This week, I'm recording from my hotel room at the TASH Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. MCIE II will be presenting on a number of topics like collaborative relationships being the key to membership and learning, leading and sustaining inclusive systems change using learner planning tools to support membership, participation and learning, as well as diving deep into Ida and how the intent of the law is inclusion. If you are around at the TASH conference, make sure to say hi, and let us know what you think of our podcast and other resources. This week's guest is Lorient Miranda, an advocate for Inclusive Education and the director of pre K exceptional student education in Palm Beach County, Florida. She has been instrumental in implementing inclusive practices for young children with disabilities in the county school district Headstart programs and communities. For this episode Lorie discusses the importance of inclusive education for students with disabilities in Palm Beach County. She explains that the traditional model of removing students from their natural environments and sending them to separate special education programs was disruptive and limited their opportunities for socialization and learning. To address this issue, Palm Beach County implemented a collaborative approach, partnering with community centers and Headstart programs to provide inclusive education for young learners with disabilities. Laurie highlights the challenges they faced in implementing this model including concerns about behavior management, funding, and even teacher buy in however through extensive training, relationship building and a commitment to putting children and families first, they were able to overcome these barriers and create a successful, inclusive program. This week's episode is brought to you by the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center in the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, and is the second episode in a collaboration between the CTA and the think inclusive podcast on early childhood inclusive practices. After a quick break, we will have Janet Kozlowski and catastral Williams back on the pod to preview my interview with Laurie Miranda.