Music. Welcome to Inclusion Matters a podcast about children's development from the Center for Inclusive Child Care.
Welcome to Inclusion Matters a podcast from the Center for Inclusive Child Care. I'm Priscilla Weigel, the executive director, and I am so grateful today to be joined by someone who is an expert in the field, also just a wonderful colleague, and we've gotten to know each other over the years. Jani Kozlowski, she's a Technical Assistance Specialist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. And I'm so happy you're here, Jani, thank you for joining us.
Well, thanks for having me, Priscilla, glad to be with you.
Well, we're going to have a good conversation today, because Jani has taken in her free time. She has written a book that really is a wonderful reference tool and a support opportunity for folks to find some strategies and some great information. The name of her book is, Every Child Can Fly: An Early Childhood Educators Guide to Inclusion. And so Jani's going to tell us a little bit about what led her to that, to the writing of that book and share a little bit about her own story. So why don't we jump in, Jani and just, can you tell our listeners about how your early life prepared you for the work that you do that really fosters inclusion.
Yeah , sure. Well, so Priscilla, I kind of come to the field with a unique perspective, because not only am I an early childhood educator and have been for over 30 years, but I'm also a person with a disability and a parent of a child with a disability. And so I have memories as a two year old, as a four year old, of having orthopedic surgeries, and having those experiences early on in life, of what it felt like to be pulled out of school, to have surgeries and spend time in the hospital, to be away from my friends, and really to crave that sense of inclusion and belonging that all children need, but I think especially children with disabilities, you know, depending on on what their their issues are, there's just lots of reasons why they're extra special needs for inclusion and belonging and a sense of membership with with in the classroom. So, yeah, so those early experiences with my own disability has really kind of led me to this. And I'm also a child of a parent with a disability too. So watching my own dad kind of deal with his disability and the way he managed, managed it and out in the world really taught me a great deal as well. So I used all those lessons learned in writing the book.
Your'e pulling in a lot of the perspectives that we as folks working with children and families in this field are trying to wrap our heads around. And you you have had the experience in true life to pull together what you've seen from your own personal rememberings of being that young child, and then you also mentioned that you're a parent of a child with with some disabilities or some learning issues and and so that's that other perspective that we all really need. I think our work needs to be so centered on the child and the family perspective that you you will your book brings that forward in such a beautiful way.And so in your book, Every Child Can Fly, you tell a story about a baby bird outside your window. Can you tell that story to our listeners?
Sure, yeah. Well, you know, as I said, I'm an early childhood professional. I taught a group of spirited four year olds in an inclusive classroom, and so I have lots of early childhood friends, and lot of times when things happen to us in in life outside of the classroom makes us think about our work and reflect on our work in a different way. And it just so happened one morning, I was sitting out on my patio, and I've got a lot of wildlife in my backyard, a lot of birds back there, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw this giant hawk come flying around the corner, and it flew right by me, right in front of my face, and went over to a tree off to the side of my yard, and it flew down and scooped up a baby bird out of the nest that was in the tree. And it was, it was just really kind of shocking to see, you know, white soap. And so I was so worried that the baby was crying and squirming and squiggling, and the hawk flew off with this baby and his talons. And that baby was really, really squirmy and squiggly and managed to wriggle free out of the hawk's grasp. And so this was all right in front of me, and I saw this baby go falling, falling, falling down into the tall grass, and the hawk just flew away. I guess the hawk figured it was too much trouble. So I was watching, and I was thinking to myself, oh my gosh, what is going through the mind of that baby bird down there? Because that baby's never seen anything outside the nest. Certainly didn't know what a hawk was. I was thinking it was super scared, and eventually it started to call out and cry, and I could tell that it was crying for its mom or dad, and and the mother bird came around and kind of fluttered around the baby. And I was thinking, she's probably thinking to herself, how did you get yourself into this predicament? I turned around and last I saw you, there you were in the nest, and now here you are down here, but I can't put you on my back and fly you back up to that nest. So I could tell she was really upset, but eventually she flew off, and that baby bird sat there, and it was quiet for a long time, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the grasses start to wrestle, and that baby bird flew, and it was a really pitiful fly, I have to tell you, Priscilla, it didn't look like an adult bird fly. It was pretty wobbly and shaky, but, but the baby flew, and it kind of flew off, out of my sight. And so I told my friends about this story and about how it made me think about us as early childhood educators that we're there, down on the ground, and we get all these babies that show up into our programs, and they come to us in all kinds of ways. You know, some of them come to us in a traumatic sort of way, that that baby bird came to, to escape, come out of the nest, and and others come in a more supportive sort of way, but we have this job of being the support and the educator for all the baby birds and every single one and the different ways that they come to us, and the different challenges strengths that they bring. And so that was kind of the inspiration for the book, because I really do believe that that all kids with the right supports and, um, nurturing, that they can all fly,
That's beautiful, that's beautiful and and that's a great way to think about the work too, and all the baby birds and all, I mean truly, we are given such an awesome responsibility in the relationship with that child and with that family, to support their the success of that child and to do our very best. And and your book has given a lot of great strategies for that. And so when we think about, you know, the idea of inclusion in early childhood education, what do we know from research about how effective it can really be for kids?
