan" early in the school year to assess the safety needs of the children in your room regarding the use of small toys and objects. You may also need to set up clear guidelines regarding the use of toys and safe play.
• Set up: We often set up the map rug within a designated area in the middle of the room. We create boundaries by making a circle around it with red masking tape. We place some of the items on the mat and leave others in wide mouth containers at the different corners of the mat. We feel this set up invites children into the play but also communicates where and what is included in the station.

What are some of the play activities in this station?

• Creative Play: The children often start out by choosing one vehicle and play individually in a simple fashion; pushing the car down the road. As time passes we start to observe children becoming more complex in their play. They begin to add more vehicles or a bridge. They vary their actions and increase their sound production. We notice that two children that have played side by side with little interaction (parallel play) may begin to interact with each other. They begin to cooperatively move through the road together.
• Facilitated Play: During station play the children are involved in self directed play. This allows us (teachers) to move around the room observing and expanding our students' play. We often use a questioning techniques to encourage them to use language and experiment with new play repertoires. During this play we may observe and ask Sally the following:
  "What are you using the truck for? Is it going very fast? I wonder what else your truck could do?"
  By asking questions instead of giving directives we are allowing the children to generate new options for play. This process can also guide them into new areas of conversation and language development.

Dramatic Play Station

Why do we use this station?
Dramatic play allows children to "try on" different roles by literally trying on different clothes and playing with real life items as props. This play assists our children in developing important skills in their social-emotional development while also increasing their understanding of events in their world. When Sally dresses up in nurse clothing and examines her baby doll she is imitating the actions and language of the adults she observes during her own health visit. The important difference of this "Pretend Play" is that she is in charge; in control of the events during the visit. This pretend play is a safe way to express feelings and experiment with different ways of behaving. We like to include real life materials as props to assist our student in participating in as imaginative and expansive play as possible. What materials do we use in this station?

• Dress up clothes of various sizes. (We find that larger sizes are easier for our students with physical needs to put on)
• An assortment of real life and toy materials; doctors kit, hair dressing items, household utensils, tool kit, etc.
• Non breakable mirror. (It's helpful for our students to see concretely what they look like during this play. It facilitates body awareness and body image)
• Furniture arranged in a manner to create make believe rooms and buildings.
• Dolls and other items to create playmates.

What types of activities do we do in this station?
Some examples are:

• Housekeeping Area: The everyday rooms in your house are a great way to introduce dramatic play. Set up a pretend kitchen, bathroom, baby room, laundry room etc. We find that these rooms have materials familiar to all of our children, regardless of their developmental range. Encourage the children to cook a meal, wash some clothes, or get dressed for a party. Children with limited play skill benefit from playing along side of or interacting with children who demonstrate more advanced play. John may sit and stir the spoon in a large bowl while observing and being guided by Sam who is directing the meal.
• Community Play: Our children travel through the community and observe fire stations, auto-mechanic repair shops, barber shops, restaurants, medical offices, etc. You can rotate these community businesses throughout the year. The important instructional ingredient is to embed these stations within other related activities; read a story about a fire house before or after this station is set up. Model the language used during this business? activities and some of the "safe ways" to interact with materials.
• Computer Station: Why do we include this Station?
  The use of a computer in the classroom has provided our children with a "double bonus" opportunity to learn new skills. In addition to learning the basics of how to use a computer; control the mouse, maneuver the keyboard, etc. they experience increased opportunities to develop language and cause and effect skills. Concurrent with concept development, play at the computer station also facilitates social skills like turn taking skills and communication!

What materials do we use?
We use computer to help with: To assist our young students with keyboard skills we provide them with some enhancements or supports; color coding important key like the return bar. We have placed our computer in a small room we created within our classroom. This location, surrounded with low fabric covered partitions, provides an effective learning environment by minimizing distractions. We found this enclosed area increases learner productivity!

What are some of our play activities?

• Group Play: Our computer station is most often used during small group time and free play. We have found that children receive the maximum benefit within groups that range from a minimum of two children to a maximum of four children. This group size allows for good peer interaction and minimizes waiting time. Children develop observational skills as they watch and model each other. They also develop the understanding of turn taking.
• Basic Skills: We utilize software programs that teach our students the mechanics of operating a computer. We often spend an initial period of time teaching skills related to the use of the mouse and keyboard. Some of our students require extra guidance on holding and controlling these items due to their motor skills and coordination.
• Interactive Learning: The creative elements of preschool software provides a motivating learning environment for exploring pre-academic skills such as counting, colors, shapes, and size. All of our programs are interactive; they require the child to participate. This interaction enhances a child's long and short term memory as well as their sequencing skills.

We have found that the use of the computer station supports inclusion. Activities within this station address the developmental needs of all our children but also provide unique ways to facilitate peer acceptance. Students can learn to be each others "buddies" in regards to helping each other maneuver computer.

Financial Assistance

Families who qualify for assistance through the Working Connections Child Care or Seasonal Child Care programs and have a child with special needs may be eligible to apply for a special needs rate to help pay for care. A provided form can be used by both families and child care providers to request a special need rate. To request the form contact the DSHS Customer Service Call Center at 1.877.501.2233 or you may download the form here (Word doc). This form needs to be filled out by a parent and given to the Little Lambs Child Care director before enrolling. It is then sent to the state with our help. You will also need a letter from your doctor (IEP, Speech therapist, Behavior Specialist, Psychologist, Children’s Mental Health).