Reflections of Lessons Learned from Social and Political Contexts of Human Nature

Reflections of Lessons Learned from Social and Political Contexts of Human Nature

       In the class Social and Political Contexts of Human Development I felt spurred on to take action upon something I felt to be a social injustice. Armed with readings from Bell Hooks', Where We Stand Class Matters, Allan Johnson's, Privilege Power and Difference and Lucy Grealy's, The Autobiography of a Face, among other stories and papers. I learned about “Isms” and being “othered”, the consequences of living blindly, and how to develop a social action plan to challenge what I view as social injustice. I was also asked to observe children in an early childhood classroom.

       Allan Johnson says, “We have to begin by thinking about the trouble and the challenge in a new and more productive ways” (A.Johnson, p.125), in his book Privilege, Power, and Difference. I used this to consider the social inequity I wished to challenge. Working with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and having a backgrounds in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Behavior Therapy, like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), I wanted to focus my strengths in two places that I felt would benefit one another. I decided that I wanted to develop training for early childhood professionals to help them feel more comfortable working with children diagnosed with ASD in their own classrooms. Between my own experiences of working with ASD children in preschool classrooms and observing teachers interaction, or lack of interaction, with ASD children in their classrooms I felt there was a definite social injustice taking place towards these children and their families. I surveyed ECE professionals, and asked if their centers had ever addressed working with special needs children and what their personal opinions were of working with challenged children. Most told me that they didn't feel they had the “training to deal with those sorts of children”, but that they would be interested in training if their centers were to provide appropriate support. As someone who has experience with ECE I believe that ECE professionals have the tools embedded in themselves to handle these special children and have set out to show them that it's not scary and doesn't have to be overwhelming. Allan Johnson says, “Make your support as visible and public as the courageous behavior that you're supporting” (A.Johnson, p149), and that is exactly what I've tried to do.

Resources

Cisneros, S (2009). The House on Mango Street.

New York. Canada. Vintage Contemporaries.

Erikson J (1988). Wisdom and the Senses, The Way of Creativity

New York, NY. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc

Johnson, A (2006). Privilege, Power, and Difference.

New York, NY. McGraw Hill.