Meeting the Needs of Children with Disabilities and Their Families

Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/meeting-the-needs-of-children-with-disabilities-and-their-families/5020832/

Raising a child with a disability often makes it difficult to find child care. Many families learn that child care programs are simply unable to meet the special needs of their children, while specialized facilities have limited space, and specialized private care is expensive. To meet the needs of all children, Head Start and Early Head Start programs across the country work to enroll children with disabilities; to screen all enrolling children for physical and cognitive development; to fully include all children in classroom settings; and to support families in ­advocating for their children.

Federal Mandate

Since 1972, Head Start programs have been federally mandated to have at least 10 percent of their enrollment be children with disabilities, as identified by the local school system. This means that the doors of Head Start are open to children who might not otherwise have access to early learning settings.

Lori Smith didn’t know what to do when her two-year-old son Gavin was continually being sent home from a regular child care program for being too aggressive with other children. (He was eventually expelled from the program right after he turned three.) She was missing work to care for him and needed a long-term solution. At first ...