Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 25, No. -I, 1998

Early Childhood Special Education

Preparing for Children with Disabilities in Early ChildhoodClassrooms

Paddy C. Favazza1,2

INTRODUCTION

Ms. Loyd is a kindergarten teacher in a publicschool system. She just found out that she will have twokindergartners next year with special needs. One childhas mild mental retardation and a speech delay. The otheryoungster has cerebral palsy with a mild motor impair-ment. Their placement in her kindergarten class is a anexample of the Individuals with Disabilities EducationAct (IDEA) (also referred to as PL 101-476) in action.This law ensures that children with disabilities willreceive a free and appropriate public education in theleast restrictive environment. This scene is happeningwith greater frequency across the United States. Youngchildren with disabilities are being placed in regularearly childhood class settings. While Ms. Loyd is excit-ed about the upcoming school year, she is wondering ifthere is anything special that she could or should do toprepare for the two children with disabilities. There aremany things that teachers like Ms. Loyd could do thatmay make the inclusion of these two students successfulfor them and for her whole class.

One of the most fundamental needs of every child isto be accepted and to have a sense of belonging.However, research has clearly shown us that childrenwith disabilities are not automatically accepted by theirpeers unless teachers (and parents) take an active role inpromoting acceptance. Early perceptions about individu-als with disabilities lay the groundwork for attitude for-mation. In fact, by the age of five children have alreadyformed perceptions, either positive or negative, aboutyoungsters with disabilities (Diamond, 1993; Favazza &Odom, 1996) and without thoughtful planning and strate-gies to promote acceptance, these early attitudes are

'The University of Memphis. Memphis. Tennessee.Correspondence should be directed to Paddy C. Favazza. Departmentof lCl. Campus Box 526017. The University of Memphis, Memphis,Tennessee 38152-6017; e-mail: favazza.paddy@coe.memphis.edu

often negative (Favazza & Odom, 1996, 1997).So, what can Ms. Loyd do to ensure that the place-

ment for the children with disabilities will be successful?She can create a more accepting environment by address-ing the three key influences in attitude formation whensetting up her classroom:

• indirect experiences• direct experiences• the child's primary social groupThese influences can be expanded into concrete

suggestions for fostering acceptance and a sense ofbelonging for young children with disabilities in inclu-sive early childhood settings.

CHILDREN LEARN ATTITUDES (OFACCEPTANCE OR NONACCEPTANCE)THROUGH INDIRECT EXPERIENCES

Specifically, children learn through photographs,books, displays, and instructional programs that provideinformation about persons with disabilities. Some of theearliest research in this area demonstrated that AfricanAmerican children, who were not depicted in classroommedia and materials in school settings, were held in lowesteem by Caucasian children (Clark & Clark, 1939).More recently, similar results were found with childrenwith disabilities. When children with disabilities are notrepresented in visual images in our class settings or com-munities, it can contribute to the development of a nega-tive image about children with disabilities (Favazza &Odom, 1997; Favazza, Kumar, & Phillipsen, 1996). Whatis the implication for the teacher? Teachers can examinethe indirect experiences children have in their classes.

EXAMINE THE INDIRECT EXPERI-ENCES CHILDREN WILL HAVE INYOUR CLASSROOM

All children need to be represented in their sur-roundings. Carefully selected pictures, displays (bulletin

255I082-33CI/98/U600-W55SI5.0O/OO 1998 Human Science* Press Inc

256 Favazza

boards, posters), photographs, books, and play materialscan enhance self-esteem, provide information, and"demystify the disability". When examining 95preschool and kindergarten classes, researchers(Favazza, Kumar, & Phillipsen, 1996) found that classestypically do not have visual representation of personswith disabilities in class displays, books, or curriculum.This simple first step could be incorporated into the classsetting to raise the awareness level about individuals withdisabilities and provide a springboard for discussions.When selecting materials, careful attention needs to begiven to ensure that the materials are in fact promotingthe kind of perceptions that you want. See Table I forsuggestions for selecting books and materials.

In essence, the guidelines reflected in Table Iattempt to determine if displays, photographs, and booksabout children with disabilities encourage (or discour-

age) stereotypic views of persons with disabilities andemphasize how individuals with disabilities (whileunique) are more like than different from their nondis-abled peers. In addition, materials in the sociodramaticplay area or displays (in bulletin boards, posters, andmagazine photographs) are relatively inexpensive waysthat children can be exposed to individuals with disabili-ties.

