Inclusion in Head Start

Lynne Hall, Reserch Associate at the Early Childhood Center, Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana University interviews Alex Otto a former pre-school teacher and current Head Start administrator. 

Transcript

Welcome to the Early Childhood On-the-Go Podcast, where the Early Childhood Center team shares ideas and strategies for professionals and families.  Dream big, start early. Hi, this is Lynne Hall, a research associate at the Early Childhood Center and I am really excited about our topic. We are going to be talking about inclusion and our guest today, Alex Otto, is a former preschool teacher who I had the pleasure and privilege of watching teach. She does a phenomenal job, and she has recently moved into an administrative position at our local Head Start programs, and she's going to be sharing with us about inclusion and what that means in Head Start. So, Alex, I thought maybe you could just begin with kind of telling us what inclusion means in your programs and why it's important, who benefits and how do they benefit? So, we have kind of a wide array of inclusion in our program. Obviously with disabilities. We, because we are a Head Start program, are required to have at least 10% of our enrollment have some sort of IEP or IFSP, and so we have a lot of that, but we also have different languages with different cultures and different backgrounds from our families, which is also very cool to have. And so, the benefits of both of those is just exposure and also, you’re getting to where there's non-biased as they get older because you're building that foundation at a very young age for them. Okay. So, I hear you talking about taking away that implicit bias that often comes without that exposure. When we think specifically about children with disabilities, those that have an IEP or an IFSP, how do you think that inclusion really benefits them as opposed to, as they were in, say, a segregated setting? Well, for one, it's kind of, it gets them feeling like they're included, right? So they're not excluded from anything and they're able to see a wide array of different abilities and it gives them a sense of belonging, and also it's very helpful for a typically developing child to kind of be exposed to that and they can also, I've learned in my previous classrooms, be helpers to those individuals with disabilities if they're working on a specific goal or whatever.  Then there's some students who take it upon themselves to be a helper with those other students. Yeah, it's so neat that you're saying that because even some of the most recent research that we've looked at talks about that, yes, the benefits of inclusion for children with IEPs, but also the social-emotional gains that children that are developing typically also have. So, it's really a win-win situation. So, knowing that some children are really going to need additional support, right, including kids with and without identified needs. Some of them have some pretty intense individual needs. How were you able to do that in your program, making sure that those children are getting their needs met? So, we have a special education coordinator and disabilities coordinator, and she does an incredible job. She's been doing it for 20 plus years, I want to say. But we also have a great partnership with our local school system, MCCSC. And so, we're able to provide those therapies if they have an IEP at our actual facility. They can either do it inside the classroom or we even have an area that they can go where they can provide those therapies more on a one-on-one basis. Oh, that's amazing. So, for the practitioners that are in the classroom day in and day out, are there any specific ways that they're supported to be able to help those children in their classrooms? So, we have a huge amount of training all throughout the year that's available, a lot of it is kind of in the beginning of the school year before it even starts. We have what we call pre-service, which we're actually doing right now. But we do different types of trainings for that. And there's also if there's specific needs that teachers would like to have more training on, that's also available through our special needs coordinator. She's able to find those and also provide additional resources. She also goes into the classrooms and if there is any additional needs, she's able to coordinate that, whether it be materials, or more information, or even seeking outside help to come and provide additional resources for our staff. Wow. So, it sounds like your program has a real commitment to inclusion. Yeah, for sure. And you may not know the answer to this question, but is that typical of Head Starts around the State? Or do you feel like it's something special and unique to Monroe County? I mean, I would say that it's pretty typical, but I mean, I like to think that ours goes a little above and beyond. Okay, well, with that said, what would you say are the biggest challenges you've experienced in providing an inclusive program and how might they be addressed? I think sometimes the biggest challenges would be lack of experience.  At times with some if you haven't had a child with a particular disability in your class before, then it might open up a whole new world of things that you didn't know. And so, what's really cool about that is that, like I said, we have great sources of figuring all that out. And I like to personally use other teachers as resources first. We've served all kinds of different abilities. And so, especially because at my specific site, we have teachers that have been teaching for 35 plus years. And so those are great resources whenever it comes to serving different abilities. So let me ask you this. What would you say to a practitioner that said, “I don't know if I can do this?” I don't think this child is, you know, we hear the term “ready.”   “I don't think this child is ready to be in my classroom.”  I like to take each particular thing on an individual basis. And so, I as an administrator, I will go in there and observe and say, “Listen, we're a team with all this. If we need additional supports, then we're going to figure out how to get those for you.” So that's whenever we would call in our special needs coordinator and have her come in and do some observations. And then we go from there, from what she has available if we need to do outside stuff. But I think it's all a big learning environment, right? So, we have a very ever-changing field. And so, whether you need something that you can find in a book somewhere, or take a webinar, or just simply talking to somebody who may have experience in that, we're going to try and provide that. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Do you ever have any pushback from maybe family members of typically developing peers that feel like they're not sure how all of that works together or do you provide any professional development for families or additional information? So, we have this really awesome parent engagement program that we're really trying to get off the ground this year to have more involvement from families. And a lot of that we're going to have an entire section on different abilities and cultures so that we're able to provide education for families. So, if they do have questions or concerns or whatever, they're able to do that right off the bat during those event nights, and talk one-on-one with teachers, and I'm usually always available at my site, and I try to kind of have an open door policy. And so, if they have any type of questions, concerns about whatever, I'm very willing to try to figure all that out for them. That is fantastic. And like I started our session with, I've seen your program in action, particularly you, but other teachers in your program. And it's so exciting to see it work and to see all those pieces come together and for the children to really thrive. So, before we close out, is there anything else you think you would like us to know about providing this inclusive early care and education? I think one of the biggest things that people forget is that the families are a great resource. And so, if you're kind of struggling with transitions or whatever, you can totally use the family and say, “Hey, we're having a little bit of difficulty with so-and-so kind of wanting to wash their hands before mealtimes. Is there something that you do at home that helps with this? Or do you have any suggestions of things that might work?”  I think families as a resource is something that doesn't get utilized as much as it probably could, but I also think it's something that you don't necessarily think about in the forefront of your brain. So, I think it's important just to remember that. Yeah, right. I think a lot of times we feel like burdening families by asking them for  support and information, but at the same time that can be really empowering for them, and to help them to really understand their role as that primary educator-teacher and the expert on their child. Because they are the first teacher, the first expert on their child. So yeah, definitely utilize them if it's available. Thank you, Alex. This has been so informative and please stay tuned for future podcasts where we're going to talk to some early intervention providers about inclusion, and maybe some more field experts. Thanks for listening to the Early Childhood On-the-Go podcast from the Early Childhood Center team at Indiana University. Learn more at IIDC.Indiana.edu/ECC/