FAM1252: Child's Learning Assessment and Individual Program Plan

This assignment presents an Individual Program Plan (IPP) for a child named Lara, born August 30th, 2007, created on January 12th, 2008, by educator Amanda. The plan begins with a summary of Lara's strengths, including improved spatial awareness, spontaneous responses, and physical development. It then outlines her needs, primarily the need for a speech therapist, physiotherapy, and counseling. The priority need identified is Lara's limited communication skills, using only short sentences. The long-term goal is to enhance her social communication skills. Short-term objectives focus on encouraging the use of longer, more complex sentences. The plan details prerequisite skills, potential barriers such as lack of educator support and time constraints, and educational and reinforcement strategies to help Lara achieve her goals. These strategies include spending sufficient time with Lara, using new words in full sentences, and providing verbal praise and rewards. The assignment is supported by references to Messer (2016) and Trawick-Smith (2013).

FAM1252-Assessment of Children’s Learning
Individual Program Plan (15%)
Child’s name: Lara
Date of Birth: august 30th 2007
Date of IPP: January 12th 2008
Educators Name: Amanda
Brief summary of three strengths: Lara has developed several skills that act as
stepping stones in her case. The first attribute that she has grown is that she has the ability
to judge space and distance, initially she did not have the ideology of the perspective of
space that is needed for a person to pass by but now she gives space to people when
needed. The second aspect that has tremendously improved in her case is the ways she
spontaneously responds in a situation unlike previously. She quickly reacts when watches
some known object nearby. Physically she has developed a lot. Earlier she was not able
to carry any heavy equipment but in the recent times she was found to carry heavy items
by her own, without the help of any elderly person.
Brief summary of three needs: The major three needs that Lara has presently are,
requirement of a speech therapist, she cannot completely communicate her needs to the
people she is dealing with. She is seen to only communication in sentences containing
three or less than three words. Although, her skills have improved, yet she is not able to
completely communicate to any one. The second one being the need to give her
physiotherapy. Unlike the other children of her age, she fails to fasten her speed when
needed, her physical attributes are not properly developed. The final one being the need
of implementation of counselling sessions to decrease the excitement that she has when
reacting to certain situation.
Priority need: – The most important negative attribute of Lara that should be attended to
immediately, is the way in which she speaks to the people in response to the situations.
She is unable to construct a full sentence she communicates by using maximum three
words. Children of her age are seen to communicate spontaneously by using full
sentences. She reacts to situations by naming the things she watches around her. She doe
not directly communicate with the people around her.
Long-term Goal:

The long term goal for Lara would be to enhance the social communication skills so that
the interaction with other individuals can be increased. The need of enhanced social
communication is underpinned by the need of Lara to engage in a suitable
communication with others and exchange thoughts and viewpoints.
Short-term Objective:
It has been found that Lara uses short sentences to communicate with other individuals.
The short term objective would be therefore to encourage Lara to communicate using
long sentences in full forms. Effective communication is only achieved when a child is
able to express her feelings and emotions sufficiently.
Prerequisite Skills:
Two (2) pre-requisite skills required to achieve short term objective:(be sure the skills
are directly related to the objective). Identifies skills or abilities the child will already
need to have developed in order to work on the short term objective and long term goal.
 Skill #1: Lara would be able to be engaged in communication on a regular
basis using full sentences and diverse vocabulary so that she learns different words and
uses them while structuring sentences.
 Skill #2: Lara would be able to understand what is being said to her when
others communicate in full sentences and uses varied vocabulary.
Barriers:
Two (2) possible barriers to achieving objective:
 Barrier #1: The first barrier might be lack of support from educator. An
educator needs to have patience and endurance while communicating with a child.
Children like Lara would need considerable amount of time to learn new skills and
enhance their communications skills. In case the educator is not supportive of the needs
of the child, and does not provide adequate support, the child might find it difficult to
demonstrate new skills and showcase them when and where required.
 Barrier #2: The second barrier would be lack of time. The educator might
not get sufficient time for interacting with the child. Development of social skills requires
considerable timeframe since development is usually gradual and is time-consuming from
the educator’s part (Messer 2016)

Educational Strategies:
Two educator strategies to achieve objective. Need to clearly outline the strategies, games
or experiences you will employ to directly work on the identified objective.
 Strategy #1: The educator needs to spend sufficient time with Lara for
promoting the skill to be learnt by her
 Strategy #2: The educator needs to engage in communication with the
child on a regular basis using full sentences and different words that are new for her
Reinforcement Strategies:
Two methods of reinforcement/encouragement chosen to attain the objective, give clear
examples of the strategies you would employ to give the child on-going feedback on their
progress.
 Method #1: Lara is to be appraised when she is able to communicate in a
manner that fulfills the short term goals. These can be done by using words such as ‘very
good’ and ‘well done’.
 Method #2: Lara can be given rewards in form of goodies that increase the
motivation level of children. These goodies can be chocolates and toys of her preferences
(Trawick-Smith 2013)

References
Messer, D. J. (Ed.). (2016). Mastery motivation in early childhood: Development,
measurement and social processes. Routledge.
Trawick-Smith, J. (2013). Early childhood development: A multicultural perspective.
Pearson Higher Ed.