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Special Topics

Special topics for childcare include making accommodations for children with special needs and using trauma-informed care.  

     
 
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Accommodating Children with Special Needs

Childcare should be inclusive of all children, regardless of ability. Creating an inclusive facility will require extra training and facility accommodations to allow children who have special needs to enjoy a similar experience as those without. If you accept CCS scholarships, you could get some financial help in making your facility more accessible. Scholarships for children with special needs may be up to 190% more than the standard rate. Contact Workforce Solutions Inclusion for more information or visit Workforce Solutions’ mentoring and resources page for childcare providers of children with disabilities.

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Screening Tools for Childcare Providers

If you have a child in your facility under three, you can make a referral to Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) for the child to receive special services. Find the nearest ECI services to your facility by searching the Early Childhood Intervention website.

Testing for early childhood disabilities or developmental delays often requires parents to request the service. Act Early Texas! (AET) has screening tools to see if the children at your facility are meeting developmental milestones. This screening tool can help you to encourage parents of children over three to have their children formally tested to receive special education services.

Children between three and five years old with special needs qualify for free appropriate public education (FAPE) per federal guidelines. The Texas Education Agency provides resources for Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) for this group of children, which allows them to receive special education services in preschool, home, or community settings.

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What Childcare Providers Need to Know About Child Find

Child Find is a Texas program based on a federal mandate to find and help serve all children from birth to 21 who have special needs. Local education agencies (LEAs), which are typically school districts, must actively find children who need help, evaluate them, and provide services. Even children in private school qualify for evaluation and special needs support.

ECI is called Part C of this service for children under three years old. Anyone can refer a child to ECI, even childcare providers.

Part B of Child Find has the LEAs take charge of finding and evaluating children with special needs once children turn three. Even if a child did not participate in ECI before three, they may still special education services.

Just as for younger children, anyone, including childcare providers or other educators, can make referrals for children three years old and up to be evaluated for special education support services. Instead of contacting ECI, you will contact the LEA, or school district, the child lives in.

If you make a written request, the LEA has 15 school days to respond. This time for response is not a requirement if you make a verbal referral. However, the district will make an attempt to respond within 15 school days.

The response from the LEA will be either an assent or refusal to evaluate the child. If the LEA agrees to evaluate the child, they will send a written notification of their decision to the parent and request that the parent sign a written consent form for the evaluation.

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What to Know About Children in Childcare Who Have Special Needs

Several federal laws govern how childcare providers and other businesses handle children with special needs. Generally, these laws prohibit discrimination based on the children’s needs.

Americans with Disabilities Act for Childcare Providers

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA), both private and government-funded childcare programs must adhere to the policies of the act. For government-funded facilities, such as public schools and HeadStart programs, you must follow title II of the law. Private childcare facilities, centers and home-based, must follow title III. However, childcare facilities run by religious organizations are not required to follow ADA policies concerning children with special needs at childcare facilities. This group of facilities includes childcare centers run by mosques, synagogues, and churches.

These religious building-housed childcare operations must follow title III if they are separately operated from the religious organization. For example, a childcare that only pays rent to a church but does not have its administration run by the church must follow title III.

Per title III, as a childcare provider, you must:

  • Not exclude children with disabilities unless their presence creates a direct threat to the well being of other children or would require fundamentally altering the program.
  • Make reasonable accommodations to allow children with disabilities to be included in the programs.
  • Provide services and auxiliary aids to ensure effective communication with children and parents.
  • Have an existing facility that can readily remove barriers to children with disabilities or
  • Have a new facility or remodeled portion of an existing facility that is fully accessible.

Refer to the ADA site for childcare providers for answers to specific questions about providing childcare to children with disabilities.

One common question the ADA site addresses in its FAQs for childcare providers is whether a facility must accept a child with special needs. Every situation requires individual evaluation to determine whether the child can stay in a childcare operation or not. However, the two main reasons that you would be allowed to turn away a child with special needs are:

  • If they pose a direct threat to others, such as through a medical condition that could infect others through contact typical of a childcare center or otherwise puts others at risk of harm. For example, a child who has special needs who bites others may need extra accommodations to prevent them from acting out. Providers should discuss accommodations with the parents to find agreeable solutions. However, if after making all reasonable accommodations, such as extra nap time, the child continues the behavior, putting others at a safety risk, the childcare facility may expel the child.
  • If you would have to fundamentally alter your childcare program to accommodate them. This does not include making minor changes to enhance accessibility, such as adding a wheelchair ramp or providing a quiet corner for a child to cool off in. You must make reasonable accommodations to include a child with special needs in all activities other children participate in.
Tax Credit or Deduction for Accessibility Accommodations

If you need help making your childcare facility more accessible, find out if you qualify for a small business tax credit or deduction.

