Key Influences on Initiation and Implementation of Inclusive Preschool Programs
A major focus of the Early Childhood Research Institute on Inclusion has been on discovering the facilitators and barriers to inclusion for preschool children with disabilities.
These were addressed in our Ecological Systems Study.
- Describe where in educational system
inclusion can begin as innovation
- Describe factors that are facilitators or barriers to development of inclusive programs
As part of our data analysis we considered how inclusion began as an innovation in our sample programs; and what were the facilitators and barriers to implementing that innovation.
The programs in our sample provided inclusive services in a number of different organizational contexts. These contexts included public schools, Head Starts, and community-based programs.
Some of our programs initiated inclusion prior to 1991 when services for preschool children with disabilities became mandatory.
Other programs didn’t initiate inclusion until after 1991.