Planning for inclusive practices

1. Inclusive Placement Opportunities for Preschoolers: A Systems Approach to Preschool Inclusive PracticesA project of the Virginia Department of Education and theTraining and Technical Assistance Centers of Virginia

2. Planning for inclusive practices

3. So…What does the term “inclusive” mean to you?

4. Inclusive: • Means coordinated efforts between general and special educators to meet all or some of the student’s individualized educational program (IEP) in the general education classroom with same-aged peers. • Refers to the process of placing children with disabilities in the same classes or programs as their typically developing peers and providing them with the necessary services and supports (Winter, 1999).

5. What does inclusive really mean? • A value to support all • Children who have disabilities attending preschools with “typically developing peers” • Collaboration • Supporting teachers • Policies in place • Sharing responsibility for all • Facilitating friendships • Teaching within the routine • Natural proportions

6. What inclusive practices are NOT • Dumping students with disabilities • Grouping by ability level • Cutting back on special education services • Expecting Early Childhood Education staff to teach without support • Identifying children by their disabilities • Isolating children with disabilities

7. Is inclusion a good idea?

8. Rationale for inclusive practices • Legal • Philosophical • Moral, ethical, and social • Educational

9. Separateness in education can… Generate a feeling of inferiority as to (children’s) status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. This sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn… (and) has tendency to retard… educational and mental development. - Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown vs. Board of Education

10. SEC. 612 State Eligibility (5) Least restrictive environment. “(A) In general. To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.”

11. Least restrictive environment Section 612(a)(5) “a state shall not use a funding mechanism by which the state distributes funds on the basis of the type of setting in which a child is served that will result in the failure to provide a child with a disability a free appropriate public education…”

12. Continuum of alternative placements Sec. 300.130 Least restrictive environment. “(a) General. The State must have on file with the Secretary procedures that ensure that the requirements of Secs. 300.550-300.556 are met, including the provision in Sec. 300.551 requiring a continuum of alternative placements to meet the unique needs of each child with a disability.”

13. Note re: LRE for preschoolers The requirements apply to all preschool children with disabilities who are entitled to receive FAPE. Public agencies that provide preschool programs for preschoolers without disabilities must ensure that requirements are met.

14. Note related (continued) Public agencies that do not operate programs for preschoolers without disabilities are not required to initiate such programs solely for LRE but alternative methods are required such as (age-appropriate settings): • Part-time in (Head Start, VPI, kindergarten) • Placement in private school/preschool • Locating classes at elementary schools • Providing services at the location where the child is presently enrolled

15. State December 1 data count for time with typically developing peers The number of hours the child attends a regular education program

16. Self-actualization Self-esteem Belonging and Love Safety Physiological

17. Self – Actualization Pursue inner talent Creativity fulfillment Belonging – Love friends family spouse lover Self – esteem Achievement mastery Recognition respect Safety Security stability freedom from fear Physiological Food water shelter warmth

18. Moral, ethical, and social rationale • The right thing to do • Acceptance of others

19. Educational rationale • Opportunities for play and social interaction • Role models • Higher expectations • Developmental gains

20. Educational rationales Children who have multiple interactions with peers and adults throughout early childhood show a marked improvement across multiple areas of development (Buysse, Goldman, & Skinner, 2003).

21. Educational Rationale When children with disabilities are included in general education settings, they are more likely to exhibit positive social and emotional behaviors at a level that is much greater then their peers who are relegated to programs that serve only children with disabilities (Holahan & Costenbader, 2000; Strain, Bovey, Wilson, & Roybal, 2009).

22. Educational Rationale High quality inclusive settings support children’s cognitive growth greater than situations in which children are not included in a typical early childhood setting(Strain & Bovey, 2011; Holahan & Costenbader, 2000).

23. Early Childhood Inclusion: A Joint Position Statement of DEC and NAEYC Defining Inclusion http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_EC_updatedKS.pdf

24. Three Defining Features of Inclusion SUPPORTS ACCESS PARTICIPATION

25. Defining Features of Inclusion Access– providing a wide range of activities and environments for every child by removing physical barriers and offering multiple ways to promote learning and development.

26. Assistive Technology Assistive technology (AT) interventions involve a range of strategies to promote a child’s access to learning opportunities, from making simple changes to the environment and materials to helping a child use special equipment. Combining AT with effective teaching promotes the child’s participation in learning and relating to others.

