2026 International Early Childhood Inclusion Institute

You are your child’s first teacher and their strongest advocate. This workshop is designed for families to explore how we can work together to ensure your child doesn't just attend school, but truly belongs. Explore the definition of inclusion, what it looks like for families, and how to work hand in hand with educators and providers. Walk away with key information to make confident decisions and to advocate for your child.
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Join us to learn how we created a toolkit for families that is designed for families by families to help them advocate for inclusion from the start. The toolkit is designed to support families in navigating inclusion in the early childhood system. Each resource is accompanied with links and guidance to help families and providers understand and use the tools effectively. We will share our strategies for marketing the toolkit and engaging stakeholders in sharing the toolkit across our state.

Effective coaching starts with the right match. In this session, participants will explore the online Coaching Match Tool and related resources. This practical tool helps leaders and coaches align coaching strategies with educator needs, experience, and context. We’ll walk through how the tool works, discuss evidence-based principles behind matching, and share examples of how programs have used these resources to build capacity for inclusion. Participants will leave with actionable steps for integrating the Coaching Match Tool into their own systems, along with access to templates and guides that make implementation easy.

This session will focus on intentional strategies to build a partnership between special education service providers and child care providers. Participants will look at reflections from child care educators about partnering and investigate potential solutions to barriers. Participants will also create an individualized plan for both sharing information with child care providers and asking questions to better understand the child care setting.

This session will explore how Learn the Signs. Act Early (LTSAE) and the DEC Recommended Practices can be integrated to advance high‑quality early childhood inclusion. Participants will examine specifically how early identification, responsive instruction, and collaborative teaming can strengthen equitable access, participation, and support for all children across early childhood settings. The session will be led by presenters serving as both Act Early and DEC aRPy Ambassadors that have experience supporting the implementation of family-engaged developmental monitoring and the Recommended Practices in diverse programs. Presenters will share recommendations and examples from two states illustrating how programs have enhanced inclusion through early identification, cross‑system collaboration, and intentional use of the DEC Recommend Practices.

Family engagement is a cornerstone of equitable and effective assessment practices in inclusive early childhood education. This presentation explores how families can be meaningfully positioned as partners—not simply informants—in the assessment process. Drawing on culturally and linguistically responsive frameworks, the session highlights strategies for collaborating with families to gather authentic information about children’s strengths, needs, and everyday learning contexts. Participants will examine approaches that honor family expertise, promote shared decision-making, and support assessment practices that are inclusive, strengths-based, and developmentally appropriate. Practical examples and reflective tools will be shared to help educators and practitioners build reciprocal partnerships that enhance assessment quality and improve outcomes for young children and their families.