Yeah, you know, I've done a lot of work with with educators since I've left the classroom and providing technical assistance and worked with head start teachers and child care teachers and certainly, lots of professional development I have provided, and I continue to hear this concern about you know, is inclusion right for every child. And what we know from the research is that children with and without disabilities benefit from learning together. And what we know is that children with disabilities, more than half of the time, receive their services in segregated preschool settings. So we do not have a good system for inclusion across our country. In fact, you know, more than half of kids are are not served in inclusive settings when they're three to five years old, and and that's the age where it should be the easiest, you know, and it's also the age that really sets the trajectory for children. We know that inclusion in early childhood leads to inclusion in elementary school, leads to inclusion in middle school, high school and life and and the research backs us up that you know, not only is it doable, that it really benefits kids, children with disabilities benefit across all domains of development, especially cognitive domain, language and literacy, social emotional skills. And this is true regardless of the the nature or level of care needs of the disability. And then we also have research that shows that children without disabilities also benefit. We also see some great gains in across domains. And you can imagine there's greater levels of empathy and social emotional skills. So the research is really strong for kids with and without disabilities,
That's for sure. And I, having worked in very inclusive classroom settings for my career, in the classroom and in in child care, I think to the benefit to the families of all the children too, is another piece that's so positive, because the same effects, the same things that you're mentioning for the children in the classroom, is actually happening in the families as they go off and spend time with their siblings, their neighbors. I mean, it's just, it's, it's positive all the way around. And so when you think about describing inclusive learning environment, what are some things that come to mind that are you see as really important?
Yeah, so about, I guess, um, guess it's been over 10 years ago I think, I think our membership organizations are working on a revised definition of inclusion, but we did just have a new joint policy statement on inclusion that came out from the Departments of Education and Departments of Health and Human Services and and, you know, they there's a lot of agreement about the research and about how inclusion can work, and there's a lot of unity in thinking that inclusion isn't just about getting in the classroom. It's not just about getting in the front door. It's not just about a ramp or a teacher that's willing to try lots of things. So that is what we kind of think about as access, you know, access to the learning environment. But we also know that participation and supports, and so it's almost like a three legged stool. There really needs to be access, participation and supports for inclusion to be successful. And by participation, we refer to all the things that educators do to ensure that children are engaged in the curriculum, and, you know, learning side by side with their peers. And then by supports, we're referring to the supports that educators need in order to be successful. You know, if there are funding needs, know that that systems are also behind this as a goal and provides the supports for programs and educators, families and children. So all three of those things are so important and we can get look to Universal Design for Learning principles, you know, thinking about the different ways that that children are participated and are engaged with the materials and and show what they know, you know, what they're able to know and do. And I also think that a huge part of it is to consider the child's perspective and to think about what the child is interested in and what the child's strengths are as a huge part of this.
