Transcript What does the term “integration” mean to you?

Inclusive Placement Opportunities
for Preschoolers:
A Systems Approach to Preschool
Inclusive Practices
A project of the
Virginia Department of Education
and the
Training and Technical Assistance
Centers of Virginia
Planning for inclusive
practices
So …
what does
the term “inclusive”
mean to you?
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).
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
•
What inclusive practices are NOT
•
Dumping students with disabilities
•
Grouping by ability level
•
Cutting back on special education services
•
Expecting ECE staff to teach without support
•
Identifying children by their disabilities
•
Isolating children with disabilities
Is inclusion a good idea?
Rationale for inclusive practices
•
Legal
•
Philosophical
•
Moral, ethical and social
•
Educational
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.
o
Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown v. Board
of Education
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.”
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 …”
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.”
Note related to 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.
Note related (cont’d)
•
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):
o
Part-time integration (Head Start, VPI, kindergarten)
o
Placement in private school/preschool
o
Locating classes at elementary schools
o
Providing services at the location where the child
is presently enrolled
IDEA reporting requirements
•
Educational environment
o
Children attending a regular early childhood program
OR
o
Children not attending a regular early childhood
program
OSEP 2007 Child Count Data
Self-actualization
Self-esteem
Belonging and Love
Safety
Physiological
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
Moral, ethical and social rationale
The right thing to do
• Acceptance of others
•
Educational rationale
•
Opportunities for play and social interaction
•
Role models
•
Higher expectations
•
Developmental gains
Educational rationale
•
Students with disabilities make equal or greater gains
in all areas of development (Worley, 1995)
•
Students with disabilities in inclusive programs show
improvement in cognitive, communication, social and
emotional areas (Power-deFur, Bricker, & Orelove, 1997)
•
Quality of work from students without disabilities
unaffected; may improve slightly over time in inclusive
classrooms (Salisbury, Brookfield, & Odom: DEC
presentation, 2004)
Positions of national organizations
•
Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Early
Childhood (DEC)
•
National Association for Education of Young Children
(NAEYC)
Think about it …
•
Picture 2 classes:
o
o
One with 8 children with disabilities, most children
use only 1-2 word phrases. What would a free choice
activity look like?
The other with 12 children without disabilities
and 4 with. What would that look like?
How will inclusive practices benefit:
•
Teachers
•
Children with and without disabilities
•
Families of children with and without disabilities
•
Administrators
Challenges to inclusive practices
•
Organizational
o
o
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
Challenges to inclusive practices
•
Philosophical
o
Differences in ECE and ECSE approaches
Do you want good health?
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
Basic beliefs about staff roles
•
We are all good teachers, therapists and administrators
and we can be better if we change to use best practices
and we all work toward a common purpose or vision
•
For each child to receive a quality inclusive education,
we will need to make an individual as well as a group
commitment to work together as a team. We are experts
in our field but none of us is an expert in inclusive
practices.
In order to change,
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
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
Successful inclusion takes:
•
Changes to:
o
Staff roles
o
Family school collaboration
o
Program policies
o
Ways children’s social relationships evolve
o
Classroom environment
o
Discipline practices
o
Instructional practices
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
Quality environments
are provided when:
•
Clearly defined activity centers are accessible to all
children
•
Developmentally appropriate and age-appealing
materials are accessible to all children
•
A consistent schedule includes developmentally
appropriate daily routines
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
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
Staff fosters children’s
self-control 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 management programs
for increasing self-control for children with intensive
needs
Staff individualizes group instruction
in daily routines by:
•
Incorporating instruction on age-appropriate goals
and concepts
•
Providing a large block of free time
•
Conducting smooth transitions
•
Making sure all children participate
•
Embedding learning opportunities
•
Using routine-based assessment
Change …
•
Is a process that takes time
•
Is about individuals, their attitudes, beliefs and actions,
not about programs, materials and technology
•
Is highly personal, viewed differently by each participant
and requires personal growth
•
Requires facilitators who are courageous and flexible
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
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 and staff training
Steps involved in
organizing a planning team
1.
Recruit members and start monthly meetings
2.
Educate members about inclusion
3.
