Why Natural Environment?
Ask the SCIC Director:
· Because children with disabilities have a right to access and meaningful participation in early childhood settings
· Because you can offer suggestions on the best way to include a child with a disability in the classroom
· Because childcare teachers can provide valuable information to you about the child’s engagement in the classroom
· Because you can support the family of a child with a disability by accommodating their child’s needs in their childcare program.
· Because a childcare classroom/setting is a Natural Environment and early intervention services are required to be provided in the natural environment according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Natural Environments Defined:
A Natural Environment is any location or space where children without disabilities spend their time. This includes the home, community settings, and community early childhood programs. Early care and education classrooms that enroll children from the community are natural environments. Children with and without disabilities can play and learn together in these settings. For children birth to three with identified disabilities, the IDEA specifies that early intervention services should be provided in the natural environment. The Americans with Disabilities Act considers allowing early intervention service providers to support a child with a disability in their classroom to be a reasonable accommodation.
Tips for how to partner with childcare providers:
· Communicate with the child’s family about the benefits of providing early intervention services within the child’s early care and education program.
· Ask parents to provide consent to allow you to communicate with the child’s teacher about their IFSP goals and to learn about how the child engages in classroom routines and activities from the teacher.
· Work with the childcare provider to schedule a time to provide services that fits into the classroom schedule.
· Share your contact information with the childcare provider and ask for them to share theirs with you so you can communicate about the child’s needs
What about Covid?
The CDC just released COVID-19 Guidance for Operating Early Care and Education/Child Care Programs (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/child-care-guidance.html)
The guidance includes a section on Children with Disabilities or other Healthcare Needs. This guidance provides strategies that childcare programs can use to safely provide access to the classroom for direct service providers. The CDC has also provided guidance to direct service providers regarding safety when supporting people with disabilities. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/humandevelopment/covid-19/guidance-for-direct-service-providers.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fneed-extra-precautions%2Fdirect-service-providers.html
Learn more:
· Explore the SC Child Care Inclusion Collaborative website to learn more about the services that we offer to promote inclusion in childcare settings. www.scinclusion.org
· Log in to SCEILS and complete the free online module: ADA Basics for Families Making Child Care Decisions to learn more about the childcare system and to gain information to help families who are searching for childcare. You may be asked to create an account with ProSolutions training. If so, and you don’t have a SC registry training id number you can enter 000000 in that field.
· Explore the Team for Early Childhood Solutions and BabyNet websites to learn more about the early intervention system (https://uscmed.sc.libguides.com/tecs) (https://msp.scdhhs.gov/babynet/)
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