Hosted by Northampton Community College

Supported by SCRIPP (Supporting Change and Reform in Inclusive Personnel Preparation) U.S. Department of Education Grant H325N110013

Extending Your ReachA Master Class for Faculty and 

Leaders on Resources, Tools, and Strategies for Supporting Young Children Who Are Culturally, 

Linguistically, and Ability Diverse and Their Families

A Professional Development Series

Camille CatlettFrank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

camille.catlett@unc.edu

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 7:00 – 8:30 PMWednesday, March 6, 2013 7:00 – 8:30 PM

Evidence-based Practices That Support Each Child’s Access to Learning

Who am I? • Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

• Creator of Natural Resources and BabyTalk

• Currently working with colleges in seven states to increase the emphasis on children who are culturally, linguistically, and ability diverse and their families

Camille Catlett

Please be generous

Sharing your examples and experiences, as experienced professional development providers, will benefit us all.

Quick Review: What do we mean by quality?What do we mean by inclusion?

Evidence‐based practicesAssistive technologyUniversal design/Universal design for learning (UD/UDL)

What do we mean by quality?

• Evidence‐based curriculum

• Ratios

• Teacher preparation

• Wages

Things we KNOW that impact quality

• Intentional teachers

• Individual attention

• Opportunities to speak and be listened to

• Time to play

• Family engagement

•Developmentally, culturally/linguistically and individually responsive practices

Things that may be even more important

An effective teacher can have a stronger influence on student achievement than 

poverty, language background, class size, and minority status (the influence of an effective teacher)

• Higher preschool performance and promotion to next grade

• More positive engagement with peers, adults, and learning

• Buffers negative impact of poverty on academic and behavioral outcomes

Engage Families Help Their Children to Succeed

Families can become lifelong partners or lifelong bystanders based on how you engage them in the process of supporting their child. 

Your ability to see each child as “at potential” instead of “at risk” will make a tremendous difference.

Partsof a 

whole

Individually Appropriate

Developmentally Appropriate

Culturally Appropriate

Where have you seen quality?How did you know?

Early Childhood Inclusion: A Joint 

Position Statement of DEC 

and NAEYC

Definition

Early childhood inclusion embodies the values, policies, and practices that support the right of every infant and young child and his or her family, regardless of ability, to participate in a broad range of activities and contexts as full members of families, communities, and society. The desired results of inclusive experiences for children with and without disabilities and their families include a sense of belonging and membership, positive social relationships and friendships, and development and learning to reach their full potential. The defining features of inclusion that can be used to identify high quality early childhood programs and services are access, participation, and supports.

3 defining features of inclusion→ EBP

ACCESS PARTICIPATION SUPPORTS

Defining Features Access

Access – means providing a wide range of activities and environments for every child by removing physical barriers and offering multiple ways to promote learning and development.

Universal Design (UD)/Universal Design for Learning (UDL) 

Assistive Technology (AT) 

Evidence-Based Practices that Support ACCESS

EBP: Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning

UD and UDL mean the removal of physical and structural barriers (UD) and the provision of multiple and varied formats for instruction and learning (UDL).

UDL in every day use

UDL in early childhood

Three key concepts

Three key concepts

Three key concepts

Various formats:kinestheticVISUAL auditory

What can it look like?

UDL: Multiple Means of Engagement

Attention curiosity

Interests

preferences

What can it look like?

UDL: Multiple Means of Expression

Typing/texting

What can it look like?

Children get to choose the method/form in which they express or demonstrate their understanding (that matches the teacher’s learning goal)

There ample opportunities, materials, or guidance to support children in expressing themselves in multiple ways

There are many different things children produce, and/or a variety of observable, evaluative child actions  (differentiated product)

Read About It

See for Yourself

Find It Online

Meet Sophia

• 3 years old• Lives with parents , who arrived this fall from Colombia to take

faculty positions at a local university• Cognitive, motor, and social-emotional skills are age-

appropriate• Speaks and understands Spanish• Has a few English labels; rarely initiates or engages in social

conversation with her English-speaking classmates• Often seems very quiet or withdrawn• Loves: housekeeping area, listening toaudiotape of Spanish songs her mother sentin

Supporting Sophia with UDL

How might you use• multiple means of representation (visual, auditory,

kinesthetic)

• multiple means of engagement (interests, preferences, curiosity, motivation)

• multiple means of expression (speaking, pointing, singing, drawing, gestures)

to support Sophia and children like her?

EBP: Assistive Technology (AT)

Assistive technology (AT) interventions involve a range of strategies to promote a child's access to learning opportunities, from making simple changes to the environment and materials to helping a child use special equipment. 

Source: CONNECT Module 5: Assistive Technology

AT to Support Access to Play

AT to Support Access to Writing

AT to Support Access to Literacy

AT to Support Access to Literacy

AT to Support Access to Learning

AT to Support Access to Friends

Read About It

See for Yourself

Module 5

Examples of Assistive Technology

CONNECT Module 5

http://community.fpg.unc.edu/connect-modules/resources/videos/video-5-10

Find It Online

Adaptations Help All Children

• Adaptations allow teachers to do the same things that they would do with all children—facilitate their participation in activities and routines. Adaptations can be used to:

• Make situations better for a particular child.

• Improve situations for the entire group.

CARA’s Kit

• Creating Adaptations for • Routines and Activities -• adaptations to increase • children’s engagement • and participation in

classroom activities and routines.

Meet Drew

• 3 years old• Lives with parents and two brothers, one older and one

younger• Diagnosed with autism at 30 months• Cognitive skills are near age-appropriate• Significant delays in social and communication skills• Rarely initiates or engages in social conversation• Favorite toys: trains, Disney figurines, markers• Tendency to tantrum• Difficult time following directions• Reacts strongly when told “no”

Thinking about Drew

Drew has a tendency to go to the same area (and stay there) during “choice” time. He often tantrums when asked to make a different choice. What might you try?

Putting It All Together

Drew can find transitions to be very challenging. How could you use the Adaptation Notes to think about ways in which you can help him be successful during transitions?

• Higher preschool performance and promotion to next grade

• More positive engagement with peers, adults, and learning

• Buffers negative impact of poverty on academic and behavioral outcomes

Engage Families Help Their Children to Succeed

Parting Thoughts

Please complete the reflection assignment (page 8 in your handout set) by March 13 and send it to Jacqui Carr Gouveia

Parting Thoughts

Please complete the evaluation (page 9 in your handout set) and return to Jacqui Carr Gouveia by March 13

Thank you for joining us.

The next session will be on April 3.

PowerPoints and handouts from this Elluminate session are available online at http://www.fpg.unc.edu/presentations/evidence‐based‐practices‐support‐each‐childs‐access‐learning