Early Childhood
Inclusion: A Summary
Division for Early Childhood of the
Council for Exceptional Children
27 Fort Missoula Road | Missoula, MT 59804
Phone 406.543.0872 | Fax 406.543.0887
Email [email protected] | Web www.dec-sped.org
naeyc
National Association for the Education of Young Children
1313 L Street NW, Suite 500 | Washington, DC 20005-4101
Phone 202.232.8777 Toll-Free 800.424.2460 | Fax 202.328.1846
Email [email protected] | Web www.naeyc.org
Background
Today an ever-increasing number of in-
fants and young children with and with-
out disabilities play and learn together
in a variety of places—homes, early
childhood programs, and neighborhoods,
to name a few. Promoting development
and belonging for every child is a widely
held value among early education and
intervention professionals and through-
out our society. Early childhood inclusion
is the term used to reect these values
and societal views. However, the lack of
a shared national denition has created
some misunderstandings about inclusion.
The d e c /n a e y c joint position statement
offers a denition of inclusion. It also in-
cludes recommendations for how the joint
position statement can be used to improve
early childhood services for all children.
Denition of
Early Childhood Inclusion
Early childhood inclusion embodies the
values, policies, and practices that sup-
port 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. The
desired results of inclusive experiences for
children with and without disabilities and
their families include a sense of belonging
and membership, positive social relation-
ships and friendships, and development
and learning to reach their full potential.
The dening features of inclusion that
can be used to identify high quality early
childhood programs and services are ac-
cess, participation, and supports.
What is meant by
Access, Participation, and Supports?
Access – means providing a wide range
of activities and environments for
every child by removing physical bar-
riers and offering multiple ways to
promote learning and development.
Participation – means using a range of
instructional approaches to promote
engagement in play and learning
activities, and a sense of belonging for
every child.
Supports – refer to 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.
April 2009
D
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A Summary
of the
Joint Position
Statement
of the
Division for
Early Childhood
(DEC) and
the National
Association for
the Education
of Young
Children
(NAEYC)
2 Early Childhood Inclusion: A Summary
Recommendations for
Using this Position Statement to
Improve Early Childhood Services
The following recommendations describe how the
joint position statement can be used by families
and professionals to shape practices and inuence
policies related to inclusion.
Create high expectations for every child, 1.
regardless of ability, to reach his or her full
potential.
Develop a program philosophy on inclusion to 2.
ensure shared assumptions and beliefs about
inclusion, and to identify quality inclusive
practices.
Establish a system of services and supports 3.
that reects the needs of children with vary-
ing types of disabilities and learning charac-
teristics, with inclusion as the driving prin-
ciple and foundation for all of these services
and supports.
Revise program and professional standards 4.
to incorporate key dimensions of high quality
inclusion.
Improve professional development across all 5.
sectors of the early childhood eld by deter-
mining the following: who would benet from
professional development on inclusion; what
practitioners need to know and be able to do
in inclusive settings; and what methods are
needed to facilitate learning opportunities
related to inclusion.
Revise federal and state accountability sys-6.
tems to reect both the need to increase the
number of children with disabilities enrolled
in inclusive programs as well as to improve
the quality and outcomes of inclusion.
Suggested citation
DEC/NAEYC. (2009). Early childhood inclusion:
A summary. Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute.
Summary drawn from
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: The University of North Carolina,
FPG Child Development Institute.
Permission to copy not required –– distribuon encouraged.
hp://community.fpg.unc.edu/resources/arcles/Early_
Childhood_Inclusion_Summary
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