People collectively make disability appear through interpretation, (Titchkosky, 2009). This week I detected the act of micro aggression of disability. Not all children transition from one activity to another and often need more time or direction. This week I experienced a child was labeled as having a behavioral issue because he talked too much and showed no respect to the caregiver’s authority. From my understanding, this matter had been going on for at least 4 months and the parents were not provided detailed daily observations from the caregivers, they were only provided verbal comments of, Your child did not have listening hears on today”, or “Not a good day”. When the parents were approached by the managers to address the behavioral concern, no documentation to support the concern was available. It seemed that the child was being stereotyped based on word of mouth. No observations were conducted, nor were the parents given the opportunity to have their child evaluated. This was truly an insult to the child and the parents. The managers and caregivers demonstrated their lack of realizing that they were being biased in their opinions. Per Dr. Sue, (2013), “because they are unaware that they have engaged in something harmful, oppressive, and detrimental to person, they cannot be self-corrected”. Effective communication is definitely recommended and following the process of documenting and observing children daily interactions and tracking the areas of highs and lows will need to be reviewed and then goals or objectives defined to help the child transition from home to the classroom and vice versa. An anti-bias environment is the key. The program should remember that ongoing assessment of the learning environment and practices in relation to children with disabilities or behavior concerns is essential, (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Another avenue to take would be to reach out to other support services and resources that will help the family and the program to meet the needs of the child.
References
Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.
Chapter 10, “Learning about different abilities and fairness” (p. 129).
Sue, D.W. PhD. (2011) Microaggressions in Everyday Life. Laureate Education Inc Walden
Titchkosky, T. (2009). Disability images and the art of theorizing normality. International
Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 22(1), 75--84.
doi:10.1080/09518390802581893. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic
Search Complete database.
