Vasha Singh – Week Four
Vasha is now 7 years of age and in the second grade. Shura
has been able to make ends meet thanks to a large life insurance policy that
Arup had. In addition, Shura’s family has provided financial assistance when
she has needed it. She is feeling better and is able to support all of her
children both in the home and as they keep going to college – there are now two
children in college, and another will go this year. Education has always been
hugely important for the Singh family, and Arup made sure that if anything ever
happened to him, money would not be a barrier for the family’s educational
aspirations.
In school, Vasha has been having a better year since she was
identified as a student with a slight learning disability. She also has an “Other
Health Impairment” in that her pediatrician diagnosed her with
Attention-Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder.
An added complication is that Vasha is the only Hindu
student in her school, and other kids sometimes laugh at her, calling her
names. They have seen her mother come to pick her up wearing traditional Indian
dress, and they don’t understand. What’s more, many of the children come from
families whose experiences with those who are different from the perceived “norm”
is limited.
* Describe the developmental milestones for a typically
developing 7 year old.
* What is the prevalence of ADHD in the population of Indian
–Americans? Is it more or less prevalent than in the general population? Why do
you think this is?
* What kinds of things can the school do to address bullying
and diversity?
* Assuming that Vasha has an IEP for a reading disorder,
what has already taken place with regard to interventions prior to the Special
Education process? (Hint: Find RTI strategies for reading). What are some goals
that you might find on Vasha’s IEP given the interaction of LD and ADHD?
In the school, there should be an anti-bullying program that should consist of a committee that has all the facility and school staff on board. It should be a student-centered assembly that has students interacting through events and activities. School counselors should be available when necessary and consequences should be enforced when bullying occurs. A meeting or a letter in the mail describing any particular event should notify parents if their child may have been involved in.
ReplyDeleteThe school can address diversity by providing a program involving all different cultures. This could possibly involve a history class “culture week” which teaches the students to appreciate all the different cultures of their peers. Teachers should promote unity throughout the school by teaching students to embrace other cultures and not exclude anyone because they may be different.
Paula C. Rodriguez Rust, Ph.D. Spectrum Diversity. Retrieved on October 5, 2011. http://www.spectrumdiversity.org/StubPages/AntiBullyingPrograms.html.
Prior to the Special Education process, Vasha has already received an alternative method for intervention referred to as response-to-intervention. In response-to-intervention, schools provide differing levels and types of instruction for students who are not achieving. The program provides various levels of instructional intervention that become more intensive if the student does not improve in achievement level. In the response-to-intervention program, Vasha spends additional time exposed to the core curriculum in small groups of students. Vasha also receives progress monitoring tests to determine if she is responding as intended. After Vasha receives her progress monitoring test, her response-to-intervention is adjusted based on the results of the test. Depending on whether Vasha achieves a rate of progress, the manner and intensity of intervention is adjusted.
ReplyDeleteOne goal that might be on Vasha’s IEP given the interaction of LD and ADHD is that Vasha is going to complete all of her assignments after she starts them. Another goal is she is going to stay focused on her work for 20 minutes before she gets a break. Another goal we might find on her IEP is that she is going to self-monitor herself and self-record how she is performing and paying attention. All of these goals will help her pay attention more which will help her learn better.
Hallahan, D.P., et. al. (2005). Learning Disabilities: Foundations, Characteristics, and Effective Teaching, 3rd Edition. Columbus, OH: Pearson Education, Inc.
The developmental milestones for a 7 year old are that they should have well developed hand-eye coordination, maintain balance, and perform simple tumbling movements like somersaults. For language and thinking development they should be able to have a vocabulary of a several thousand words, a long attention span, demonstrate logical thinking, understand reasoning and decision making, tell time, know the days, months and seasons, describe how two objects are similar, begin to grasp the sound that each letter makes, and their individual learning style is shown. For social and emotional development a 7 year old should be self-critical which may lead to low self-esteem, worry more, have strong emotion reactions and worry more, understand the difference between right and wrong, take direction, waits his or her turn, starts to feel guilt and shame, is a better loser and less likely to blame others, and avoids adults (Destefanis & Firchow, 2011).
ReplyDeleteAt age 7, children realize that death is final. They like to help out around the house. They enjoy sports and physical activity, can learn to swim, climb, and swing, can read and do simple math, understand concepts of first, next, larger, etc, understand physical gender differences, want to read and learn, write their name, sing, pick out own clothes, grows more independent, learns to make friends, experiences peer influence, losing primary teeth, understands part of speech, identifies words by sight, and use sentence structure (“Developmental Milestones”).
Destefanis, J., & Firchow, N. (2011). Developmental
Milestones: You 7-year-old. Retrieved from http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/health/731-developmental-milestones-your-7-year-old-child.gs
Developmental Milestones. (2011). Retrieved from
http://tumblon.com/milestones/age/elementary%20schooler
ADHD manifests in approximately 4-12% of children between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Several studies estimated the prevalence of ADHD in USA to be 4-8% and in India 20%. As you can see the Indian prevalence is greatly higher than the general population. This could be that there is limited systematic research in ADHD in Indian children so with fewer cases, the ones that are ADHD will have a higher percent rate. Also ADHD affects boys more than girls. Since India is all about having boys, this could indicate why there are so many. The male-female ratio of Indian children with ADHD is 5:1 (Al Hamed, Taha, Sabra, & Bella, 2008).
Al Hamed, J. H., Taha, A. Z., Sabra, A. A., & Bella, H. (2008).
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd): is it a
health problem among male primary school children . Bahrain Medical Bulletin, 30(2), 9. Retrieved from http://www.bahrainmedicalbulletin.com/june_2008/Attention_deficit.pdf