Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children with Disabilities and Special Needs

by Ruth E. Cook

The culture in the United States places very high value and status on intelligence, beauty, and physical skill.

More like the whole world- understood context “US being the free world” -flashcard 😉

It is easy for professionals in special education to become intently focused on the details of the disability and the wide array of possible interventions.

never lose sight of the fact that this infant or toddler is a child first—a unique and fascinating developing person for whom “disability” is but one feature of his or her identity.

Ironically, the “disability” characteristics will contribute to the uniqueness and ...

The disability features and the specific strategies you will learn in this text, and throughout your caree...

However, they must not overshadow the importance of the unique characteristics and strengths of each child, and his or her relati...

Language that places the child before the disability is called person-first language. It acknowledges that the child is a child first with many characteristics, only one of which is a disability.

This change in language acknowledges that the disability is what the child has, not who the child is.

In addition, Snow (2013) makes a case against using the term “special needs” because it evokes feelings of pity and attitudinal obstacles to true inclusion. She suggests that people should not be...

A medical diagnosis or eligibility label serves to qualify children for special education services. However, it should not be used to stigmatize a child. Therefore, we must choose language that models equity, acceptance,...

In 1990, the federal government, recognizing that language can negatively influence perception, adopted person-first language when the Education of All Handicapped Act (EHA) was reauthorized and renamed t...

Exhibit 1.1 for more ways to use person-firs...

Intervention services have changed from a deficitfocused, child-centered, and professional-directed model

strengths-based, family-centered, and relationship-based approach

This shift was initiated in 1986 with the passage of Public Law (PL) 99-...

educational services to preschoolers (3–5 years) and early intervention services to infants and toddlers (birth to 36 months). To the maximum extent effective, early intervention services should be provided in “natural environments”; that is, settings in which the child and family would engage if the child did not hav...

Similarly, preschoolers with disabilities should be included in “the least restrictive environments,” such as typical early childhood settings, child care, Head Start...

Is having a special needs facility helpful?

With the encouragement of this legal mandate and professional “recommended practices,” it was hoped that young children would receive a portion, if not all, of their early intervention in inclusive environments. However, realizing that children and their families continue to face significant barriers to accessing inclusive high-quality early childhood programs and that too many preschoolers with disabilities are only offered the option of receiving special education services in settings separate from their peers without disabilities, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of ...

The intent of this text is to provide information and strategies that early childhood and special educators can use to support children’s development, active participation in natural settings, and the establishment of collabor...

The commitment to inclusive intervention and education for infants and young children is well established in federal law. Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 states: (1) “To the maximum extent appropriate, early intervention services are provided in natural environments; and (2) the provision of early intervention services occurs in a setting other than a natural environment only when early intervention cannot be achieved satisfactorily for the infant or toddler in a natural environment” (Sec. 635 [a] [16]). Part B addresses the needs of preschoolers by requiring that “to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities are educated with children who are not disabled.” This part also goes on to state in Section 612 that preschoolers are not to be removed from the regular educational environment unl...

the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004, continues to support the mandate that encourages services for infants and toddlers in natural environments, and it requires school districts to educate children in the least restrictive environment (L...

This text emphasizes that the goal of early intervention is to optimize each child’s learning potential and daily well-being as well as to increase opportunities for the child to actively participate in the community.

transactional. It is through the child’s active and successful transactions with the social environment that optimal growth and development can best be achieved.

have a thorough understanding of how ch...

Programs for infants and young children with disabilities must be based on developmentally appropriate practices that are effective for all children. In addition, systematic planning to meet the individualized needs of each child is critical to the success of early childhood ...

Successful assessment and intervention require a thorough understanding of the child within the context of the family system and a respect for the diverse linguistic and cu...

Understanding the roles of various disciplines and specialists and the importance of assisting families in accessing community agencies and resources are also critical elements in the succ...