27. AT Consideration Guide Activity: • Review information about James • Complete the AT Consideration Guide

28. Defining Features of Inclusion Participation – using a range of instructional approaches to promote engagement in play and learning activities, and a sense of belonging for every child.

29. Embedded Interventions are strategies that address specific learning goals within the context of everyday activities, routines, and transitions at home, at school, or in the community.

30. Defining Features of Inclusion Supports– broader aspects of the system such as professional development, incentives for inclusion, and opportunities for communication and collaboration among families and professionals to assure high quality inclusion.

31. How will inclusive practices benefit: • Teachers • Children with and without disabilities • Families of children with and without disabilities • Administrators

32. Challenges to inclusive practices • Organizational • Typically developing children most often in settings such as Head Start, community and family day care, religious centers • Children without disabilities in self-contained settings administered by the LEA

33. Challenges to inclusive practices • Philosophical • Differences in ECE and ECSE approaches

34. Do you want good health?

35. Basic beliefs regarding children • All children can learn • All children deserve the opportunity to be educated with other children their age in communities • All children can participate in inclusive preschools if they are given the appropriate support

36. Basic beliefs about staff roles • Common Purpose or Vision • Commitment to work together

37. For change to happen, it is necessary to: • Believe that change will benefit you and others and see the consequences of change as positive • Share your perceptions, beliefs, needs, and wants and have them understood and respected • Realize that change is accompanied by risk, fear, and possible failure and be willing to take risks

38. Collaborating programs plan for inclusive practices by: • Developing a mission statement • Developing collaborative policies • Holding regularly scheduled planning meetings • Using a collaborative team approach for planning • Providing an ongoing comprehensive and coordinated staff development process • Maintaining natural proportions of children with disabilities in classrooms

39. Successful inclusion takes: • Changes to: • Staff roles • Family school collaboration • Program policies • Ways children’s social relationships evolve • Classroom environment • Discipline practices • Instructional practices

40. Staff works as collaborative teams by: • Having clearly delineated ECE and ECSE staff roles and responsibilities • Holding regularly scheduled meetings during school hours to discuss classroom issues regarding ALL children • Developing and monitoring IEPs • Using a collaborative team approach

41. Quality environments include: • Clearly defined activity centers that are accessible to all children • Developmentally appropriate and age-appealing materials that are accessible to all children • A consistent schedule that includes developmentally appropriate daily routines

42. Staff plans and uses developmentally appropriate curriculum by: • Focusing on children’s interest, community • Incorporating age-appropriate goals and concepts • Incorporating developmentally appropriate hands-on activities • Developing and posting weekly lesson plans

43. Staff fosters children’s social relationships by: • Modeling appropriate interaction with children • Using materials, groupings, and planned activities to promote friendships between children • Using naturalistic strategies to facilitate social relationships • Using individualized programs to increase pro-social behavior

44. Staff fosters children’s autonomy by: • Developing and posting clear rules for the classroom • Ensuring that all adults in the class implement the class rules in the same way • Using positive guidance techniques • Developing individual behavior intervention programs to foster improved self-control for children with intensive needs

45. Staff individualizes group instruction in daily routines by: • Incorporating instruction in age-appropriate goals and concepts • Providing ample time for learning centers that are child-selected • Conducting smooth transitions • Making sure all children participate • Embedding learning opportunities • Using routine-based assessment

46. Change… • Takes time • Not about programs, materials, and/or technology • Highly personal • Requires personal growth • Requires facilitators who are courageous and flexible

47. Preparing for the shift in service delivery: Developing the team • Participants: ECE and ECSE, administrators and staff, related service personnel, parents, community agency representatives • Purpose: to conduct tasks to initiate preschool inclusion and improve services for all children

48. Major goals of the team • Determine options for inclusion • Gain support of key stakeholders • Identify barriers to inclusion • Learn about best practices in ECE and ECSE • Organize the development of a mission statement • Develop an action plan to address needed changes in policies, service delivery, staff training

49. Steps involved in organizing a planning team • Recruit members and start monthly meetings • Educate members about inclusion • Visit model sites • Have committee members identify concerns and barriers to inclusion

50. Identifying the barriers to inclusion • Identify concerns you have about preschool inclusion • Describe barriers which exist to providing a quality inclusive preschool program • Record the responses on the action plan form