Early
Childhood: Family-Centered Services
Instructor Name: Dr. Marrea Winnega
Facilitator
Name: Aumony Dahl, M.Ed.
Phone: 509-891-7219
Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
PST Monday - Friday
Email: aumony_dahl@virtualeduc.com
Address: Virtual
Education Software
16201 E Indiana Ave,
Suite 1450
Spokane, WA 99216
Technical
Support: support@virtualeduc.com
Introduction
Welcome to Early
Childhood: Family-Centered Services, a course that seeks to promote the
development of thoughtful,
knowledgeable, effective educators for a diverse society. The course provides conceptual frameworks
for working with families of children from a variety of backgrounds. Course content places an emphasis on
family-centered practices designed to help early childhood professionals
involve and support families in the care and education of children.
This
computer-based instruction course is a self-supporting program that provides
instruction, structured practice, and evaluation all on your home or school
computer. Technical support information
can be found in the Help section of your course.
Course Materials
(Online)
Title: Early
Childhood: Family-Centered Services
Instructor Name: Dr. Marrea Winnega
Facilitator
Name: Aumony Dahl, M.Ed.
Publisher: Virtual
Education Software, inc. 2008, Revised 2012
Academic Work
Academic
work submitted by the individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests)
shall be the student’s own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in
whole, to its correct source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group
prepared) materials as if they are one’s own work is unacceptable.
Aiding Honesty
in Others
The
individual will encourage honesty in others by refraining from providing
materials or information to another person with knowledge that these materials
or information will be used improperly.
Violations
of these academic standards will result in the assignment of a failing grade
and subsequent loss of credit for the course.
Level of Application
This course is designed as one part of a five part
series on early childhood education. Upon
completion of all five courses, you will have covered all of the
Expected Learning Outcomes
At the conclusion of this
course students will be able to:
·
Working
knowledge of the major frameworks for understanding about family systems,
transitions, and diversity.
·
Competence
in communicating about the role of families in promoting optimal growth,
development, and learning from pre-birth to age five.
·
Ability
to seek out appropriate local, regional and national resources when working
with families facing special challenges (e.g. children who have teenaged or
divorced parents, are newly immigrated, have experienced abuse/neglect and/or
poverty, or have special needs).
·
Skill
in designing appropriate professional practices related to enhancing and
assessing positive staff-parent communication and involvement.
Course
Description
Family-Centered
Services
is a continuum of services that employ the family-centered practice approach to
promote the primary goals of child welfare: safety, permanency, and
well-being. A family-centered practice
approach is a way of organizing and delivering assistance and support to
families based on interconnected beliefs and attitudes that shape the program
philosophy and behavior of personnel as they organize and deliver services to
children and families.
Family-centered
service is an approach to service delivery that grew out of family preservation
attempts in the mid-seventies to prevent out-of-home placements of minors.
Since then, family-centered services has expanded from a particular type of
service to an overall philosophy for the delivery of services to families. FCS currently includes a wide range of
programs from family support prevention
services to family preservation, for
families who are dealing with extremely difficult situations. Family support is largely a preventative
service that focuses on promoting healthy family relationships and child
development. A family support model may
include programs such as peer support groups, Head Start, parent training, and
home visitation. Family preservation, on the other hand, is more concerned with
preventing family breakdown when serious problems arise by providing more
intensive services that help families resolve specific issues (Fuller &
Wells, 2000).
While
there are several similar, yet differing, definitions of family-centered
services that exist in fields such as social services, child welfare, mental
health, and early childhood special education, there is consensus on the
principles and values that characterize family-centered services. Descriptors such as “strengths-based,
consumer driven, family systems, partnerships, empowerment, enhancement,
interdependence, proactive, and collaborative relationships” are all found in
many of these definitions (Pletcher & McBride, 2003).
For
the purpose of this class, we will use the terms Family-Centered Services and Family-Centered
Practice interchangeably, to refer to a way of working with families across
service systems to enhance their capacity to care for and protect their
children, and strengthen their ability to manage their own lives. Family-centered services focus on the needs
and welfare of children within the context of their families and
communities. These services are
accessible and individualized, and are available to families that may not
initially seek services.