Visit model sites
4.
Have committee members identify concerns and
barriers to inclusion
Activity:
Identifying the barriers to inclusion
•
Volunteers, please:
o
o
•
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
Break
Tasks of the team
Task 1: Gain the support of top officials
•
Presentation
•
Brochure
Task 2: Review the pros and cons of preschool inclusion
options
Inclusive options
•
Full inclusion
•
Part-time inclusion
•
Reverse inclusion
Activity
Full inclusion
•
Enrolling natural proportions (10-12%) of children with
disabilities full-time with same-aged peers without
disabilities in neighborhood settings
Neighborhood settings
•
Head Start
•
Even Start
•
Title 1
•
LEA-sponsored 4-year-old programs (VPI)
•
High school vocational child care
•
Community-based preschools/child care
Full inclusion can be supported
through a:
•
Collaborative model
•
Consultative model
Collaborative model (co-teaching)
•
Preschoolers with disabilities are enrolled full time
in regular ECE programs
•
8 students with disabilities are enrolled in Head Start,
VPI, child care
•
ECSE teacher and paraprofessional co-teach with ECE
teacher
Collaborative model (co-teaching)
•
8-10 students with disabilities are enrolled between
2 ECE classes
•
ECSE and paraprofessional are in classes full time
and co-teach with ECE teacher
Essentials of a
co-teaching model
•
ECSE and ECE teacher meet weekly to plan together
•
Related services providers meet with direct service
personnel monthly
•
Collaborative agreements exist between programs
•
Administrative support is provided
Consultative model
•
ECSE students are included in ECE classes
•
ECSE and paraprofessional support students based
on IEP needs
Essentials of a consultative model
•
ECSE and ECE teacher meet weekly to plan/discuss
students
•
Related service providers meet with direct service
personnel monthly
More tasks of the planning team
Task 3: Select a range of placement options
•
Survey your community to find quality preschools
and contact them to determine interest
•
Determine the number of children eligible for special
education services
Tasks (cont’d)
Task 4: Choose sites
Task 5: Choose staff
Task 6: Gain support of stakeholders
Tasks (cont’d)
Task 7: Prepare to develop a preliminary set of program
beliefs
•
Assign a facilitator and recorder
•
Post flip pages with the following statements:
o
When I think of an inclusive preschool that’s working
well, I see a school where …
o
Children …
o
Teachers …
o
Families …
o
Therapists …
Tasks (cont’d)
Task 8: Select ways to assist ECSEs and ECEs to learn
about each other’s programs
•
Observe each other’s programs
•
Talk with each other
•
Attend program meetings
•
Exchange written information
Tasks (cont’d)
Task 9: Plan a series of in-service training sessions
Task 10: Develop the program mission/vision statement
Mission possible
•
With your team, review the preliminary set of beliefs
and determine the top items
•
Synthesize the items into a mission statement
Tasks (cont’d)
Task 11: Write an action plan to develop collaborative
polices to support inclusion
Why do program evaluation?
To document what we did so that we
can repeat success and avoid failures
Why do program evaluation?
To find out whether we are making progress toward
reaching the outcomes that we have targeted
Evaluation basics
•
What happened?
•
What changed?
•
How much?
How do you know?
So what?
What’s next?
Outcomes are:
•
Statements of what will be different after we have
addressed our identified needs
•
Changes that occur in people, things, organizations or
systems at least in part because of what we are doing
What outcomes do we
want with IPOP?
•
Outcomes related to the child count data
o Young children with disabilities are in ECE program classes 60%
of the time
o 15 young children with disabilities participated in general ECE
classes
•
Outcome related to staff
o Team members and staff have knowledge related to
implementing inclusive placements for young children
•
Outcome related to programs
o 2 collaborative agreements exist between ECE and ECSE
programs
o 5 classrooms are inclusive
Year 1: planning phase
•
Learn a structured team meeting process
•
Gather information about current situation
•
Learn about research-based models to address
your needs
•
Visit model sites
•
Select an inclusion option to use
•
Develop a philosophy
•
Develop an action plan (state outcomes desired)
Slogan
•
In teams, determine a slogan for your team related
to preschool inclusion