Inclusive Preschools Benefit All Children

Bengaluru: One of the biggest advantages of inclusive learning spaces is that children learn to accept people with diverse abilities and needs. Deepa, Founder of Floretz Academy, an inclusive early learning space, says, ‘Children do not discriminate; they accept their peers as they are.’ Malini, who heads Chimply Fun preschool, adds that children are innately sensitive and having peers with disabilities in the classroom facilitates open conversations.

An inclusive early childhood education or preschool is a microcosm of the real world – a space that caters to children with varying abilities and fosters a sense of belonging in each child. In a disability-inclusive classroom, children with physical and developmental differences learn and play side-by-side with typically developing children (those who progress through expected milestones). This arrangement benefits both groups – children with specific challenges expand their skills through observation and participation and their peers develop acceptance and an appreciation for individual differences from an early age.

Inclusive early learning spaces shift the focus from the child’s diagnosis (the name given to the disabling condition) to their developmental strengths and needs. The environment, resources, and teaching methods are modified to cater to each child's unique needs. Such spaces promote equity, and reduce the stigma associated with disabilities, early in the life of children.

When educators create inclusive classrooms, they reduce the probability of children with disabilities dropping out of the education system. Although there is no official data on this, it is commonly acknowledged that schools exclude children with disabilities from general, non-academic activities, such as school assembly, sports, games and cultural programmes which not only affects their development, but also deprives them of a comprehensive school experience, leading to academic setbacks and even dropping out.

Typically developing children often do not notice differences in their neurodivergent peers, according to experts. They mention that these kids may occasionally be curious about some children being unable to speak or needing movement breaks. ‘What I love about kids is they’re absolutely non-judgmental,’ says Usha, who runs Kinderland, an inclusive preschool. ‘If there are concerns of negative attitudes towards children with disabilities, we have open conversations with them and use stories about respecting everyone for who they are,’ explains Deepa.

‘A lot of strategies that we use also work for kids without disabilities,’ adds Preeja, who runs an early intervention programme and heads Octave Speech Centre. The explicit use of language and gestures intended to benefit children with disabilities, also helps in improving the vocabulary and social skills of neurotypical children, she emphasises.

Deepa notes that a Montessori approach is inherently inclusive. She explains that the use of mixed-age groups, individual goals based on the readiness of the child, emphasis on independence, choice of activities, materials with built-in control of error and those that provide concrete representations of abstract, sensorial materials, are some of the aspects of a Montessori approach that help all children, including those with disabilities.

Malini shares, "We try to modify some aspects in the environment, such as creating calming corners and putting up visual schedules to help neurodiverse children, which we realized actually helps all children.” Having dialogues and open conversations with children and providing them with authentic information on the difficulties faced by children with disabilities have reportedly been very useful in creating inclusive environments.

Parents of some typically developing children are apprehensive of their children imitating certain behaviours of children with disabilities or concerned that their children might not receive sufficient attention from teachers when there are students with disabilities in the same classroom. Usha and Preeja mention that these apprehensions are temporary and having neurotypical and neurodiverse children in an inclusive setting enables children to pick up social cues and act according to situational demands more naturally than in a specialized setting.

Many early childhood educators express a desire to create inclusive spaces, but they require support and resources, such as the knowledge of intervention techniques, assistive technology, differential instructional approaches, etc. This reflects the need for continuous professional development in this area. It is very important for educators to understand that children with disabilities have similar needs as their peers - a safe, secure, and predictable environment. In cases where children are at different developmental levels, appropriate adaptations must be made to meet the needs of all children. Such adaptations will provide access, better usability of resources, and maximize learning for all. Thus, by adapting the environment in terms of design (physical), scheduling of activities (temporal) and being responsive (socioemotional), early years’ educators can create conducive learning settings for all.

(Authored by Sofiya Sebastian and Bhuvaneswari Balasubramaniam from Azim Premji University)