Identification and diagnosis of developmental abilities in early childhood education involves assessment and intervention of abilities of specific children. Teachers and parents have the greatest responsibility in identification of special education needs in children, for example, identifying impairments conditions like autism. Early intervention priorities assist parents and teachers in the formulation of effective special education programs and services. Hardman Et show that diagnosis of special education needs in children assesses developmental, behavioral and learning disabilities. Furthermore, monitoring of development after diagnosis is part of the fundamental programs for young students with special needs. Education services and programs for children with needs are determined by early intervention priorities that show the specific abilities and disabilities of given children.
In addition, education programs seek to make special needs children to have a smooth transition through different levels of learning by gaining relevant skills, for example, language skills. While diagnosing developmental disabilities, it is necessary for teachers and instructors to share concerns with parents and other professionals. The programs for young learners with special needs in different situations are differentiated based on the specific conditions of the learners.
The necessity of having special education programs for those with developmental disabilities such as mental and physical impairment is that they have different learning abilities from those without. Consequentially, this makes them benefit and avoid disparity during the transition from different levels of learning in school. Early intervention priorities with regard to developmental disorders involve the provision of technical assistance by taking steps that bring forth learning that is highly inclusive.
Raver asserts that collaborative efforts are necessary in the assessment, intervention and response to developmental disabilities. The objective of early intervention in the case of diagnosis of developmental disabilities is to bring about acceptance and belonging. Special needs education programs involve high peer support and cooperative learning. Teaching of functional skills in young special-needs students is difficult compared to children without disabilities. Therefore, there is a need of differentiation of the instructional methods.
Assessments and interventions in special education in early childhood.
Venn shows that assessing of students with special needs use mixed approaches depending on the specific characteristics of the students. Venn shows that assessments and interventions used in early childhood education have their own strengths and weaknesses. The special nature of assessment and intervention because of differentiation from the general assessment is a clear strength. However, there is a need to specialize assessment based on individual characteristics rather than groups of special needs students. Early childhood interventions effectively measure developmental, social and educational gains, for example, speech assessment. Generalization of assessments is a weakness because different special needs children has different abilities. Assessments used in special education involve getting to know children while intervention after knowing these children and their special needs involves the formulation of relevant responses.
Early childhood special education analyzes the level of gaining functional skills by children, for example, emotional, cognitive, communication, language, specific disabilities, literacy, sensory functions among others. Possible ways to improve measurement of progress to ensure that there is early intervention at first. Secondly, it is necessary to involve parents and professionals in diagnosis of developmental disabilities. Finally, differentiation of intervention approaches used would make it efficient in measuring growth in individual children. Intervention in special education has different perspectives, for instance, diagnostic intervention, instructional assessment and intervention, and intervention for evaluation. Efficient intervention measures require effective planning, for example, through the creation of curriculum referenced assessment or standardized assessment.
Transitional programs
Transitional programs for young learners with special need aim at developing functional skills in the students. The outcomes of these programs involve development of skills and knowledge in students. Students with exceptional needs have challenges in learning compared to those without special needs. Therefore, transitional programs have specialized instructional methods, which play a great role in the transition of learners with special needs through different levels of learning, and finally transition from school efficient. Responses to intervention in after diagnosis of developmental disabilities are directed towards transition. Transitional programs in special education have expected outcomes of making those with special needs achieve equivalent skills and knowledge as students without special needs. Educational programs set for those with disabilities identify the specific needs of these children and make the program to be in alignment with the nature of disabilities. Furthermore, such program aims to make young students learn despite having disabilities. Special needs students have challenges, for example, in acquiring effective language or numeracy skills. Therefore, transitional program come up with intervention measures to make learning easier to bring about parity between special needs students and other students. Hardman Et show that children with disabilities learn better in a specialized environment rather than in a generalized environment where they are mixed with those without special needs.
