ISSUES RELATED TO CHILDREN

Issues related to children



Issues related to children

(1) Early Childhood Special Education

Young children with special education needs (birth thru age five) are frequently served in early childhood education community centers, Head Start, and public Pre-K inclusive environments. According to some of the researchers in 2996, early childhood teachers are unprepared to implement evidenced- based effective practices for children with disabilities in early childhood inclusive environments, even those considered high quality. The research on implementation of evidenced- based practices and strategies used by early childhood teachers in quality inclusive settings is limited since most of the research focuses on early interventionists and early childhood special educators implementing the practices. With this gap in the research on implementation of specific child-focused practices by the early childhood teacher, it is crucial to begin to gather evidence on the actual implementation of child-focused practices in inclusive settings. Additionally, it is important to examine the teachers' educational experiences that prepared them to implement effective child-focused practices. The current objective is to assess the relationship between teacher preparation and the implementation of child-focused practices in quality early childhood inclusive environments (DeVore, 2007).

There is an urgent need for quality early childhood inclusive environments. With the new regulation and performance standards under IDEA Part C, and section 619 of Part B, children with disabilities attend natural environments such as homes and community early childhood education settings. Extensive research documents the multiple benefits of inclusive educational programs in natural environments for children with and without disabilities. Teachers, early education professionals, and parents report multiple gains for children with special education needs educated in natural environments. Children with developmental delays attending inclusive programs make more progress in cognitive, language development, and motor skills than their peers attending separate special education educational settings. The quality of the early childhood education program was considered in placement decisions for children with special education needs yet teachers, parents, and service coordinators were often unfamiliar with indicators of quality in inclusive settings. Furthermore, according to inequalities exist over access to high-quality early childhood education for children with special education needs. This was interesting since including children with disabilities in community settings was not new (Fleming, 2010).

Several comparative studies of inclusive and non-inclusive environments for young children examine the notion of different quality indicators for inclusive and non-inclusive settings. The inclusive programs scored a higher overall rating on three indicators: teacher education, professional experiences, and teacher knowledge of skills. Limitations to this study include the validation of ECERS in inclusive settings. Various researchers cautioned that quality standards for children who were typical were insufficient for children with special education needs. Typical children in high-quality non-inclusive classrooms scored higher on measures of language, and social skills than typical children in high-quality inclusive classrooms. It was observed that children with special education showed improvement on measures of language and social skills in both low and high-quality environments. This may suggest a weak connection between high-quality early childhood education and improving development and ...