Belonging

As human beings, our need to belong is part of who we are. Our relationships with others help define us as individuals. From our earliest moments of life, we seek out others to protect, nurture and teach us. When we have positive attachment experiences in our early years, we develop into secure, trusting and confident individuals who can handle the ups and downs of life in our later years. When we don’t have positive attachment experiences, all is not lost. There are still opportunities to right the course. As a manager, that’s one of the most incredible aspects of your work: You can right the course for adults, children, and youth through your leadership. You support children, youth, and staff by creating an environment where everyone feels they belong.

Everyone is Welcome

How people are treated when they first come into your program sets the stage for how relationships will develop over time. Though a personalized greeting is so simple, it’s often overlooked. Having a person in the front lobby who is pleasant and greets people by name can start the day off on a positive note, and right a day that has not begun so great. Train all your staff members to do the same. No one should enter or leave a classroom without being addressed personally.

新的家庭和新员工需要系统地向您的计划。一种方法是将他们参加了一个深入的计划，包括花时间与课堂工作人员的花时间，也是关键人员。例如，有新的家庭花时间与膳食准备工作人员，行政人员和支持人员一起。听到这些工作人员谈论他们的角色为家庭和计划之间有意义的关系奠定了基础。显示常用区域的邮寄标志，如成人浴室;共享空间，如贷款图书馆;和保留儿童个人物品的地方，如Cubbies。展示包括简短BIOS的工作人员的图片，他们是谁，他们喜欢的东西以及他们在该计划的角色。请参阅服务的方向要求和指南。

每个人都很有价值

Although it may be easy to talk theoretically about valuing diversity, it’s another thing to demonstrate it in your program. Diversity refers to more than ethnicity and culture—it includes religious beliefs, sexual orientation, ability status, and even child-rearing practices. Diversity broadens our world view. Ask families and staff to share their favorite recipes and then have those recipes on lunch menus. Display photographs of families throughout the program. Include items that reflect the families and staff not only in classrooms but in common areas. These are small gestures that can make a big difference. When someone walks into your program, can they tell who “lives there” and what they are like?

Environments are typically different for older and younger children. For example, bathrooms for younger children are often open and inside the classroom itself, whereas school-age children and youth typically use more private bathroom settings. The level of privacy, or lack thereof, could be uncomfortable for different children and families, who may have strict beliefs about privacy or feel the need for strong bathroom supervision. It will be important to work with your staff, trainers and coaches to respectfully meet these diverse beliefs. You must model the capacity to adapt spaces or practices in ways that still allow you to meet program standards while also respecting the wishes of families. For example, could a preschool child use the bathroom individually to offer more privacy? Or could some sheer fabric be added to open bathroom areas to create the feeling of more privacy?

Your program should be accessible to individuals with or without disabilities. The environment must be kept free of clutter, and the placement of furniture must be evaluated for children or adults who have impaired sight or need extra space in hallways to use a wheel chair, walker, or cane. Modifications and adaptations to the environment are ongoing processes based on the needs of the families and children you serve.

Staff members may not always feel qualified to support children with special needs. You can help them identify successful strategies and build confidence working with all learners. There are several steps you can follow:

1. Ensure that your trainers or coaches are well versed in how the physical environment, schedules, and routines can be adapted or modified to help children with special needs. They should know how to help staff collect information and identify an individual child’s needs by observing the child in his or her classroom or program. Trainers or coaches should focus on how the child interacts with materials, adults, and peers, and how to help staff members notice the child’s strengths and potential barriers. You, trainers or coaches, and staff members should talk with families about a child’s prior experiences.
2. As needed, brainstorm strategies with your trainers, coaches and staff. Make sure you and staff members are familiar with a child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). Use the information trainers or coaches collected to identify times when the child needs support in your program. Use the child’s strengths. Help staff think of ways to meet the child’s needs.
3. 将策略放在适当的地方。支持员工，因为他们尝试了新想法。虽然您的培训师和教练主要负责提供反馈，建模策略和与工作人员的实施，但您可以通过以下方式显示您的支持：
   1. Securing any needed materials (e.g., fidget toys for a cool-down area)
   2. Ensuring that necessary adaptations to the physical environment are made (e.g., building or remodeling climbing structures so they have wide ramps to accommodate walkers or wheelchairs)
   3. Acknowledging the staff’s efforts when you are out walking through your program

Watch this video to hear about the importance of inclusion.

创建包容性环境：支持所有学习者

孩子就是孩子,不管他们的水平of special needs. Each child is different. You must teach staff members to focus on ways the environment can support learning for each individual child. This benefits all children, not just those with identified special needs. It is also important to help staff members know that children without IEPs or IFSPs need support, too. A child may not have an identified disability, but he or she may still struggle with understanding the learning environment. A child may need more intellectual challenges than the current environment provides. Staff members must know how to recognize when the learning environment is not meeting children’s needs. They can then use the process described above to find solutions and try them out. As a manager, you can offer professional development and resources in your professional library (see Lesson Two) that are geared toward helping children with specific challenges in the environment so staff are aware of the various ways they can adapt to best meet the needs of all children or youth. See the Learn section attachment for some examples of environmental supports, adaptive equipment and materials for children with special needs.

