Analyzing Angel Becerra’s ASQ Results

Section A - Interpretation of Findings

The results of the ASQ tests conducted on Angel indicate that the child currently can sort out red and blue colors. He separated them excellently putting one color to the top or right-hand corner of the tray and the other color on the opposing side as instructed. Angel was careful during the process putting one letter at a time and put it on the correct color pile. Furthermore, the child understands the use of the terminologies top and bottom as he demonstrated when asked to place an object at the top he would say up and place it correctly and would do the opposite and say down when asked to put a letter at the bottom ( Fraser, & McLaughlin, 2016) . Moreover, the child can recognize the first letter of his name when the equivalent uppercase of the letter was shown to him. 

Information from other teachers

The other teachers helped in identifying other traits that the boy demonstrated during learning and development exercises conducted out of class. These learning and development activities include the show of improved memory and knowledge for specifics and procedures by Angel. After his teacher had made the tendency of going over the schedule with her kids for quite some time now, Angel when asked what the next activity would be, Angel pointed out correctly that it was time for the gym. 

Ms. Courtney helped by arranging a set of different sized cups to help verify whether the boy compares collections that are sized differently ( McDonald et al., 2016) . During creative arts, Ms. Maria helped identify whether Angel was developing the necessary skills to support artistic expression through his movement in the gym. An example is when she put on the Freeze dance song, Angel used observation to understand that when the song said freeze he was required to stand still the same way that his teacher and other kids within the gym were doing. Ms. Patty also had her set of instructions that showed Angel’s improved control of the body through his performance of various motor skills such as running, walking, and jumping up and down. The motor skills demonstrated that the toddler enjoyed creative movements.

Angel’s strength

The kid’s strength is demonstrated in the gross motor skills where his teacher tried a set of different activities with the child, and he excelled in the performance of the same events. These activities included the child walking up or down a stair after taking no more than two steps, running without bumping into objects, jumping with both feet leaving the ground, kicks a ball without support, or even walking up the stairs with one foot stepping on the step only. 

Angel’s Challenges

Areas, where the kid faced challenges, included naming correctly different picture shown to him, also in the use of at least two words precisely. Furthermore, the child could not construct sentences that were three or four words long, and failure by Angel to respond to specific instructions such as, he failed to put the shoe on the table as required by the question to do so. Generally, the biggest challenge demonstrated by the boy was in communication.

Nevertheless, the kid demonstrated negative improvements in the field of personal-social examinations. For instance, the boy did not imitate the activities showed the opening and closing of the mouth, pulling down the earlobe, blinking, and patting the cheek ( Steenis et al., 2015) . Other challenging personal-social activities are a failure by the toddler to address himself as “me” or “I” more often. The NAEYC standards show that the teacher is expected to know about and use observation, documentation, and other relevant examination kits and attitudes in the documentation of a child's learning and development.

Section B - Communication Plan

The setting of the Location for the Dissemination of Angel’s Results 

The results will be submitted in a meeting that is scheduled to take place within Angel Beccera’s home setting so that the family members can get acquainted with the results faster. The home setting will help the parents to visualize their child performing different sets of activities within the same house. Therefore, this home setting would help the parents understand the results faster and efficiently according to the teacher all the support they can give. 

The Environment of the Meeting

As an educator, preparations shall be made to ensure that I play the role of calming, supportive, and resourcefulness to make the parents feel comfortable with the results and panic attacks from the parents. After the invitation of the family into the home meeting is done with, the results of the ASQ shall be provided to the parents.

Description of the ASQ

The ASQ are acronyms that stand for the American Society for Quality which is a global community composed of qualified professionals who are driven towards the achievement of quality services through the practice and promotion of quality practices, tools, and guidelines ( McDonald et al., 2016) . Furthermore, the questionnaire used to assess Angel’s learning and development was set by this group of professionals.

Angel’s Family Culture

Care shall be taken when inviting the family members to the meeting. Depending on the culture of Angel’s parent, invitations shall be sent either to include just the nuclear family. But if there is a tradition where the extended family is involved, then they will be invited over. Depending on the language used by the family, an interpreter shall be summoned to break down the language barrier.

For Better Understanding of the Results

To ensure that the results are well understood, the initial introduction to ASQ shall be made to sound not only comfortable and understandable but also personal and friendly. A positive tone will be employed to establish a communication that is free-flowing and open. Moreover, emphasis will be put to explain that ASQ is only meant to identify and strengthen socio-emotional developments together with the challenges the child is going through ( Sumrall, et al., 2017) . The parents will be told that the procedure is an essential tool for them to identify with the expectations of the child’s outcome at different stages.

Explanations shall be made to help the parents know who amongst them will have access to the answers, all the while taking note of the language being used in the meeting. Expectations of the responses from the questionnaire shall be calmed down with an explanation made to the parents to let them understand that the survey is a means to conduct a quick assessment of Angel’s development.

