SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT Gitchuway 1

Brianna S. Gitchuway

Signature Assignment

ECED 301

Dr. Alise Paillard

December 18th, 2021

Signature Assignment

While taking this class, I have learned so much that I never knew before. I believe that all

children should be given the same opportunities to grow in a positive learning environment.

Children get to experience differences in other people and therefore I believe it fosters growth

while giving children a sense of understanding and belonging. Before this class, I had never

taken a course that taught about children who are atypical. I feel as though anyone who works

with children should have the knowledge of children who may have a disability. Taking this

course has shown me developmentally appropriate practices for children who are atypical and

how they deserve to be included in activities that are happening inside of the classroom. Atypical

children shouldn’t be excluded because someone may believe it is too hard for them to deal with.

I believe that atypical children should have the opportunity to show what they are capable of.

When I started working at the job I have now, I had a child named Daniel in my

classroom who would never answer to his name, and he also didn’t want to do arts and crafts. I

would try to get Daniel to do arts and crafts, but he would always run away and instead grab toys

to play with. I started to notice that Daniel wasn’t answering to his name when he first entered

my classroom. It raised some concerns because I started to think he was deaf because he would

never answer to his name when I called him and even when his mom would call his name as

well. I made sure I asked his mom about his hearing and if he has any issues at home in order for

me to understand his condition. She informed me that Daniel has never answered to his name

and she assumed that he would grow out of it. For the next couple of days, I observed Daniel, but

I also didn’t have the knowledge to understand what my next steps should be for a child who

doesn’t answer to his own name. I began to become frustrated because I didn’t understand how

to help Daniel and instead of involving him in things we did in the classroom, I let him do his
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own thing. I also had eight other children in the classroom under my care with no help and it

began to become overwhelming. It got to the point where Daniel was starting to hit and bite the

other children who took toys from him and because he didn’t talk, he couldn’t tell me about the

toy.

The first thing I learned from this class was that children with disabilities should be able

to be in a classroom with other children who don’t have a disability. The book states, “inclusion

is when children with special needs attend preschool, child care, recreational programs, and

school with typically developing peers" (Allen & Cowdery, 4). Inclusion is necessary for all

children because it makes sure that all children have a fair chance inside of the classroom like

typical children do. More often without teachers knowing what inclusion is, we may believe that

it’s easier on the atypical child to be in a separate classroom than typical children. Before I took

this class, I believed that if atypical children were in a classroom with typical children, the

typical child would start to mimic the atypical child. In my years of teaching, I have never seen

this happen, but it was always a concern in the back of my head. With the information I know

now about inclusion, I definitely believe differently now. Children who have a disability learn a

lot from other children in the classroom because children mimic the things other people do. If

one child is dancing in the classroom, most of the children will go over and dance with them.

Children learn a lot from each other and when we allow them to teach each other, it benefits

them inside of the classroom. What is also important is when parents are involved in helping the

teacher understand what their child needs and if the parent is in denial it’s harder for the child.

When we help a child earlier in their years, it benefits them when they get older because they

will begin to adapt to their environment.

I learned that if you put 2 children who can’t talk in a classroom together, they aren’t

learning how to speak, but if you put 1 child who can’t speak and another child who can, the

child who can’t speak is learning and adapting from the other child who can. Children who can’t

speak learn more from a child who can because they are hearing them talk every day. The reason

it’s more efficient is because children tend to mimic other children when they see what other

children can do. The book mentions, "systems of support and services for the child" (Allen and

Cowdery, 60). I noticed that children who have a disability should have support from their

families and teachers as well because it’s important for communication to occur. I believe that I

wasn’t the best teacher for Daniel because I didn’t have the knowledge that I do now and now I

know that staff development and education about the child's disability is an important factor

because I can then create developmentally appropriate practices for Daniel. Because Daniel’s

mom was in denial of her possibly having a disability, there wasn’t any ongoing support of a

specialist who could provide recommendations and assistance in order for me to meet the child's

needs.

When it came to Noah, I learned a lot about his mom and his teacher and how they

support him inside of the classroom and outside of the classroom as well. While interviewing

Noah’s mom, I noticed how important her son’s speech development is for her because she

talked about the things that help Noah and his speech every day. There were many things I

learned about a particular family I interviewed for my report which is Noah and his mom. Noah

stood out to me because he had a problem with his speech and when he would talk, he would

mumble most of his words. While I interviewed Noah’s mom, I realized that she was a single

mom who had to raise Noah on her own and because of this, she wasn’t on top of his speech as

much as she should have been. She had to adapt to Noah’s circumstances without really
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understanding how to do that. Upon the interview, I discovered how much she cares about

Noah’s health more than the teachers or physicians have in the past because she states, “The

teachers at my son’s school didn't help much because they didn’t let me know he was having a

problem in the classroom.” This led me to believe that she has been concerned about his speech

longer than his diagnosis. Because Noah’s mom is a teacher herself, she has been on top of his

education from the very beginning, but she started to notice his speech becoming worse. Noah’s

mom mentions how she raised concerns to Noah’s physician and the physician told her not to

worry too much and his speech will improve over time. She didn’t want to wait because she saw

his progress every day and it wasn’t becoming better with time. Noah’s mom took it into her own

hands and decided to get him a speech pathologist to help with his speech.

