Preparing Child Care Providers to Include Young Children with Autism and Other Disabilities

Including children with autism and other disabilities in child care programs can be challenging. Too few providers feel they are equipped to effectively meet these children’s needs. Easter Seals’ Training Modules for Inclusive Child Care (TMICC) is a set of training tools and resources based on Easter Seals inclusive operating standards, designed to help child care providers meet children’s needs. Information about appropriate learning opportunities and high quality care that leads to positive developmental and learning outcomes will be provided. Including children with disabilities into child care programs can be challenging. Too few child care providers feel they are equipped to effectively meet the needs of young children with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders and behavioral issues. Classroom staff struggle with how to best meet children’s needs while also providing appropriate learning opportunities. Since the late 1990’s, Easter Seals child development centers (CDCs) have successfully included children with disabilities and other special needs into their programs. Yet, staff continue to identify a need for training tools to help them effectively manage behavior, adapt existing programs, address communication difficulties, integrate therapies into daily routines, and accommodate atypical physical development. Easter Seals’ Training Modules for Inclusive Child Care (TMICC) project is developing training tools and resources to help child care staff provide high quality care that will lead to positive developmental and learning outcomes for all children. 

Staff development has been identified as an effective strategy to improve the quality of child care, while also improving the program’s capacity to meet the needs of all its children. In addition to the modules (Introduction to Inclusive Child Care; Autism; Challenging Behavior; Communication Delays; and Physical Disabilities), Easter Seals will also provide technical assistance and training to help the CDCs meet the needs of all children, improve child care overall, and improve staff training capacity locally. The tools and training activities developed by this project will also help other child care providers understand how to serve children with disabilities and behavioral issues. Families throughout the country will have more options for child care, and parents of young children with disabilities may have the option to return to work earlier. 

The format of this session will consist of a large group presentation of the training curriculum with large group discussion of the material and process used to develop it. The Speakers will highlight the Autism module to illustrate how it can be used for staff development. If time permits, attendees will participate in 1-2 group learning activities related to the module topic and will be provided opportunity to share their ideas and feedback on the curriculum.