How We Developed a New Tool for Parents
Marzano Research believes in ensuring all children have the support they need to thrive in school and beyond. Recently, we contracted with the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) on an exciting project to develop a resource for parents of children with special health conditions.
Supporting every child’s health and wellbeing has always been a priority for me, both as a parent and an education professional. I understand all too well the challenges that families who have children with special health conditions face. Seeing my own daughter struggle with a health condition showed me firsthand the importance of proactive planning and coordination between families and early learning environments to develop individual health plans (IHPs).
My experience with IHPs
When my daughter was a toddler, she experienced febrile seizures triggered by fevers. About one in every 25 children will have at least one febrile seizure, I learned later. While they thankfully don’t cause any long-term health problems and most children grow out of them by age 5, they are alarming for a parent and stressful for a child.
Being a new parent, I was unaware of IHPs at the time. When my daughter had one of these seizures at child care, the staff didn’t know how to respond, which resulted in an unnecessary ER trip that was very distressing for my child. Had I known to have those conversations with her care providers to develop an IHP for her, we could have prevented that situation.
The CDEC Transitions to Kindergarten Toolkit
This personal experience motivated me in my work with CDEC. In 2019, a needs assessment done through Colorado Shines Brighter highlighted the need to improve transitions and increase support for children with special health needs across Colorado’s early childhood system.
Building on this, the CDEC created a report, “Transitions to Kindergarten Roadmap,” to identify strategies to foster collaboration between early childhood education and K-12 schools to help support children as they move from early childhood care experiences to kindergarten. One recommended strategy identified in the report was supporting children with special health needs.
While not legally required, IHPs are considered best practice for students with conditions such as severe allergies, asthma, diabetes, and seizure disorders, among others. IHPs describe needed medications, treatments, and emergency protocols so these children can safely and fully participate in education, or other activities like dance class or summer camp, as much as possible. Without proper planning and coordination between families and early learning environments, children with special health conditions can unnecessarily miss school or at times be put in unneeded emergency situations.
The CDEC workgroup: Danae’s story
To address this gap, we brought together a workgroup including parents of children with special health conditions and members of parent advocacy groups. One workgroup member was both: Danae Davison, a parent advisor at Peak Parent Center and the mother of a daughter with complicated medical needs.
“She has seizures and a G-tube and is in a wheelchair, so she needs help with a lot of things— just daily living and being fed.” – Danae Davison
Danae shared that creating her daughter’s first IHP—sorting out what was relevant for school staff to know and how to best communicate that information— was an overwhelming and confusing process.
“In those days, my husband and I were really inexperienced with anything like this. Anything related to disability altogether was pretty new for both of us and so it was just a lot of fumbling in the dark and figuring out how to be brave enough to let other people take care of her in a setting outside the house.” – Danae Davison
She and her husband spent a lot of time researching and listening to talks from experts about how to move forward.
“Just having everything kind of written out as a plan was really helpful and gave me at least a little more confidence.” – Danae Davison
Soon after that was when she joined Peak Parent Center to help other parents do the same.
Her daughter is now finishing up fifth grade, so Danae is currently working to transfer her IHP to the middle school she’ll be attending in the fall.
“All the tricks and things we’ve learned, we need to write those down for the next team so that we can get up and running in an efficient and smooth way.” – Danae Davison
The IHP tool
The CDEC workgroup’s goal was to create a plain language resource that clearly explained IHPs—something Danae wished she had when she made her daughter’s first IHP. The resulting tool was a handout in English and Spanish versions that:
- Defines special health conditions and provides examples that may benefit from an IHP
- Explains what an IHP is and is not
- Identifies the various people who can help parents develop an IHP
- Encourages proactive conversations between families, early childhood care and education providers, schools, doctors, and other healthcare personnel
- Outlines recommended steps for creating an IHP and facilitating transition conversations between parents and schools/providers
- Provides links to a variety of resources such as IHP templates, related free and low-cost services, and parent support groups
“This is a really good tool for just being able to address the parent worry around health things happening at school.” – Danae Davison
Danae knows how important it is for children with special health conditions to be able to enjoy the same experiences as their peers.
“[My daughter] really enjoys being around other people and being with other kids. All of that experience for her is valuable … I’m really proud that she goes five days a week, just like her siblings.” – Danae Davison
When schools, providers, and parents understand a child’s needs and work together, we can ensure all children have the support necessary to safely learn, grow, and reach their full potential. It was such a fulfilling opportunity for me at Marzano Research to contribute to this work alongside CDEC, Danae, and the rest of the workgroup. We are broadly sharing this resource so it reaches families and those who care for young children, supporting them in communicating effectively about children’s health needs.
Get the handout here or access the full Transition to Kindergarten toolkit here. You can also come learn more about the tool and other parent resources at the Parent Possible Home Visiting Conference on April 11-12, 2024 at the Sheraton Denver West Hotel, Colorado.
Sources
Colorado Office of Early Childhood. (n.d.). Colorado Shines Brighter – Preschool Development Grant. https://www.coloradoofficeofearlychildhood.com/OEC_Partners?p=Partners&s=Colorado-Shines-Brighter&lang=en
Kauerz, K., Schaper, A., & Triolo-Moloney, S. (2021). Transitions to kindergarten in Colorado: A roadmap. National P-3 Center, School of Education & Human Development, University of Colorado Denver.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (n.d.). Febrile Seizures. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/febrile-seizures
