Group 7: Local School Faces New Obstacle

Description

At the local elementary school, there are two incoming kindergarten classes and each class includes a handful of children with behavioural issues. The early childhood educators (ECEs) suspect a variety of special needs (autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), disruptive mood dysregulation disorders (DMDD), etc.). The school has never dealt with such a large influx of children with special needs and the two ECEs are facing a very difficult time running their classes. Both ECEs feel as if their day is spent focusing on trying to manage and support these children, rather than giving equal time to all the children and actually having time to conduct educational activities. The school principal has received many complaints from the parents of these children, as well as the ECEs themselves. To try to address and resolve this issue, the principal has asked the ECEs to organize a meeting including two parent representatives (one being a nurse with a child with undiagnosed special needs and another being a pediatrician with a child without special needs who has complained about the children with special needs to the principal), the school social worker, and a public health expert. The conflict is resolved as each party works to separate their interests from their position. Ultimately, each person recognizes their shared interest in ensuring the well-being of the children. The parents begin to display empathy for one another’s situation and the social worker visits. The ECEs decide to adapt teaching styles to the needs of the children with input from the public health expert and decide to continue with an all inclusive classroom.................. All character roles: Deanna (Early Childhood Educator) in pink clothes with blonde hair, Xinwei (Silvia) (Early Childhood Educator) in pink clothes with brown hair, Bianca (Nurse, parent of a child with special needs) in a green, Abdurrahman (Pediatrician, parent of a child without special needs) in white, Emily (Social Worker) in red, Kavya (Public Health Expert) in pink.