What can happen when a child with disabilities is included in a traditional care setting with their peers without disabilities―where they can interact, learn, and play together in a universally designed environment, with adaptations, modifications, or accommodations built to support their full participation? For decades, the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Institute (FPG) has led the way, proving that with the right institutional support, technical assistance, professional development, implementation, and advocacy, young children both with and without disabilities thrive in remarkable ways when they’re in inclusive environments.

Earlier this year, the International Early Childhood Inclusion Institute celebrated a quarter-century of FPG’s longstanding work in early childhood inclusion. Presentations and discussions at the event recognized the voices and experiences of children with disabilities and their families and highlighted the critical contributions of individuals with disabilities, families, practitioners, policymakers, and many other leaders in the field who have worked tirelessly to create more inclusive environments.

We had a chance to speak with some of this year’s presenters and attendees and have been sharing those conversations with you in a short series of articles over the past several weeks. In this article, the last in the series, you’ll hear from Sandy Flacke, the Maine Department of Education’s deputy director of the Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education and early childhood special education coordinator.

What drew you to the Inclusion Institute?

I was drawn to attending the Inclusion Institute because I heard from other early childhood special education directors around the country about what a wonderful conference it is. And that it was worthwhile to attend and connect with other 619 directors from around the country, but also the sessions were directly related to our roles at the state level.

How does inclusion manifest itself in your life?

Inclusion has been a central theme in my life. I've done a lot of reflecting on this in my new role, and I really feel like it started when I was a child and not really understanding why some of my friends weren't in our typical classroom with us, and they were removed and went to a different school or a different classroom. So, the curious part of me was trying to figure out why people were not included.

I've also been drawn to helping and supporting people that are marginalized or not seen as equal in society. And so, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life, I went to college as a freshman and really did not have a clear path forward. But, I knew that I wanted to work with children, so I earned my elementary education degree, but I tailored a minor in that area for—at that time it was—developmental disabilities. And I really had to build that minor myself; it was not one that was offered for every student. But I had expressed my interest in this area to my advisor and, luckily, they said, “Well, let's see how we can help you do this.” I don't want to date myself, but this was many years ago. Now, if I were to go to college, that would be an acceptable minor or focus for an education degree. Back then, it wasn't. So that kind of led me to my first position working at Head Start in the field of early care, in education, and in the state of Maine for child development services, etc.

I've always kept an interest and focus in the early care, education, and early childhood special education world. So, it's kind of led me to my current role, which is just amazing. I am so lucky to be in the role that I am. I feel like it's the pinnacle of all of my experiences and degrees that I've earned to lead me to where I am.

What were you most looking forward to as part of this year’s conference?

I know that for the early childhood special education state directors there's been a history of sessions that are geared toward them. So that state level focus for the sessions.

But I also wanted to learn more about what are preschools needing right now for support and professional development. I've been in my role for a year at the state level, and I feel like I'm missing that part. What are preschool teachers and preschool centers needing? To learn more about what they are wanting to learn more about.

So, I've been very intrigued by the sessions that are designed for them and attending them. So, I'm learning more; trying to find a balance between the state level sessions and then learning more about what preschool educators are wanting in the field right now.

What is the role of state government in early childhood inclusion?

I definitely feel like I've learned over the past year that the state has a responsibility to ensure that children or students with disabilities are receiving an equitable and inclusive education, and that includes 3 to 5 year olds in that early childhood special education, but then also our K through grade 12 population as well. So, it's a continuum of programing for children. And what we know is that if children are removed early on in their educational career, they tend to stay removed from their peers and have a more difficult time getting back into regular education classrooms. We also know that the research shows that children make more growth the more time that they spend with their peers.

There seems to be a disconnect in regard to that practice in preschool settings and in K through 12 settings as well. So, the the role of the state is to provide that guidance and technical assistance that supports educators learning more about it, but also finding out what are the barriers to inclusion. What is happening in a classroom that stops a teacher or, has a teacher say to an IEP team meeting, “I can't educate this child in my classroom.”

So, really looking at the preventative piece of this and the professional development piece is essential. States can't just be monitoring and finding districts or preschools out of compliance for inclusion. You've got to be embedding layers of support and education. This also means working with your higher education institutes to develop teacher prep programs that prepare teachers for having students of all abilities in their classroom.

I also teach some college courses, and I find that was also one of the things that I wanted to do in my career was to give back and to help future teachers better understand the landscape of classrooms today and the barriers that teachers are facing and the reality of what it's like to be in the classroom. I think many teachers get into being a teacher because of their experience in school. They were a good student. They had great experiences. They probably had a teacher that was a role model for them that's their North Star. They want to be like a specific teacher, or they have a passion about preschool age children or students with disabilities. But, they might not necessarily have experienced having students with disabilities alongside them in a classroom to really understand what a typical classroom is like currently.

What would you share with future Inclusion Institute attendees?

I would love to share with future attendees of the Inclusion Institute to come experience it. The Friday Center is beautiful; the hotel is two steps away. It's a wonderful walk over. But more importantly, the content, the speakers, the keynote, this week was amazing.

The other piece that I really enjoyed was the time at lunch and during breaks and breakfast when you can mingle and meet other people. At our lunch table, we met some preschool teachers from North Carolina, and we just had some great conversations about what are their challenges in the classroom. They were talking about the end of the year celebrations that they were having. So, it really kind of connects people from all different levels of serving children together in one space. It's been an amazing experience.