This text describes the basic developmental domains of human learning and the principles of how children learn as well as specific teaching strategies. It also demonstrates applications of these principles and strategies to meet the ne...

Appendix F reveals the competencies that must be developed to be an effective early...

Whereas the 1980s opened with concern for the rights of individuals with disabilities, the 1990s recognized the rights and needs of the families of children with disabilities. The 2000s recognize the value of serving young children with disabilities in what has become known as their natural environment. Children with disabilities are no longer viewed in isolation. It is recognized that all children should have the opportunity to be served in environments where they would naturally function if they did not have a disability.

historical roots are derived not only from typical early childhood education, compensatory education, and school-aged special education but also from allied fields such as medicine, psychology, human development, nursing, and sociology. A few of the major historical forces shaping the expanding field of early childhood special education are outlined in this section.

Jean-Marc Itard undertook one of the first documented efforts to provide intervention services to a child with se...

Victor’s learning potential could be enhanced through intervention that changed the stimu...

Teachers today who work with children who have complex and severe disabilities may easily recognize these feelings. Although Itard did not achieve the success he visualized, his efforts had a significant impact on the future of special education. Itard was one of the first to demonstrate and record...

Montessori stressed cleanliness, order, and housekeeping skills as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Aspects of both the discovery approach to learning and programmed instruction can be found in the techniques developed by Montessori. She suggested that teachers observe the natural, spontaneous behavior of children and then arrange learning experiences to encourage their development

“sensorial” materials are advocated for use with children with disabilities because they are manipulable, three-dimensional, and concrete. Advocates cite the emphasis on task analysis, sequencing, and individualization evident in the Montessori approach as worthy for use with children who have limited abilities as well as those who are gifted.

use in public schools, or specifically used in Montessori schools?

proposed an inborn tendency toward adaptation that, in its encounter with the environment, results in categories of knowledge that are remarkably similar among all human beings. Piaget’s concept of child development and his stages of cognitive development are considered again in Chapter 9.

Educational Psychology

According to Piaget, the purpose of education is to provide opportunities that allow a child to combine experiences into coherent systems (schemes) that constitute the child’s knowledge (Mooney, 2013). Therefore, each child’s capacity to learn is thought to be derived from experiences. Piaget’s concept of the child as an active learner stimulated by inborn curiosity has prompted the development of preschool programs designed to allow the child to become an active initiator...

Se...

recognized the critical importance of early...

Skeels an...

drew attention to the impact of early r...

Skeels and Dye (1939) transferred 12 children under 3 years of age from an orphanage to an institution for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In the institution, the children were cared for with great affection by adolescent girls who were considered to have intellectual disabilities. A comparison group of children remained in the orphanage, where they received no specialized attention. Follow-up testing demonstrated that the intelligence scores of those placed in the stimulating environment increased, whereas those of the children who remained in the orphanage decreased (Skeels, 1942). Twenty-one years later, Skeels (1966) found dramatic differences between those who had been placed in the enriching environment and those who had not. The 12 children in the experimental group were found to be self-supporting. Of the comparison group, four had been institutionalized and one had died. Educational...

Perhaps more convincing was the conclusion reached by Bloom (1964), who claimed that about “50% of the [i...

Educational Psychology

place between conception and age 4, and about 30% between ages 4 and 8, and 20% between ages 8 and 17” (p. 88). Bloom’s argument was built on J. McVicker Hunt’s popular book Intelligence and Experience (1961), which argued eloquently against the notion of fixed intelligence. Attempting to lay to rest the heredity-versus-environment controversy,

Hunt supported well his contention that heredity sets the limits, whereas environment determines the extent to which the limits will be achieved.

children’s intelligence develops early and rapidly and that enrichment early in life can have profound influences on the child’s development, federal funding f...

The primary purpose in passing the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was to break the cycle of poverty by providing educational and social opportuniti...

implementation of Head Start during the summer of 1965 with approximately 550,000 children in 2,50...

prece...