Observing and Interacting With Families

I observed in the 3 yr. old preschool classroom on this visit. For much of the visit I sat back and observed in a corner of the room. There were two students in the group that seemed to be having a hard time entering play and had a couple tantrum type meltdowns. In these situations the teacher directed the child to safe space and allowed the child to calm down. When the child calmed down the teacher talked to the child about why she was crying. The one child said that she was hungry and that is why she was upset. This child came in after breakfast time and it was an hour before lunch was going to be served. The child said that she did not eat breakfast at home. The teacher brought her to the office and the office staff allowed her to have a few crackers to tide her over till lunch. The child returned to the class and went on to play with some other children in the room. The other child who seemed to be having a hard time appeared to be tired. As nap time got closer she seemed to get more moody and cried easily. As for entering the play, the teacher helped to coach the children on what to say to the other children to enter the play.

I was able to talk with the mother of a child who started at the center this past fall. Shortly after transitioning to the center her daughter was having some pretty severe behavior concerns. She was throwing multiple tantrums, hitting other children and screaming at nap time. After a couple weeks of this behavior and a few conversations with mom the center referred the child to a program called Daycare Plus, through the Positive Education Program. This program provided a consultant to observe the child and meet with the parents as well as the teacher to help teach the child some coping strategies. Through these visits, it was discovered that there was a lot of transition in the home as well as the transition to a new school. Mom was also having some concerns because the child's father was diagnosed with ADHD later in life. She is concerned that her child was showing some symptoms. There was further family counseling offered through the process that lasted for about 8 weeks. These sessions helped both the child and the parent. The parent was very thankful that the center had the knowledge and resources to refer her child for additional services. She stated that the center her child came from did not offer these types of services. She was very impressed and thankful that the center had so many extra offerings. In the first month that her child was at the center there was a visit by the mobile dentist, school picture day, a field trip, and the referral for her child to get extra help with her behavior concerns. She said that her child didn’t get this much in 3 years at her previous center and she wished that she would have found this center sooner.

One insight I have gained are that sometimes behavior concerns occur because a child’s basic needs are not met. If a child is hungry or tired they may misbehave for these underlying reasons. If you meet their needs they may be able to easily return to the group without a problem. Another insight that I gained is that you have to get to know your families. Issues that may be going on at home can affect the child’s behavior in the classroom. It is important to partner with parents and try and be a support to the families to help meet the needs of the children.

Interactions with administrative staff

This module, because I am the Director of the center I am doing my field work in, I interacted with the administrative assistant, the Board President, and the co founder and Board Secretary of the center. I had the opportunity to talk candidly with two of the board members about the topic of early childhood mental health.

Christine Spikes, the board president is a licensed social worker. She has worked in the area of early childhood mental health with children in the Help Me Grow program and individual counseling.  Some of the challenges she had was very little parent involvement, unless there are severe behavioral concerns, which usually prevents the parent from taking the child to child care or preschool.  The parent then may address the problem. Another challenge would be limited resources which results in long waiting lists for services. From her experience, one insight is that children show us how they feel through their behavior and bad behavior could indicate a traumatic experience.

Sherrie Zagorc, a co-founder of Kiddie City feels that she knows and realizes the importance of nurturing good social/emotional health in young children. Before co-founding Kiddie City she was a family and consumer science teacher at the high school level and taught parenting and child development classes to high school students. She also felt it was important for her to personally have good mental health so it is something that she values and she wasn't afraid to seek help for herself or for her son Matt - as they both were growing up.   She thinks that it’s tough enough sometimes for parents to deal with the physical health or the educational component of a child's development.  Those areas are "more visible" and so maybe are "easier" to deal with.  This "mental stuff" is difficult for a lot of people and something that is just left up to chance - and not nurtured. She feels that sometime parents think if there child is physically ok and their physical needs are met than that’s enough. Parents don’t realize the need for bonding and emotional well-being and development.

Dayna White, the administrative assistant has 5 children of her own and has had to be an advocate for her children in the area of early childhood mental health. 4 of her 5 children have been diagnosed with ADHD and her youngest at the age of four has signs of ADHD and is being monitored for a mood disorder. Three of her children have an IEP for their educational needs, including her four year old. Since her four year old did well in preschool this past year the school wanted to close his IEP. She had to work closely with his doctors and provide documentation to be able to keep him on an IEP, as she was afraid that if he did not get special preschool services he would not be where he needs to be to be successful in kindergarten.  His psychologist agreed, and she was able to maintain his IEP. Because she knew her rights as a parent of a child with special needs and she advocated for her child, there was a positive outcome. Dayna feels that many parents do not know their rights and that the school districts tend to do the minimum necessary by law because of funding issues. Because of this she advocates for the children and the families at the center who have educational and behavioral concerns and shares her story and struggles with other families and is available as a resource to help families go through the process and get the help they need.

I feel that I got a lot of information from this experience about the importance of partnering with parents and helping to inform them of their rights and options when they are dealing with a child who had emotional, developmental, or educational concerns. Because parents may be in denial or they may want help but may be frustrated with the process and the waiting lists it is important to provide support and understanding and to meet families where they are. It is our responsibility as early childhood educators to advocate for the children in our care and try to get them the extra assistance and supports that they need.