What is an Inclusive Childcare Program?

This article has been adapted from Inclusion and Early Intervention: A Resource Manual for Early Childhood Settings in Ontario, by Benita L. Hopkins, with the Provincial Committee on Early Intervention and Mainstreaming, 1994.

In an inclusive child care program, children with and without special needs experience early childhood education together. All children share the same need for belonging and friendship. By sharing common experiences and supporting one another in and out of the classroom, all children grow and learn together.

Each child brings many individual qualities to a childcare program: development, growth pattern and timing, personality, learning style, and family and cultural background. An inclusive childcare program tries to be sensitive to these qualities and incorporate the developmental and learning objectives of all children. No single individual or profession is specialized enough to meet the medical, social, developmental and learning needs of all children. In our experience, adequate support for a child with special needs is best accomplished with a team approach. This team includes childcare program staff, families and professional who develop goals for the program and work together to reach these goals. Professional supporting the child care program in the classroom are perceived by the children a part of the regular teaching staff.

Whitehills Childcare Association provides inclusive programs through the All Kids Belong program sponsored by Merrymount Children's Centre.