Khalid Nassar – Week Four
Khalid is now 6 years of age and is in the first grade. His
mother has continued to struggle, and, in spite of a helpful counselor in the
community, she cannot seem to escape the grip of a major depression. Her
feelings are compounded by the fact that the Nassars are one of the few
families in their area that practice Islam. Mrs. Nassar’s traditional head
covering often draws stares from many of the people who have lived in her town
all their lives.
For his part, Khalid seems to be getting worse by the day. Mrs.
Nassar does not know what to do. School has helped somewhat, but Khalid is just
plain inattentive. That, and he has to have the TV turned up so loud – he refuses
to turn it down when asked. He has a strange tendency to pull at his ears. Mrs.
Nassar knows he is just being difficult.
* What are the major developmental milestones for a 6
year-old?
* What might be going on with Khalid?
* What steps should the school take to attempt to address
Khalid’s difficulties? Assuming that Khalid has similar difficulties in school,
what are some pre-referral interventions that the school could implement? If
Khalid does not respond to those, what happens next in the process of Special
Education?
* What are the major developmental milestones for a 6 year-old?
ReplyDeleteAt 6 years of age Khalid still has quite a few developmental milestones to accomplish before he is fully developed. According to Piaget’s stages cognitive development, Khalid should now being going through the ‘preoperational stage’, which is usually from ages 2 to 7. He should be developing his more intuitive skills such as: his thoughts should be guided by perceptions, he should be dealing with only one variable at a time, he could still be lacking understanding of conservation and reversibility, as well as utilizing improved although still not inadequate classification skills. Khalid should still have a tendency to be egocentric and his thought process very concrete (Reed, 2005, p. 33). As far as language development, Khalid should have approximately 2,600- 7,000 words in his expressive vocabulary at age 6 (Reed, 2005, p. 55).
As far as Khalid’s social and emotion development at his age, he should be showing signs of growing independence, he should have fears of things like the unknown, death, failure, rejection and family problems; which could be a factor in why Khalid acts out since his family has been going through so much since he was born. Khalid’s friends that he will hopefully make when he is in school will most likely also be male, and he may have a tendency to follow older children, especially his siblings. At this stage Khalid should be having fewer angry outbursts and more ability to endure frustration when he doesn’t get what he wants (DeBord, 2011).
In terms of physical development, growth is slower than in preschool years but is still steady, children find difficulty balancing high energy activities and quiet activities and Khalid’s muscle coordination and control will most likely be uneven and incomplete. On the other hand his mental development should begin to think about his own behavior and see consequences for his actions, he should be starting to read and write in school and at home and his learning would probably be best if he were active while learning considering that children around his age have difficulty sitting still for a single activity for longer than 15-20 minutes (DeBord, 2011).
ReplyDeleteDeBord, Karen (2011). Childhood Years Ages Six Through Twelve. Retrieved from http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pdfs/fcs465.pdf
Reed, V. A. (2005). An Introduction to Children with Language Disorders. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
* What might be going on with Khalid?
Since Khalid always needs to have the TV turned up so loud and he is being to tug at his ears, he might have hearing loss. Khalid is also not attentive in the day care setting which may also be a sign for hearing loss. If Khalid is losing the details of a conversation or he misses what is going on around him at the day care, then he might become frustrated with the situation and no longer pay attention.
When a child becomes distracted or has difficulty paying attention, hearing loss might not be to blame and it could be ADHD. Some guidelines to help parents decide if they might need help for ADHD are: if their child is inattentive in two or more settings, if they show hyperactivity beyond fidgeting, and if the symptoms interfere with either language, academic, or social development.
Hemstock, Kris (2009). ADHD, not hearing loss, could be the reason for child’s inattentiveness. Retrieved from http://www.familysupportconnection.org/pdf/FOCUS09Dec.pdf
Khalid may also benefit from seeing a school psychologist or counselor, someone who would have more insight into not only his individual characteristic but his family situation as a whole. He may in fact not have a hearing condition, and instead could be inattentive for a number of reasons. He may not be following along as well as the other children in the classroom because he has not received the equivalent support at home that other students have. He may never have been read to or developed the expressive and receptive communication skills necessary for thriving in a school setting. Some special educators may have more background knowledge is these areas and may be able to work with Khalid to grasp a better understanding of whether or not his inattentiveness is due to a physical impairment, or a cognitive impairment.
ReplyDeleteIf Special Educators do get involved and feel that Khalid would benefit from services, they would then create an IEP for him, or an Individualized Education Program that explicitly states what supports Khalid needs. It would be unique to him as an individual and as a student. This Plan would help Khalid be more attentive in the classroom and would put him on the right path to catching up with his peers. He would be able to attain goals set forth and progress that he made would be monitored. Special educators would now how to assist him and what environment he would be most successful in.
Parent for Label and drug free education. (2003). Adhdtesting. Retrieved from http://www.adhdtesting.org/