Overview

During the course of this class, you have and still will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities that will help you ensure that ALL children (including infants/toddlers with special needs) are included in your daily routine and activities within your group care.

Your final project will reflect much of the learning you have gained throughout this course, providing you with an opportunity to practice new skills, activities, and ideas.

The final project will include 7 Steps:

Step One: Collecting Information15 points

Step Two: Documentation15 points

Step Three: Research15 points

Step Four:Planning15 points

Step Five: Implementation15 points

Step Six: Reflection15 points

Step Seven: Presentation20 points

Total:100 points

For this final project, you will need to choose an infant/toddler that you suspect has developmental delays OR an infant/toddler that you KNOW has a developmental delay.

You will need to speak with the child’s parents to let them know that you will be studying their child as a class project to gain their permission. Let the parents know that this information is confidential and that their personal information will not be shared (names will be changed, etc.).

Step One: Collecting Information

Provide an overview of the child that you will be using for this project. Please include: age of the child (in months), overview of the classroom environment (number of children/teachers, brief set up of the classroom), and why you chose this child for this project.

Complete an ASQ by observing the identified infant/toddler and by interviewing the parents/child care staff for additional information. After identifying areas of need based on the ASQ results, you will conduct three 10-minute observations (using PARE questions to help guide you) specifically looking for further information in the area that is suspected to have a delay.

Think about:

What exactly are the functional skills within the developmental area are not yet age-expected?

How is the potential delay impacting the child’s ability to function within the daily routine? Which routines might be affected?

How is the potential delay impacting the child’s ability to explore and play?

Step Two: Documentation

• Write up each observation using objective language and include functional skills when describing what you see. Then, reflect on these observations using the questions from step one and write about your thoughts. Remember to identify the date, time of day, and routine for each observation.
• Use the IFSP Evaluation/Assessment section to document strengths and needs in each area of development.

Step Three: Research

Scenario 1:

If the infant/toddler has a known condition/diagnosis, you will research this condition/diagnosis and give an overview of the following:

• A description of the condition
• Known or suspected causes for the condition
• How this condition might impact an infant/toddler’s functional skills
• Describe at least 2 treatments or interventions for this condition
• Find at least 1 website and provide a summary of the site that provides parents and/or providers with information about the condition and ideas to help their child.

Scenario 2:

If the child does not have a known condition, choose a developmental area of need and give an overview of the following:

• A description of the area of need and why it is important to infant/toddler development.
• Known or suspected causes for a delay in this area of development
• How a delay in this area of development might impact an infant/toddler’s functional skills
• Describe at least 2 treatments or interventions for infants/toddlers who might be experiencing a delay in this area of development
• Find at least 1 website and provide a summary of the site that provides parents and/or providers with information about this developmental area and ideas to help their child.

Step 4 Planning:

• Write at least 2 IFSP Outcomes for the infant/toddler that relates to the child being able to successfully participate in the daily routine and activities of this child’s group care environment.
• Create an Activity Web for each IFSP Outcome.
• Create an Activity Matrix for one of the IFSP Outcomes that represents the daily routine of the child’s group care.

Step 5: Implementation

• Choose at least 2 activities or accommodations that you developed as a result of the activity webs and activity matrix to implement into the child’s group care environment.
• Document the experience that the child had as a result of this implementation AND document your experience as well. Include in this documentation if the child made progress with an improvement in functional skill development and/or an improvement in participation in a particular routine/activity.
• Describe how you would recommend either continue with this implementation plan, or how you might change your strategy to see different/more improvement for this child.

Step 6: Reflection

Reflect on and write about your experiences throughout this process, thinking about the following:

• What skills have you learned through this process?
• What have you learned about supporting infants/toddlers with special needs through this experience?
• What changes (if any) have you made in the child’s group care environment as a result of this final project and as a result of this course?
• What changes would you recommend for the group care environment as a result of this final project and as a result of this course?