2026 International Early Childhood Inclusion Institute

Fathers play an important role in child development and learning, yet their voices and experiences are often under-represented in conversations around family-professional partnerships. This session will highlight the roles of fathers in early child development and explore perspectives and experiences of fathers of children with complex disabilities. We will present strategies to support fathers' engagement in early childhood settings with a discussion around the application of these approaches across diverse Early Intervention and Early Childhood Education contexts. ,

Children in foster, adoptive, and kinship families often bring unique histories of trauma, loss, and neurodiversity that can significantly impact early learning and behavior. This session equips early childhood professionals with a compassionate, brain-based lens to better understand behaviors that are often misinterpreted as defiance or delay. Participants will learn practical, inclusive strategies to promote safety, regulation, and connection in classrooms and early care settings. The session also highlights the critical role of partnership with caregivers to create consistency and trust across home and school environments. Attendees will leave with tools they can immediately apply to support belonging and resilience for children and families in their care.

We will describe an embedded learning framework for use in birth-to-five contexts. We will discuss the rationale for the framework and the effective practices it includes. We will describe how and why the framework and practices have been adapted over time, based on implementation experiences, user feedback, and research findings. Strategies and resources to support its use will be shared. Discussion with participants on ways the framework and practices have been used successfully in local and state contexts in the United States will set the stage for Part 2 of this session.

In this session, we will expand discussions of the embedded learning framework and its effective practices. We will describe why and how they have been adapted to enhance contextual and cultural fit in two international contexts: New Zealand and Australia. We will discuss examples of current activities and resources supporting the use of the framework and practices in these two contexts. Lessons learned about cross-sector and cross-cultural adaptations will be shared, including opportunities and challenges for different contexts. Participants will have opportunities to engage in discussion with the presenters and other participants about considerations related to the adoption, adaptation, implementation, scale-up, and sustainability of the framework and practices.