Every child deserves a good start in life to prevent learning disabilities. I am going to use five articles thematically explaining the importance of having a good start in life. Every child deserves a good start especially those with learning disability. Pregnancy in adolescent increases the chances of learning disability, because of the factors associated with such pregnancies like prematurity, fetal distress, birth asphyxia and low birth weight, which can lead to learning disabilities in future (Boivin 2015). The parents are also offered genetic testing prior to conception or during conception, because learning disability has a genetic linkage.
Antenatal the mother and the pregnancy are monitored. The mother is offered tests for infections such as syphilis, HIV/AIDS, and other infections such as rubella which are known to cause learning disabilities (Turienzo 2016). The mother is advised on the type of nutrients she needs and the foods that are safe to eat during pregnancy. Food counseling is very important because the pregnancy lowers immunity; therefore some foods that are eaten raw are not advisable during pregnancy because of the ability to cause infections (Boivin 2015).
The mother is advised to deliver under skilled care especially in a hospital with a midwife and a gynecologist present. Postnatal, the mother is encouraged to take her child for immunization and to adhere to all the postnatal checkups.
Statistics show that in children aged 3-17 years the prevalence of learning disability is 8%. 4% of 21million School going children, under the 32 million children living under the federal poverty levels had developed the various types of learning disabilities (Fall 2015). It is a public health matter to increase awareness about learning disabilities, its causes, and prevention strategies in order to minimize the prevalence rate. As a learning disability nurse it is my duty to ensure that every child has the best start in life, regardless of their financial status (Cortiella 2014).
The essay will talk about the following areas:
Definition of learning disability nursing and its causes
Why should children have the best start in life to prevent learning disability?
How the mother’s health influence the development of learning disability
Child’s nutrition after birth.
Health and well-being of the child after birth.
It is an approach that specifies the way through which professionals interact with each other during the decision making process by identifying the evidence that supports that practice scientifically. Evidence based practice focuses more on analyzing research materials to support and influence their decision (LoBiondo-Wood 2017).
While conducting research for this paper I have used articles that contain quantitative research design, qualitative research design which contains both statistical data regarding the topic ensuring every child has the best start in life and explorative data about learning disability and start in life. The scientific evidence I have gathered is from both qualitative and quantitative research designs. I also used opinion-based works in form of e-books. I have read the different opinions about the causes of learning disability and the roles of a nurse in preventing the occurrence of learning disability in online books and i have come across many online posters advocating for maternal and child health in the prevention of learning disability. These posters contained health messages which advocated for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy childhood to help eradicate learning disability in children (Lindberg 2015).
“The social media family has not been left behind because there are numerous online stories about children with learning disability and videos on YouTube about learning disability and how it affects the life of an individual” TEDx talks(2016).
Learning disability is a condition which results in learning difficulties, without physical disability due to slowed neurological processing.
Learning disability nursing refers to the study of learning disability by nurses in order to be able to care for children with this condition (W 2016). A learning disability nurse helps people with learning disability to cope in life and teaches them the strategies and skills to help them perform activities of daily living and find work. The nurse acts as a community based nurse, whereby she analyzes their living conditions by conducting home visits, and provides them with coping strategies, because they do not process information like other normal people. Nurses also ensure that they are accepted by the society and their family members despite their slowness.
It can be caused by genetic factors, whereby the child inherits the disability from their parents. It can be caused by injuries, during birth or during their childhood years, especially head injuries from falls or obstructed labor. Learning disabilities can also be caused by exposure to teratogens, malnutrition in utero and pregnancy complications which can impair blood supply to the brain, altering the neurological processes as a result of asphyxia. Low socio-economic status is an influencing factor to development of learning disability.
In an opinion based study conducted showed that parent to children with learning disability believed that their children have problems with emotional control, planning and organization. These parents believed that children with learning disabilities should be equipped with social-emotional and behavioral competences before joining school to enable them adapt properly to the school environment (Giseli 2017).
