Every Child Can Fly

An Early Childhood Educator's Guide to Inclusion

Jani Kozlowski

• Publisher: Gryphon House Inc.
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9780876599341
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Every child belongs. Every child is unique. Every child has strengths. Every child has the potential to fly. Inclusion benefits all children! Inclusion—perhaps you believe it is complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. Not true! Jani Kozlowski, experienced trainer and technical-assistance provider on inclusion and disability services, dispels the myths and shows that implementing high-quality inclusive practices in your program is easier than you think! Throughout Every Child Can F ly, Kozlowski explores the defining features of high-quality inclusion and shows readers how to provide access and support for children with special needs. Learn how to help them feel included through strong family involvement, peer relationships, individualized teaching practices, collaborative teaming, ongoing evaluation, and staff professional development.

• Learn why inclusion is important.
• Unravel the jargon and acronyms.
• Understand screening, assessment, and referrals.
• Learn how to support children in achieving individualized learning goals.
• Explore inclusive evidence-based teaching practices.
• Discover how to foster a sense of belonging and acceptance in your program.

Chapter

1

Inclusion: What, How, and Why

“History will judge us by the
difference we make in the
everyday lives of children.”

—Nelson Mandela, first democratically
elected president of South Africa

What do we mean by inclusion?

But first, a story. This really happened.

Early one morning last spring, I was sitting on my deck in my pj’s drinking coffee when the most amazing thing happened. My deck looks out over a grassy area where birds gather. It’s usually a very peaceful spot, but on this particular morning, it was a very different sort of scene. I was taking a sip of coffee when I noticed the sky seemed to get a little bit darker, as though there were a shadow over the sun.

A giant hawk with a huge wingspan and an evil look in his eye soared right by me. I gasped in shock as he flew down to a nearby tree and then BAM! He snatched a baby bird right out of its nest. The bird’s parents weren’t around. It happened too fast. Nothing could be done. The hawk had his prize and curved back around to glide past me, the baby in his claws.

But that baby was really squirmy. Squiggly squirmy. And loud. That baby squirmed and squawked and must have been too much trouble, because before I could blink, the hawk dropped the baby! The baby squirmed through the air, twisting, turning, and wriggling down to the ground into the tall grass.

Was it alive?

Should I go get it?

Now let me tell you that I am not an expert in foreign languages. Certainly not the language of bird. But that baby was definitely saying, “Mama! Help! Come get me!” I know that for sure. And after a while, the mother did come around. She fluttered around the baby, and I could tell she was upset. It was as if she were thinking, “Sweetheart! How did you get yourself into this predicament? I can come and feed you, but I can’t put a half-grown baby on my back and fly away!”

The baby squawked and squawked. Distressed, the poor mama bird fluttered around, and eventually she flew off. After a time, the baby went silent and stayed silent for a long time. Would you think less of me if I told you that I went back to chilling out with my coffee? (I was in my pj’s after all.) Then a crazy, jerking motion rustled the grass where the baby had fallen. And suddenly, believe it or not, that little baby flew. It was a wobbly, pitiful-looking fly, but it was a fly nonetheless. I jumped up and cheered as it flew out of my view.

Isn’t that resilience?

The only thing that baby had ever known was sitting in the nest, waiting for mama to come with food. That baby had never flown. And it certainly didn’t know about a hawk! Imagine what was going on in that little baby bird brain after being snatched up and then falling to the cold, hard ground.

And yet that baby bird flew.

As you might imagine, I told this story to all of my friends. My early childhood educator friends immediately made the connection to children. As educators, we are the ones down there on the ground, waiting to teach the baby birds when they leave the nest. Think about the children in your program. What did they know about life outside the nest before you met them? And how did they leave the nest?

Some children leave the nest in a gentle sort of way; others leave in a traumatic way. And yet they all arrive in our early childhood programs with different skills and abilities. Some come to us with mama bird by their side. She leaves them with a peck on the cheek, and they already know how to fly. Others seem to know only how to squawk and carry on and kick and fight and roll around on the floor. They may not fly in a straight path, and they may not fly in the same way other birds fly, but all children can fly in their own way, in their own time, with our love, care, and support.

