Can you tell me something that's round in the color orange? Uh, orange.
Uh, orange.
What can you do with an orange, Malba? Eat it.
Eat it.
What shape is it? Round.
Round.
Look what happens.
I can peel it.
Can you do that? Try that with your orange.
What does it taste like? Is it sweet? Sweet.
Ooh! Ooh, that orange gave you a shower, didn't it? I'm so glad that my little girl started early walking.
At the age of 10 months, she started already walking.
But my little one now is a little bit behind, you know.
Your mind didn't start walking until she was about a year old.
Then the second one, she started to walk about when she was eight months.
You know, she was real skinny, I guess.
That's why she started to walk, you know, earlier than the other ones.
So he actually didn't walk until he was 14 or 15 months old, when he got too heavy for people to carry around.
It was like she got her teeth, her first teeth on her first birthday, but we used to always make jokes about her, having to get dentures so she could learn how to talk.
To Bria, I'm sorry, I had her first tooth at seven months, and at eight months she had four teeth.
And she bit me on my cheek.
That's the only way I found out that she had teeth.
My second son, Frankie, when he was born, he was a little sick.
At three months old, he had anemia.
And my little niece, who's two months older than him, came over and used his pot, and from that day on he would not touch it.
He would not go near that pot.
He would go and use the regular stool.
So that got him potty trained.
These are our children.
Each as distinct as a fingerprint or a snowflake, but each as precious as the other, each a need of nurturing care.
Loving care is their human right, but so should be the opportunity to achieve their fullest growth.
A head -head start.
A head -head start.
A head -head start.
Because it is the parent who best knows the child, it is the parent we turn to, to tell us about the child's strengths, weaknesses, special talents, special needs.
Hi, Colleen, how are you doing? Fine, thank you.
Okay.
I have some things here that I'd like to find out about Bobby, since he's new to our program.
We know that you as the parent know a whole lot more about Bobby than we ever will.
Okay.
Have you noticed any particular physical handicaps at all? No, physically handicapped.
Do you think your child might have any kind of hearing problem? I don't think so.
Has he ever had ear infections or ear aches? He had one ear ache at the first of last year, but no more.
Does he seem to understand you when you talk to him? Oh, yes, I think he understands.
When he chooses? He chooses.
I understand, yes.
I think it's common among three -year -olds.
Okay.
During the first weeks of Head Start, the teacher's observations may or may not confirm how the mother sees her child.
The results of both the KEDZEE, the parent interview, and the KEDZIT by the center staff are the basis for determining whether or not further evaluation is in order.
If so, referral is then made to a professional team by the Department of Human Services.
Enrolling 11 ,000 children every year, the largest program in the nation, Chicago's Head Start classes are held in over 200 centers under the direction of more than 25 agencies.
Public and parochial schools, settlement houses, youth centers, and a variety of other church and community groups.
In 1965, the federal government created Head Start to fill the gaps in learning and social experience among three - to five -year -old children from low -income families.
Because poor health can interfere with learning, a strong health program was also included.
The parents of some of these children are either unemployed or underemployed.
They have dreams of moving into better neighborhoods.
Some families do move on.
Others must find success or failure where they are.
It can be a world in conflict between squalor and pride, between poverty and ingenuity.
Between unemployment and survival.
Between indifference and creativity.
By the mid -1970s, a minimum of 10 percent of enrollment was to consist of children with handicaps.
Head Start undertook to identify and evaluate the handicapped and provide whatever else was needed.
All right.
Now, Renee was referred several months ago and has been seen by several of you.
Now, I would like to know, first of all, what did you see in the classroom? What concerned you? The first thing that I see of Renee is he's very shy and quiet boy.
He's trying to communicate with all the children and myself, but he can't.
He can't express himself.
Do you feel that he understands? Yes, he understands very well all the things.
He follows directions very well.
Also, he likes to play in the kitchen area.
He enjoys in that area a lot.
Yes.
Let's see.
He was born in March of 75, which means that he's four.
Yes.
Rosa, you have seen the mother.
Right.
Is the mother concerned? Yes, she is very concerned that Renee isn't talking at this point.
Especially with the father, when he wants to communicate with the father, he goes to her.
All right.
Have you had contact with the father also? Once.
What did you feel the father's attitude was? It bothers him a lot that Renee can't talk.
The father thinks that there's something wrong.
He doesn't know what.
Does the mother understand him better? The mother's always understanding the children.
Okay.
