How Do You Get Babies to Talk?

[nannyde]

Do you have a link to the regulation requiring this?

Is it a part of QRIS Maryland excells? Is qris a requirement in your state?

[Annalee]

Do you have a link to the regulation requiring this?

Is it a part of QRIS Maryland excells? Is qris a requirement in your state?

In my state, Portfolios with assessments of children are something being talked about as our QRIS report card gets updated every few years but right now we only have to prove we are offering activities that promotes each area of development. I think PV said it would be necessary for them next year.

[Blackcat31]

My state requires that we do evaluations/assessments on the children in care twice yearly.

HOWEVER, training is given on "how" to do this.

Providers aren't simply instructed to evaluate with no training or education in the subject.

They also aren't asking us to do in-depth assessments....just click off the skills a child can and can't do and if it's outside the norm for their age, plan activities and experiences that can help the child catch up to where the state thinks they should be. If it's more or something that falls into the special services category, we are to refer them to local agencies/school districts that ARE professionally trained and educated in those services.

[permanentvacation]

http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/msde/divisions/child_care/early_learning/index.html

That's the link to the licensed daycare website where it tells us that it will be required of us to do the evaluations.

Yes, training is given to us as well, which I have already taken. Everything Blackcat said is exactly what we are supposed to do. It's not supposed to be a big indepth assessment. It's not supposed to be too much of a big deal. It's supposed to give the daycare provider and parent an idea of where the child is on developing; whether they are on level, above average, or below average. If the child is below average, we are supposed to suggest places the parents can go to get professional help for their child. However, I firmly believe that common sense also needs to come into play. I believe that instead of jumping straight to 'needing professional help', it can simply show the provider and parents what areas THEY can focus on with the child to develop that skill more. I don't think that every child who does poorly on a particular skill automatically needs professional help nor should automatically be labeled 'learning disabled'. It just might be that no one has really stressed that topic to the child. So my plan is to suggest that the parent and I work on that particular topic for a while and see if the child gets better at it. If, after a month or two of trying to advance that particular skill, we don't see any progress, THEN, maybe the child needs professional help.

However, the doctors are not taking the time to do a true assessment and instead of telling the parents to work with the child on the areas the child scored low, they are jumping straight to saying, "Your child has a learning disability."! Which, of course, is all but traumatizing these parents. Then they come into daycare and ask me my opinion and I have to calm them down and convince them that their doctor went overboard and jumped the gun with labeling the child learning disabled.

The problem the parents are having is with the DOCTORS who are quickly assessing the children and then jumping straight to telling the parent that the child is learning disabled therefore should be placed in Infants and Toddlers because they scored low on the assessment.

Like I said, this particular child's doctor claimed that the child could only say 5 words therefore scored low and is learning disabled. But when I sat there with the child and took my time to get her to say words, she said 21 words which actually makes her score above average!

These doctors just aren't taking the proper amount of time needed to properly assess these children. They're doing a very quick assessment and because of hurrying through it, they aren't allowing the time the child needs to be able to show that they CAN do the things the assessment asks them to do.

I just spoke to my daycare specialist and told him that I believe that the Infants and Toddlers program just needs more clients so they can get more funding and he told me that I have a good point and just might be correct!

I also discussed with my specialist my opinion that the doctors are not taking the proper amount of time to assess the children correctly and he agreed with me on that too. Think about it, most doctors give you a max of 15 or so minutes. Plus, like my specialist said, many kids are afraid of doctors because they know they get injections (shots) at the doctor's office. So many kids are not going to quickly do the things the assessment asks of them at the doctor's office. And the doctor certainly isn't going to take an extra 1/2 hour (the time it took me to get the child to say 21 words yesterday) on just one part of the assessment. Nope. The doctor is going to quickly rush through the assessment so they can get on to the next patient. Therefore, the doctors who quickly rush through the assessment are getting false results and misdiagnosing the children with learning disabilities that they DON'T have just because the doctor won't take the time needed to do a correct assessment. And by giving these false results to the parents, are upsetting the parents something awful!

Hmmm.... I bet that one of these times, one of these parents is going to sue the doctor for misdiagnosing the child with a learning disability.

[permanentvacation]

No, this has nothing to do with EXCELS or any other program. It's simply going to be required of all licensed home daycare providers and centers. And according to my parents, pediatricians (at least some pediatricians) are automatically performing the assessments already.

[permanentvacation]

I think the assessments are a good idea. But you shouldn't jump straight to "Your child is learning disabled and needs Infants and Toddlers." I think it should be a tool to show us what areas we need to work on more with that child. I think we should give the child a month or two to show improvement with us truly working to help the child advance in that area. If the child shows no improvement after some time, THEN we should suggest that the child get professional help. But to jump right to needing professional help is just unnecessarily upsetting the parents .

[Annalee]

They have tried in the past to combine the school system with the state partner that oversees daycare here but to no avail. So right now I just receive resources the school sends out and place them in my parent info center. We do have a form we fill out regularly but it is vague and simply verifies I am providing materials/activities that meet each area of development for each age-group.

[Blackcat31]

They have tried in the past to combine the school system with the state partner that oversees daycare here but to no avail. So right now I just receive resources the school sends out and place them in my parent info center. We do have a form we fill out regularly but it is vague and simply verifies I am providing materials/activities that meet each area of development for each age-group.

I think in GA they have already made that move. I think daycare there is under the Department of Education and no longer under Health and Human Services

There are a lot of regulations in my state (attached to QRIS) that are directly governed and/or mandated by the Department of Education so I see it heading that way completely before too long. :confused:

[Annalee]

I think in GA they have already made that move. I think daycare there is under the Department of Education and no longer under Health and Human Services

There are a lot of regulations in my state (attached to QRIS) that are directly governed and/or mandated by the Department of Education so I see it heading that way completely before too long. :confused:

I agree...just a matter of time.

[daycare]

we have to conduct these here for our QRIS....btw did I tell you that I HATE qris...

[spedmommy4]

I think the assessments are a good idea. But you shouldn't jump straight to "Your child is learning disabled and needs Infants and Toddlers." I think it should be a tool to show us what areas we need to work on more with that child. I think we should give the child a month or two to show improvement with us truly working to help the child advance in that area. If the child shows no improvement after some time, THEN we should suggest that the child get professional help. But to jump right to needing professional help is just unnecessarily upsetting the parents .

You are right on point PV! I had two kids come into my program that scored "refer" on the screening tools. The parent and I discussed the results, but we also discussed their history. Did they have a lot of opportunities for gross motor play? Had they been exposed to the activities on the screener before? The answer to all of those questions was no.

After talking, even though it isn't protocol for a refer, we decided to screen again after 6 months and see where the kids were. Both kids were in average by the end of 6 months.

Parents and providers need to make educated decisions about what's best for the kids. A screening tool shouldn't be the only deciding factor.

[daycare]

when your kids enroll do you conduct any kind of intake questionnaire? When I started doing this, it really helped with my evals and assessments. You need to have something to start with to get more accurate results. someone starting from zero is not going to normally always end up as needing a referral or showing not on track.