These types of materials are becoming more readilyavailable through general toy companies such as Toys RUs and educational companies (Lakeshore LearningMaterials) and companies that specialize in materialsdepicting individuals with disabilities (CommunityPlaythings and Rifton Equipment for the Handicapped).See Table II for additional information about catalogsand companies that have materials for/about personswith disabilities.

Table I. Guidelines for Selecting Materials

• Photographs and displays include children representing a diversepopulation with regard to gender, race, ability, age. Remember,young children relate best to pictures of other young children.Someone like them! Because disability is not specific to a specificgender, or race, or to older people. Pictures should reflect this diver-sity. For example, while some of the pictures may depict adults, mostpictures and stories selected should depict young children with andwithout disabilities engaged in play, snack time, class activities.

• Photographs, displays, and books depict children with disabilities ina variety of settings and daily events (work and play scenes) likeother children, not only as a poster child for a fund raising cam-paign. (Some images where the disability influences activities andseveral other situations where it is incidental.) Often materials depicta nondisabled child helping a child with a disability. While we don'twant to discourage helping behavior, persons with disability can anddo hold leadership roles and need to be depicted as such. Displays orbooks should not encourage pity of the individual with a disability.

• The materials consider the whole person, not merely the effects of thedisability. (The story talks about the person's feelings, or otheraspects of his/her life. The display depicts the person as activelyengaged in his/her natural environment with people or materials.)

• iiiustrationa are factual, clear and realistic. Terminology Ideatingwith the disability) is consistent with the current practice. For exam-ple, use of people first language is currently encouraged. When talk-ing about a child with a disability you would say the preschoolerwith a visual impairment vs. the visually impaired preschooler.

• The materials encourage acceptance of differences in all people. (Allpeople are depicted in images that encourage respect for differences.)

, . . , . . . . . , . ,. . ,* 1 n£ materials etnpfiasize iniplicitlv or cxplicttlv that the individualwith a disability /.< mare alike than different from his/her typicalpeers. (Illustrations depict participation in familiar activities, demon-strates similar feelings, likes and dislikes, and so on.)

Table II. Catalogs/ Companies with Materials for/About Personswith Disabilities

Blended CurriculumEnvironments(A Kaplan Company)

P.O. Box 6091310 Lewisville-Clemmons Rd.Lewisville, NC 27023-0609Phone 800-334- 20 14Fax 800-452-7526

Constructive Playthings1227 E. 119th StreetGrand view. MO 64030-1 1 17Customer Service 800-448- 1412Phone 800-448-4115Fax 8 16-76 1-9295

Flaghouse Special Populations601 Route 46 WestHasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604Phone 800-793-7900FAX 800-793-7922

Kaplan CompaniesP.O. Box 609Lewisville, NC 27023-0609Customer Service 800-334-2014Phone 800-334-20 14Fax 800-452-7526

Tumble FormsP.O. Box 5071Bolingbrook, IL 60440-5071Phone 800-323-5547Fax 800-547-4333

Roots & Wings Education CatalogP.O. Box 3348Boulder, CO 80307Phone 800-833-1787Fax 303-494-2693

Special Needs ProjectGood Books About Disability3463 State St. Suite 282Santa Barbara, CA 93105Phone 800-333-6867Fax 805-683-2341

Turtle Books atJason & Nordic Publishers

P.O. Box 441Hollidaysburg, PA 16648Phone 8 14-696-2920Fax 814-696-4250

Kaplan: The Outdoor ClassroomP.O. Box 609Lewisville, NC 27023-0609Customer Service 800-334-2014Phone 800-334-2014Fax 800-4KAPLAN

Lakeshore Learning Materials2695 E. Dominguez St.Carson, CA 90749Phone 800-42 1-5354Fax 310-537-5403

Preparing for Children with Disabilities 257

CHILDREN LEARN ATTITUDES(ACCEPTANCE OR NONACCEPTANCE)THROUGH DIRECT EXPERIENCES

Specifically, they learn about children with disabil-ities through multiple personal experiences that can leadto positive or negative attitudes. Research has clearlydemonstrated that positive experiences with individualswith disabilities can contribute to acceptance. If a childhas positive experiences with children with disabilities,he/she is likely to exhibit more acceptance of childrenwith disabilities. Conversely, if a child has no directexperiences with individuals with disabilities (Favazza &Odom, 1996, 1997) or only negative or poor qualityexperiences with individuals with disabilities, the chanceof developing negative attitudes may be increased (Green& Stoneman, 1989). In addition, kindergarten teacherstypically did not schedule activities with children withdisabilities who were present in their school (Favazza &Odom, 1997). What can a teacher do when setting upexperiences with children with disabilities? Practicalsuggestions are provided in Table III.

