Questions?   Privacy   Site Index
			ACF Home | ACF Services | Working with ACF | ACF Policy/Planning | About ACF | ACF News		ACF Search

About NCCIC  Ask NCCIC  Events Calendar  Email Alert Sign-up  Privacy Policy  Site Map Home
	NCCIC Menu NCCIC Publications Recursos Seleccionados en Español Popular Topics Online Library State Contacts State Information Recursos en Español For Parents For Providers For Goverment CCTAN Internet Links Search NCCIC Publications Passages to Inclusion

Appendices

Federal Disabilities Legislation
ADD's Projects of National Significance
Child Care Bureau, ACF, Inclusion Technical Assistance
DEC Position Statement on Inclusion
"Developing Inclusive Programs for Children with Disabilities"
Early Years are Learning Years, Release #7, "The Benefits of Inclusive Education: Making It Work"

Federal Disabilities Legislation

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal education program to provide federal financial assistance to State and local education agencies to guarantee special education and related services to eligible children with disabilities, aged birth through 5. Under the legislation, states have the responsibility to provide a free, appropriate public education and must develop an Individualized Education Program for each child served. Parts of this law were formerly known as the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975, as PL 94-142 and as the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) of 1986.

Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is the state and local grant program. This section of the IDEA statute specifically includes the language of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, as amended. Over 5 million children with disabilities ages 3-21 receive special education and related services. The state and local grant program is "the central vehicle through which the federal government maintains a partnership with states and localities to provide an appropriate education for children with disabilities requiring special education and related services."¹ Funding to states is through a formula to state education agencies based on a relative count of children with disabilities being served within the state.

Section 619 of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is the preschool grants program, which expands the requirement of free appropriate public education to include all eligible preschool children with disabilities ages 3 through 5. Services may also be provided to children aged 2 who will turn three during the next school year. Funding to states is through a formula to state education agencies in which 70 percent of the funds must be distributed to local education agencies and intermediate educational units, with the remaining 30 percent for planning and development of a comprehensive delivery system and for administrative expenses. Funds are used to provide the full range and variety of appropriate developmental and other preschool special education programs to preschool-aged children. In addition, funds may be used for comprehensive diagnostic evaluations and for parent training and counseling.

Part H of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is known as the Early Intervention Program. This program provides grants to states for early intervention programs for infants and toddlers with disabilities, ages birth through 2 years. Amendments in 1991 expanded the program to include children age 3 and included provisions to increase participation of underserved populations and to enhance services to "at-risk" populations.

States participate on a voluntary basis. The funds can be used for the planning, development and implementation of a statewide system for the provision of early intervention services, for the general expansion and improvement of services and can be used (as part of the transition to services provided under Part B) to provide a free, appropriate public education to children with disabilities from their third birthday to the beginning of the next school year. In all cases, federal funds are the "payor of last resort," meaning that the funds cannot be used when there are other appropriate resources available through public or private means.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil rights law designed to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities, public and private, that receive federal financial assistance. The law creates the responsibility to provide a free, appropriate public education, although no federal funds are provided.

IDEA funds may not be used to serve children only eligible for special education and related services under Section 504.

Americans with Disabilities Act is "the most comprehensive federal civil rights law ever passed to protect individuals with mental or physical disabilities from discrimination. The law prohibits discrimination in employment (Title I), state and local government services (Title II), public accommodations (Title III), public transportation (Title IIIB), and telecommunications (Title IV). . . . Public accommodations refers to private programs such as family child care homes, child care centers, nursery schools, preschools, or Head Start programs run by non-public agencies."²

No funding is provided under the ADA, although limited tax credits are available for removing architectural or transportation barriers.

Sources:

Child Care and the ADA: Highlights for Parents, Child Care Law Center

Fiscal Year 1996 Federal Outlook for Exceptional Children: Budget Considerations and CEC Recommendations, Council for Exceptional Children

Overview of the ADA, IDEA, and Section 504, Kelly Henderson, ERIC Digest EDO-EC-94-8.

"What is Part B of IDEA?: The Preschool Grants Program," National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NEC*TAC)

"What is Part H of IDEA?: The Early Intervention/Birth to Three/Infants and Toddlers Program," National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NEC*TAC)

Footnotes:

¹ Council for Exceptional Children. Fiscal Year 1996 Federal Outlook for Exceptional Children: Budget Considerations and CEC Recommendations, p. 17.