This is what inclusion means to me. Every child belongs. Every child is unique. Every child has strengths. Every child has the potential to fly.

What is your definition of inclusion? I imagine that it has grown and changed over time—and may change again as you read this book and reflect on how inclusion aligns with your own values and priorities as an educator. My understanding of and thinking about inclusion and the concept of disability in general have certainly evolved and changed over the thirty years that I have worked in the early childhood field. How does our field define inclusion? What do we really mean by that term?

Inclusion as Defined by the Early Care and Education Field

According to the Kids Count Data Center (2021), provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the most recent US Census Bureau (2020) report, there are 23.4 million children ages birth through five in the United States. Of that number, 11.4 million children are under the age of three, and 12 million are ages three through five. How many of those children have a disability? That number is a little bit trickier. We know from the federal Office of Special Education’s most recent annual report to Congress (US Department of Education, 2020) that in 2018, 409,315 infants and toddlers received early intervention services and 815,010 children ages three through five received early childhood special education services. This includes services provided across the continuum of placement. In other words, this could reflect a child served in an early childhood program alongside his peers, but it also includes children who receive services in a hospital, special school, or at home. For this book, we focus on how to support children with disabilities in the same early childhood settings that they would attend if they didn’t have a disability. This concept is the key element of what we view as inclusion, but the truth is that it’s about a lot more than that.

In 2009, two of the leading early care and education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) membership organizations came together to present a unified vision for inclusion in early childhood. This joint position statement developed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Division of Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC) defines inclusion in this way:

“Early childhood inclusion embodies the values, policies, and practices that support the right of every infant and young child and his or her family, regardless of ability, to participate in a broad range of activities and contexts as full members of families, communities, and society.”

In addition, these two membership organizations indicated a set of outcomes, or desired results, of inclusion for children with and without disabilities and their families:

• A sense of belonging and membership
• Positive social relationships and friendships
• Development and learning to reach their full potential

The “Policy Statement on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs” (US Department of Health and Human Services, US Department of Education, 2015) states, “All young children with disabilities should have access to inclusive, high-quality early childhood programs, where they are provided with individualized and appropriate support in meeting high expectations.” Both of these statements reflect the fact that young children with disabilities should grow and learn alongside their peers with and without disabilities. However, simply learning side-by-side with your peers is not the entire picture. The statements also refer to providing individualized supports and maintaining high expectations. The statements share the vision that inclusion in early childhood will lead to inclusion in elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and the workplace. Early childhood inclusion leads to inclusion “in all facets of society throughout the life course” (HHS and ED, 2015).

This is a definition and vision that we can all embrace! But how can we make it happen? How can we make sure inclusion is successful?

Defining Features of Inclusion

The NAEYC and DEC joint position statement proposes three defining features of inclusion:

• Access: “providing a wide range of activities and environments for every child by removing physical barriers and offering multiple ways to promote learning and development”
• Participation: “using a range of instructional approaches to promote engagement in play and learning activities, and a sense of belonging for every child”
• Supports: “broader aspects of the system such as professional development, incentives for inclusion, and opportunities for communication and collaboration among families and professionals to assure high quality inclusion”

What does this look like in an early childhood setting? Access starts with just the ability to get in the door. An inclusive child-care program implements policies that promote access, so families know it is a program open to all children. This is evident from the wheelchair ramp at the front entrance to inclusive practices in the classroom. An educator might arrange his classroom so that all children can access all learning centers. For example, Miguel benefits from having a cube chair to sit in at circle time because his upper-body strength is still developing. Laura uses a wheelchair, so her classroom has wide-open aisles, and the sand table is the perfect height to allow everyone to play. The environment and activities are planned using principles of universal design, which is a way of thinking about teaching and learning that allows flexibility for children to access and use materials or demonstrate competence. (We explore this in more depth in chapt...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• Chapter
• 10
• Appendix B: Online Resources to Support Inclusion
• References and Recommended Reading