JanYes, definitely. And just to refer to your book for a moment here too, I think that so often in our field, especially in child care, and we tend to spend most of our time at CICC in child care settings across the state of Minnesota, and we're very in contact with family child care and center based care, but so often, I think folks feel overwhelmed by the idea, especially if they haven't had experience working with a child that might have a diagnosis or, and we know Jani, in the early childhood years, that child may not have a diagnosis, they may have some things that we're noticing that may lead to a diagnosis down the line. But I think in your book, early on, you know, you talk about the fact, and I'm just going to read something from it. "The good news is that you really don't need to be an expert in any specific disability to be an expert in supporting children. Every type of disability includes tremendous variations from person to person in how it presents to the world. So there would never be a way to learn everything." And I think you know we were talking before we hopped on to record today, that would be a really daunting task to say, Oh, you're going to be the expert in every possibility that could come through the door that's impossible to be prepared that well for the task of inclusion,
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Absolutely. And, you know, a lot of times what I say is the diagnosis, to be honest, it's really not our business. You know, that's kind of a medical thing that is something that the family is, is concerned with and figuring out what that child needs. But again, you know, when a family has a child, they also aren't an expert in cerebral palsy or spina bifida or attention deficit disorder. And you know, I described my early life and the fact that I have an orthopedic impairment, and our son is adopted because I was concerned about passing on my disability. I had many, many surgeries, as I mentioned, and I just was worried that I would feel so guilty, you know, if I had my own child going through that. And so we adopted our son, and he does not have an orthopedic impairment. In fact, he ran cross country, but he has a lot of sensory issues and attention deficit disorder, and it wasn't something I knew about, even as a child development expert. And so it was really about learning about my own son and what his needs were, learning from his teachers and trial and error, figuring out what was going to work for him. And so that's really what what families go through as they figure out the best way to support their child. And I think if we as educators approach it the same way and and just get curious, you know, with whatever the barrier is or the concern is, that can go a long way. And I think the other piece is, how can we look at what the child has going for them, those strengths, the preferences, their interests? How are those things, how can we identify what those are so that we can lift those up and make those strengths as strong as possible?
Yeah, and in the early years, that social emotional development, that foundational piece, is so key, you know, helping children understand how interactions and connections work, to learn from those people that are important in their lives, who are there to support them. And I know that there's some great resources and tools available that you can look at as far as like indicators of a high quality, inclusive environment. Can you say a little bit about that?
Yeah, so at the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, if just project I work on at FPG, we developed a set of inclusion indicators, and there are indicators for all different levels of the system. So there are state level indicators, community indicators, program indicators and early care and education environment indicators. And so that's one resource. It's free, and it's maybe we could put that link in the show notes. I also have three chapters in the book that I think are really honing in specifically on practices. There's a chapter on learning environments where I talk about the physical environment, the social environment and the temporal environment, and all of the strategies that you might think about within those different frames. There's a chapter on teaching practices, kinds of things that you can do as an educator. And then, as you said, social emotional development is so critical, I have a chapter just on social emotional development, because it's really an area that all children and especially children with disabilities, often have some extra support needs in that area. So lots of different ideas and free resources that you can take a look at
That's fabulous, and we will definitely include a link to that in our when we post the podcast when it's live. And so when you think about your career, you said, 30 years, how has your thinking evolved on inclusive education?
Well, I guess I came into this work pretty naive. I think I'm still, I'm definitely still learning because, you know, there are so many challenges, and there are systemic issues, there are differences in our policies that can be considered a barrier, you know the way that we interpret policies, and there's a lot of variation from state to state. So I know that there are challenges. I also know that there are a lot of perceived barriers and myths about inclusion. One of the studies that we talk about at FPG a lot is that we asked about the barriers to inclusion, and the number one barrier that we found were the attitudes and beliefs held by educators and administrators. So it came down to really not the funding, really not the infrastructure, but the way that we kind of view and value the work and value inclusion itself. So that was a surprise to me. You know, that those attitudes and beliefs would be such a huge challenge, but it's also something that I find that through sharing strategies, through storytelling, I think we can really get there, because people need a chance to talk about what you're seeing and what those concerns are and and help to work through those challenges. So yeah, I've learned a lot, and I continue to learn.
Yes, yeah, I will say the same about myself, definitely. And, and I do think that that's something that we notice in our work as well, is just a lot of times, I think folks think I can't possibly do that, because I won't do it right. And as in as you're sharing in our conversation, we're all learning together along with the family who's also learning about their child. And so that's why you're not alone. The educator is not alone in this, in this progress. We're all together trying to get the best support available for that child in our day to day interactions. And so when you think about we're going back to that social emotional, that really key foundational piece for young children as they move on in life, we know, you know, when we talk to kindergarten teachers, oh, we can teach the ABCs and, you know, all the those cognitive necessary skills, but if a child hasn't had a chance to practice some of those key foundational social emotional pieces, that's a really tough piece. And so early childhood is so essential. So what are some things that educators can do as they think about really fostering quality social emotional growth for all children and especially for those with disabilities?
