Building Innovation for Inclusive Child Care Settings
Overview | The Case for Inclusive Programming | Inclusive Programming Toolkit
Facility Roadmap | The Team
Overview
The Building Innovation for Equitable Child Care (BIEC) Inclusive Child Care Settings toolkit, facilities roadmap, and training modules offer practical guidance for designing, implementing, and optimizing environments that foster high-quality, inclusive early childhood experiences. These resources address both programmatic and facility design considerations, ensuring comprehensive support for children, families, and educators.
This collection was developed through a collaboration between Orchid Montessori School and its co-location partner, Access Speech and Allied Therapies— a program of the nonprofit Autism Included that has been providing individualized therapeutic services to young children and their families since 2017— and the design professionals from Ashley McGraw Architects, with support from the LISC Child Care & Early Learning and LISC RI Child Care & Early Learning Facilities Fund teams.
The guidance offered in these resources stems from insights gained during the facility search and program design process for the Orchid Montessori Center for Inclusive Education, where Access Speech and Allied Therapies has a satellite office on the school campus and can provide push-in support to students with speech, OT, and mental health support needs throughout the day. These tools are designed to empower developers, owners, operators, and educators by providing them with the knowledge and confidence to create spaces and programming that support high-quality inclusive experiences. Additionally, they aim to equip therapists with strategies for delivering push-in services within child care settings.
The Case for Inclusive Programming
This 30-minute training module introduces the key terminology, laws, and practical benefits of inclusive child care programming. Information includes case studies from inclusive early childhood programs around the country.
View the presentation slides here [+]...
Inclusive Programming Toolkit
The inclusion toolkit for child care operators offers a comprehensive guide with concrete resources for developing and supporting an inclusive program model. Information provided includes rationale for opening an inclusion program, tips on sustainable budget models, staffing, marketing tools and strategies, and more.
Facilities Roadmap: Inclusive Child Care Design Drivers and Space Considerations
Coming Soon!
The Inclusive Design Driver guide has been developed to support early childhood providers, community developers, architects, and designers in proactively designing flexible child care environments that can accommodate the diverse needs of all learners. Each “design driver” represents a feature of the environment that is purposeful, authentic, and strategically designed to support teachers, staff, and families, and to empower children.
Please note: While the facility design, layout, and furniture, fixture, and equipment recommendations aim to support inclusive experiences in a variety of child care settings, some aspects of the facilities tool are specific to the Montessori educational philosophy and the older toddler to preschool age range, based on the unique needs of the Orchid Montessori School’s Center for Inclusive Education model and case study.
Register for the webinar on January 28, 2025 below.
About the Team
The Orchid Montessori Center for Inclusive Education is a team of teachers, therapeutic professionals and parents, passionate about providing a high-quality early learning experience for every child. Our extensive, diverse professional backgrounds have allowed us to design a unique approach that allows each individual child to thrive.
The Center is a collaboration between Orchid Montessori and Access Speech and Allied Therapies, a program of the nonprofit Autism Included. We have three small early childhood classrooms serving toddlers and preschoolers. Access Therapy has a satellite office in the building to provide push-in therapeutic services throughout the day for students who qualify.
Partners
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The Early Childhood Education Studio at Ashley McGraw Architects is recognized as a national leader in the design of early education facilities along with nature-inspired playscapes for young children. Principal and Early Childhood Education Leader, Mike Lindstrom, has over 30 years of experience and is a leader in the design of play and learning environments for children. He has been a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and regularly presents at the group’s annual conferences nationwide. Lindstrom has served as an advisor to the American Academy of Pediatrics on Child Care Center Design, taught at the Institute on Childcare Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design for seven years, and has been instrumental in organizing the World Forum “onDesign” conferences at UC Berkeley and in Rotorua, New Zealand. He is also on the board of several nonprofit organizations and writes, speaks, and leads workshops on sustainability and the design of children’s educational environments.
