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An increasing number of children with disabilities learn in inclusive educational settings, or spaces that bring children with and without disabilities together for some or all of the learning day (DEC/NAEYC 2009). The idea that all children deserve high-quality education alongside their peers was codified into law in 2004 with the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. Among other provisions, IDEA was designed to put into place the supports and services children with disabilities need in order to learn and participate in everyday instructional routines and activities (Valle & Connor 2019).
What this means is that early childhood educators in a range of settings today are more likely to work with children with physical, developmental, and/or cognitive disabilities. Research shows that while many of these teachers have positive attitudes toward inclusion, they worry about their limited knowledge of disabilities. They also feel unprepared to work with children with disabilities because of the belief or assumption that these children will add more challenges to their classrooms (Monsen, Ewing, & Kwoka 2014; Muccio & Kidd 2018; Yu 2019).
This feeling of unpreparedness can result from the ways educators and other professionals view disabilities (see "The Medical Versus Social Model of Disability" on page 16). From a systemic point of view, it may also come from the preservice preparation that early childhood educators receive. Indeed, studies RIWHDFKHUHGXFDWLRQ¿QGWKDWSURJUDPVRIWHQGRQRW adequately prepare general early childhood educators to work with children with disabilities (Chadwell, Roberts, & Daro 2020).
In addition, professionals' own perceptions and beliefs about abilities are often unexamined, including about ability and about race. $EOHLVP is a form of implicit bias that "results in discrimination against individuals with disabilities and impacts inclusive practices in the early childhood classroom" (Friedman, Masterson, & Wright 2022, 52). Implicit bias related to race also has immediate and long-term effects, such as in the disproportionate number of children of color receiving referrals for special education services (e.g., CCBD 2013).
Without understanding how racism and ableism "work together to constitute whiteness and ability as normative," educators may continue teaching practices that align with such norms (Beneke & Cheatham 2020, 264). This can lead to implicit biases that affect teachers' interpretations of children's behavior. Thus, aspects of children's identities-gender, race/ethnicity, and disability-should be...