Early Choices Partner Feature
In 2021 The Nora Project had the pleasure of meeting the team behind Early CHOICES, an Inclusion Initiative of the Illinois State Board of Education. Read on to learn more about them and the resources they provide!
When you think of a community, what do you imagine? Think specifically of the members of that community. Does everyone look the same? Does everyone use the same mode of communication? The strongest communities are those that are inclusive. Inclusive communities thrive because of the diversity of individuals in the community. Inclusive communities are stronger because of their core belief that everyone has something valuable to contribute. But where do we start to build an inclusive community and world? Here at Early CHOICES, we believe that inclusion starts at birth.
The Early CHOICES inclusion initiative promotes increasing high quality inclusive early care and education for each and every child, birth to age 5. Our goal is to increase the number of children with disabilities receiving specialized services in regular early care and education settings. Many of us have different ideas of what inclusion means. Simply put, inclusion isn’t a place. It’s the values, policies and practices that uphold the belief that all children, regardless of ability, have the right to participate in their communities.
As a family member, we have hopes and dreams for our children and we may not know quite how to make those dreams a reality, how to advocate for inclusion or what inclusion means for us. Early CHOICES created a new resource with families, for families, to help. The Understanding Inclusion Modules are free, on-demand and designed with embedded resources. We cover topics from defining inclusion to advocating for inclusion. They are bite sized for busy families and available in Spanish and English.
The Understanding Inclusion modules can be found here. Please follow us on social media for more resources and opportunities on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @earlychoicesorg.