Highlights

Relive the moment - watch Shelby's presentation!

Catch a snippet of the Q&A segment that day! Hear what Mrs. Loke (Director, NIEC), Ms. Claire Chan (Lecturer, NIEC-TP) and Shelby have to say about Inclusive Practices. 

Thinking and being inclusive is a journey   
By Rathi Devi D/O Balachandran, Lead Curriculum Specialist, NIEC
April 11, 2022  

Being inclusive is a journey in which every person should venture on together. In a preschool environment, we acknowledge that however different our journeys may look, we are optimistic that we will reach our destination. Having a foundation of solid relationship in the work environment and with the children in the class may be an underlying solution to most perceived barriers during this journey.

So, how can we start this journey of thinking and being inclusive when there is so much happening in our everyday classroom?

Inclusivity can be thought of as everyone participating and being meaningfully engaged, and as a result successfully meeting your classroom goals and the learning objectives of the children.

Embracing inclusion also encompasses adopting a strengths-based approach in our vision when we look at a child. As educators, we are attentive to the interests and unique abilities of each child almost intuitively. The values of care and compassion manifest as we look at every child, with or without developmental needs, as a child first who has so much potential to learn and grow based on their individual attributes. It is vital to extend the care and compassion to us educators as we assure ourselves that our existing lesson plan for example, is good enough and we are doing well. Including everyone merely means taking a step up to increase engagement for all children, mindfully looking if anyone is left out and ensuring all children are having fun in class. 

It is important to remember that we evaluate the child’s learning and not the child. For some of us, this may be hard in the beginning. For starters, it is a good idea to celebrate and encourage the small wins and milestones together with fellow colleagues and all the children in the class. To help you further, here is an example of a common challenge we educators may face and strategies to counter it.

 Challenge: 1-2 children are inattentive and uninterested in the activities/materials presented to them to engage with.

Possible strategy: Giving child/children choice and grouping them by learning modality or interest.

You may choose the activity or material but provide the child choice. By doing so, the likeliness that a child will participate is higher as he/she is empowered and intrinsically motivated to engage. In the activities and materials presented, include objects of interest where possible. Another way is to split the children into 2 - 3 groups, prepare the activities or materials accordingly and get each group to choose what they want to engage in. If there is a child with developmental needs in the group, when providing choice, include a highly motivating object within the activities/materials or explicitly offer a high interest object as a reward upon completion of activity.

If those don’t work, here are some other key strategies to manage behaviour in the classroom! (applicable for use for all students):  

Positive reinforcements: Reward positive behaviours in class through specific and descriptive praise, motivate peer encouragement through practicing common class values or recording via a chart.

Replacement: Teaching appropriate behaviours to replace inappropriate behaviours in the classroom. For instance, teaching children to express themselves using words instead of hitting others with their hands or throwing things.

Calm down spaces: Usually used for children for brief periods of times, when tantrums have escalated and child is unable to calm down. All children in the class should have been taught to effectively engage in self-regulation techniques when they have to move to this calm down space before they re-join the main activity.

Now that you have these strategies, coupled with your sound knowledge of children’s abilities and established relationships with your fellow educators, you are ready to take on any challenges that may occur in your classroom! 

Click here to download a copy of the digital handout for a checklist you can place in your classroom to act as a daily reminder and a template of the movement cube to use with your children.

Click here for useful learning resources which you can use to enhance your knowledge on inclusive strategies to better support children with developmental needs.