The UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) has produced resources that people from around the globe rely on to support their work on behalf of children and families. Our library includes more than 2,000 journal articles, policy briefs, assessment tools, learning modules, and multimedia to support a variety of audiences.

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, and much of our work focuses on disability research and improving outcomes and support systems for children with disabilities and their families. Below, we have gathered a few of our publications that examine and promote inclusion and equity for children with disabilities.

STEM for Inclusive Excellence and Equity

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been increasingly included as critical topics, even for young children. However, there are exceptions, especially the provision of developmentally appropriate STEM experiences to children with disabilities (CWD). In this article, the authors review evidence concerning this equity gap, including the importance of STEM education to CWD. They found that the early years provide an exceptional opportunity to introduce STEM, but that this potential is often left unrealized, especially for young vulnerable children, who live in poverty, are members of linguistic and ethnic minority groups, or are CWD (some with particular disabilities in STEM domains). Research also indicates the success of some educational approaches. Learn more about inclusion and equity in STEM.

Peer-to-Peer: Building Inclusive Classrooms with Your Neurodivergent Peers

The Peer-to-Peer resources, from the Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, are designed to support adults with autism and are created by young adults for young adults. These resources cover such topics as healthy dating relationships, planning for life after high school and voting. Learn more about the Peer-to-Peer resources.

Inclusive Classroom Profile Training Program: Participant Reliability and Perspectives on Usability and Application

The Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) is designed to assess the quality of classroom practices that support the individualized needs of the children with disabilities in inclusive early childhood programs. The ICP training program was developed to train users of the ICP to administer the measure with accuracy and reliability. The study assessed the extent to which participants in the training program were able to learn to apply the measure with reliability, as well as the extent to which they found the training and the measure useful for their professional practice. Learn more about the ICP training program.

Practicing Inclusion, Doing Justice: Disability, Identity, and Belonging in Early Childhood

The implicit and explicit messages early childhood practitioners send about disability have important consequences for young children's developing identities and sense of belonging. The authors discuss how practitioners can cultivate early learning communities in which the identities of all young children, with and without disabilities, are affirmed. Drawing on research and examples from practice, they explain how early educators can challenge and change deficit-based assumptions about disability and other forms of diversity by practicing inclusion. Learn about practicing inclusion to promote belonging in early childhood.