Family-centered
service providers reach out to families, conveying the message that all
families can benefit from support, and that families can learn from one
another.
Family-centered
practice recognizes the strengths of family relationships and builds on these
strengths to achieve optimal outcomes. Family is defined broadly to include
birth, blended, kinship, and foster and adoptive families. Family-centered practice includes a range of
strategies, including advocating for improved conditions for families,
supporting them, stabilizing those in crisis, reunifying those who are
separated, building new families, and connecting families to the resources that
will sustain them in the future.
As
a student, you will be expected to:
Course Overview
Chapter
1: Introduction to Family-Centered Services
Chapter
One defines what is meant by Family-Centered Services (FCS) and examines the
important role it plays in Early Childhood Education (ECE). We consider
the philosophy, core values, and essential elements of best practice in
FCS. In addition, we identify several key principles that guide the
delivery of Family-Centered Services and provide practical examples of how to
implement each principle for those providing services to families.
Chapter 2: Understanding Families
Chapter Two takes a more in-depth look at how we can work together
to connect the ECE profession’s standards of quality to the urgent needs of
families. This chapter discusses the complexity of family dynamics by examining
several factors that contribute to family diversity, such as ethnicity, race,
culture, economic differences, gender role identity, religiosity, and
geographic region. We discuss the practical implications of such factors
and look at family strengths, functions, and structures.
Chapter 3 - Working Together: A Shared Responsibility
Chapter Three takes a closer look at several stress factors, such
as family violence, substance abuse, homelessness, disability, serious illness,
and immigration, that many families in crisis may face. We discuss the
impact of such stressors on both family and child, and identify various ways in
which early childhood educators can support and encourage them in their time of
need.
Chapter
4 - Building Communities of Care
Chapter
Four focuses on the need for Early Childhood Educators and care providers to
provide parents with child-rearing information and support. In order to
do this, we examine the critical processes for child development, discuss how
to develop and implement needs assessments for families with young children,
and describe the dimensions of high-quality parent education programs.
This chapter also identifies critical components of parenting and discusses
methods of parent education.
At
the end of each course chapter, you will be expected to complete an examination
designed to assess your knowledge. You may take these exams a total of three
times. Your last score will save, not the highest score. After your third attempt,
each examination will lock and not allow further access. The average from your exam scores will be printed on your
certificate. However, this is not your
final grade since your required writing assignments have not been
reviewed. Exceptionally written or
poorly written required writing assignments, or violation of the academic
integrity policy in the course syllabus, will affect your grade. As this is a self-paced computerized
instruction program, you may review course information as often as necessary.
You will not be able to exit any examinations until you have answered all
questions. If you try to exit the exam before you complete all questions, your
information will be lost. You are expected to complete the entire exam in one
sitting.
Writing Assignments
This course has two required writing
components. ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE REVIEWED.
Exceptionally or poorly written assignments, or violation of the academic
integrity policy noted in the course syllabus, will affect your grade. Be sure to refer to the Grading Guidelines for Writing Assignments,
sent as an attachment with your original course link.
It is highly recommended that you write and save all writing assignments
in an external word processing program (such as Word or Notepad), and then copy
and paste these into the course program so that you will have backup copies.
To save your essays:
When you select the question or article you wish to
respond to, ‘Simple Text’ or ‘Text Edit’ will launch automatically. When you
are finished entering your response, simply click SAVE.
You must SAVE before you write another essay or move on to another part
of the course.
1) Essay Requirement: Critical
Thinking Questions
There are four Critical Thinking Questions that you must complete. You will
do research on the questions and
write brief essay responses relating it to the course content (and your
personal experiences, when possible). To
view the questions, click on REQUIRED ESSAY and choose the Critical Thinking
Question that you are ready to complete; this will bring up a screen where you
may enter your essay. You must write a
minimum of 500 words (maximum 1,000) per essay.
You may go back at any point to edit your essays, but you must be
certain to click SAVE once you have completed your edits.
You must SAVE before you
write another essay or move on to another part of the course.