CHILDREN LEARN ATTITUDES(ACCEPTANCE OR NONACCEPTANCE)THROUGH THEIR PRIMARY SOCIALGROUP

For a young child, their primary social group is theirfamily. The parents (and later their teacher) play a keyrole in influencing the perceptions of young children.How a parent (or teacher) handles a discussion about aperson with a disability seen in the grocery store, on theplayground, or in the hallway at school sends a powerfulmessage to the child. What message do you send whenyou talk (or choose not to talk) about a youngster with adisability? Silence can easily send a message of nonac-

• Use environmental strategies to support interactions. Within playgroups or class activities, positive interaction between children withand without disabilities can be increased using environmentalarrangement strategies (Deklyen & Odom, 1989). These include, butare not limited to:

—Limit the space to which children have access in order toincrease the possibility of interactions with one another.

—Limit the materials to increase the potential for interactions.(i.e., may need to request an item from someone else).

—Rotate the materials to maintain the novel effect, and thus main-tain the motivation and interest of the children during the struc-tured play activities. A word of caution is warranted here.Material that is rotated too frequently may not allow childrenenough lime to become familiar with the toy or all of the possibleaspects of play they could develop from a particular material.Children will need adequate time with toys to develop playschemes and/or learn how to use some of the parts.

• If necessary, provide children with ideas or suggestions for play.Adults can provide ideas of ways to play with a loy or material thatmay lead to more interactive play as opposed to solitary play. Thismay be necessary at first when relationships with peers are not yetestablished.

• Develop a set of criteria for loy selection. When setting up structuredplay groups, a criterion for toy selection could be utilized to ensurethat children have access to materials that are likely to lead to inter-action. Some materials promote more communication and interac-tion among children than other play materials.

• Alternate seating. During play, circle time, or centers, children couldbe intentionally seated so as to alternate children with and withoutdisabilities. In this way. the likelihood of interactions among childrenwith and without disabilities is increased.

• Encourage children to greet one another upon entering and exitingcircle time or play groups. Providing greeting activities at the onsetand closing of play time could provide additional support for socialrelationship between children with and without disabilities.

• Create an "equal opportunity classroom." Everyone has an opportu-niiy to be a leader and a helper. Often children with disabilities areviewed as followers or in need of help. Brainstorm with the young-ster and their classmates about ways to include a child with a chal-lenging disability in all aspects of classroom activities.

• Create a buddy system, not just for the child with a disability, foreveryone. Everyone in the class could have a buddy or partner fordifferent activities Create activities that require two people to com-plete it as pan of the daily routine. The child with a disability does-n't want or need to be singled out. In this way, everyone is providedwith a partner without drawing attention to the child with a disabili-ty. Periodically, rotate the buddies to extend the number of contactsthat the child with a disability has with nondisabled peers.

• Provide out-of-school experiences for children with and without dis-abilities. Most children without disabilities do not have the samenumber of opportunities to interact with children with disabilities(i.e., do not invite them to their house to play) (Rugg & Stoneman,1988) or have limited out-of-school experiences with children withdisabilities (Stoneman. Brody, Davis, & Crapps, 1988). This is a nat-ural extension of school-based activities that could be facilitated bythe teacher and parents.

Table III. Suggestions for Providing Positive Direct Experiences forChildren with Disabilities.

• Examine the quantity and quality of opportunities for interactionswith children with disabilities. Not only do these opportunities needto occur, but careful attention needs to be given to ensure that theactivities are enjoyable for all children. Preferably this would entailcontact with children within their own age group and within the con-text of activities that children are typically engaged in (i.e.. playgroups, centers, circle lime. etc.).

• Collaborate with preschool special education teachers. Not only dothey have specialized training that may be shared, they may person-ally know the child that has been sent to your class. They can be atremendous resource for the regular early childhood teacher.

258 Favazza

Table IV. How to Communicate About Persons with Disabilities

• Educate yourself. This may entail educating yourself about a partic-ular disability and a specific child. For example, not every child withDown syndrome is alike. They are unique individuals with likes anddislikes, like other children. It is good to have general informationabout a particular disability and specific information about the childin your class.