Questions to the Family

Questions shall be asked to ensure that the family has understood the results and the concept of the ASQ analysis; the parents shall be asked whether they can perform the same tests with their kid in the future. If not, they shall be guided into how best to complete the test. 

Goals set with the Family

The family will be assisted in formulating goals that will help in the continual learning and development of Angel Beccera. The goals will be set to address cognitive development, physical development social and emotional development ( McDonald et al., 2016) . They will further be educated on the relevance of goal setting since the earlier they embark on this mission, the better the child will be prepared for school.

Resources to Help Family understand the ASQ

The parents will be informed about the Ages and Stages, Questionnaire website where they can find vital resources that will help them. From https://agesandstages.com/asq-parent-resources/ , they should expect to see resources such as What the ASQ-3 is, Consent Form, Parent welcome letter, Questionnaire cover letter, demographic information sheet, and the parent feedback. Furthermore, the parents will be made aware of the fact that according to the NAEYC (2b), it is relevant that families be supported and engaged using reciprocal and respectful ways. The NAEYC website https://cfcc.edu/eca/naeyc-standards/ is also another site that they should visit. 

The conclusion of the Meeting

A revision will be made on the significant areas that have been discussed with the parent regarding the results of the ASQ analysis of Angel Beccera. They will be informed when to expect the next ASQ analysis will be due. Since there are no major serious issues that require a third-party professional recommendation for Angel, the parents will be reminded of their role in the learning and development of their son.

Strategies to Involve Family and Community

The parents will also be informed of the open opportunities for student members as part of the community participation in ASQ where leadership skills are developed. Apart from the student participation, there is the local member community where they can participate as professionals hence give them an opportunity to build on their network, make new contacts as well as increasing their knowledge in local events and activities ( McDonald et al., 2016) . The family members will be reminded that the two strategies outlaid to them for participation in the Ages and Stages questionnaire are part of the campaign as highlighted in the NAEYC (2c) standards.

Section C- Goal, Curriculum and Teaching Strategies Plan

Goals and Benefits of Assessment in ECE

The benefits of the assessment are for the teacher, improvement of the teaching methodologies while the students improved learning and better development. Therefore, the interaction of the teacher and student is strengthened through the assessment. Furthermore, the assessment helps in improving the education system by pointing out areas where it needs to be updated to meet the teacher’s or learners’ rising needs.

Specific Goal for the Child

The specific goal is to determine at a very early stage any developmental disabilities that the child might have so that they might be addressed to prevent further complications. The questionnaires have been used to detect difficulties in children as young as four months old. It was observed that Angel could not open the cap of a marker pen without asking for help ( Sumrall, et al., 2017) . Therefore the goal is to find out if this is a temporary problem that can be solved or it is a sign of a more severe complication.

Teaching Strategies

The first strategy to assist Angel to overcome his problem is by using Differentiation where while teaching the student will be allocated tasks based on his abilities to ensure that he is not left behind. Moreover, cooperative learning strategy will also be employed to encourage the other students to work together in groups or class activities and assist one another where possible.

Resources for Creating Individualized Activity Plan 

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) 3a stipulates that candidates prepared in ECE degree programs should understand the benefits, uses, and goals of the ASQ assessment. Therefore, it is imperative that the candidate is familiarized with the necessary resources that will assist them in achieving the NAEYC set standard. Examples of resources are Teaching Strategies Gold that focuses its evaluation on 38 objectives that are essential in ECE (http://www.teachingstrategies.com) and the Work Sampling System that is designed to allow the educator to evaluate the student based on the checklists, portfolios, and guidelines made by the system (http://www.worksamplingonline.com) . Many other resources are available for the candidates based on their set goals and objectives.

Section D – Reflection

The Ages and Stages Questionnaire is vital in ensuring that the educator is competent in the provision of his services. This assessment tool gives confidence to the educator and a guideline on how best to achieve the highest form of the child’s potentiality in both learning and development. This tool provides the educator with information on a child’s weak and strong points; therefore, the teacher can capitalize on the strong points while finding the best way to address the weak points. Similarly, there is an opportunity for the parent to be involved in the learning and development process.

References

Fraser, K., & McLaughlin, T. (2016). Quality assessment in early childhood: A reflection on five key features.  Early Education ,  60 , 8.

McDonald, S., Kehler, H., Bayrampour, H., Fraser-Lee, N., & Tough, S. (2016). Risk and protective factors in early child development: results from the All Our Babies (AOB) pregnancy cohort.  Research in developmental disabilities ,  58 , 20-30.

Steenis, L. J., Verhoeven, M., Hessen, D. J., & Van Baar, A. L. (2015). Parental and professional assessment of early child development: the ASQ-3 and the Bayley-III-NL.  Early human development ,  91 (3), 217-225.

Sumrall, T. C., Scott-Little, C., La Paro, K. M., Pianta, R. C., Burchinal, M., Hamre, B., & Howes, C. (2017). Student teaching within early childhood teacher preparation programs: An examination of key features across 2-and 4-year institutions.  Early Childhood Education Journal ,  45 (6), 821-830.