Master Class 3
Supporting Young Learners
of Diverse Abilities
in Inclusive Learning Opportunities1
ONE Way of Thinking About evidence-based practices and development
Evidence-Based Practice Empowers Early Childhood Professionals and Families1
imce/documents/FPG_Snapshot_N33_EvidenceBasedPractice_09-2006.pdf
Chronological Development
Vermont Early Learning Standards (VELS)
Vermont Early Learning Standards Introduction video
VELS Shorthand Guide & Resources1
Using the VELS to Support Each and Every Child’s Full Participation1
Vermont Personas + alignment chart1
Development + Culture, Diversity, Language, Race, Ethnicity, Equity
All resources from Master Class 1: Supporting Diverse Young Children and Their Families
All resources from Master Class 2: Supporting Young Children who are Learning More Than One Language and Their Families
Individual Development
Division for Early Childhood Recommended Practices
Recognizing and Performing the DEC Recommended Practices
Making Recommended Practices Real
DEC Recommended Practice Monograph Series (overview, environment, family)
Practices that Support Access to the Environment for Each and Every Child
The Apple Activity
DEC Recommended Practices on Environment
Universal Design for Learning
Adaptation Notes Source: Milbourne, S. A., & Campbell, P. H. (2007). CARA’s Kit: Creating adaptations for routines and activities. DEC, NAEYC, Brookes Publishing.1(see page 7)
Conn-Powers, M., Cross, A.F., Traub, E.K., & Hutter-Pishgahi, L. (2006, September). The universal design of early education: Moving forward for all children.Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web.1
Dinnebeil, L. A., Boat, M. B., & Bae, Y. (2013). Integrating principles of universal design into the early childhood curriculum. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 41(1), 3-13. 1
Division for Early Childhood. (2007). Promoting positive outcomes for children with disabilities: Recommendations for curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Tables 1 and 2. Missoula, MT: Author.1
Early Childhood Building Blocks: Universal Design for Learning in Early Childhood Inclusive Classrooms1
Grandma-Baby Conversation
Handout 15: Using Choice and Preference to Promote Improved Behavior1
IRIS Center. (n.d.).Universal design for learning: Creating a learning environment that challenges and engages all students.
Long Division Rap
The Right Stuff October 2017: UDL resources
Take a Look: Visual Supports for Learning1
Assistive Technology
Adapt and Accommodate
Assistive Technology (AT) for Infants, Toddlers and Young Children
Center for Early Literacy Learning Practice Guides with Adaptations
CONNECT Module 5: Assistive Technology
Examples of Assistive Technology Adaptations
Curriculum Map (Kirkwood Community College)1
Emerging Literacy through Assistive Technology1
EZ AT
Kid Can’t Blow Out Candle
Supporting Early Literacy Through UDL & AT
Toy Tips: Ideas and Options for Children with Special Needs1
Practices that Support interactions for Each and Every Child
Responsive interactions are important for practitioners to learn because not only will they need to engage in these practices as professionals, but also they play an important role in supporting family members to engage in responsive interactions with their young children (McCollum, 2015).
McCollum, J. (2015). From qualities of interaction to intervention practices: Using what comes naturally. DEC recommended practices: Enhancing services for young children with disabilities and their families (DEC Recommended Practices Monograph Series No. 1, pp. 87-97). Los Angeles, CA: Division for Early Childhood.
Question: In what ways, and through what kinds of experiences, do students in your program begin to develop their knowledge and skills to become a responsive adult to young children? How about supporting family members to engage in positive, responsive interactions with young children?
DEC Recommended Practices on Interaction
Adult-Child Interactions
Serve & Return:
Dad and Son Beatbox Duo:
Toxic Stress:
Infant’s 2-month Shots:
My Daddy Wears Plucky, Ducky Underwear: Discovering the Meanings of Laughter in a Preschool Classroom1
Getting the Picture: Using the Digital Camera as a Tool to Support Reflective Practice and Responsive Care1
Child-Child Interactions
15-minute In-service Suites on Engaging Interactions and Environments: (English)
Examples of Peer Support
Rolling With Friends
Jacob’s Story:
Peer Relationships
Friendship is Magic: Getting to Know Your Child Through Their Best Friend
Making Friends: Assisting Children’s Early Relationships1
Facilitating Membership in the Classroom & Friendship Kit
Children See Difference, Differently
Pick a Book, Any Book: Using Children’s Books to Support Positive Attitudes Toward Peers with Disabilities
high quality inclusion
Put yourself on a continuum
Resources to Support Inclusive Practices1
What is inclusion?
DEC/NAEYC. (2009). Early childhood inclusion: A joint position statement of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Chapel Hill: UNC, FPG Child Development Institute.
Foundations of Inclusion Birth to Five
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, & U.S. Department of Education. (2015). Policy statement on inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from
What do we know about inclusion?
Fact Sheet of Research on Preschool Inclusion
National Professional Development Center on Inclusion. (2009). Research synthesis points on early childhood inclusion. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute, Author.
