<p> This knowledge synthesis aims to understand Indigenous experiences of early childhood education, care, family support, intervention, health, and Indigenous services in the context of childhood disability. Each of these institutional contexts has its own underlying professional discourses and worldviews. Knowledge from three sources have been synthesized: (1) interviews with Indigenous families about their experiences of having disabled children, conducted through the Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS) Project; (2) analysis of the IECSS interviews by the District<br> </p>
<p>[Preamble]: "The purpose of the project is to create an empirical record of experiences of young children and their families in order to understand how services are delivered in varied geographic and cultural contexts. Our aim is to build theoretical understanding that may inform social policy to have more respectful and responsive supports that recognize the value of disability and deaf identities, and full participation in family and community. We are working from the assumption that we all need universally designed services – but we are open to being challenged on our assumptions. This Research Brief is the second in a series of briefs that communicate findings from our advisory committee groups. Our goal in these briefs is to provide guidance to the researchers, partners, students and staff who work on the IECSS project. Making these guiding reports public allow us to share the wisdom and authority passed on to our research team to the larger research world. They also allow us to cite the Advisory Committees where we draw on their advice in our academic publications."</p>
This study identifies parent and family perspectives of the strengths of early years programs in three communities in Ontario, Canada. Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach, focus groups and surveys with parents, we investigate parent engagement and perceived outcomes of early years services in Ontario’s Best Start demonstration communities. The research study is grounded in the literature on family-centered practice, parent engagement and child outcomes from family participation. The major findings of the study include an extremely high rate of satisfaction with Best Start programs and services. Parents and families identify relationships with staff, access, and a wide range of programs as being critical for their engagement. In addition, the outcomes from early years programs and services go beyond child development and include direct benefits for the parents and families.
<p>This study examines transitions to school from the standpoint of the work of families. We identify systemic differences constructed through state responses to childhood disability. Based on data from a longitudinal institutional ethnography conducted in Ontario, Canada, these differences illuminate the ways in which ability and disability are constructed in early childhood, and how these constructs are reinforced through procedures, policies, and documentation. Ultimately, we identify five key phenomena in the study: implicit messages of exclusion, the work of families, the supremacy of labels, a fallacy of choice, and the flexibility of institutions to adapt for children. These findings are taken up in the context of broader discourses of school readiness and transition to school with the intention of expanding our conversation about transitions.</p>
<p>Increasingly, governments are seeking ways to integrate early childhood education and care services as a social policy strategy to maximize child and family outcomes. This study examines the role of a school-based parenting and family literacy program to a system of services in one community in Ontario, Canada. Using an appreciative inquiry approach, focus groups and questionnaires conducted with participants of the programs provide a view of how these programs are contributing in a community where there are a range of programs in place. These programs were described by parents as welcoming places with interesting and engaging program activities, facilities, and resources that support child development. Additionally, supports for all family members--including referrals to services which helped families in many aspects of their lives--were described as benefits of participating. The contributions of Parenting and Family Literacy Centres (PFLCs) are evident from the data and are discussed in relation to the contributions of other services and programs in the community. Additional findings examine participants' patterns of service use across the community, which shows they are using school-based services more than community-based early years services. These findings are discussed in relation to the service integration goals of provincial social policy strategies.</p>
<p>BACKGROUND:</p> <p>When faculty evaluate medical students’ professionalism, they make judgments based on the observation of behaviors. However, we lack an understanding of why they feel certain behaviors are appropriate (or not).</p> <p>OBJECTIVE:</p> <p>To explore faculty’s reasoning around potential student behaviors in professionally challenging situations.</p> <p>DESIGN:</p> <p>Guided interviews with faculty who were asked to respond to 5 videotaped scenarios depicting students in professionally challenging situations.</p> <p>SUBJECTS:</p> <p>Purposive sample of 30 attending Internists and surgeons.</p> <p>APPROACH:</p> <p>Transcripts were analyzed using modified grounded theory to search for emerging themes and to attempt to validate a previous framework based on student responses.</p> <p>RESULTS:</p> <p>Faculty’s reasoning around behaviors were similar to students’ and were categorized by three general themes: Imperatives (e.g., take care of patients, behave honestly, know your place), Affect (factors relating to a student’s “gut instincts” or personality), or Implications (for the student, patients, and others). Several new themes emerged, including “know when to fudge the truth”, “do what you’re told”, and “know when to step up to the plate”. These new codes, along with a near ubiquitous reference to Affect, suggests that faculty feel students are responsible for knowing when (and how) to bend the rules. Potential reasons for this are discussed.</p> <p>CONCLUSIONS:</p> <p>Although faculty are aware of the conflicts students face when encountering professional challenges, their reliance on students to “just know” what to do reflects the underlying complexity and ambiguity that surrounds decision making in these situations. To fully understand professional decision-making, we must acknowledge and address these issues from both students’ and faculty’s points of view.</p>
The Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS) project is a longitudinal institutional ethnography that studies disability services in early childhood, and the interactions between these services and other systems, from the standpoint of families. In this paper, we examine speech-language services as part of a system of services and a site of participation for disabled children. We use longitudinal data from annual interviews with 117 informants to map Speech and Language services over the first six years of children’s lives. We report that speech and language pathology (SLP) as a professional discourse holds cultural significance and influences the organization of disabled children and their families. The analysis of the data illustrates the pervasiveness, organizational structure, and governance of speech and language pathology (SLP) in early childhood, leading to professional discourses of childhood and disability in early intervention, preschool, and school-based services which reinforce individualized pathology as the dominant way of understanding development. We discuss how the professional practices of SLP-related services could help to disrupt disabling constructs of childhood development and colonial practices in early childhood disability services. We emphasize how speech and language development emerges in relationship with individuals and socio-political contexts. We suggest possibilities for SLP to operate within community contexts where speech and language services contribute to reducing family workload, increasing the participation of all children, and disrupting ableism in practice.
<p>This report presents findings from seven community evaluation projects of early childhood programs in Ontario and British Columbia. Each of the projects aims to develop strategies for the programs to become more inclusive of children with diverse abilities. The communities are representative of rural, remote and urban locations, and serve families with a wide range of cultural viewpoints. Key in the experiences of families, as reported in these projects are challenges that result from poverty, lack of transportation and access to specialized services, concerns about relationships with professionals, and the need for services that are culturally relevant and organized to fit with the families’ needs.</p>
