Luckily, with
the previous assignments, I am able to continue to research confidently
and find new
sources that I have yet to discover to accommodate my research. I felt like I
had
found a lot of helpful
articles, so I wanted to do more search in journals. A new source I
found was from
the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and when I think about my research in
Early Childhood Education,
I don’t think about the economic aspect of it as much. However, this
publication was
written by a university Professor of Economics, who also happens to be a Public
Affairs Director
of the Center for Health and Well-Being. The information correlates with my
topic because it
concludes evidence that early intervention programs, and others such as Head
Start have specific
benefits and greater effects for children, such as improving educational
fulfillment and
reducing welfare dependency and crime.
I feel like for the purpose of the literature
review, I have enough information regarding
my topic to
fulfill the needs of the assignment. However, with any research topic worth
pursuing I feel
that questions should never be completely answered and that research can still
continue as more
studies are done and new evidence is found in any subject relating to your
topic of
interest. The information I found that would be most interesting to a wide audience
is
the fact the
number of children with special needs is only growing, meaning the number of
resources and
quality programs designed to help these children needs to as well. The term
special needs is
so broad, it can be anything from an attention, processing disorder, to at-risk
youth to children who have medical issues. The number of children
and youth ages 3–21
receiving
special education services was 6.4 million, or about 13 percent of all public
school
students,
in 2012–13, and that number is only getting bigger, and enrollment is
increasing as
well.
So anyone who has children, or knows anyone with a child, has a high
probability of
knowing
one with specials needs. Therefore, the information I gather can show some benefits
of accommodating
those children with a proper program to help them succeed.
My
research question and annotated bibliography:
What are the proven benefits of Early
Intervention for at Risk Children?
Currie, Janet
(2001). Early Childhood Education Programs. Journal
of Economic Perspectives,
15(2), 213-238. Retrieved from:
Since my topic has to do with the
early years of childhood and how early intervention
may benefit to
those children who qualify, it is important to understand the vast majority of
programs
available and how those individual programs benefit children. This piece reviews
multiple aspects
of early intervention and other programs, such as Head Start, and the benefits
that
disadvantaged children can gain from them. It concludes evidence that these
programs have
specific
benefits and the greater effects for children, such as improving educational
fulfillment
and reducing
welfare dependency and crime. I found this information by narrowing down my
search to find
only .edu domains, and this specific section could be found on princeton.edu.
It is written by
a Professor at the university who specializes in economics and is a Public
Affairs
Director of the
Center for Health and Well-Being, giving her proper qualification to distribute
the information
and results of her studies and how it pertains to early childhood education.
This
helps my
research and will be effective knowledge for anyone interested in working with
disadvantaged
children because it provides proof and evidence based on thorough research in
specific
programs of the short-term and long-term benefits of having children
participate in early
intervention
programs.
Maag,
J. W., & Katsiyannis, A. (2010). Early Intervention Programs for Children
With
Behavior Problems and At Risk for
Developing Antisocial Behaviors: Evidence-
and Research-Based Practices. Remedial
& Special Education, 31(6), 464-475.
doi:10.1177/0741932509355992
The article I chose shows the reader
how to determine which early intervention
programs for children at risk could be considered evidence based, research based, or neither.
The
reason that educators should know this is because program have to meet the U.S.
Department
of Education’s criteria for being evidence
based. So many children who would be
eligible
for early intervention programs has dramatically increased during the past several
years.
Except, the programs that have proven successful would not be eligible but
rather be
considered
data based by educational
researchers. Children that are eligible for these programs
would
benefit from them. Early
intervention might not only prevent antisocial behaviors
from worsening
but also address the increased emphasis by the federal government through
the No Child
Left Behind Act in 2001 and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2004
on
path, because educators need to know the resources that are available to all types of children,
who are eligible and in need of a program in order for them to develop appropriately in all
domains. The lack of emphasis on social skills, particularly for children not yet tested and
diagnosed as being at risk for antisocial behavior, is unfortunate because there is a clear link
between behavioral and academic difficulties, and eventually failure in school. This article shed
light on the government aspect of the educational system and help me gain more knowledge in
actually how many committees and acts and documents are all geared toward bettering the
education system and how much farther we still have to go.
Mengoni,
S. E., & Oates, J. (2014). A tool to record and support the early
development
of children including those with
special educational needs or disabilities. Support
For Learning, 29(4), 339-358.
doi:10.1111/1467-9604.12068
or EYDJ, which is a tool mainly designed for families. It aims to support early identification and
assessment for children with special needs and/or disabilities and early education for all children.
