SHINE: Fostering sustainable inclusion and belonging in early childhood

Community safety

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

The number of children with significant disabilities has doubled since 2000. During the pandemic, 16% of young children missed being diagnosed or receiving early intervention. Now in classrooms, this group has increased the special education population in Los Angeles.
Studies also show that children now in pre-school and kindergarten are significantly behind in core skills due to the pandemic. In one survey, teachers reported that there was an increase in their students who struggle with:
· 94% - listening and following directions
· 77% - tasks involving fine and gross motor skills · 85% - sharing, cooperating, and taking turns
These “soft skills” are core for academic success in areas such as STEAM, which requires collaboration, creative problem solving, persistence, and more. Indeed, they are foundational for successful careers, relationships, and lives. These combined factors leave already-stressed early childhood educators to serve this vulnerable population with few tools.

“We don’t have enough adults in schools generally. The adults we do have aren’t always adequately trained to address students with special needs,” says Heather Hough, Director of Policy Analysis for California Education. “If inclusion is the goal, that means general education teachers need to know how to teach students with disabilities.”
After decades of delivering inclusion programs in K-12 schools and at universities, our SHINE equips teachers with the tools to serve an increasingly diverse student population by helping them:
• Structure intentional, inclusive SEL experiences;
• Embed inclusive SEL across their content;
• Utilize play-based learning to foster ability awareness, empathy, and compassion;
• Build communication strategies for non-speaking children;
• Modify learning environments for neurodiverse children; and
• Sustain inclusion through planning and family/community engagement.
The content of the initiative’s tool kit and training includes: • A 9-module online course that combines short videos and accompanying written material walking them through key aspects of the content;
• Downloadable activities to teach inclusive social emotional learning;
• A Lakeshore Learning activity kit that helps educators bring the tools to life;
• Digital resource library for ongoing professional development and inclusion support; and
• Live trainings on a variety of topics to reinforce learning and dialogue among educators, administrators, university partners, and parents.

Today, 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with Autism. According to Autism Speaks, over 60% of these children and young adults experience bullying. Preventing bullying, harm and harassment in schools needs to start early by fostering compassion, understanding, and social/emotional interdependence in students with and without disabilities. SHINE’s vision for success is to create early learning centers that foster this safety and social connectivity sustainably. The core skills learned there translate to elementary school and into adulthood. The ultimate success is that these students carry this compassion forward to create schools, workplaces, and communities that are physically, emotionally, and socially safe for all.
Organizationally, our benchmark for success is to scale this to a statewide and national program. This year, it is being embedded in two university early childhood departments, training future teachers in best practices. The statewide scale-up is planned for 2025-2026.

Our team will work with the advisory board and a university partner to implement the following:
1. A 3-part survey will measure educator and para-educator perceptions about inclusion before/during/after the training, allowing us to evaluate both their understanding and practice of the information provided. 2. A post-pilot focus group for participants will provide input into areas that need improvement in the content and delivery of the tool kit.
3. In partnership with University of California, Irvine, Inclusion Matters by Shane’s Inspiration will design an assessment tool that measures the children’s perceptions about how similar they are to other children taking part in the program before/during/after the pilot has ended. It will also measure the level of contact that children with and without disabilities have before/during/after. This will provide a baseline understanding of how the inclusion strategies provided shift two key goals: perception and organic student interaction.