Everybody Is Welcome Here
Accessibility, special needs and inclusiveness are terms that inspire mixed feelings. Most people agree about them in principle but, at the same time, who has not wondered whether they bring additional burdens.
Fortunately, there are early childhood educators all across the country breaking down large and small barriers every day. In this section, Lila Hope-Simpson, Patricia Hogan and Tanis Kohls, three educators who believe that everyone should be welcome, talk about the challenges and rewards they face.
Lila Hope-Simpson"Having a background in special education, integrated programs are very important to me so that no child is ever turned away."
Home and Heart Child Development Centre
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
When Lila Hope-Simpson founded the Home and Heart Child Development Centre in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, she saw accessibility as a simple rights issue. People with special needs should have access to daycare. She came to the field from having worked with people with special needs, and this attitude came with her. "I did a program at Vanier College in Montreal with a focus on special care counselling," she explains. "Our focus was on dealing with special needs."
That experience forever changed the way she sees children with special needs. "At first, I approached it from the perspective of someone who wants to help everyone find a place in the community," she explains.
Before long, however, she was just as enthusiastic about the benefits to all children. "[Young] children are at such a wonderful age. They are curious but rarely malicious about people who are different from them."
The program at Hope-Simpson's centre integrates children with special needs. She has taken her children on field trips to visit a local sheltered workshop where mentally and physically challenged workers make their living.
As a consequence, these children can learn how they can get along with all types. "It is a lesson they will never forget and one that will never stop paying dividends for them and others. Being inclusive also teaches children tolerance of people in general. Living in a multicultural university town, we also build a foundation for acceptance of children from all cultural backgrounds."
Hope-Simpson also believes that childcare centres should seriously consider enlisting adults with special needs to work with children. "An assistant with special needs is a success story. The presence of this person in the centre says 'people with special needs are capable' more effectively than mere words ever could."
Patricia Hogan"Parents are their child's primary caregiver. Early childhood education is about responding to their challenges."
Dartmouth Preschool
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
For some parents of children at Dartmouth Preschool, accessibility was a matter of geography. They were not close enough to an affordable preschool program. Transportation to and from preschool is provided to those with the greatest need and the fewest resources. "We have a contract with a local taxicab company to provide transportation. Of the 52 children in our morning and afternoon sessions, as many as 38 can be transported in," says Patricia Hogan.
Improving accessibility left Hogan with a giant challenge. "We don't get the day-to-day interaction with our parents that is so needed to form a strong partnership. We meet this challenge in a variety of ways including doing home visits."
Hogan, as the director, visits each family during the summer. "I do the formal registration of their child, show them pictures of the preschool, explain what goes on in preschool and ask them if they have any questions." Hogan also takes advantage of this initial contact to give the parents a list of other resources available to them in their community. (See also "Planning for a successful home visit".)
A second visit takes place in mid-September. This time, the educator who will be working with the child conducts the visit. This might be another staff member or might include Hogan herself, when the child is to be in her group.
The second visit focuses on preparation for the actual beginning of preschool, explains Hogan. "The children are going to a place where they have never been before, and parents are having to prepare to put their child in a van, which can be really scary, both for the parent and the child."
For this reason, an adult must accompany each child on the first day of preschool in the van/taxi.
The preschool also provides transportation for two additional visits from parents during the year. (An open door policy is also in place so parents who find themselves near the preschool for other reasons are free to drop in.)
"At the beginning, our goal is to make sure parents understand our goals and policies and procedures," explains Hogan. "Parents spend half their visit in a parent meeting, and the other half interacting with their children in the context of the program."
Tanis Kohls"Children aren't interested in random activity. They see right to the bottom of empty activities and do not engage in them for long. A learning activity is actually much more interesting to them, although they may not realize that themselves."
Awahsuk Aboriginal Head Start Program
Surrey, British Columbia
Including children with special needs in childcare activities can be time-consuming, but in the end it is definitely rewarding for every single child and every single adult in that program, says Tanis Kohls of the Awahsuk Aboriginal Head Start Program in Surrey, British Columbia.
For Kohls, the primary issue is inclusiveness. "My philosophy, my strongest belief, is that all children, regardless of ability, have the right to access the community program of their family's choice."
Like Hope-Simpson, she believes that, regardless of the reason for adopting an inclusive approach, the benefits are real and well worth the effort. All children are unique. They do, however, face similar challenges at various times in their development. Children with special needs struggle with the same things typical kids do, it may just take them longer to master a skill or reach a milestone. (See also "Is there something wrong with my child?".)
The key to helping the child with special needs is an individual education program (IEP) put together by a team that might include speech and language pathologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and supported childcare consultants. The early childhood educator is an essential part of this team because he or she works with the child on a daily basis and will implement the program.
An IEP identifies a child's strengths, the things he or she can do well, and uses those strengths to help develop areas where the child may have more difficulty.
Other experts can provide advice on modifications that might be made to the environment to make the child's time in the program more successful.
Inclusiveness has benefits for all children, adds Kohls. "They are at a time in their lives when you can instill that respect for all people; when you can help them to see the positive things about people. And you can help them learn to help one another. All of these things will help them tremendously all their lives and have a positive impact as the children grow into adults."
For the early childhood educator, inclusiveness offers tremendous professional development opportunities, adds Kohls. "When you reach out and say, 'I would like to meet the needs of this child and I need support,' you get plugged into a whole community of professionals. As a consequence, you end up learning all sorts of new strategies; you'll be notified of workshops; you'll become more active in the community and do more networking."