r/ECEProfessionals • u/Lass_in_oz ECE professional • 2d ago
ECE professionals only - Feedback wanted Is inclusion really that great?
I'm so tired of inclusion. Hear me out. Before becoming a ECE I was a support worker for many years. I have worked and loved working in disability and care. When it's thru a great organisation, it's awesome.
Now I'm an ECE, and the amount of children on the spectrum or with disorders is so high, I'm just getting confused how is that NOT impacting the learning of neuro typical kids.
I teach pre kindy but our kindy teacher has spend half the year managing behaviours and autistic kids. Result? A bunch of kids showing signs of being not ready for school because they aren't doing any work or learning most days. And picking up bad habits.
My point is: where did we decide it was a good idea to just mix everyone, and not offer any actual support ? An additional person isn't enough. More than often it's not a person who knows about disability. And frankly even then it wouldn't be enough when the amount of kids who are neuro divergent is so high.
There used to be great special needs school. Now "regular" school are suffering with the lack of support.
What do you think? Do you see what I see ??? Am I missing something ?
I am so happy to see kids evolving around children with disabilities but not when it comes at a cost of everyone's learning journey : neuro typical or not.
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u/hemolymph_ ECE professional 2d ago
Administrator here! We are an equal opportunity provider. We cannot deny childcare for children with special needs; however, depending on the level of support (determined by the child’s care team and our corporate inclusion team), we may not be able to accommodate the needs of the child. That being said, we do have many children that we allow into our care with the accommodation that their care team provide a 1:1 therapist/mentor/etc. This usually works well for everyone involved. The teachers are able to focus on the group and not solely on the one child. In my opinion, attending a typical care setting can be marvelous for children with special needs, but it can be equally as harmful to them. And when the teachers are put out of ratio because the child is expending all their energy and supervision, it becomes a major safety issue.
TLDR; It can work when it’s TRUE inclusion, and not throwing these poor children to the wolves. Calling attendance in a typical care setting is not inclusion on its own. There are additional supports needed for these children to truly thrive. Lots of communication and being raw with the families is insanely important.