When Noah’s mom tried to bring it up with his physician, they continued to inform her

that he’s in the beginning stages of his speech and it will become clearer over time. With this

information, she began to believe them until she couldn’t anymore and pushed for him to have a

speech pathologist. She would continue to ask the teacher to observe Noah more closely in order

to provide his doctor with evidence of his speech. Noah’s teachers informed Noah’s mom that he

didn’t need any help with his speech and that it’s normal for children to have a hard time with

their speech at age two. Noah’s mom mentions in the interview that if his teacher’s and physician

would have caught him having a speech issue in the beginning, that his speech would have

developed earlier than it does now. She also mentions how grateful she is that his disability

hasn’t given her a negative impact on how she views children with disabilities and instead says it

allows her to become more empathetic when she comes across a child with a speech issue.

I used to judge parents off of their child having a disability such as a speech issue because I

always thought it was the parents fault for not getting their child the help that they need at a
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younger age. I realized that most parents don’t have the knowledge in order to diagnose their

child and sometimes parents are often told their child will grow out of it when they get older. In

this case, that is exactly what happened to Noah. Noah’s mom knew he was having a rough time

talking and his speech wasn’t getting better with time just as the doctor informed her it would.

She knew she would have to get him help on her own because she didn’t want Noah to fall

behind when he goes to Kindergarten. Noah’s mom also admitted she was scared to get Noah

help because she felt as though other people would judge her for not taking care of her son.

Though there are a lot of people who believe certain ways about children with speech issues and

how they should be in a classroom with other children who have a speech issue, they don't truly

have enough knowledge about children. I’ve learned that children have a better chance with

developing their speech with children who don’t have a speech issue. This is the same for

children who have autism as well. In reality, there are a lot of opinions out there in the world and

if Noah’s mom would have let those opinions get to her, Noah wouldn’t be working on his

speech now.

Families who have a child with a disability can have trouble understanding what the

child’s disability will intel down the line. Parents can become depressed because they don’t

understand how to treat their child and they can become overwhelmed. During the interview with

Noah’s mom, she admitted that she didn’t understand how to help her son because she never had

to deal with a child who has a disability. Even from her teaching experiences, it was different

from how she reacted because it’s now her son who will need help with his disability.

While growing up, my mom had a coworker whose son was autistic and we went to a restaurant.

The boy started to scream and she didn’t tell him to stop screaming, she allowed him to continue

to scream until he stopped. I didn’t understand why she was allowing her son to scream inside of
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a public place and even though I was young, I felt embarrassed to be around the boy. Later I

realized that if you stopped him from screaming, he would cause an even bigger scene by

running around the restaurant and because his mom knew this, she let him scream for a few

seconds. If I was a stranger in the restaurant and the lady didn’t explain to me why her son was

screaming, I would have judged her for not telling her son to stop screaming. I believe that

people do this a lot because they aren’t aware of a child potentially having a disability. I have

also heard many people say that children who have a disability shouldn’t be allowed to be out in

public if they are going to disturb the public. Children who have a disability don’t understand

what they are doing and when we judge a child based on their disability, it could affect that

child’s self esteem.

I never understood how important Noah’s teacher would be in order for me to understand

his speech better. While observing Noah, I also observed how Noah’s teacher was able to talk to

him with slow words and he understood it. Noah did say “huh” a lot, but he also would do what

the teacher has asked. When Noah needed a tissue, he asked the teacher for one but she didn’t

quite understand what he wanted. Instead, he pointed to the box of tissues. His teacher told Noah

to say tissue a couple of times, therefore he is used to using the word and he can say it better the

next time. I also noticed how patient Noah’s teacher was with him and how she wasn’t getting

frustrated when she didn’t understand what Noah was saying. When I couldn’t understand a

child, I would tend to brush it off because I didn’t know how to get the child to say a different

word. I just stood there not understanding and I quickly learned that it doesn’t help them with

their speech. One thing I could have done differently is work more with the child on their speech

in the classroom. I loved how Noah’s teacher was able to talk to Noah’s mom about his speech

therapy and she gave her ideas on what she can do in the classroom in order to help him with his
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speech. The teacher would find activities for all of the children to do, therefore Noah would feel

more comfortable in the classroom.

My experience with a child who had a problem with his speech was to ignore it because

his mom wasn’t concerned about it. She would always tell me he would get over it when he gets

older and I noticed that his speech continued to become worse. Because I didn’t know how to

help, I never involved the child into arts and crafts or circle time either. I now know that children

adapt better to teachers who are able to include them into activities instead of leaving them out

because of lack of knowledge. In order for children with special needs to be given the same

opportunities as their typically developing peers, and teach those children who are typically

developing to learn to respect others in their differences, we must provide an environment for

them to coexist, to learn from one another as they learn from their teachers as well.

Children on the Autism Spectrum; educators should use objects and or actions with

words, “establish a predictable environment, daily schedule, classroom furnishings, and

materials, reduce class group sizes, and provide appropriate seating for the child to minimize

distractions” (Allen & Cowdery, 2015). For a child with a hearing impairment, be sure to

include the child when music activities are planned, “allowing them to play instruments,

clapping, also pairing a normal hearing child with a child who is hard of hearing” will give that

child a sense of belonging (Allen & Cowdery, 2015).

I believe that I incorporate as much as I’ve learned because I have understood the things

that I should have done differently in the beginning stages of my career in teaching. With Daniel,

I should have allowed him to develop in my classroom, but because I wasn’t knowledgeable I

didn’t allow his mind to expand and try new things. When we were doing circle time, instead of

encouraging him I let him run around in the classroom instead. I now have a child in my
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classroom who can’t stay still during circle time and instead of letting her move around the

classroom I try different things in order to get her to pay attention to what I am teaching.
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References
Allen, Eileen K., & Cowdery, Glynnis E. (2015). The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in
Early Childhood Education. Cengage Learning.

"Early Childhood Inclusion". (2009). NAEYC.