Early Childhood Education and Care: Goodstart Foundations Report

This report addresses an Early Childhood Education and Care assignment centered on Goodstart Foundations, focusing on practical applications and real-world scenarios. The student selects the foundation of "create stronger solutions together," providing an example of fostering inclusivity and cultural understanding within the classroom. The report further explores a scenario involving an educator providing unauthorized activities, detailing the steps to address the situation. A significant portion of the report describes a close relationship with a child diagnosed with ADHD, outlining the educator's approach to support the child's needs, including sensory activities, family collaboration, and inclusive classroom strategies. The student reflects on the development of classroom management skills, curriculum design, and instructional design to support diverse learners. The report also references relevant literature to support the practices and strategies discussed, emphasizing the importance of educator-family partnerships and the impact of educators' actions on children's outcomes.

Running head: Early Childhood Education and Care
Early Childhood Education and Care
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Early Childhood Education and Care
1. I would like to select foundation number four, which states that “create stronger solutions
together”. I had always been in support of the fact to work together with a diverse group
of people. Being a teacher, there had been an instance, where one of children of
Australian origin had passed a derogatory comment about a child of Aboriginal origin,
which might have been done unintentionally. Understanding, this might lead to
something bigger in future, I set up m activity classes with interesting activities providing
scopes to every children to uphold their culture, by sharing with us, their bedtime stories,
interesting traditions and practices.
2. Even after my shift timing is over, I should help the educator to distribute the stencils,
ensuring that all the children has received their stencils. `I probably would go around the
classroom to check how the children are making use of them. I would rather help children
who would like to receive my help, as teachers are always best known for their
accountability to educate students present in the classroom.
3. While, I had always been in close association with several children, but few children
remains in our mind forever, probably due to the strong association with the children or
their families or probably the reciprocation of the love and care that one gets from the
students. Mental health problems in children consists of various types of behavioural as
well as emotional disorders, includes attention deficit hypersensitivity disorder. ADHD is
a medical condition that is cognitive disorder affecting attention, ability to sit still and
self-control (Messeter 2019). ADHD might affect children at school friendship and home.
Since, our classroom is an inclusive classroom, we provide accommodation for children
having mild to moderate levels of disability. While, that was my first experience of
handling any child with ADHD, it was quite difficult for me understand his problems. He
had several issues regarding the sensory processing prompting actions like inability to eat

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certain textures of food or intolerant to metallic sounds. He did not like to keep socks on,
and the most important factor is the lack of concentration, due to which he lagged behind
most of the other students in the classroom. I had to research a lot, to find out the best
possible ways to help him out. I introduced sensory classes, where I purposefully chose
several activities that would help to develop the sensory skills in children facing similar
issues in academics.
It has been stated by Lasater (2016) that an active and constant learning increases the
cognitive development in children and also tends to bring the families closer. It is also
necessary that the parents take their leap of faith, as they place their child under the care
of the educators. A positive partnership between educators and the family members keeps
the parents to feel valued and understand the needs of the student. Again, the educators
should also assess the ambience in which a child has been born and brought up to
understand the predisposing factors of their behaviours (Lindsay et al. 2018). I contacted
with his family to inform them about the situation and asked them to consult a physician
to rule out any confusions. I also recommended them with certain sensory interventions
like strenuous exercise or deep pressure. I designed several sensory play activities using
several resources like sands, twigs, slimes, dough that gave children various senses of
touch. I also emphasized more on kinaesthetic learning, so that the children gets more
hands on experience. Not only did I ensure to include sensory activities, but also
emphasized on constructive plays for strengthening their gross motor skills. Truly
speaking, all these researches also helped me to find out similar such children who were
facing the same issues. After repeated try and collaborative effort of the other educators
and the child’s family, we could at least arouse his interests on class works. With time

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our collaborative efforts also strengthened our relationship with us and other children.
The child started to socialize more with the other children, participating in more team and
group based activities. As per the feedback obtained from his parents, the child is also
coping up with his behavioural issues and shows interests in drawing, music and solving
puzzles. I anticipate that, this has helped me to develop enough knowledge about the
classroom management strategies, the designing of the curriculum and the way an
instructional design has to be made to support the needs of all the children in an inclusive
classroom.
4. Firstly, I will check, whether the child has been hurt or has suffered from an injury. My
second action will be to confront the teacher and explain to him about the harm associated
with this act. The educator might be reminded strictly of the school’s zero tolerance policy.
Thirdly, I would escalate this matter to the higher authority, for the necessary steps to be
taken.

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Early Childhood Education and Care
References
Lasater, K., 2016. Parent-Teacher Conflict Related to Student Abilities: The Impact on Students
and the Family-School Partnership. School Community Journal, 26(2), pp.237-262.
Lindsay, S., Proulx, M., Thomson, N. and Scott, H., 2013. Educators’ challenges of including
children with autism spectrum disorder in mainstream classrooms. International Journal of
Disability, Development and Education, 60(4), pp.347-362.
Messeter, T., 2019. What are the lived experiences of siblings of children and young people with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? An interpretive phenomenological analysis
(Doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham).