Foundations of Inclusion
Training Workshop
http://community.fpg.unc.edu
Today’s Agenda
Introduction - 10 minutes
Foundations - 20 minutes
Build Your Knowledge - 35 minutes
“I Have This Child...” Activity - 45 minutes
Conclusion - 10 minutes
Total time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
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Introduction
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Objectives
You will be able to:
 Define inclusion and features of early
childhood inclusion,
 Discuss the legal and policy foundations of
inclusion,
 List research-based inclusion practices, and
 Identify actions that early care and
education professionals might take to build
a high quality inclusive program.
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Questions? Comments?
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Pre-Survey
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Foundations
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Foundations
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Review Video
Discussion Questions
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Foundations
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Watch the
Foundations of
Inclusion video
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Foundations
Discussion
1. How would you feel if you had been “in the shoes” of Jay’s
parents and your son had been excluded from attending
school? Have you or any of your family members ever been
excluded because of a condition or characteristic beyond your
control (e.g., gender, race)? How did that feel?
2. As you watched the video, what new information did you learn
about inclusion?
3. Explain the desired results of early childhood inclusion?
4. What do you see as major changes over the last 20-30 years in
the way the laws and policies support access and participation
of young children with disabilities in inclusive settings?
5. What does the research tell us about inclusion?
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Build Your Knowledge
Source: Flickr – Twisted Shadows
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Build Your Knowledge
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Review last segment
of video again
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Build Your Knowledge
Rights of families,
children and teachers
Research-based practices
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Review the 4 handouts
provided on the
following topics
Admission policies
Finding community partners
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Build Your Knowledge
Activity related to
rights of families,
children and teachers
Option A:
Choose a right and a responsibility for teachers and a
right and a responsibility for families related to
inclusion that you might not have been aware of prior
to reading this document / or that you think your
colleagues are unaware of.
Discuss next steps you can take based on your new
knowledge of these rights (e.g., talking to your director
about attending IEP meeting or going for additional
professional development, etc.).
Option B:
Develop a plan on how to help families of children with
disabilities understand their rights.
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Build Your Knowledge
Activity related to
admission policies
Option A (For directors):
Review the sample policy and guide on developing inclusive policy.
Work in small groups and use the guide to develop a set of policy
guidelines that reflect a welcoming environment for all children and
families.
Option B (For directors):
Review your individual program’s existing policies and make notes on
your policies what / how you can make changes to make them more
inclusive. Then share back with the large group some of the changes
you plan to make.
Option C (For teachers): Identify three ways to create a welcoming
environment for all children and families.
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Build Your Knowledge
Activity related to
research-based
practices
Identify two research-based practices that you
would like to start using in your classroom to
support the learning and development of all
children in the classroom. Discuss how these
can be aligned to standards / requirements,
(e.g., Common Core, Early Learning
Standards, etc) and how you can use these
interventions and strategies to support the
learning and development of all children in the
classroom.
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Build Your Knowledge
Activity related to
finding community
partners
Option A: Identify individuals (e.g., early
interventionists, early childhood special education
consultants, family advocates) in your community
who are currently partners with you or could be
contacted for the purpose of developing
partnerships that support high quality inclusion.
Option B: Matching Game (Type in instructions
here)
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Build Your Knowledge
Work on an activity
in pairs / groups
Rights of families,
children and teachers
Admission policies
1) Form pairs or small
groups (depending on
group size) and select
one of the four
activities to develop a
response.
2) Take notes during
discussion.
Research-based practices
Finding community partners
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3) Share responses with
the larger group.
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Build Your Knowledge
Large group
discussion
How did the information from the
activities help build your knowledge
about how to support all children and
families in your classroom / program?
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“I Have This Child…”
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“I Have This Child…”
Identify a child
Option A:
Think about a child who would be challenging to serve in your program or classroom now
because of her/his developmental or educational needs. This child could be based on past or
current experiences but ask them NOT to talk about a real child in a way that could identify
that child in order to protect confidentiality.
Option B:
Imagine that one of the following children is enrolled in your classroom: A child… ….who
learns easily but has a visual impairment that affects his mobility and access to materials and
activities in the classroom.
…..who enjoys focusing intensely on certain tasks but is withdrawn from other children and
group activities in spite of efforts to support his/her involvement
……who has high positive energy but cannot stay focused or engaged for over one minute in
any activity or task.
…..who started the year well but has recently become overly aggressive with other children to
the point that they are avoiding him/her.
….who has a sweet personality but multiple developmental delays that affect speech & motor.
Option C: Watch the video on Jackie’s dilemma related to including a child with disabilities in
her classroom.
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“I Have This Child…”
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Group / pair action
planning
Discuss your perceptions of
the challenges associated
with having the child in your
program.
Develop an action plan using
the guiding questions in the
Foundations of Inclusion
Action Planning Form.
Document your discussion.
Share back with large group.
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Conclusion
Recap Objectives
You should be able to:
 Define inclusion and features of early
childhood inclusion,
 Discuss the legal and policy foundations of
inclusion,
 List research-based inclusion practices, and
 Identify actions that early care and
education professionals might take to build
a high quality inclusive program.
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Going Deeper
Source: Flickr - hankplank
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Post-Survey
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Workshop Evaluation
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Questions and comments
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Thank You
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