² Child Care Law Center, Child Care and the ADA: Highlights for Parents, p. 3-4.

return to the top of this page.

Administration on Developmental Disabilities'
Projects of National Significance

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Room 300 Bynum Hall
CB# 4100, UNC-CH
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-4100

The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina has designed a 3-year project to improve child care and early intervention services for families in Chatham County and for the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe in Halifax and Warren counties. The project is based on the idea that early intervention services for young children with disabilities should be family-centered, culturally sensitive, and community-based.

The inclusion project provides training and technical assistance to early childhood professionals to help them work with children and families in more culturally appropriate ways. The project has convened local community planning teams in each community, with parents, community leaders, and child care professionals. These teams will help guide local training activities and will encourage further dialogue between parents and professionals. Future training will concentrate on helping parents be more effective storytellers and presenters. Child care staff in both communities will also be given resource materials, strategies for inclusion, and training on cultural diversity.

For additional information, contact Debra Skinner at 919-966-4571 or Virginia Buysse at 919-966-7171.

The Northern Alameda County Child Care Inclusion Project
BANANAS, Inc.
5232 Claremont Avenue
Oakland, CA 94618

The Child Care Inclusion Project is a collaboration of BANANAS, the Family Resource Network, and the Child Care Law Center to establish inclusion as an accepted standard of quality for child care and the whole community. Building upon the expertise and existing services of the collaborating agencies, the project targets parents and child care providers as the change agents with the greatest potential to open child care to more children with disabilities. The project will build on several Federal initiatives, including AmeriCorps, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, GAIN/JOBS, Part H of the IDEA, and the Enhanced Enterprise Community activities in the city of Oakland.

Through the Inclusion Project, more children with special needs, primarily 0-5 year olds from low-income families, will be placed in quality child care settings. An infrastructure will be created that extends the capacity for inclusive child care to additional providers over time. As parents and providers gain the attitudes, skills and commitment to make inclusion work, inclusion will be viewed as one element of what quality child care is for all children. This Project will provide a replicable model for promoting inclusive child care in natural and community settings, reducing the need for expensive segregated child care. A process evaluation will be performed, along with service monitoring and an outcome evaluation. Parents will be asked to complete a survey assessing their level of satisfaction with the placement of their child.

For more information, contact Arlyce Curry at 510-658-7101.

The Preschool Inclusion Project
University of Miami
Mailman Center for Child Development
Department of Pediatrics
PO Box 016820 (D-820)
1601 NW 12th Avenue, Room 4012
Miami, Florida 33101

The Preschool Inclusion Project is a 3-year grant awarded to the University of Miami Mailman Center for Child Development by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Developmental Disabilities. The project will expand opportunities for young children with special needs to attend quality child care programs in their neighborhoods by providing training to center-based and family child care providers interested in expanding the services to all children in their care. The training component will include education, mentoring, and on-site assistance that will enhance the program's ability to be inclusive of all children with disabilities.

An advisory committee composed of individuals with special needs, parents of children with special needs, and professionals in the field of early childhood education will provide guidance and support to this project. The Preschool Inclusion Project hopes to meet the needs of children who were previously unserved or underserved by the community, especially those living in poverty and those from multicultural backgrounds.

For more information, contact Dr. Susan Gold at 305-243-6624.

Administration on Developmental Disabilities

Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave., SW, Room 329D
Washington, DC 20201
Phone: (202) 690-6120

Contact: Adele Gorelick
Phone: (202) 690-5982
E-mail: agorelick@acf.hhs.gov

return to the top of this page.

Child Care Bureau, Administration for Children and Families
Inclusion Technical Assistance

The Child Care Bureau is continuing its commitment to quality, inclusive child care services through technical assistance to states, territories, and tribes. Contact the Regional Offices of the Administration for Children and Families for additional information on these technical assistance activities.

return to the top of this page.

Position on Inclusion⁸

Division for Early Childhood
Of the Council for Exceptional Children

ADOPTED: APRIL, 1993
Revised: December, 1993

Inclusion, as a value, supports the right of all children, regardless of their diverse abilities, to participate actively in natural settings within their communities. A natural setting is one in which the child would spend time had he or she not had a disability. Such settings include but are not limited to home and family, play groups, child care, nursery schools, Head Start programs, kindergartens, and neighborhood school classrooms.

