Video transcript
Parent
Elijah’s mother
When we first came into the kindergarten we did have a couple of one-on-one meetings with Sue to discuss where he was at and maybe some of the developmental difficulties that Elijah was going to have and was having. But then we were able to say, “Okay, well the kindy takes children from where they're at and works with them, with their strengths, and helps to support where they need the support”. So it was quite easy working with Sue, organising how we can do that for Elijah.
Parent
Elijah’s father
The attitude was all about supporting, being positive, being able to do things. It wasn't a focus on what he couldn't do, but rather on what he could do.
Community Kindergarten
Kindergarten Director/ teacher:
When I met with his [Elijah’s] parents we needed to think about the sorts of adjustments that would make his entry into kindergarten successful. It needed to be successful both for him, for his family, but also it needs to work for all the other children and the families as well. Some of the practical things we're thinking about, how would we manage his physical needs, because he has some additional needs around routine things like toileting and eating, to make sure that we meet his needs in those areas. Elijah tires more quickly so that, as he's getting towards the end of the morning, he needs to be eating lunch a little bit earlier than the others, so I've just adjusted the routine slightly. Because his motor skills need that — he needs sometimes a little bit of help to do some of the physical types of things, I make sure that there's always some climbing that's achievable for him to do. I'm also a little bit conscious of not having too many obstacles around on the floor that he must negotiate. Some of the adjustments that we make are to make sure that Elijah's included in our group activities. Typically, in group time we'd be doing things like discussions, talking about what's happening and so for Elijah that could be a challenge. So we — what we do is we make sure that we do lots of learning experiences that — in group time, that allow him to be included. Things like singing, doing lots of movement games, letting him be the person who chooses children to go off to the bathroom, things where he can use — where he's not having to use language, but he can do things physically to indicate his participation. Because what we do all the time is make adjustments for children's individual needs. So that is what you're doing when you have a child with additional needs, you're just thinking about what their needs are, “How can I support this child to feel comfortable in our group, to access all the things that we do at kindergarten?” That might mean some practical changes in your routine, but essentially, it's just what we do as teachers
- Last updated:
- 31 July 2024
