Description
The first webinar in this series will introduce participants to the concept of early childhood inclusion for children with disabilities and developmental delays, including ethical and legal obligations and best practice in early childhood intervention. The following three webinars will assist participants to plan for and implement research-based Individual Learning Plans for young children with disabilities/delays in collaboration with their families and other professionals.
All participants will receive access to a facilitated peer community. Following the series, you will also have the option to attend a free interactive problem-solving session where we will reflect on how to embed best practices in inclusive early education into your daily work with children and families.
The development of this webinar series was funded through the NSW Department of Education’s Sector Development Program.
Cost
$90 per webinar
Webinar Descriptions
In this 90-minute webinar you will be introduced to the concept of early childhood inclusion for children with disabilities and developmental delays, including ethical and legal obligations related to including children with disability or developmental delay in your early childhood education and care service. You will reflect on what participation and engagement of children with disabilities or delays can look like in practice and identify potential barriers to inclusion.
An overview of best practice in early childhood intervention will be provided, including examples of how these practices can be implemented in regular early childhood education and care settings.
At the conclusion of this webinar, you will have the knowledge to:
- identify best practice in inclusive early childhood education.
- describe the ethical and legal reasons for the inclusion of children with disabilities and additional needs in early childhood education and care programs.
Links to National Quality Standard Descriptors
1.1.1 Approved learning framework
1.1.3 Program learning opportunities
6.1 Supportive relationships with families
6.2.2 Access and Participation
Links to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
1.6 Strategies to support full participation with disability
4.1 Establish and implement inclusive and positive interactions to engage and support all students in classroom activities
NESA Accreditation
Completing Inclusion in Early Childhood Services will contribute 1 hour and 30 minutes of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Students/children with Disability addressing standard descriptors 1.6.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Cost: $90
In this 90-minute webinar you will be guided through the process of taking observations that will assist you in planning for the inclusion of a child or children with disabilities or developmental delay within your early childhood service. An overview of the planning cycle will be provided, along with an overview of different types of observations and their purposes. Case studies will demonstrate how different types of data collection can be used to inform planning.
At the conclusion of this webinar, you will have the knowledge to:
- record objective observations to support conversations with families about their child’s development.
- record observations that demonstrate the level of education supports required.
Links to National Quality Standard Descriptors
1.3.1 Assessment and planning cycle
1.3.3 Information for families
6.1 Supportive relationships with families
6.2.2 Access and participation
Links to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
5.1 Assess student learning
7.3 Engage with the parents/carers
NESA Accreditation
Completing Early Childhood Inclusion Step 1: Observations and planning for inclusion will contribute 1 hour and 30 minutes of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Students/children with Disability addressing standard descriptors 5.1.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Cost: $90
In this 90-minute webinar you will be presented with strategies to support the inclusion of children with disability or developmental delay in your early childhood service. You will be guided through how to best structure your early childhood environment to support the access, engagement, and participation of all children in regular routines and learning experiences. An overview of different evidence-based strategies will be presented, along with real-life examples of how they can be implemented in early childhood services.
At the conclusion of this webinar, you will have the knowledge to:
- structure the early childhood environment to support the engagement and participation of all children in early childhood routines and learning experiences, including environmental changes to improve access and support participation.
- implement strategies to support the child’s participation and learning within the routines and learning experiences of the early childhood setting (as written in the ILP).
Links to National Quality Standard Descriptors
1.1.3 Program learning opportunities
1.2.1 Intentional teaching
3.2.1 Inclusive environment
5.1.1 Positive educator to child interactions
Links to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
3.3 Use teaching strategies
3.5 Inclusive environment
4.1 Support student participation
NESA Accreditation
Completing Early Childhood Inclusion Step 2: Strategies to support inclusion will contribute 1 hour and 30 minutes of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Students/children with Disability addressing standard descriptors 4.1.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Cost: $90
In this 90-minute webinar you will be guided through the process of writing and implementing an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) for a child with disability or developmental delay in your early childhood service. Over 90 minutes, you will learn about what an ILP is and when one should be used. You will be guided through how to use observations and other data collected to write an ILP in collaboration with their colleagues, the child’s family and other professionals. Finally, tips on how to work collaboratively to implement, monitor, review and update the ILP will be provided.
At the conclusion of this webinar, you will have the knowledge to:
- explain what an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) is and when one should be used
- develop an ILP
- monitor, review and update the ILP in collaboration with others including colleagues, the child’s family and other professionals.
Links to National Quality Standard Descriptors
1.1.2 Child-centred
1.1.3 Program learning opportunities
1.3.1 Assessment and planning cycle
6.1.2 Parent views are respected
6.2.2 Access and participation
Links to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
NESA Accreditation
Completing Early Childhood Inclusion Step 3: Developing and implementing Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) will contribute 1 hour and 30 minutes of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Students/children with Disability addressing standard descriptors 3.1.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Cost: $90
If you attend one or more of the webinars in this series, you will be invited to join us in a smaller-group interactive session where we will reflect on how to embed best practices in inclusive early education into your daily work with children and families. Together, we will discuss how you have put the webinar content into practice in your setting and reflect on questions such as:
- How do you respond when a parent tells you their child has a disability?
- How do you advocate for inclusion in your service and inform your community about your commitment to inclusion?
- What are some barriers to recording observations/data that you have encountered? How could you overcome these?
- How do you plan for a difficult discussion with a family when you have concerns about their child’s development?
- What observation/data collection method or teaching strategy did you try after the webinar? How did it go?
- How can we best collaborate with other professionals?
- How can we communicate to ensure that all team members are aware of the objectives and teaching strategies included in the ILP?
- How can we record that the ILP has been implemented daily and communicate ongoing progress to the child’s family?
Join our waitlist
Please join our waitlist to hear about future offerings of this series.