To develop and evaluate an action plan that will limit the spread of communicable illness in early childhood classrooms.

Brad and Charice are graduate students, and the proud parents of 14-month-old Keegan. They enrolled their son in the campus child care center when they arrived in August. Keegan has had five colds during the 3 months he has been attending the center. You, his teacher, suspect that he may be coming down with yet another. He seemed fine this morning when you checked him in, but he was crying, quite congested, and rubbing his left ear when he woke up from his nap.
    Charice was studying for an exam in the campus library when you called and asked her to pick Keegan up as soon as possible. She was upset when she arrived at the child care center, and demanded to talk with the director. Charice explained that she and her husband were frustrated by Keegan’s frequent illnesses and that he had not been this sick in his last child care program. They don’t believe that you and the other teachers are doing enough to protect their son from communicable illnesses.

Focus Assignment

1. As the first step of your action plan, prepare a response that explains to Keegan’s parents why he may be experiencing a period of frequent illness. Next, develop a list of questions to determine if the assistant classroom teachers are implementing practices that are effective for limiting the spread of communicable illness; include questions about how body fluids are being handled.
2. Be sure to read the REFLECTION section below to guide your thinking. Write your reflection after you have completed your action plan.

Self-Evaluation

1. For each item in your action plan:
    a. Explain how this item addresses the issues in the scenario.
   
2. Describe and justify how your action plan would improve teaching and learning in the scenario.