2) Essay Requirement: Journal Articles
This task requires you to write a review
of three peer-reviewed or scholarly journal articles, preferably written by an author
with a Ph.D. (blogs and news articles are not acceptable) of your choice on a
topic related to this course. You may
choose your topic by entering the Key Words (click on the Key Words button)
into a search engine of your choice (Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc.). Choose three relevant articles and write a
critical summary of the information given in each article, explaining how the
information relates to, supports, or refutes information given in this course.
Conclude your review with your thoughts and impressions (200 words per journal
article minimum, 400 words maximum). Be sure to provide the journal name,
volume, date, and any other critical information to allow the instructor to
access and review that article.
To write your essays, click on REQUIRED ESSAY and choose the Journal
Article that you would like to complete; this will bring up a screen where you
can write your review. When you are ready to stop, click SAVE.
You may go back at any point to edit your essays, but you must be
certain to click SAVE once you are done with your edits. For more information
on the features of this assignment, please consult the HELP menu.
You must SAVE before you
write another essay or move on to another part of the course.
Early
Childhood: Family-Centered Services has been developed by Aumony Dahl MS/ED
the instructor of record. Aumony received her
Master’s degree in Exceptional Children from Western Washington University. She is certified to teach in K-12 Special
Education with an additional endorsement in Early Childhood Special
Education. Aumony began her career
working as an elementary special education teacher for several years. She is currently an instructor in the Special
Education Department at Western Washington University, teaching a variety of
classes on topics related to early childhood special education, students with
complex special needs, assessment and evaluation, and program planning. Aumony is also a supervisor for practicum
students who are training to become teachers.
In addition to this course, Aumony has authored another course in this
Early Childhood series called Early
Childhood: Program Planning.
Dr. Marrea
Winnega, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with 20 years of experience in the
field of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor
of Clinical Psychology in the University of Illinois at Chicago Department
of Psychiatry. She consults for schools and agencies serving individuals with Autism
Spectrum Disorders, including Asperger’s Disorder. She has also conducted
numerous workshops, in-services, and trainings throughout the United
States. Please contact Professor Dahl if you have course content or
examination questions.
You may
contact the facilitator by emailing Professor Dahl at aumony_dahl@virtualeduc.com or
calling her at 509-891-7219, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. PST.
Phone messages will be answered within 24 hours. Phone conferences will be limited to ten minutes per student, per
day, given that this is a self-paced instructional program. Please do not
contact the instructor about technical problems, course glitches or other
issues that involve the operation of the course. Please contact
Professor Dahl if you have course content or examination questions.
Technical Questions
If you have
questions or problems related to the operation of this course, please try
everything twice. If the problem persists please check our support pages for
FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com
and also the Help section of your course.
If you need
personal assistance then email support@virtualeduc.com
or call (509) 891-7219. When contacting
technical support, please know your course version number (it is located at the
bottom left side of the Welcome Screen) and your operating system, and be
seated in front of the computer at the time of your call.
Minimum Computer Requirements
Please refer to VESi’s website: www.virtualeduc.com or contact VESi if
you have further questions about the compatibility of your operating system.
Refer to the addendum regarding Grading Criteria, Course Completion
Information, Items to be Submitted and how to submit your completed
information. The addendum will also note any additional course assignments that
you may be required to complete that are not listed in this syllabus.
Bibliography
(Suggested
Readings)
Arnold, L.
(1980). Preparing young children for science. New York:
Schocken.
Bredekamp, S.,
& Copple, C. (1997). Developmentally appropriate practice in
early childhood programs: Revised
edition. Washington, DC: National
Association for the Education of Young Children.
Calkins, L.
(1986). The art of teaching writing.
Exeter, NH: Heinemann. New York:
Longman.
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention website: www.cdc.gov
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. (2008). Strategic direction
for child maltreatment prevention: Preventing child maltreatment through the
promotion of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships between children and
caregivers. Atlanta, GA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pub/CM_factsheet.html
Chaille, C.,
& Britain, L. (1997). The young child
as scientist: A constructivist approach to early childhood science education
(2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Clay, M. (1998).
By different paths to common outcomes.
York, ME: Stenhouse.
Colbert, C.
(1997). Visual arts in the developmentally appropriate integrated
curriculum. In C. Hart, D. Burts, &
R. Charlesworth (Eds.), Integrated
curriculum and developmentally appropriate practice. (pp. 201-224). Albany, NY: State University of New York
Press.
