Running Head: MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 1

Meeting the Needs of Children and Families

Students Name

Institution

Date
MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 2

Meeting the Needs of Children and Families

Introduction to Child and Family

Naija is eleven months of age. Her brother, Desmond, ten years is the eldest amongst her

siblings. Her twin sisters Venus and Mary are three years old. Her mother is a single parent. In

the recent past, Naija has a speech disorder known as Child Apraxia of Speech (CAS). The

mother has only moved to Toronto with her kids recently with a goal of starting a new life.

Evidently, shes having other issued that are mumbling her as she appears stressed up.

Child Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

This is a motor speech disorder. Children suffering from CAS experience problems

producing sounds, pronouncing words and syllables. This is because the brain has problems in

getting ready to move the parts of the body involved in speech tongue, lips and jaws (Nelson,

2010). Though the child may know what they mean to say, they cannot because the brain cannot

effectively coordinate the movement of muscles required to say the words.

According Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2004) to Infants with this disorder

exhibit the following symptoms: do mot bubble or coo; pronounce only a few consonants and

vowels; start talking much later than the normal kids; have challenges combining sounds and

may have long pauses; and may have problems when eating.

Introduction to Naijas special needs

Before breaking the news to the mother, I would first advise the parent on how to take

care of her child. After breaking the news to her, I would encourage her to accept her daughters

condition and advise her how she should focus on helping Naija improve or recover from the

condition, citing past successful cases. After learning about her childs condition, it is almost

outright that Naijas mother would deny the news. This would be followed by the mourning of
MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 3

the loss of a perfect child as per her desire. As an early childhood educator, I ought advice

Naijas mother on how she could best take care of her child. First, I would refer her to either

Holland Bloorview Kids and Rehabilitation Hospital or Centennial Infants and Child Centre. The

two organizations have programs the address issues of early childhood development issues.

In addition, the infants physical environment contains significant messages to them.

Therefore, placing materials in both the indoor and outdoor environments would introduce Naija

to new exploration and discovery opportunities. According to Paul (2012), an environment

matching the developing interests and abilities demands skilful planning. In Naijas case, for

instance, displaying materials that are familiar to her, such as pictures of children with their

parents would be helpful. An infant will always smile when stretching to touch a teacher who is

nearby or another infant and this helps then to learn how to live with each other.

Meeting the needs in the Childcare Centre

According to Damico (2010), successful treatment can be achieved by intensive frequents

therapies i.e. three to five times every week. To start with, Naija should be examined by an

audiologist in order to truly ascertain that her condition is not as a result of difficulties in hearing.

If possible, Naija should see the audiologist alone during the therapy sessions. Studies show that

children treated alone do better that those treated as a group (Bowen, 2015). Since children with

CAS have a challenge of speech muscle coordination, intervention should primarily focus on

enhancing the coordination rather than strengthening the oral muscles.

Although improving the childs speech skills is important, the therapy should also focus

on getting feedback from the various senses such as the visual and touch cues and auditory

feedback as well (Paul, 2012). If need be, the child should be taught sign language to

complement speech if speaking is too difficult. Once the recovers from the speech problems, the
MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 4

need for the other skills may no longer be necessary but they will undoubtedly help the kid to

reach advanced levels of speech quickly (Domino, 2010).

For quicker recovery, the child needs to carry on with her speech practices even after the

therapy sessions. The caregivers should however understand that CAS treatment takes time and

successful results require consistency, patience and persistence. Therefore the therapy and

practice sessions should not exhaust the child.

Referral Agencies

1. Holland Bloorview Kids and Rehabilitation Hospital offers home based infants

consultations and therapies for kids aged zero to five years, among other services.

Their 0 2 years babies program is offered at Holland Blooview Nursery School. The

cost of their services depends on the nature of the developmental issues at hand. More

information about their services may be obtained from their website;

https://hollandbloorview.ca/programsandservices/Earlylearninganddevelopment/Infan

tdevelopmentservice
2. Centennial Infants and Child Centre endeavor to assist children with learning and

developmental issues. The organization achieve it mandate through preschool

integrated programs and community based programs. The costs of their services vary

from one service to another. More information about the organization can be retrieved

from the website http://www.cicc.ca/therapy-services/

MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 5

References

Damico, J. S. (2010). The handbook of language and speech disorders. Malden, Mass: Wiley-

Blackwell.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2004). The MIT encyclopedia of communication

disorders. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press

Nelson, N. W. (2010). Language and literacy disorders: Infancy through adolescence. Boston:

Allyn and Bacon Publishers.

Paul, R. (2012). Language disorders from infancy through adolescence: Listening, speaking,

reading, writing, and communicating. Ss.Louis, Miss: Mosby Inc

Bowen, C. (2015). Children's speech sound disorders. Chichester, West Sussex : Wiley Blackwel