The article describes Early Support to provide a setting and then outlines the purpose, structure
and development process of the EYDJ. The article also encourages parental participation into
developmental assessments, providing links between parents and practitioners, supporting
early years practitioners and promoting parental empowerment and knowledge. This article
helped me better understand the parents’ role when supporting a child who needs early
intervention or assessment and how they can help throughout the process. Another aspect I am
interested in is how to communicate with parents and get parent involvement, and this article
really sheds light on that facet of my topic.
Puig, Victoria I. (2010). Are Early Intervention Services Placing Home
Languages and Cultures
“At Risk”? Early Childhood Research
& Practice, 12. Retrieved from
This article presents a new aspect
of my research that I haven’t considered and that is if
there
are any factors that present a risk throughout the Early Intervention process. It
reflects on
languages
and cultures, and relationships between families and early intervention
professionals
as
intimately connected and resourceful when serving young children with
special needs and
their families. It studies the ways that Early
Intervention programs intended to support the
optimal development of young children and their families
may be putting home languages and
cultures “at risk.” When researching previously, most of
the families that benefit and qualify for
services happen to have a diversity of languages and
cultures, and I never thought of the ways
that those elements would effect the process of early
intervention, either for the child or the
families. This research enhanced my appreciation for family languages as a
resource in Early
Intervention.
“It is necessary to first consider them within the contexts of language
development,
the process of
second language acquisition, and the contributions of language to learning and
relationship
building for very young children, while also considering the impact of special
needs” (Puig).
This article has presented to me to consider that although there are benefits
to
Early
Intervention, there may be some things that present risk, and how to handle
those risk
factors could be
something I can further research.
Smith-Bird, Erin
L. (2002). "Early Intervention Programs."
Child Development. Available from
I chose this excerpt from a book titled Child Development because it had all the basic
background
information I was looking for on my topic. Initially when I first read it, it
seemed
credible
because with all the facts that were stated about the topic, there was
supporting
evidence
through studies and credited sources. Using the CRAAP test helped me determine
that
this
was a good source of information for my topic. In Child Development, current
and older
sources
work in this field so the currency of the information is fit for my research
because it is
still
relevant to what I need to know. Compared to the other sources, this one had
the most
information
focusing on multiple aspects of early intervention programs, rather that just
one area.
The author of this piece is a
researcher and teacher in the field of Child Development,
which
shows in her writing because of her familiarity and research of the topic.
Relevant and
accurate
studies are shown, including when, what, where and by whom the studies were
done,
so
if I wanted to research further into those I could. Another thing I could
appreciate with this
source
is that at the bottom of the page is related information elaborating more on
the topic.
Since
the excerpt is from a book, there are other pages listed in the book that
relate to the
topic.
The purpose of this information is to inform the reader with a clear unbiased
approach. I
found
the information to be objective and factual.
http://search.ebscohost.com
The book I chose for my research is actually a preparation guide for an exam to those
who want to become special education educators. It goes over in depth information in
understanding and being knowledgeable of all domains of assessing a child who may have
specials needs. It really covers every aspect in what you would need to look for in a child who
would be assessed if you were working in the field of special education. It’s not the typical kind
of book I would have originally looked for, but after seeing the table of contents and reading all
the information it covers I was sure this was a source I would use for my research. This book was
written specifically for those who wish to pursue a career in the field, so that is one feature of it
that I think gives it an authoritative position on my research topic.
Sharon Wynne is a more than qualified author, who went from teaching to publishing, to
write this kind of book, and she really composites all possible information you need to know on a
topic into one book. “What began as a cumbersome study process on certification tests—
collecting dozens of text books and compiling copious notes—turned into a flourishing business
that meets an essential need, comprehensive preparation materials for teachers obtaining their
certification” (Wynne). The book is broken up into different objectives and within each objective
are skill sets that you will need to learn to meet those objectives. Two objectives in particular
that stood out to me when I was going over the table of contents was “Understand Types and
Characteristics of Various Assessments” and “Understand Procedures for Conducting
Assessment Activities to Address the Individual Needs of Students with Disabilities”. I will refer
to this section in the future when conducting research on the topic of assessment for children
with special needs. I never knew there were so many different learning objectives about how to
work with children in special education, and this book covers over ten objectives and it will
really help me learn new information on the topic.