All right.
So then we referred Renee for a speech language evaluation.
Carmen, you saw Renee.
Yes, I did.
I first observed him in the classroom.
Then I observed him later in a free play activity in the kitchen.
I found him to be an interesting looking child with very large expressive eyes.
He uses these eyes to take in what is going on around him as a compensation for the lack of verbal communication.
His quietness, I felt, was not really a shyness, but rather this inability to communicate.
He really appeared comfortable with the other children.
I thought that was striking.
He happily fixed me eggs and coffee and gestured appropriately to let me know that he knew what he was doing.
So it was rather obvious that he did comprehend a great deal more than he could express.
There was never any feeling that he couldn't hear, was there? No.
You felt he could hear? Yes.
It's obvious that he comprehends what people are saying to him.
He verbalized nothing spontaneously.
He could repeat individual words when stimulated to do that, such as my saying to him, are those eggs? And he would repeat back, eggs.
Of course, I spoke with him only in Spanish because he really does not understand English at all.
And then later in my individual evaluation with him, that was also done entirely in Spanish.
So that the bilingual aspect is not, that's not a reason for his not communicating.
It's in his own native language that he is not communicating.
I do want to make that point.
And so we did ask Bonnie to see him, and that was the next step.
I saw Renee twice.
I saw much the same kind of behavior that Carmen talked about.
During the lunchtime, he sat there, was a very light eater, didn't engage in conversation or in the kind of jovial play that the other children did while eating.
He really was not very much involved.
Now what we find in this child is a very great variation in skills.
When it comes to simple kinds of drawing skills you can see here, he can't begin to draw a person.
He can barely do a circular motion, which is a minimal three -year -old item.
So this is quite delayed development in visual motor skills.
In other kinds of less demanding coordination tasks, he was able to do some sorting tasks.
He could do that quite well, but when it involved fine motor coordination, he simply was not able to function.
His skills vary from below the two -year level to above the four -and -a -half -year level.
And so we find this tremendous variation.
This is, I think, the problem that we have in trying to look at a child like Renee, that you cannot really separate out these issues nice and neatly as you might wish.
So overall, I think we have to be very concerned about the academic outlook for Renee.
Okay, fine.
So, Dr.
Wall.
Well, today we had an adventure, didn't we, Rosa? A home visit.
Because of the snow, Mrs.
Green couldn't get Renee here, so Rosa was kind enough to go over there and ask if we could have our interview in the home.
And we did.
Mrs.
Green was very gracious in welcoming us to her home, and she participated through Rosa, who was the interpreter.
She is obviously worried about Renee and is very sensitive to his problems and needs.
She is concerned about three issues, namely Renee cannot express himself, he is too close to her, and he is nervous.
A very perceptive mother.
She elaborated on the nervousness by describing how Renee retreats into himself when he is in a group of children.
He imitates the speech of his two -year -old brother and in fact imitates the younger child in other ways.
He initiated contact with me through play with the toy telephones.
Interesting that a child with a communication problem would choose that particular toy.
He seemed to understand my questions and would respond with nods and gestures, even when he smiled.
He seemed confused, anxious, and unable to really enjoy what was going on.
You gave her a spanking.
His drawing skills were far below age -appropriate levels as Bonnie demonstrated before.
His grasp of the pencil was immature, laterality was not yet established.
There were evidences of perseveration.
Let's explain perseveration so that we all understand what that means.
It's a kind of automatic, mechanical repetition of something.
You get stuck? Getting stuck.
That is reflective generally of what? We begin to wonder about organicity if we see a good measure of that.
Renee perceived his lack of skill and became quite exasperated.
He didn't give up and he didn't become hyperactive, but he clearly was distressed.
He's also very dependent for his age.
A multi -handicapped youngster showing many areas of delayed development.
Even though the Head Start program is being beneficial, that's not enough for a child with this kind of problem.
It's essential that he begin to receive some language therapy immediately.
As soon as possible.
We are suggesting that we have the evaluation by pediatric neurologist Juan.
As Dr.
Will said, I think it's imperative that when we do the interpretive conference, it be with the parents, not with just the mother.
I think the father must be involved in this.
I think what we found is that he has a great deal of ability that is not being shown in his performance.
But unless he gets some help, it will never come out.
Because he's as young as he is, he will still have another year in Head Start, won't he? Right.
The next step will be that we'll have the interpretive conference with the parents.
If you have any other questions, call me.