Yeah, so I think about kind of three areas in social emotional teaching practices, the first being emotional literacy. So you know, children don't come into this world understanding that when they feel the way that makes them smile and laugh, that we think of that as happiness, they don't understand the name of that feeling. They don't understand that that feeling shows up. They feel it in their bodies, and it shows up on their face that other people feel it in their bodies, and we can tell by their faces what that looks like. That whole concept is really a mystery, and it's something that can be intentionally taught by using feeling faces images, for example, practicing, what does it look like to feel angry or sad? What does my face look like in the mirror when I do that, when I feel that way? And just talking about feelings on the day to day, you know, understanding that feelings change, that you can feel differently about something than someone else does, so that's a huge part, the emotional literacy. The second is around friendship skills. And so I think that educators can serve such a huge role in supporting friendships. I found that with my own son, for example, he didn't have this natural ability to kind of know how to engage in a playgroup. And so I remember one time we went to the playground together, and there was a group of kids on the on the playground, and he said, Mommy, would you introduce me? And so I took him over there. I said, Hi, boys, this is Ricky. He would like to play. Can he play with you and and so, you know, at least he knew that he needed to make introductions. And so we did some role playing and practicing so that he got comfortable introducing himself and asking, Can I play? But those are things we can teach as educators. You know, first I tap a friend on the shoulder, then I say, Would you like to play? Maybe coming up with a play script. I love this idea of having ideas of how you might play together in the block area, for example. You know, little diagrams of what a castle might look like with the blocks or a parking lot. And so giving children ideas of how they would engage with the materials together so, and there's so many, my gosh, I could go on and on about any of these things, but so there's lots of ideas in the book, but that's an example of friendship skills, and then the third is problem solving and self regulation. And so, you know, in order to be able to engage successfully, socially and emotionally, we really do have to have control over our bodies and over our you know, our ability to figure things out when things don't go our way. And so giving children some social stories or visual supports that have descriptions of what might I do if I encounter a problem so reading books where the main character encounters a problem, you know, what are we going to do about this? What do you think you might do? Use bits to role play. I love it when, when educators talk to me about something that's going on in their class, you know, common thing that keeps on happening, and they start to work through it together with the class by using puppets. And so it's so interesting to children because it's real. It's something that's going on. And so they're just kind of transfixed when the educator is, you know, doing the puppet show, acting out the problem scene. And so when children aren't at a emotional, heightened place, to have those kinds of conversations and give them those tools to learn how to regulate their bodies and figure things out, problem solve.
Yeah, that's beautiful. One of my favorite things is to watch children watch a puppet presentation, because where their eyes go, the person can be just talking right next to them, and the child is focused on that puppet, just mesmerized by that. And I love, you know, the suggestions you're giving, because when you think about the time that children have in those young years, those earliest years of their lives, it's their job to just have a great time and be really enjoying it and, and the things you've listed, as far as you know, that emotional literacy, why am I feeling the way I'm feeling and other people might feel differently, and what does it look like, and how can I how can I feel better if I'm feeling sad and all of those things, or feeling not sad. And what does that mean? And, and then those friendship skills, you know, that's a key that's so important going on through their entire lives, and then the problem solving and the self regulation is just another piece that there are many adults who maybe could still use some of that, as we know. But So Jani it's been so much fun talking with you and listening to your expertise. You're so knowledgeable on this subject, and I'd love to have you back for a part two of this conversation to dig into your book a little bit more and talk a little bit more about some of the key strategies that you're noticing and that you've also had your finger on the pulse of some great research too. So I love pulling that in in our conversation. And so I'm hoping you're willing to come back and have a continuation of this conversation.
Oh, I would love it. That would be great. Oh, good, good, good. Well,
Oh good good, good. Thank you again. To Jani Koslowski, it's been wonderful. Thank you, listeners. If you want more resources or you're looking for this podcast, once it goes live, go to inclusivechildcare.org, and we'll look forward to our continued conversation with Jani at another time.
Thank you, Jani.
Thanks bye bye.
Thanks for listening. For more resources. Visit us at inclusivechildcare.org.