Preschool Inclusion: Key Findings from Research and Implications for Policy
Strain, P. (2016). Preschool Inclusion: What’s the Evidence, What Stands in the Way, and What Do the Stellar Programs Look Like?Archivedwebinar.
What does inclusion look like?
Deaf Children Talk About Inclusion
Dear Teacher
Video 1.16 Reading at Circle Time
When the Best of Us Steps Up
Tools and Resources for Learning About and Supporting Inclusion
Including Children with Special Needs: Are You and Your Early Childhood Program Ready? 1
Soukakou, E. P. (2016). The Inclusive Classroom Profile. Baltimore: Brookes.
- Using the ICP to think about inclusion quality1
Generic Options for Instructors
Division for Early Childhood
- Publications: Young Exceptional Children, Journal of Early Intervention
- From Article to Action
Erwin, E. J., Robinson, K. A., McGrath, G. S., & Harney, C. J. (2017, June). “It’s Like Breathing In Blue Skies and Breathing Out Stormy Clouds”: Mindfulness Practices in Early Childhood. Young Exceptional Children, 20(2), 69-85.1
From Article to Action: Using Mindfulness Practices1
Dilemmas of Daily Practice
A friend of yours with a four-year-old child has come to you with a dilemma. She is going back to work and is looking for a high-quality program for her child. The program she likes the best is a program in which children of diverse abilities are included full-time in each classroom. Your friend has concerns and questions about placing her child in this program – will her child receive as much attention as the children with disabilities? Will her child pick up negative habits and behaviors from the children with disabilities?
What would you say to her? What resources would you draw on to support your response?
Rubrics
Faculty Finds
All resources are free. Anyone can sign up to receive future issues of Faculty Finds. Send an email with no message to
Past issues are archived in Portable Document Format (PDF) at
Head Start Disabilities Services Newsletter
Produced monthly by the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCECDTL). It is dedicated to staff working with young children with disabilities and their families. Subscribe at
View archived issues at
Questions to Support an Evolving Vision
Resources for Specific Courses
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Looking for the Indicators of Inclusive Classroom Quality: An Observation Guide[1]
To what extent do you see . . . / What did you observe?- Adaptations of Space, Materials, and Equipment
Excellent:Adults intentionally organize the physical space and materials throughout the day to accommodate individual needs and encourage peer interaction.
- Adult Involvement in Peer Interactions
Excellent:Adults consistently encourage and support children’s social engagements through scaffolding strategies that aim to help children engage in many sustained interactions with their peers.
- Adult’s Guidance of Children’s Free-Choice Activities and Play
Excellent:Adults observe children’s response to support and adjust their level and type of scaffolding as needed to facilitate sustained engagement.
- Conflict Resolution
Excellent: Adults encourage children to take an active role in negotiating their differences while providing the necessary individual support.
- Membership
Excellent: Adults consistently and intentionally promote a sense of belonging and membership by encouraging children’s participation.
Looking for the Indicators of Inclusive Classroom Quality: An Observation Guide
To what extent do you see . . . / What did you observe?- Relationships Between Adults and Children
Excellent: Adults consistently respond to each child’s emotional needs through supportive interactions.
- Support for Communication
Excellent: Adults create many opportunities to facilitate communication among children.
- Adaptations of Group Activities
Excellent: Adults consistently use strategies to differentially support each child’s learning and behavior needs while encouraging children’s active engagement in the group.
- Transitions Between Activities
Excellent: Adults consistently support each child who has difficulty making the transition between activities throughout the day.
- Feedback
Excellent: Each child’s learning experiences, efforts, and progress are acknowledged and reinforced multiple times for much of the day.
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Questions to Support an Evolving Vision[2]
August 2017
Coursework
- Does coursework provide students with opportunities to increase their knowledge of their own culture, heritage, values, and biases?
- Does coursework provide learning opportunities and encourage dialogue and reflection about anti-racist and anti-bias curricula and approaches?
- Does coursework provide opportunities to systematically learn about and from various cultural and linguistic groups in ways that are not stereotypic?
- Does coursework provide learning opportunities and encourage dialogue and reflection about the skills needed to work with children who are dual language learners and to support home language(s)?
- Does coursework provide learning opportunities and encourage dialogue and reflection about culturally appropriate methods of interaction, assessment, teaching, and intervention?
- Does coursework engage students in activities in which they learn how culture, race, ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status, and other factors influence early childhood development and practices?
- Does coursework draw upon families and their stories as a resource to the instructional process?
Practica
- Do practica occur in a variety of home and community settings serving diverse young children and families (e.g., homes of participating families, homeless shelters, Early Head Start/Head Start, WIC programs)?
- Do practica offer opportunities to interact directly with children and families who are culturally and linguistically diverse?
- Do practica provide opportunities for students to collaborate with and learn from interpreters, translators, and cultural mediators?
