Fostering Inclusion


Fostering inclusion in any early childhood  setting means working intentionally with children (and colleagues) to  help them develop respect, understanding, and acceptance of others. Consider this scenario, you will have the opportunity to hone your  skills for creating an anti-bias setting that encourages children to be  open about their ideas, questions, and feelings, particularly as they  relate to differences in ability. The assignment is divided into two  parts.

Part 1: Communicating with children about abilities and disabilities
For  this part of the assignment, you will practice ways in which to  communicate with young children about varying abilities. See the attachment “Fostering Inclusion”  document and complete Part 1. Read the sample comments and questions  posed by young children on the left side of the document and consider  how you would respond to the children. Write your response to each  comment or question directly into the document. Do not feel restricted  by the space provided on the form. Prepare a detailed response that will  ensure that all children in your setting or children with whom you  would like to work feel nurtured, encouraged, and respected.

Part 2: Teaching young children about varying abilities
For  this part of the assignment, you will develop ideas for teaching young  children about varying abilities. To do so, return to the “Fostering  Inclusion” document and complete Part 2. Begin by examining ways in  which to introduce a variety of varying abilities to the children with  whom you work through the books you make available in your setting.  Then, explore effective strategies for helping all children find ways to  learn from each other and for planning learning experiences to counter  misconceptions.

See the links below as a reference:

https://www.nccp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/text_816.pdf

https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/advancingequitypositionstatement.pdf