POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RESEARCH

I have a personal reason why I feel that research has been beneficial. I have a two children, ages 15 and six, however, my older son has always been very healthy and had no health issue and to this day still doesn't, thank God! However, my six year was born weighing 6pounds and 4ounces and from the time of birth he has had issues. At birth he had colic until he was about nine months old so that meant I didn't get any sleep at night. He also developed asthma right after birth and when he was two he begin to have severe allergic reactions.  At the early age of two months he would develop cough and colds and he wasn't able to to get rid of it. The doctor diagnosed him with asthma symptoms so he was given a nebulizer and all sorts of solutions to use. This was such a benefit for him as well as myself.
When he turned two we took him into the pediatrician's office for his well check. He was given a series of immunizations as well as flu shot. We proceeded to leave the office and go to the Walmart where my son begin coughing uncontrollably and his face was getting more red my the second.  Then finally he said "mommy I cant breath"..........OMG.........As a mother I panicked and was so afraid for my helpless child who looked at me with those big blue eyes for help. We were only about two miles from the ER so we immediately left and took him to the ER where he was having an allergic reaction to the immunizations. From that day forward he was given an Epi-pen as a precaution. Since this episode we have had him tested thoroughly by a renowned allergist and found out that he was allergic to food he had been eating since birth, all grass and all tress.....he had SEVERE allergies.  He was put on a series of medications and with a lot of pray he has improved and his allergies are not as SEVERE at the age of six..........however, he still has medication daily and precautions still have to be done.
With all of this being said, if research had not been done then my child may not have had the allergy testing and other treatments he has received that SAVED his life in that ER that day! THANK GOD for research because I had a sick child that benefited from it!

My Personal Research Journey

I have a passion for early childhood and have several areas that I have a very special passion for.  However, after some deliberation I have chosen the topic of special needs/autism since this is a rising issue in many classrooms across the country and it is a special passion of mine.

Subtopics:

Ø Ways in which the community, family and school system can foster healthy development of children with autism.

Ø How the arts help children with autism development in positive and healthy ways?

Ø Positive and negative effects on relationships with siblings, family members, peers and teachers of children with autism.  

I became a Head Start teacher in 2002 and during my first year as a teacher I had a child in my classroom that had been diagnosed with autism, needless to say this was quite a challenging year for me especially being a new teacher. I also had feelings of unpreparedness and feared I could not provide what he would need during this school year. However, with a lot of research I did on my own, support from my education manager and other experienced staff this child showed so much improvement during the eight months we spent together. This child went from not speaking to talking, interacting with peers and teachers and his whole academic status increased. After such a fearful beginning to the year it ended in a very rewarding and successful school year. Since this time I have had a passion for children with special needs, especially children with autism. I also have a close friend of mine whose child was diagnosed with autism and this also increased my passion to advocate for children of autism.

I chose the three subtopics because the community, family and school system has a huge influence on the outcome of children with autism and I feel that we all need to collaborate together and foster positive and healthy outcomes for these children. I also think that the arts have a huge positive influence over children with autism, for example, my best friend son’s who was diagnosed with autism  has written two comic books and he is only 17 years old. I can remember looking back upon his early years around the age of four and five he was very creative and would put his thoughts on paper to create such creative creations. I have also seen the children in my class who was diagnosed with autism to be very creative and have artistic talent. I also chose to discuss how relationships influence with family members, peers, and teachers because of the lack of communication that these autistic children express.