Fostering Habib’s Engagement and Self-Regulation

Abstract

Developing children’s self-regulation and engagement skills are primary goals of early childhood education. These skills are fostered in both home and preschool environments and can lead to improved educational outcomes. This qualitative case study investigated how a refugee family and Head Start teachers fostered the self-regulation and engagement skills of a 4-year-old boy at risk for disability. It found that adult expectations and practices related to protection, intervention, and affective response in his home environment differed greatly from those in his Head Start environment. His skills steadily improved in both settings during the 4-month study’s duration. Implications include using a framework of the three domains—protection, intervention, and affective response—to guide future research.

Scoping Review of Linguistically Responsive Practices for Young Children Who Are Refugees

“…They are often not identified or counted in refugee data collection practices (Acar et al, 2019). This may be due to the limited culturally and linguistically responsive assessment practices to identify a delay or a disability (Hurley et al, 2014; Walker-Dalhouse & Dalhouse, 2015) and availability of trained educators working with children with refugee backgrounds (e.g., Haines et al, 2015; Hos & Cinarbas, 2018). It may also be due to the limits of a cross-culturally valid disability definition.…”

“…Moreover, exposure to biases and other systemic injustices, including inaccurate practices to identify a developmental delay and/or a disability (Hurley et al, 2014;Walker-Dalhouse & Dalhouse, 2015); limited numbers of trained educators working with refugee backgrounds (Haines et al, 2015;Hos & Cinarbas, 2018;Krüger, 2018); and inadequate opportunities for family involvement (Boit et al, 2020; K. H. Perry & Moses, 2011) impact refugee children's access to equitable educational opportunities. The literature indicates a strong criticism of the role of mainstream language only instruction as contributing to inequality and the erosion of individual, cultural, and generational identities of children who speak other language(s) than the mainstream and systematically silencing representation and recognition of immigrant populations in mainstream classrooms (Dachyshyn & Kirova, 2011;Soto-Boykin et al, 2021).…”

“…A refugee is defined as someone who has been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence (UNHCR, 2018). A growing body of evidence suggests the importance of education in the settlement of refugees, facilitating their integration, and compensating social, economic, and cultural losses that refugees have experienced (Haines et al, 2015; Hos & Cinarbas, 2018; Taylor & Sidhu, 2012). Particularly, educators have an important role in supporting refugee children with interrupted formal education (Hos & Cinarbas, 2018; Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001; Walker-Dalhouse & Dalhouse, 2015).…”

“…Moreover, exposure to biases and other systemic injustices, including inaccurate practices to identify a developmental delay and/or a disability (Hurley et al, 2014; Walker-Dalhouse & Dalhouse, 2015); limited numbers of trained educators working with refugee backgrounds (Haines et al, 2015; Hos & Cinarbas, 2018; Krüger, 2018); and inadequate opportunities for family involvement (Boit et al, 2020; K. H. Perry & Moses, 2011) impact refugee children’s access to equitable educational opportunities.…”