Inclusive Child Care
Our experience shows that children with disabilities significantly benefit from receiving appropriate care along side their non-disabled peers. Typically developing children serve as role models from whom children with disabilities learn age-appropriate communication and social behaviors. The benefit to children without disabilities is that they learn to understand and accept differences. What's more, the experience replicates what children will find in later life.
The practice of inclusive child care -- placing children of all physical, emotional, and academic abilities in the same learning environment -- is gaining support. Both caregivers and parents are learning that inclusive settings benefit all children, regardless of their ability. Child Care experts agree that the first three years of life are critical to children's brain development, and that the quality of their environment and social experience has a decisive, long-lasting impact on their well being and ability to learn.