In a preschool inclusion program, young children with special needs or disabilities play and learn beside other, non-disabled, or typically developing, children during all parts of the school day. Inclusion is different from mainstreaming where children leave a self-contained special education environment to be with their non-disabled peers only during certain parts of the daily routine, such as snack, art, music or outside time. In an inclusion program, a child is totally integrated physically and socially with their peers.
There are many benefits for all children in an inclusion program, some of which include:
- Exposure to different perspectives helps broaden their understanding of the world around them
- Opportunities for self-advocacy and independence abound
- Celebrating differences helps build empathy, compassion, and advocacy
- Improved communication skills & language modeling comes from both peers and adults
- Access to a variety of learning modalities helps children access content and grow their skills
- Flexibilty and resiliency-building strategies are integrated into daily activities
- Perseverance is promoted, as is the value of working hard on a difficult task
- Best outcomes occur when children receive early interventions and supports
At Fairlington, we have chosen to work with the HighScope curriculum because it allows all children to learn at their own rate and level. To make sure we can effectively accommodate our special needs children and their classmates, we also use systematic strategies to implement inclusion successfully.
Fairlington teachers are highly qualified and receive continuous in-service training in typical early child development and in understanding the needs of children with disabilities. We partner with Playworks therapists to bring speech, language, occupational, and physical therapy services into our school. Therapists work directly with specific students in support of their individual needs & goals, but they also partner with our teachers to help them understand and develop strategies that support the growth and development of all of our preschool children.