In a qualitative approach, the best start in life is a statement that talks about the child’s welfare, before conception, after conception, during birth and after birth. It is the role of the public health nurse to ensure that the child has the best start in life and the mother meets all the requirements in ensuring that their child has a good start in life (Van der Kolk 2017). However not all mothers are in the same docket economically, there are mothers who are financially stable and can afford quality care, education and nutrition, and the other hand there are mothers who cannot even afford a meal. It is the duty of the nurse to ensure that the child born to the financially stable mother and the child born to the financially unstable mother all have a good start in life.
To ensure this the nurse will implement the policies put in place by the government such as, free antenatal care to all mothers, free family planning methods are availed to all mothers and skilled attendance during birth to all mothers. The nurse should also share health messages with all mothers regarding safe pregnancy, safe baby and infant handling, optimal health before pregnancy and healthy nutrition before, during and after pregnancy.
In a qualitative approach most of the cases if one of the parents has a learning disability, the likely hood of the child developing learning disability is very high (Vissers 2016). The genetic make of the mother and the father plays a very vital role in determining the development of a learning disability (Plomin 2015). It is very possible for two health adult with no learning disability to have a child with learning disability, because of alteration in their genetic make and fusion during fertilization will result in superimposition of the faulty gene and it will present in the child after birth; therefore it is very important to undergo genetic testing before conception.
Maternal health also plays a very big role in determining the development of learning disability (Mitchell 2015). When a mother is pregnant they should receive all the nutrients that are needed for fetal growth, without depleting their own body stores. If a mother experiences malnutrition during pregnancy, the fetus will experience retarded growth, which may lead to prematurity and impaired brain development due to prematurity and the complications that come with it such as asphyxia. Malnutrition in utero may lead to neurologic development in utero which might result into development of learning disabilities in future (Turienzo 2016).
It is paramount that the mother be of optimal health before conception, during conception and after conception. This is achieved through provision of family planning methods which gives the women the mandate to decide when they want to get pregnant, food supplements during pregnancy to ensure the baby gets all the requisites for optimal embryogenesis and growth, skilled attendance during delivery and follow up postnatal. This is achieved thorough government subsidies to pregnancy packages and insurance cover for pregnant mothers and women who want to get pregnant (Boivin 2015).
In a quantitative analysis, after birth the child should receive breast milk for the first six months of life. Breast milk contains all the nutrients a baby needs for optimal growth and development. It also contains antibodies that are needed to fight of infections because of the baby’s immature immune system. Mothers are encouraged to exclusively breastfeed their young ones until they are six months of age. This is a policy by the World Health Organization. It is the nurse’s role to ensure that the mother practices exclusive breastfeeding, through giving them health education on the importance of breast milk and on the importance of adherence to breastfeeding (Fall 2015).
After six months a child is introduced to pureed food which should be of a high nutritional value. Still the mother’s need health education on the type of foods to introduce to their young ones and the types that should be introduced later (Bradshaw 2016). A baby is weaned using foods that are easily digested and have a high nutritional value. The baby is introduced to solids slowly so as to minimize the risk of allergies and complications which may result from overburdening the child’s physiologic system. The baby is gradually introduced to adult food and by two years of age they can eat a variety of foods (Bradshaw 2016).
It is the role of the nurse to teach mothers about weaning their babies. This process should be person- centered and compassionate. The nurse should be able to understand the different unique situations of each mother and offer healthy alternatives to mothers who cannot afford what is recommended by the World Health Organization.
After birth a child should grow and develop according to the normal growth and development guidelines as written by the World Health Organization (Currie 2015). A child should be able to meet all their milestones at the recommended range of months or years. If a child does not accomplish a milestone or skip a milestone, they should be taken for review by a pediatrician (Roberts 2017).
The child should be protected from neglect and abuse. Neglect can cause malnutrition which can cause stunted and retarded growth. Stunted and retarded growth can result into poor brain development or psychological trauma which an affect a child’s brain development, resulting into slowed neurological processes in future (Pons 2014).
