Ethics in Early Childhood

I had difficulty trying to narrow it down to just three for this post. All three come from The Division of Early Childhood. The first one is from the professional practice section. "We shall demonstrate the highest standards of personal integrity, truthfulness, and honesty in all our professional activities in order to inspire the trust and confidence of the children and families and of those with whom we work," (DEC,2000, p1).  Integrity is extremely important  to me. If you have integrity, then truthfulness and honesty will follow as they are components of integrity. Integrity is important to have the trust of the child, families, co workers, etc.  Integrity means that you can be trusted to follow through with what you say, trusted to not talk about a child or family to another child or family.  Building trust is how you can start a connection with a child or family.  I try to have integrity in all aspects of my life.

The second one I chose is from the same section. " We shall serve as advocates for children with disabilities and their families and for the professionals who serve them by supporting both policy and programmatic decisions that enhance the quality of their lives," (DEC,2000, p1).   As a mother of two special needs boys, I believe heavily in being an advocate for them and other children with special needs. I have found that families of children with disabilities often do not know what their options are and accept whatever the school district offers, which is usually the bare minimum.   Every child deserves the chance to live to their full potential.

The last one is from the personal development and preparedness section. " We shall continually be aware of issues challenging the field of early childhood special education and advocate for changes in laws, regulations, and policies leading to improved outcomes and services for young children with disabilities and their families," (DEC, 2000, p2).  Part of being a  good advocate/leader/teacher is know what is going on.  What are  the new trends, issues, possible laws, etc. and using this info on how does it impact the children in your classroom, and how can you communicate it to the families.  I try to stay current, this is part of why I am finishing my masters degree.

References
 The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved  from
http://www.dec-sped.org/