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Infant & Toddler Group Care

Supporting Inclusion of Children with Disabilities and

Other Special Needs

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Learning Objectives:Participants will be able to:

• Identify the benefits and challenges of including infants and toddlers with special needs in the child care setting.

• Be sensitive to the parent’s experience of having a child with a disability or special needs and recognize the parents as the expert in how best to support the child in the child care setting.

• Incorporate appropriate accommodations and adaptation into your care of a child with disabilities or other special needs.

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It’s About Belonging“When inclusion ... is fully embraced, we abandon the idea that children have to become ‘normal’ in order to contribute to the world. Instead, we search for and nourish the gifts that are inherent in all people. We begin to look beyond typical ways of becoming valued members of the community, and in doing so, begin to realize the achievable goal of providing all children with an authentic sense of belonging.”

- Norman Kunc

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Activity: Reflection on BelongingThink of a time when you felt as if you belonged to a

group.

• What did people say that made you feel you belonged?

• How did it feel?

• Think of a time when you felt you didn’t belong.

• How did that feel?

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PITC Essential Policies and PracticesSmall Group Sizes

Primary Care

Continuity of Care

Personalized Care

Inclusion of Infants with Disabilities and other special needs

Cultural Responsiveness

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What is Inclusion?

“[Inclusion is] the full and active participation of children with disabilities or other special needs in community activities, services and programs designed for typically developing children, including child care.

If support, accommodations, or modifications are needed to ensure full, active participation, these are provided appropriately in the setting.”

- Linda Brault, Inclusion Specialist

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Universal Design for LearningIn some cases, infants and toddlers with disabilities and

other special needs will reveal their developmental progress in alternative ways. It is important to provide opportunities for children to follow different pathways to learning.

Universal design refers to providing multiple approaches to learning in order to meet the needs of diverse learners. Universal design provides for multiple means of representation, multiple means of engagement and multiple means of expression.

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“Move About” Activity: How We Think and Feel About Disability

• Move about the room and write a response on each poster.

• As the instructor highlights some of the responses, share feedback you have about any response that was particularly meaningful to you, or one that you reacted to strongly.

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Welcome to Holland• Listen to this parent’s story about having a child with a disability.

• How did this story help you understand the parent’s experience of having a child with a disability?

• How will understanding this parent’s perspective impact your interactions with a parent of a child with a disability?

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Fear is the Biggest BarrierNot fear OF the child, Fear FOR the child.

With knowledge, this fear fades and competence blooms.

You can be successful at including children with disabilities or other special needs in your program.

- Linda Brault, Inclusion Specialist

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“People First” language describes

what a person HAS, not what a person IS.

• Are you myopic, or do you wear glasses?

• Is she cancerous, or does she have cancer?

• Is he handicapped/disabled, or does he have a disability?

• The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names. (Old Chinese proverb)

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Activity: What’s the Difference?

• Choose a potato and join participants in a standing circle.

• Hold your potato and really study it. Does it have any distinguishing features?

• Give your potato a name.

• Turn to someone near you and introduce yourself and your potato to them and their potato.

• Join another pair and introduce your potatoes in groups of four.

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Put your potato back in the basket

• Can you find your own potato again?

• What did this exercise make you feel about differences?

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Who are Children with Disabilities or Special Needs?

• Children with identified disabilities.

• Children who require additional help or support due to behavior, health or developmental issues.

Be careful not to label or diagnose a child unless you are qualified to do so.

- Linda Brault, Inclusion Specialist

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Federal & State Laws Related to Inclusion of Infants and

Toddlers with Disabilities

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Americans with Disability Act (ADA)Jigsaw:

• Read your assigned section of the Handout: “Questions and Answers about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

• Highlight key concepts that you want to share with the group.

• Report the key provisions of your assigned reading to the group.

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part C

In California, the California Early Intervention Services Act ensures that infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families receive coordinated services early enough to make a difference.

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part C (cont’d)

• Early Start’s system of early intervention services are intended to support and enhance the capability of every family of an infant or toddler with a potential or diagnosed disability, to meet the special developmental needs of their child.

• These systems allow caregivers to make referrals when they or the family suspect a delay in development.

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Dyad or Small Group ActivityUsing one of the three infant scenarios in the course reader, work in pairs or small groups to discuss and list strategies for one of the following:

a.  Partnering with parents and early intervention specialists.

b.  Adapting the environment.

c. Adapting your caregiving practices.

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Together We’re Better

• Keep the focus on promoting authentic belonging for each child.

• Start with high quality, responsive, sensitive care and you will be already meeting most children’s needs.

• Practice makes permanent!

- Linda Brault, Inclusion Specialist

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Revisiting the Learning Objectives:Participants will be able to:

• Identify the benefits and challenges of including infants and toddlers with special needs in the child care setting.

• Be sensitive to the parent’s experience of having a child with a disability or special needs and recognize the parents as the expert in how best to support the child in the child care setting.

• Incorporate appropriate accommodations and adaptation into your care of a child with disabilities or other special needs.