Following discussion with the parents, Rene was referred to a neighborhood rehabilitation institute for speech and language therapy.
His mother was referred to a family service agency for counseling.
Also available are the special education resources of the Chicago Public Schools, the facilities of the Chicago Department of Health, hospitals and clinics, and other community services.
There are many links from Head Start that connect with this vast urban community.
A great wealth of specialized services for our preschoolers with special needs.
Health and physical, hearing and visual, speech and language, mental retardation, emotional disturbance.
For many parents of these children, there's a double burden.
Not only coping with the child's particular problems, but at the same time dealing with their own feelings.
Guilt, shame, anger, depression, all of which are easier to describe when play acted.
There is nothing wrong with my child.
It's a mistake.
What do you think? Your love grew it.
I know.
Listen to those doctors.
They just do it for God's will.
Are you sure? That damn doctor doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.
She won't believe what anybody's saying.
She can't take it.
Damn! What didn't I do right when I was pregnant? My Dios, Mio, what did I do? Probably some hereditary thing.
We are being punished.
I really feel bad.
I...
I just want to cry.
Cry my heart out.
I'm so ashamed.
There's no point crying.
You gotta take things as they come.
No guarantees, I don't think.
Maybe something can be done.
Those people over there seem to know what it's all about.
They say help is possible.
Especially since he's so young.
Hell, a hell of a lot more is known today.
Sure, they do some research all the time.
You gotta try something.
Maybe it'll work.
Better for both of us to try.
Sure it is.
It kind of makes me proud of them, you know.
I didn't feel this way about two years ago.
Or five when I born him.
That's when the cord got wrapped around his neck and damaged the nerve in the shoulder.
In school he's doing just good.
And when he comes home from Head Start with a new word, I'll say, oh my God, I got a professor here.
And he'll probably say, mmm, and run around the house or something, you know.
When you go somewhere, you seem to feel your way around the place.
You can tell whether you're in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time.
And I found out this was the right place.
It brought out the hidden points in him and everything.
Of course at the beginning he was full of these, I can't, I can't do this, I can't do that.
My hair won't work.
It's really hurting.
It's gonna bleed.
Come on.
It's gonna bleed all over, all over.
Where? Where's it gonna bleed? Come on, show me.
Show me where.
And he had a very wonderful teacher at Head Start by the name of Miss Morgan.
And she worked very good with him, you know.
We decided to work together like a team.
Like she would be away from home mother and I would be the home mother.
And I told him, yes you can.
Sometimes we would be out in the backyard or wherever and I'll call them and tell them, come on let's rake some leaves, you know.
And he'll say, I don't know how, I can't.
So I just started gradually showing him, let me hold your hand, give me your hand.
Let me show you how to work with that other hand.
Put both hands up here, you know.
Look at the lady's yard over there.
She don't have no leaves over there.
He said one day, she don't have a tree either.
No, you gotta do it yourself.
You can't let them get off without trying.
Well, at one time they wanted to send Aminou to a school for the retarded, which I think is ridiculous.
Simply because they had physical therapy equipment.
Mrs.
Williams had been through it herself simply because she had had polio as a child and she knows how bad she felt.
And she wanted him to be involved with other children in a mixed environment rather than just in a retarded school.
I really believe that we can make it, you know, on the outside of the street, you know, instead of behind the window, you know.
And so is Aminou.
That boy is really moving.
With his diploma and graduation gift in hand, he actually takes off and heads out into the world.
Beautiful singing voices today.
She was really excited about being at school, but the thing that I was concerned about was that I could never understand her.
Every time she would speak, it would all be clustered together, you know, her language.
In other words, it was real fast and it was just mumble -jumble.
Her speech was characterized by echolalia, perseveration, and disfluency.
And this tended to interfere with the intelligibility about 50 % of the time.
Joan, go into detail on that a bit.
Explain to us what you mean.
Echolalia.
She would repeat what I said.
If I asked her...
I don't think we're dealing with a mentally retarded youngster is what I'm getting at.
I think we can't rule it out because we don't know what neurological deficits, if any, are there.
We all have some hunch that in spite of the low IQ figure, she really is not retarded.
She's probably...
She could be very bright and maybe that's why she looks as good as she does.
I think that she is also latching onto people with very good survival techniques.
What would benefit best in a therapeutic day school program at a very early stage, rather than waiting, she's already four.
My question would be whether we should start that process right away, without waiting.
Try to get her into some intensive speech therapy.