• Leant to talk about persons with disabilities in ways that promoteacceptance, rather than in ways that denoti' discomfort and/ornonacceptance. Don't make an issue of the disability. Rather.respond to questions in a natural and matter-of-fact way as they ariseusing appropriate and current terminology and accurate information.

• Provide parents with information on lion- to talk about disabilities athome. The perceptions and views held by the child's parents are crit-ical in attitude development which, in turn, has implications torincluding parents of typically developing children as you prepare forinclusive classrooms. Lack of information or misinformation canlead to fear, anxiety, or mistrust. Teachers can provide parents withinformation on how to respond to questions about persons with dis-abilities. Books about children with disabilities can be sent home aspan of a home reading program with guided discussions to supportparents in their conversations wi th their children.

• Create opportunities for parents to become involved in your classwith all of the children in your class. Parents can be invited to classto volunteer, or work together on projects.These types of in-schoolparent activities can provide a time and place for parents to meet.share valuable information about their own children, and find com-mon ground to develop relationships with one another as parents.This may also lay the groundwork forout-of-school play experiencesat each other's home.

• Take your cues from parents 0} children with disabilities. Ask parentsof children with disabilities if they want to be involved in acquaint-ing you (and the class) with their child. how they want to beinvolved, and how they want you to handle their child in this newinclusive classroom. Some parents may have very definite ideasabout how they want their child to be introduced. Other parents maynot want to be involved or may not want their child to be singled outbecause of his/her disability. In addition, many parents have had a lotof experience talking about their child's disability and could be avery valuable resource for you.

ceptance or a message that that child is not to be talkedabout or ignored, or that "she" is not a pan of our world.What are the implications for teachers and parents? SeeTable IV for suggestions about how to communicateabout persons with disabilities.

CONCLUSIONS

Our perceptions about and attitudes toward individ-uals with disabilities are formed at a very early age.Without strategies designed to promote acceptance at theage when attitudes are being formed, these early percep-tions are likely to be negative as well as stable. The suc-cess of inclusive placements may depend, in part, on theacceptance of children with disabilities by typicallydeveloping children. Using naturalistic and economicalstraiegies, teachers like Ms. Loyd can set the stage forsuccess by creating accepting environments and foster-ing a sense of belonging for all of the children in theirclass.

REFERENCESClark, K.. & Clark. M. (19.19). The development of consciousness of

self and [he emergence of racial identification in Negro preschoolchildren. Journal of Social Psychology, 10. 591 -599

Dcklyen. M.. & Odom. S. L. (1989). Act ivi ty structure and social inter-actions with peers in developmentally integrated playgroups.Journal of Early Intervention. 13. 342-352.

Diamond. K. (1993). Preschool children's concepts of disabi l i ty in theirpeers Early Education and Development, ->(2). 123-129.

Favazza. P. C. & Odom. S. L. (1996). Use of the Acceptance Scale tomeasure attitudes of kindergarten-age children. Journal of Earlyimervention. 20. 232-249.

Favazza. P. C.. & Odom. S. L. (1997). Promoting positive altitudes ofkindeigarten-agc children toward people wi th d i sab i l i t i esExceptional Children. 6.1 405-418

Favazza. P. C.. Kumar. P.. & Phillipsen. L. (December 1990). Strategiesfor Promoting the Social Relationships Between Young ChildrenWith and Without Disabilities: Implications for Research. Paperpresented at the International Division of Early Childhood. CECAnnual Conference. Phoenix. AZ.

Green. A. L., & Stoneman. z.. (1989). Attitudes of mothers and fathersof nonhandicapped children. Journal of Early Intervention. 13.292-304.

Neugebauer. B. (1992). What arc we really saying to children' Criteriafor the selection of books and materials. In B. Neugebauer (Ed.).Alike and different: Exploring our humanity with young children(pp. 160-183). Washington. DC: National Association for theEducation of Young Children.

Rugg, M.. & Stoneman. Z. ( June 1988). Project CEEI: ADemonstration Program for Mainstreaming Special NeedsChildren. Paper presented at the Gulf Coast Conference on EarlyIntervention. Point Clear. AL.

Stoneman. Z.. Brody, G. H.. Davis. C. H.. & Crapps. J. M. (1988).Childcare responsibilities, peer relations, and sibling conflict:Older siblings of mentally retarded children. Amercan Journal ofMental Retardation. 93. 174-183.