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60 years of excellence in helping children with learning disabilities through:
• Training educators and administrators • Frostig School (grades 1-12)
• Research
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The Challenges of Including Children with Special Needs in ECE: A Toolbox
California Head Start Institute
April 28, 2015 Los Angeles, CA
Presenters: Roberta J. Goldberg, Ph.D., Director Linda Barker, MA, ECE Specialist Consultation & Education Department [email protected] [email protected]
Teachers Change Lives “Teachers and caregivers have daily opportunities to be the catalysts for spectacular developmental advances for children who otherwise seem destined to end up in a developmental wasteland. We help provide love and attention, a healthful environment, good nutrition, and appropriate interpersonal interaction day after day. So, whether we think of these dramatic changes as miracles or simply developmental advances, they are all around us, just waiting for a chance to happen – and waiting for us to help. The opportunity to be part of such miracles in the lives of young children is a bonus of our professional work that should not be taken lightly.” by Betty Caldwell
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Challenges Facing Managers and Educators
What challenges do you encounter when including children with special needs in your existing program?
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Definition of Inclusion • All children learning together in environments that
provide special services, supports, and supplements for all children as needed and are guided by well-trained professionals from the fields of early childhood education and early childhood special education. (Lynch, Ballard-Rosa,& Cavallaro, 1997, p.2)
– Inclusion can refer to children with identified categorical disabilities.
– Inclusion can also refer to new, unexpected problems which emerge in the preschool setting and have not been previously diagnosed.
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How do you get the necessary information to
promote successful inclusion?
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Five Strategic Points for Information Sharing
• Initial phone call • Intake form/application • Parent interview &
conferences • Program guidelines • Considerations checklist
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Barriers to Inclusion
• Discuss with a partner • What are Five Concerns you
have that are barriers to successful inclusion in your program?
• Share out
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Considerations when Including Children with Special Needs
• Program Considerations
• Child Considerations
• Parent Considerations
Inclusion Consideration Inquiry
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Continuum of Adaptations • No adaptation • Peer or adult assistance • Different expectations • Modified materials • Parallel activity in same environment
Home Educator Considerations Discuss and chart
• What are special considerations for Home Educators when including children? – Working with the family in the home
• How do you support the Parents?
– Socialization Groups • Parent concerns • Child concerns
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Disability Manager Considerations
Discuss and Chart
• Professional development for Home Educators • Supporting families who have a child with
special needs • Supervision issues • Planning for parent education topics and
opportunities during Socialization Groups
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Stages of Concern Assessment
Typical Expressions of Concern about Including Children with Special Needs
• Refocusing • Collaboration • Consequence • Management • Personal • Informational • Awareness
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Factors That Affect Children’s Ability to Learn in the Early Years:
– Attention/organization • Being ready to learn • Ability to attend to appropriate stimuli • Self-regulation • Ability to maintain, sustain, and switch attention • Ability to plan ahead, organize self and ideas
– Sensory Perception • Making sense of the information taken in through the senses • Sensory integration
– Language • Understanding language (receptive) • Expressing language (retrieve and express ideas)
Hot Button Activity Looking at Yourself
On each circle write a behavior that pushes your buttons What’s your current reaction to it?
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Tools for Identifying Challenging
Behaviors and Solutions
• Brault Behavior Checklist
• Case Study Protocol
• When a Child Struggles
Worksheet
Looking at the Child Brault Behavior Checklist (excerpts)
The Individual Child Yes Maybe/ Partly
No Do Not Know
Are you sure the behavior you are observing is not normal for the child’s age and developmental levels?
Have you considered the child’s temperament (activity, level, intensity of reactions, ability to adapt to new situations, regularity, mood, etc.) and how it plays out in behavior?
Is it possible that the child is trying to communicate something through this behavior?
Have you explored whether the child needs to learn some new skills or replacement behaviors in order to change the underlying challenging behavior?
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Case Study
Name: Age: Main concern: What is this behavior telling you? Strategies you have tried: New strategy to try: Communicating with parents and professionals: Next steps with this child and family:
When a Child Struggles Area of Concern Current Practice Extra Support
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Closure • Discuss any of these tools you found useful for
including children with special needs • Evaluation