A child should also be protected from abuse; abuse can be mental, physical, or emotional. A child is a person with a personality and feelings. It is the role of the nurse to ensure that all children are treated with respect and the value they deserve. Children under 2 years should be protected from falls and head injuries, because such injuries might result to brain damage and slowed neurological processes which can lead to development of learning disability in future (Siegel 2018). Pre-school children should be protected from psychological and physical abuse, because it can result in trauma which may lead to slowed mental processes. As this child grows up they may not be able to express themselves and the bullying associated with slowness can make them loss the self-determination to improve completely. Physical abuse in older children can also cause significant brain damage resulting to slowed mental processes or complete neurologic retardation (Pons 2014).
Conclusion
It is the duty of a nurse to ensure that children are protected from acquiring learning disability disorders. This is made possible by ensuring that the mother has optimal health pre-conception, after conception, skilled attendance during delivery and quality postnatal care. The mother can access family planning methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and to help them prepare for conception, after conception the mother can access skilled care and nutritional supplements, all of this is done with the aim of reducing the infant chances of developing e learning disability (Boivin 2015). It is also a nurse’s duty to protect children under the age of 18 years from any form of abuse. When a nurse is performing a physical exam they should be able to isolate children who are abused from children who are not. Children who are abused tend to be quieter and exhibit fear especially when the person abusing them is around them. In small children especially those under three, the nurse can get signs of physical abuse from scars within their bodies and the behavior they exhibit when their guardian is around (Seligman 2017).
Learning disability can be caused by injuries during birth or after birth a nurse sole responsibility is to ensure that all children have the best start in life by providing skilled care to the mothers during pregnancy and delivery. All children should have the best start in life t help prevent the occurrence of learning disability, and for those who have developed learning disabilities, it is a nurse’s duty to ensure that they adapt to life with the outside world well. The learning disability nurse gives them coping skills to help them adapt in this fast paced world.
Working with victims of learning disability has shed some light on the environmental factors that may exacerbate the problem. Children with learning disability need to be loved and cared for like other children because they are the same, the only difference is their neurological processes are slowed down, thus there mental processes a slower than the rest of the other children. When given the right medical attention and psychological support, children with learning disability grow up to be important people in the society (Dixon 2015).
Preventing learning disability is very vital, that is why couples are taught on what to do before they get pregnant, during the pregnancy and after birth. Health education is a function of the public health nurse which ensures that all couples within the reproductive age, who are willing to become parents someday, have the basic knowledge about getting pregnant in a healthy way.
The government has also come to the aid in the prevention against learning disability by providing insurance cover to the people from low socioeconomic class to enable them access quality medical care before, during and after pregnancy (Giovanelli 2016). Statistics show that children from low socioeconomic status are affected more by learning disability compared to children from the high socioeconomic status; therefore provision of free medical cover for children and their mothers during and before pregnancy ensure that the prevalence rate of learning disability reduces (Tremain 2015).
The role of a nurse in public health is to ensure that they conduct studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the policies put in place to reduce the prevalence rate of learning disability and propose amendments to the policies (Halter 2017). When making a decision towards the plan of care for a child with learning disability, it is the role of a nurse to ensure that they have gathered enough data from research materials to guide their way forward. The plan of care is supported by use of scientifically proven methods which are effective for learning disability (Stanhope 2015).
Knowledge is power and availability of information is very important in ensuring that mothers are aware of the causes of learning disability and the preventive measures against learning disability. If all is done and a child still develops learning disability, it is the duty of a nurse to provide public health messages to these parents and many more through various platforms on how to improve their children’s quality of life.
Information of prevention of learning disability should be easily accessible to everyone, same for information on promoting the quality of life for clients who already have a learning disability.
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Dixon, JARM 2015, ‘ Working with women with a learning disability experiencing domestic abuse: How social workers can negotiate competing definitions of risk.’, The British Journal of Social Work, vol 3, no. 46, pp. pp.773-788.
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Giovanelli, A,RAJ 2016, Adverse childhood experiences and adult well-being in a low-income, urban cohort, Pediatrics, pp.peds-2015.
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