Program Practices
- Does the program have diverse faculty and staff who reflect the diversity of the students in the program as well as the overall community?
- Does the program have students who reflect the diversity of the overall community?
- Does the program have strategies for recruiting faculty and students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds?
- Does the program draw upon community resources (e.g., guest speakers, co-instructors, service learning opportunities) to support student learning and reflection about diversity?
- Does the program create environments for learning in which differences are acknowledged, celebrated and respected?
- Does the program offer supports (e.g., advising, mentoring) for culturally and linguistically diverse students?
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Resources for Specific Courses
Course Content / Examples / Where to Find MoreFamily and Community / DEC Recommended Practices: Family Practices (0-8)
This website features checklists of evidence-based practices for supporting families, with emphasis on families of young children with or at risk for disabilities.
Fostering Parent and Professional Collaboration: Research Brief (0-9)
Parent%20and%20Professional%20Collaboration%20Research%20Brief%20-%20Final.pdf
This document summarizes historical trends in parent-professional collaboration, with emphasis on families in which there is a child with a disability. It explains the research behind such collaboration, describes potential barriers to effective partnerships, and provides strategies for successful collaborations.
Supporting Families of Children with Disabilities in Inclusive Programs (0-5)
This article presents ways in which inclusive early childhood intervention programs can support children with disabilities and their families. These include coordinated planning, establishing ongoing communication, and helping families to access comm-unity resources. Advantages and challenges of each approach are shared, as well as suggestions for addressing the challenges. / Family Engagement Resources
SCRIPT-NC: Child, Family and Community
Language / Literacy / Adapting Literacy Learning Practices for Young Children with Disabilities (0-5)
Developed by the CELL, this PowerPoint presentation provides suggestions for literacy activities for young children with disabilities that educators and parents can use.
The A-Z of Adapting Books (4-9)
This document lists helpful tips and methods for adapting books for students with disabilities.
Disability Awareness Through Language Arts and Literacy: Resources for PreK and ElementarySchool (3-9)
This resource guide explains the importance of disability awareness and describes language arts and literacy activities that can be implemented in the classroom. It also contains a section on how children’s literacy can be used to increase disability awareness and includes lesson plans from pre-K through Grade 5.
Dual Language Learners with Disabilities: Supporting Young Children in the Classroom (3-5)
This module offers an overview of young children who are dual language learners. Further, it highlights the importance of maintaining children and families’ home language at the same time they are learning a new or second language, discusses considerations for screening and assessment, and identifies strategies for supporting them in inclusive preschools. / Language Resources/ Literacy Resources
SCRIPT-NC: Language and Literacy
Course Content / Examples / Where to Find More
Child Development
Health, Safety, and Nutrition / Pathways Awareness Foundation Motor Development Videos (0-6)
If you’re looking for excellent video footage that shows what development looks like for children who are typically developing and those who aren’t, these are a great instructional resource. Print information accompanies each video and all are available in English and Spanish.
Physical Activity in the Child Care Setting (0-5)
This video clip discusses the importance of physical activity for young children and offers suggestions on implementing activities in childcare settings. It also includes considerations for children with disabilities.
Promoting the Health, Safety &Well-Being of Young Children with Disabilities & Developmental Delays (0-8)
This 2013 position statement from the Division for Early Childhood elaborates on six recommendations for promoting the health, safety and well-being of young children with disabilities and developmental delays. / Growing, Moving and Being Healthy Resources
SCRIPT-NC: Child Development
Math/
Science / Help! They Still Don’t Understand Counting(3-5)
This article describes a developmental framework for counting and weaves within it helpful activities derived from recent research as well as a few activities based on long-established best practices. The article briefly discusses how difficulty with counting may or may not be indicative of a math disability.
Helping Teachers of Mathematics Integrate the Knowledge and Culture of Families Into Their Practice(0-9)
This article highlights four key considerations for making math more relevant to each young child and family.
Teaching Science to Students with Learning Disabilities (5-9)
This online article outlines basic educational principles that support the unique learning needs of students with learning disabilities. Each principle is accompanied by examples of how a science instructor might put that principle into practice. / Math Resources
Science Resources
Social-Emotional
Development / Position Statement on Challenging Behavior and Young Children (0-8)
This position statement readdresses the significance of healthy social-emotional competence of all children and provides guidance to practitioners, teachers, and families in preventing and effectively responding to challenging behaviors. DEC's position includes culturally sustaining, family-focused practices, as well as a commitment to inclusion, professional development, technical assistance, and using approaches that eliminate suspension and expulsion.
Promoting Social Behavior of Young Children in Group Settings: A Summary of Research (0-4)
This synthesis summarizes evidence-based practices for promoting adaptive social-emotional behavior of young children in group contexts. The focus is on toddlers and preschool children who are identified as having disabilities or who are at risk for disabilities, and who have identified social-emotional problems. / Social and Emotional Development Resources
Vermont Suspension-Expulsion Resources
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