There are a host of wonderful resources available to help programs best support all children, including those with special needs. The Kids Included Together (KIT) program (http://www.kitonline.org/) offers a variety of environment-related ideas to support young children and youth with different needs, including social and behavioral needs, autism spectrum disorders, and developmental disabilities. You can also consider Building Blocks (Sandall & Schwartz, 2008) or Cara’s Kit (Milbourne & Campbell, 2007; seehttp://www.dec-sped.org/cara-s-kit-base. ). These resources from the Council for Exceptional Children Division for Early Childhood provide practical, real world ways to help children succeed in their environments.

Model

The trainers or coaches in your program will most often be the ones directly responsible for modeling inclusiveness for staff. But you may occasionally, especially with children facing more significant needs, need to be a sounding board for trainer or coaches or perhaps participate in part of their planning with staff. You can model inclusiveness and problem solving by asking questions. Here are some questions to ask:

• 你已经尝试过了什么？
• What worked? Why do you think it worked? What made that strategy work?
• 什么不起作用？为什么不？这一策略呢？
• What does the child like? What are his or her favorite times of day? Favorite songs, books, activities, people?
• What does the child dislike? What activities, people, and places does she or he avoid?
• What are your biggest concerns for this child?
• 您认为哪个变化会对这个孩子产生最大的差异？

Also, model working with the child’s family to gather information and collaborate on next steps. You can ask staff members to observe your conversations with families, or even role play with them so they feel prepared to have conversations directly with families. Model communication with families, by asking questions such as:

• What supports or strategies seem to help your child at home?
• What spaces at home does your child seem to work or play best in? What spaces does he or she most enjoy?
• What spaces at home does your child seem to dislike? Are there any spaces that seem difficult for your child to navigate or work successfully in?
• Are there particular triggers or challenges we should be aware of? When or where do you notice your child seems to struggle the most?
• If your child is using any adaptive equipment (braces, walker, communication device), would you be willing to come to our classroom or program and talk to the children about it?

You can also model sharing what you and other staff members have observed in your program, your research, and what your initial plans are. When modeling, make sure you highlight for families the parts of the environment that the child seems to enjoy or work well in, as well as the areas where he or she is currently struggling. Share with them the ways you have worked together as a staff to draft a plan, but also invite families to share their ideas and suggestions. Confirm that they are comfortable with the environmental modifications you wish implement and then set a time when you or another member of your staff will report back how things are working.

obs

After meeting with staff and hearing their ideas, concerns and experiences, your trainers or coaches will need to spend some time carefully observing the child. It is best to be transparent about when, what, and how trainers or coaches will observe. Make sure such observations are about observing the child interacting with his or her environment and that the observations do not double as performance evaluations or classroom inspections. Ensure that when observations are conducted, there is plenty of time to see the child in a variety of settings. Trainers and coaches should see:

• Settings in which the child is always successful
• Settings or activities the child likes
• 孩子挣扎的设置或活动
• Settings or activities the child dislikes

所有这些信息将帮助你的员工members. You, trainers, or coaches in your program can use the matrix in the Apply section to help summarize what all you have learned from your meetings with staff, from the child’s family, and through observations. As a manager, you may wish to review these matrices to make sure the needs of all children are being adequately addressed or be part of the conversations between trainers, coaches and staff when there is a significant challenge or need that is impacting other children and families (e.g., a preschooler with a significant pattern of biting), or when the requested modifications may involve a large financial investment (e.g., facility improvements to adjust the width of doors).

如果使用矩阵，请查看“始终成功”和“喜欢”单元格。这些活动和环境的特征是什么？把那些写在一起。一些例子可能包括：坐在靠近同龄人，有可预测的步骤，有些东西给她或他举行。接下来，看看“很少成功”和“不喜欢”细胞。这些活动的特征是什么？写下那些。一些例子可能包括：房间很响，孩子们在她身边或他身边移动。最后，想想如何使用你从“成功”和“喜欢”细胞中所知道的内容来调整“不成功”和“不成功”细胞。在附件1中查看课后程序中的子项的样本完成矩阵。

Use the action-planning tool in the Apply section to help the team decide how to put their ideas in action. Action planning is an important, and often forgotten, strategy. It does not need to be formal or complicated. Here’s a sample of another way to write an action plan:

目标	Action Steps	Person Responsible	Timeline
Britt will participate in at least two activities per programming day (besides computer and snack). Britt will move between activities without crying.	为Britt创建一个选择板。列出程序可用的选项。使用图片和单词。	Pam (coach)	by Monday Nov 18
	Create a schedule or planner that lets Britt pull pictures/words from the choice board and create her own plan.	Pam will bring in planner/schedule. Pam will model how to use it on first day.	11/18的模型周;迪伦那周开始使用Britt
	Start a peer buddy program. Identify 3 of Britt's friends at the program who will agree to participate. Teach them to help Britt make her plan and then stick with her for at least one transition.	Dylan (staff) will ask Britt who her friends are and talk to them about program.	Start week of 11/28

一旦计划写完，您可以帮助团队提出他们计划的更改。虽然培训师或教练可能是个人主要负责查找材料，定位资源或与孩子建模策略，但是确保您从管理角度完成所需的事项。您是否需要购买另一个资源手册或套件？您是否需要与您的程序的设施经理合作，以制定修改物理设施的计划？

Follow up with the team to make sure problems are being solved. Be sure to celebrate successes! Also, remember to make sure there is constant communication with the child’s family, either by helping to facilitate conversations with the family, or by making sure staff members are updating children’s families regularly.