When I Reflect About My Collegial, Professional Learning Community

Learning in a collegial environment always provides a great way for people from different areas to get together and share ideas.  I have really enjoyed being able to learn the opinions of other professionals in all aspects of early childhood.  Even colleagues who are not currently a part of the early childhood profession bring in outside resources and information which help to ask and answer new questions.  I also enjoy learning with a group of polite and caring individuals.  That always makes for a pleasant learning environment.  I also noticed that interacting and responding in online courses with other professionals, sets me up professionally in manners of speaking and being cordial in my daily working life.    

I have definitely learned to research into systems to see how they function and work.  To see who they work with and how these organizations come together.  I have learned in this class in particular that one organization does more than meets the eye or more than we read about.  We can affect the way policies are written and we can advocate for policy change.  I will take with me the cost of what changing a life means. 

My hypothetical family situation....

My hypothetical family situation involves a two parent household, both native English speakers, and one 2 ½ year old son.  The mother quit her job just before he was born and started going to school full time when he was several months old.  The father is military and they moved to where they are stationed shortly after his birth.  They have not made many friends.  The mother and father have been talking about having another child.  That is until their son was diagnosed with autism recently.  Now they are worried another child might be diagnosed with autism as well.  Their son had not been talking yet and the parents brought this up to his pediatrician at his periodic well visit.  Their son was given a series of tests and diagnosed as autistic on the spectrum, but more testing would need to be done to find out more information.  The parents wanted to know more information at the time but was told a report would be sent to them.  They felt devastated, shocked, alone, and as if all their dreams for their son had been changed.  The mother had plans to finish school and go back to working full time but she now has to find the help her son needs to make sure he is taken care of.  Her drive to the Children’s Development Center on the local military base is now done once a week for her son to visit with a speech therapist, an occupational coordinator, and a service coordinator.  The purpose of these professionals is to help her son develop to the best of his ability and also so she can learn some techniques to use at home.  His speech has improved but with autism there are many techniques that need to be tried before finding out the correct path of action. 

This is the early stage of finding out about autism.  The initial shock is over but more needs to be known and found out for the parents to feel comfortable with autism.  Is there anything else the parents might consider or want to know to further their knowledge?

The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

I think there are a few policies right now that are in effect to be changed or implemented that I read about this week.  In my area there are actually parents who are talking with local school districts about better means of transportation rules and regulations for children in grade 3 and under.  Parents are worried about distances from school bus stops to the children’s homes and what may happen in between that distance when children do not have an adult to walk with them.  Right now there is little being done unless the bus driver wants to stop at individual houses which may make for a longer bus ride, but a safer one.  I am all for this alternative. 

These past weeks I was able to learn that kindergarten is not required in all states and that some parents do not see the benefits of it.  This baffled me as I was under the impression that since kindergarten was part of the “school system” whether public or private, that it was therefore a requirement.  Although school systems vary between each state in regards to what requirements need to be met for teacher qualifications, the age to get into kindergarten, the requirements for graduation, etc., I believe that including kindergarten in the mainstream of things should be a norm.  It’s a transition phase that some kids really need in order to get into the flow of how structured classrooms work. 

What really appealed to me this week were the funding strategies and also the inclusion hopes.  Kindergarten is the first in line to the actual school path which children will (hopefully) follow for the next 12-13 years.  Maybe more!    Funding for kindergarten right now is done through the government as well as tax payers.  Some states have issued full day kindergarten and most haven’t but some have offered it as a pay if you want to attend type of thing.  These funding options are again excluding those who cannot afford to send their child to all day kindergarten versus the “free” half day.  This excluding of students may also be a continuation of those who were not able to attend preschool either.  Education is so important to the future of our society, economy, future adults… where down the road was this seen as serious, but not taken seriously??