There are many reasons to include children with disabilities or other special needs in child care. Children and families want to be accepted and included in their community regardless of ability. They want to truly belong. But the kind of belonging they desire goes beyond simply “being together.” They want full, unconditional membership in family and community. As Norman Kunc, a disability rights advocate, has said so eloquently, “When inclusive education is fully embraced, we abandon the idea that children have to become ‘normal’ in order to contribute to the world. Instead, we search for and nourish the gifts that are inherent in all people. We begin to look beyond typical ways of becoming valued members of the community and, in doing so, begin to realize the achievable goal of providing all children with an authentic sense of belonging.”

Families of children with disabilities or other special need have the same need for child care as do other families. However, families of children with disabilities or special needs often find the search for quality and affordable child care a greater challenge as they face the reluctance of many child care providers to enroll their children. This situation makes it all the more important that child care providers strive to include all children in their programs so as not to increase the immense challenges that such families already face.

Children with disabilities or other special needs may present unique challenges, but the care they need is very similar to that needed by any child. Children with special needs spend most of their time doing what other children do. They have the same curiosity, desire to play, and need to communicate as their peers do. Child care providers who are providing individualized and developmentally appropriate child care already have many of the skills needed to serve children with disabilities or other special needs.

Quality child care contributes to the emotional, social, and intellectual development of children and can also be an important part of school readiness and school success. Children with disabilities or other special needs benefit from quality child care just as much as typically developing children do.

Children with disabilities or other special needs benefit from being in inclusive environments with typically developing children. Studies have shown that inclusive environments, with appropriate help and assistance, allow children to achieve more than they do in segregated environments. When children with disabilities or special needs have all of the opportunities that children who are developing typically have— and especially when they are in an environment with children who are typically developing—they strive toward new goals and achievements, often attaining levels of ability that surprise the adults who care for and about them.

Children who are typically developing benefit from interactions with children who have disabilities or other special needs, as well. Inclusive, supportive environments teach children about differences and about respecting and valuing other people regardless of ability. Children want to help one another as they grow, and when they see adults take steps to support a child, they will take steps to help as well.

Turning children away from a child care program solely because they have a disability or other special need is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. Unfortunately, families continue to be routinely refused child care simply because their child has a disability even when their child does not need any special accommodations—a loss for the child, the family, and the child care programs that turn them away. All child care providers need to know that turning a child with special needs away from a child care program may expose the program to significant liability.

Sources:  Inclusion Works! Creating Child Care Programs That Promote Belonging for Children with Special Needs. California Department of Education, 2009