Alberta researchers are joining forces with child-care centres in the province in order to create more inclusive spaces for children with disabilities.
Researchers from the University of Alberta found that although there is support for inclusion in the province’s child-care spaces, staff require targeted training and increased access to support in order to truly adopt inclusive practices.
“Even though providers overwhelmingly have positive attitudes about inclusion, they still experience some barriers to including kids with disabilities in their programs,” said Lesley Wiart, lead author of the study.
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The researchers tracked 318 child-care centres and 25 day homes in Alberta.
They found that 36 per cent of the child-car centres and 29 per cent of the day homes had turned away children with disabilities from their facilities.
Thirty-six per cent of the centres and 40 per cent of the day homes said they were didn’t know how to access specialized support services for the children in their facilities.
Moreover, 54 per cent of centres and 96 per cent of day homes were not physically accessible.
Wiart hopes her research will help inform policy on inclusive child-care spaces in the province.
“There is a definite need for targeted training and support for staff at child-care centres around inclusion practices.”
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