DEC believes in and supports full and successful access to health, social service, education, and other supports and services for young children and their families that promote full participation in community life. DEC values the diversity of families and supports a family guided process for determining services that are based on the needs and preferences of individual families and children.

To implement inclusive practices DEC supports: (a) the continued development, evaluation, and dissemination of full inclusion supports, services, and systems so that options for inclusion are of high quality; (b) the development of Preservice and in-service training programs that prepare families, administrators, and service providers to develop and work within inclusive settings; © collaboration among all key stakeholders to implement flexible fiscal and administrative procedures in support of inclusion; (d) research that contributes to our knowledge of state of the art services; and (e) the restructuring and unification of social, education, health, and intervention supports and services to make them more responsive to the needs of all children and families.

return to the top of this page.

EXCERPTED FROM CHILD CARE BULLETIN, ISSUE #10, JULY/AUGUST 1996

Developing Inclusive Programs for Children with Disabilities⁹
Sheryl Dicker and Ellen Schall

The child care community is aware of the impor-tance of educating young children with disabili-ties with their peers, but efforts to create inclu-sive programs have been limited by lack of knowledge of the funding possibilities¹. A major source of funds for these efforts is the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Using IDEA and other re-sources, states, communities, and providers can serve children with disabilities in inclusive programs.

IDEA has two separate entitlement programs that fo-cus on young children. The preschool grants program provides states with federal funding to assist local school districts to provide a free, appropriate, public education to children with disabilities ages 3-5. Another program, Part H, is administered by state lead agencies such as the Departments of Health, Developmental Disabilities, Education or Social Services. It provides funding for early intervention services for infants and toddlers who have, or are at risk of disabilities, and their families.

Under both entitlements, school districts or state lead agencies are required to make available all services specified on the individualized education plan (IEP) for children ages 3-5, or an individualized family services plan (IFSP) for children from birth through 2. For in-stance, services identified collaboratively by parents, teachers, and school officials can include specially de-signed instruction and related services to assist a child, such as speech, occupational or physical therapies, counseling, parent counseling, or an aide. Early inter-vention services under Part H may also include family support services, such as parenting education, parent support groups or respite care. Depending on a state's Part H policies, a provider may be able to meet the qualifications to effectively perform the functions of a service coordinator.

Services specified in the IEP/IFSP must be provided in the "least restrictive environment" for 3-5 year olds and in a "natural environment," to the maximum extent appropriate for the needs of children ages 0-2. These are settings that are typical for a child's peers, such as a regular preschool class, home, child care, or other com-munity setting. When a placement is made, according to a child's IEP, to a program such as a child care center, the school district must fund the cost of the program to the extent that it is necessary to implement the child's IEP. Although child care is not considered an early in-tervention service under Part H, all services enumerated on the IFSP, including child care programming to enable interaction with a child's peers, are reimbursable if provided by "qualified personnel." States develop stan-dards for defining "qualified personnel." Some states, such as Illinois and Maine, have created new occupa-tional categories which enable child care personnel to provide certain covered services.

By viewing IDEA as the cornerstone for programs for young children with disabilities, one can begin to develop and fund inclusive services. IDEA services are tied to the IEP or IFSP. It is critical that child care pro-viders, teachers, and parents are present at the IEP/IFSP meetings and clearly specify all of the services that a child needs, particularly programming to enable inter-action with his or her peers. Unraveling the complexity of IDEA can provide significant funds. For example, New York's unit rate system for Part H reimburses a 2-3 hour developmental toddler group that can include non-disabled children at a rate almost comparable to a full day in care.

School districts or state lead agencies have funded the IDEA entitlement by utilizing a variety of sources in addition to federal IDEA funds such as state special education funds and Medicaid. It may be possible to augment Part H funds with sliding fees established by state law and, in some cases, with private insurance. But, the IEP/IFSP typically covers only part of the day and for those children who require additional hours in child care, Head Start, or other preschool programs, a range of funding streams should be explored. Head Start and Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) funds can be used. A new federal source, the Family Support and Preservation program, also can be used to fund early childhood programs under its family support provisions. Thus, the creative use of IDEA provisions, coupled with federal and other child care resources, can help to make inclusive programs a reality for young children with disabilities.