Edwards, V. J., Anda, R. F., Dube, S.
R., Dong, M., Chapman, D. F., & Felitti, V. J. (2005). The wide-ranging health consequences
of adverse childhood experiences. In K. Kendall-Tackett & Sarah Giacomoni
(Eds.), Victimization of children and youth: Patterns of abuse, response
strategies. Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute.
Edwards, V. J., Holden, G. W., Anda, R.
F., & Felitti, V. J. (2003).
Experiencing multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and adult mental
health: Results from the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(8),
1453-1460.
Fang, X., Brown, D. S., Florence, C.,
& Mercy, J. (2012). The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United
States and implications for prevention. Child Abuse and Neglect, 36(2), 156-165.
Gabbard, C.
(1992). Lifelong motor development.
Dubuque, IA: Brown.
Good, R. (1977).
How children learn science. New York:
Macmillan.
Jones, E.
(1970). In L. Dittmann (Ed.), Curriculum
is what happens. Washington, DC:
National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Jones, E., &
Nimmo, J. (1994). Emergent curriculum.
Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Kostelnik, M.,
Soderman, A., & Whiren, A. (1999). Developmentally
appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Kreidler, W.
(1984). Creative conflict resolution.
Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.
Krogh, S., &
Slentz, K. (2001). The early childhood
curriculum. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Madsen, W. C. (2009). Collaborative
helping: A practice framework for family-centered services. Family Process,
48, 103-116.
McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and
neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain. Physiology Review, 87(3), 873–904.
Morrow, L.
(1993). Literacy development in the early
years. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (1998). Learning to
read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Young Children, 53(4), 30-46.
Raths, L.,
Harmin, M., & Simon, S. (1966). Values
and teaching. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Schirrmacher, R.
(1998). Art and creative development for
young children. Albany, NY: Delmar.
Sunal, C.
(1990). Early childhood social studies.
Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Taylor, B.
(1999). Science everywhere: Opportunities for very young children. Orlando, FL:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Websites
Zero
to Three Organization (http://www.zerotothree.org)
A
primary site for information on healthy development during the first years of
life.
National
Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center
(http://www.nectac.org)
NECTAC
is the national early childhood technical assistance center supported by the
U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs.
ERIC
Early Childhood Resources and Link (http://ericeece.org/)
An
excellent source when you need to research a topic related to Early
Childhood. A large amount of information related to families is included
here.
American
Academy of Pediatrics (http://www.aap.org)
This
site offers child health information to parents and professionals.
Council
for Exceptional Children (http://www.cec.sped.org)
A
professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for
people working with and advocating for students with special needs.
High/Scope
Educational Research Foundation (http://www.highscope.org)
This
foundation is an independent non-profit research, development, training, and
public advocacy organization to promote the learning and development of
children.
I
am Your Child (http://www.iamyourchild.org)
This
site is primarily for students and families interested in information about
infants and toddlers. The site was created by the Rob Reiner foundation in
order to promote public awareness of the importance of early childhood
development, largely in response to brain development research. The
Foundation has developed a series of videos and CD-Roms in English and Spanish
that can be purchased for $5. This is a valuable resource for sharing with
parents and community members.
National
Association for the Education of Young Children
(http://naeyc.org)
An
organization concerned with the quality of early education for young children.
NAEYC provides a number of Position Statements that are important for all ECE
specialists to familiarize themselves with.
Early
Head Start National Resource Center @ Zero to Three (http://www.ehsnrc.org)
A
large amount of information related to ECE, with some topics emphasizing family
services.
Floor
Time- Stanley Greenspan, M.D.
(http://home.sprintmail.com/~janettevance/floor_time.htm) This site provides an overview of the work
of Stanley Greenspan and is particularly relevant to class discussion of
parent/child interactions in fostering emotional development.
Vort Corporation (http://www.vort.com)
This
site is a company that publishes Information for Parents and Professionals
working with infants and young children.
Course content is updated every three years. Due to this update timeline, some URL links may no longer be active or may have changed. Please type the title of the organization into the command line of any Internet browser search window and you will be able to find whether the URL link is still active or any new link to the corresponding organization's web home page.
Updated 9/4/14 JN