2025 International Inclusion Institute

The My Abilities First (MAF) project, initiated in 2016, emphasizes empowering children and their families through self-expression and the use of positive language in children's services. In 2020, Taiwan joined this global MAF project by introducing My Abilities ID Cards (ABID) for children under 12 years old with special needs and placing these ABIDs on the first page of children's individual profiles to encourage practitioners to focus on children's strengths rather than their weaknesses. Additionally, Taiwan has expanded this transformative approach by incorporating ABID into physiotherapy education, highlighting the importance of a strength-based approach for children with special needs. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a discussion about challenges and solutions as well as lessons learned across differing contexts.

There are three subtitles to introduce the global promotion of My Abilities First project and Taiwanese development and strategies to facilitate application of My Abilities ID Cards. Three subtitles are: 1. Schiariti Veronica- My Abilities First: Global Promotion of Children's Right to Self-Expression. 2. Liao HF- Promoting My Abilities First: Launching My Abilities ID Card Demonstration Sites in Taiwan 3.Wang PJ- Facilitating Positive Language in HealthcareEducation in Taiwan: My Abilities ID Cards

As early childhood professionals and parents of children with a disability, Jani and Latisha have spent a lot of time thinking and wondering about relationships between parents and members of the early childhood field.  These are powerful partnerships! How we can learn together using these unique perspectives?  What are the most important components in the family-educator relationship? What makes for a successful partnership? Those questions and more will be explored in a session meant for families, educators and all early childhood "inclusionists." Join us to share stories, discuss the evidence, and basically just try to figure it out together.

This session brings to life the perspectives of young musicians with differing abilities and their families participating in Sinfonía por el Perú, a nationally recognized social music program. By centering beneficiary and parent voices, this presentation highlights real experiences, expectations, and the essential role of family engagement in fostering truly inclusive music education.


Key Takeaways:

• Youth Voices in Inclusion: Insights from interviews with young musicians with various abilities on their perceptions and expectations toward inclusion. 
• The Power of Family Engagement: Introduction of the Parent Package, a practical resource designed to empower families as active partners in their child's musical and social development.
• Building Supportive, Inclusive Environments: Practical strategies for educators, administrators, and community leaders to strengthen inclusion within music programs, ensuring meaningful and sustainable participation for all.

This presentation will offer both pilot-tested insights and practical approaches, equipping participants with ideas to foster a culture of inclusion in their communities.

This interactive session will provide an opportunity for family leaders and practitioners to discuss ideas, tools, and strategies supporting the inclusion of young children across settings. Family leaders will share their life-changing experiences with family partnership and leadership initiatives that supported them in learning about the state’s early intervention and early childhood special education programs, advocating for high quality inclusion practices, and providing leadership and support for other families across maternal and early childhood systems.

This session features parents of young children with autism who share their perspectives on receiving early intervention support designed to enhance their ability to foster their children's participation in everyday routines. Activities such as toothbrushing, dressing, going to the park, and mealtimes are often impacted when young children experience differences in social and communication development. Parents in this session will share their experiences and impressions of how helpful it is when early intervention supports focus on bolstering their children's learning outside of play routines. 

Making individualized Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) placement decisions by first considering a regular early childhood program is a requirement under IDEA. Join the conversation to explore key data, factors, and leveraging points of your state, district and local community to identify:where children are who are key partners;which policies influence your actions, how funding sources may be used, and a commitment to action to support and expand inclusive opportunities for young children with disabilities. Tools and resources will be shared.

This session will explore the unique challenges that early childhood families, with children from birth to five, face when navigating grief, especially in the context of raising children with exceptionalities. We will address the emotional and practical complexities of grief and caregiving, incorporating the mental health needs of both infants and young children. Participants will gain valuable insights into fostering resilience and understanding and providing effective support for families while navigating grief through the lens of early childhood development and mental health.

In this session, adults with disabilities discuss their journey from the early years into adulthood. While systems and services have improved incrementally over time, there are still barriers to full inclusion and belonging in society. The panelists will share their stories about challenges, supports, as well as key considerations of what practitioners, families, and communities could do within their spheres of influence to support children to reach their full potential and truly belong wherever they go.

This session aims at presenting current evidence of everyday practices for nurturing peer interactions and supporting positive social engagement in early childhood classrooms. Participants will review recommended practices, watch video clips of classroom implementation, and discuss ways inclusive practices can be individualized to support the diverse learning profiles of children.

For inclusion to work, early intervention/early childhood special education
specialists
need to work collaboratively with caregivers (parents, teachers, etc.) to find
strategies to help children function in their everyday routines. Collaborative
consultation, sometimes known as coaching, requires the specialist’s obtaining
context before suggesting a strategy. This process stands in contrast to an expert
approach, where the specialist makes recommendations with inadequate context.

In an era of rapid technological advancement, families and students with disabilities have unprecedented opportunities to enhance advocacy through various advanced technologies. This presentation will delve into how tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and digital communicationplatforms can empower families to better navigate educational systems and access essentialresources. We will explore practical applications, from AI-driven learning aids and assistivetechnologies to online communities and advocacy tools that streamline communication witheducators and professionals.

Research has shown that the primary challenge to supporting children with disabilities in regular early childhood settings like child care and Head Start rests within our own attitudes and beliefs. Therefore, in order to find innovative approaches to challenges, we should start by reflecting on our own mindset. How did we come to our understanding of the notion of disability in the first place? Are these beliefs getting in the way of our approaches toward children, families and colleagues? Let's explore it together! Join us to consider alternatives to the common definition of disability and how this alternative way of thinking can impact programs and practices. Together we will reflect on our attitudes and beliefs about disability, learn through storytelling and reflection, and consider an approach for supporting children with disabilities to foster change and create solutions. Together we can expand our thinking and find solutions!

In my work with tribes one of the things that has stood out has been that every full tribal language immersion school or classroom has almost no behavior issues. We will look at some of the commonalities of why this may be happening when another school or classroom  from the same community may show different results. This includes schools in the Southwest, Northern Woodland areas, Northwest, Alaska and Hawaii, all of them seem to have this in common. We will talk about how language and culture can influence behavior and what is so unique in these settings, such as tribal languages being verb driven instead of noun driven as English is. How sign language impacts behavior. I have looked at the methodologies over the years used in these learning environments and we will have a open discussion on what I have learned, along with the natural process of inclusion being built into the language and culture.

Frequent, universal screenings in pediatric primary care are critical for identifying whether children are meeting key developmental milestones. Early and consistent screenings play a vital role in detecting potential developmental delays, behavioral concerns, and social-emotional challenges—issues that, if left unaddressed, can significantly impact a child’s long-term health and well-being. Beyond flagging potential concerns, these screenings reveal referral needs, ensuring families gain access to essential services and interventions. HealthySteps (HS) is an evidence-based program that strengthens pediatric care by embedding an early childhood specialist and behavioral health promotion/prevention expert into the primary care team, specifically serving families with children from birth to age three. HS Specialists collaborate with the primary care team and caregivers to promote healthy child development. In addition to providing positive parenting guidance, they support early identification and care coordination and systems navigation--ensuring families receive timely, effective connections to critical resources. This session will offer an in-depth overview of the HealthySteps approach, highlighting best practices for linking families to services, and strategies for equipping families to navigate the complexities of accessing care. Participants will be encouraged to engage throughout the session by asking questions and sharing their experiences