¹ S. LaMorcy & D. Bricker. "Integrated Programs: Effects on Young Children and Their Parents," Integrating Young Chil-dren with Disabilities into Community Programs, Peck, Odom & Bricker, eds. Baltimore: Brookes (1993); S. Odom & M. McEvoy, (1988), Integration of Young Children with Handi-caps and Normally Developing Children, Early Intervention for Infants and Children with Handicaps, Odom & Karnes, eds. Baltimore: Brookes. (Less than one third of young children with disabilities are in inclusive programs).

Sheryl Dicker is Executive Director, and Ellen Schall is Co-Chair of the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children (PJCJC). The PJCJC focuses on the problems of young children and the courts, and has initiated reforms in areas such as access to early intervention and care for children in the courts. To learn more, contact Sheryl at: (914) 422-4425.

return to the top of this page.

In an increasing number of early childhood programs around the country, teachers, children, and parents are discovering the benefits of educating young children with special needs together with their same-age peers. Since learning is so important in the early years, this is the best time for children to begin to respect all people's differences and the contributions each individual makes. The key to creating a successful inclusive program is educating ourselves and others about how to ensure every student in the classroom has the chance to reach his or her fullest potential.

Children with disabilities are, first and foremost, children, and then children who may need support or adaptations for learning. The term "special needs" refers to a wide range of developmental disabilities or learning needs that may occur in different areas and to varying degrees. Traditionally, children with special needs were pulled out of regular classrooms and grouped together as if all their needs were alike. Relatively few children with disabilities were served in community-based early childhood programs apart from Head Start or public school programs.

In 1992, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) established equal rights for people with disabilities in employment, state and local public services, and public accommodations including preschools, child care centers and family child care homes. The ADA has helped more and more educators recognize that developmentally appropriate classrooms are places where all children can and should learn together.

Early childhood teachers' strong knowledge of child development helps them to successfully teach young children with all talents, interests, and abilities. In effective inclusive programs, teachers adapt activities to include all students, even though their individual goals may be different. At times, early childhood professionals and children may benefit from the assistance of related professionals such as physical therapists and other school personnel who recognize children's individual interests and strengths.

Some raise concerns about the advisability of creating inclusive environments: Will inclusive classrooms hinder the academic success of children without special needs? How will an inclusive environment meet the needs of children with disabilities? Will children without special needs lose out on teacher time? How can early childhood professionals access resources, support and training? While these questions are valid, parents and teachers will find that creative modifications help all children's learning. According to the director of one NAEYC-accredited center, "Inclusion has helped us better focus on meeting the needs of every child in our program."

Research shows that the benefits of inclusive classrooms reach beyond academics. This is particularly important for young children, who learn best when they feel safe, secure, and at home in their classrooms. An environment that encourages young children's social and emotional development will stimulate all aspects of their learning.

Children in inclusive classrooms:

• demonstrate increased acceptance and appreciation of diversity;
• develop better communication and social skills;
• show greater development in moral and ethical principles;
• create warm and caring friendships; and
• demonstrate increased self-esteem.

Early childhood professionals who have successfully included young children with special needs note that, contrary to some expectations, they needed few adaptations to meet the needs of all children. They report not neccessarily needing more staff, money, or expertise, but rather support from peers and specialists, willingness to adapt to new environments, and positive relationships with families.

Professional development programs, supplemental support staff, and teamwork by parents and school personnel will help achieve inclusion's ultimate goal: to provide a challenging and supportive educational experience for all children.

This release was prepared with the assistance of Diane Turner, Part H Coordinator, Early Childhood Initiative, Colorado Department of Education.

©1996 by National Association for the Education of Young Children. Reproduction of this material is freely granted, provided credit is given to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

National Association for the Education of Young Children
1509 16th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-1426
202-232-8777
800-424-2460
FAX: 202-328-1846

Resources:

Caring for Children with Special Needs. 1993. San Francisco, CA: Child Care Law Center.

Chandler, P.A. 1994. A Place for Me. Washington, DC: NAEYC #237/$4.50.

Division for Early Childhood, Council for Exceptional Children, 1444 Wazee St., Suite 230, Denver, CO, 80202.

Early Childhood Initiative, Colorado Department of Education, State Office Building, Denver, CO, 80203.

Understanding the ADA. 1993. Washington, DC: NAEYC #514. 50¢ each/ 100 for $10.

Woolery, M. & J.S. Wilbers, eds. 1994. Including Children with Special Needs in Early Childhood Programs. Washington, DC: NAEYC #145/ $8.

return to the top of this page.

Return to the Passages to Inclusion