EI and Daycare

Malcolm's Early Interventionist visited him at daycare today. She goes every couple of weeks to assess how he is doing and offer support to his teachers. I think this is a really great service. Malcolm's teachers are used to dealing with little kids and many of them are ECEs so their training includes a short overview of kids with special needs. But for most of them, Malcolm is the first child with Ds they have worked with. They simply don't have the experience or training to know how to make optimal use of their regular routines to promote his development in the most effective way possible.

It sounds complicated but it's not really. I have had the benefit of being trained by professionals that work with Malcolm over the past three years - PT, OT and Speech - but his teachers do not have the same sort of access or training. His EI also attends many of his appointments with us and of course she has a wealth of experience in working with you children with special needs. So his EI helps to bridge the gap for the daycare teachers. Some suggestions that she left today:

- when he's painting, allow him to choose his paint/paper and immediately reinforce his choice - opportunity to express himself
- pair words with sign
- encourage imitation - he does this well...continue to encourage turn taking
- slow reading/singing down - give time to join in
- pause at repetitive parts - give opportunity to verbalize/vocalize/gesture

We are lucky that Malcolm has always had great teachers who are willing to learn and excited to work with him - they see Malcolm as a welcome challenge to their abilities. So they tend to learn quickly and adapt their routines to better include Malcolm. We have come a long way since the early days after Malcolm was born and we were unsure whether a regular daycare would accept him...it goes to show how attitudes and practices have changed over the past couple of decades - for the better!

Mary Ellen