Kids And Parents

Probably parents who have kids with delayed skills or other disabilities have known that there is special services that provide individualized education programs in public schools, free of charge to families. But understanding how to access these services can help parents be effective advocates for their kids.

There are several ways to help kids succeed in school and one of them is possibility to work with educators to develop a plan — the individualized education plan (IEP).

A child who has difficulty learning and functioning and has been identified as a special needs student is the perfect candidate for an IEP. Kids struggling in school may qualify for support services, allowing them to be taught in a special way, for reasons such as:

learning disabilities
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
emotional disorders
mental retardation
autism
hearing impairment
visual impairment
speech or language impairment
developmental delay

In most cases, the services and goals outlined in an IEP can be provided in a standard school environment. This can be done in the regular classroom (for example, a reading teacher helping a small group of children who need extra assistance while the other kids in the class work on reading with the regular teacher) or in a special resource room in the regular school. The resource room can serve a group of kids with similar needs who are brought together for help.
As a parent, you can decide whether to have your child assessed. If you choose to do so, you’ll be asked to sign a permission form that will detail who is involved in the process and the types of tests they use. These tests might include measures of specific school skills, such as reading or math, as well as more general developmental skills, such as speech and language. Testing does not necessarily mean that a child will receive services.

No one has any doubt of course that having close ties with parents is obviously good for preschoolers. It means that they are better able to control their own behavior by showing patience, deliberation, restraint, and even maturity.

The researchers from University of Iowa looked at 102 mostly white families mothers, fathers, and babies who had volunteered for the study from the time the children were 7 months old until they were almost 4 and a half years old. Repeated observations were carried out in the families homes and in a laboratory.

The study found that children who had developed a close, positive, reciprocal, and mutually responsive relationship with their mothers in the first two years of their lives did much better in both respects responding to their mothers requests not to do something and regulating their own behavior–than children who had not developed such ties.

The researchers also explored how mutually responsive relationships between mothers and children worked. When mothers and babies develop this closeness in the first two years, the study found, mothers dont need to use forceful discipline later to get their children to do what they ask and refrain from other behaviors. And in turn, subtle control on the part of the mothers leads to better, more compliant, and more self-regulated behavior when the children are at preschool age.

Some of these findings were similar for fathers and children. Mutually responsive, positive relationships between fathers and children in the first two years of life also were associated with childrens better performance in tasks that called for self-regulation when the children were 4 and a half. However, in contrast to mothers and children, the reasons for the father-child link were less clear. Relationships between fathers and children in general have been studied much less than those between mothers and children, and more research is needed to understand their dynamics.

Most parents know that when they interact with their infant and young toddler, they are laying important foundations for the childs future development, according to Grazyna Kochanska, Stuit Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Iowa and the lead author of the study. Now we have a better understanding of what that really means. Your investment in building a mutually responsive, positive, close relationship early on will generate considerable payoff several years later.