For small businesses with 30 or fewer employees and revenue of $1 million or less, you can apply for a tax credit to cover 50% of the total cost, for a maximum credit of $5000, of reducing barriers for children with disabilities. Use IRS Form 8826 for this tax credit.

A deduction of up to $15,000 is available to all businesses that make alterations and remove barriers in their businesses.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for Childcare Providers, IFSPs, and IEPs

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) falls under the Department of Education and ensures that families and children with disabilities have access to free public education and special education services.

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Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs)

Per this act, families with children between birth and two who have disabilities have access to free early intervention services under Part C of IDEA that covers infants and toddlers. In Texas, families that can afford to pay may cover some of the costs. No family will be turned away for inability to pay. Additionally, the state provides free assessment and evaluation, translation services, case management, and Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) creation.

These youngest children, their families, and professionals may create an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). This plan comes from professional assessments of the child and includes the needs of the entire family. Information on the IFSP includes ways to track a child’s learning goals, developmental progress, outcomes for the family and child, and community supports for the child and their family.

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Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)

Older children with disabilities between 3 and 21 get special education services that fall under IDEA Part B that covers education for all children who have disabilities. The federal laws per IDEA require any children within this age range who has a disability to have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP.)

The IEP is a guideline used by educators to ensure that they are meeting the child’s specific needs. It includes the specific supports the child needs, assessments to monitor the child’s progress, how the child best learns, and any special education services or the supports they need.

Your Contributions as a Childcare Provider to IEPs or IFSPs

A team that includes the child’s teachers, parents, doctors, childcare providers, therapists, or school staff, create the IEP. Therefore, as a childcare provider, you may need to provide input on what should go on a child’s IEP or on their IFSP.

To make an effective contribution to either of these documents, you will need to share your observations on how the child learns and interacts with others. You may also need to provide all documentation, such as samples of work, to the IEP or IFSP team. Finally, be prepared to share information about your facility’s learning environment and how the child responds to it. You may need to make modifications to the curriculum for the child.

If your childcare facility has children with IFSPs or IEPs, you’ll need to make sure to follow the recommendations in your classroom. Some children may require minor modifications to lessons or work to help them to meet their learning and development goals.

For parents of children with special needs, refer them to the IDEA in Texas manual from The Arc of Texas and Disability Rights Texas for specific information for parents.

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Tips to Creating a More Inclusive Childcare Facility
General Tips for an Inclusive Facility

Whether you currently have children with special needs at your childcare facility or not, you still need to prepare to make your space as accommodating and inclusive as possible.

Tips for Accommodating Specific Special Needs

An inclusive childcare facility benefits all the children in the program. The children with special needs get quality childcare that meets their needs while increasing their social connections with adults and children outside their families. Other children have the opportunity to learn how to interact and play with children different from themselves.

One way to create a more inclusive childcare operation is to follow the advice of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to create an inclusive environment through access, participation, and support for children with special needs.

Access refers to making environments, learning, activities, and play as accessible as possible for everyone. Participation means children with special needs who may require extra help to participate in accessible activities have those accommodations. Support comes from the people and systems that allow childcare providers to have inclusive spaces.

To make your childcare operation more inclusive, consider the following tips for general accommodations:

  • Rember that children with special needs are children first and should be treated first as children.
  • Be aware of the individual needs of all children in your facility.
  • Allow everyone to participate in all activities even if it means making minor changes to the activity to make it more accessible.
  • Help children see each other aside from disabilities or abilities by encouraging connections based on shared interests.
  • Work with parents and other professionals to meet the required accommodations outlined on IEPs or IFSPs.
  • Look for strengths in all children.
  • Teach children of different abilities how to play with each other and encourage play.

To get more tips on adapting your childcare operation to children with special needs, refer to the following resources:

Tips for Specific Special Needs

Find tips for specific special needs from the resources below:

Social or Emotional Disabilities

Children Who Need Special Diets

  • Accommodating Special Diets in Child Care: Source from Extension Alliance for Better Child Care to help you with meeting the dietary restrictions of children. This resource includes information on meeting the needs of those with child food allergies, cultural or religious dietary restrictions, and vegetarian diets.
  • Accommodating Special Diets: The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has a resource to help childcare providers to navigate serving food in a facility where one or more children require special diets due to cultural or religious requirements or food allergies.

Hearing Disabilities

Learning Disabilities

Physical Disabilities

Visual Disabilities

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Professional Development for Childcare Providers on Children with Special Needs

Professional development resources can help you to meet annual training requirements and learn more about how to create an inclusive childcare operation. The following sources offer courses in accommodating children with special needs:

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Resources to Provide to Parents of Children with Special Needs

The following resources are designed for parents of children with special needs:

  • Texas Children’s Autism Program: Texas residents who are children between three and 15 with a formal diagnosis of autism may qualify for this program. It includes Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) services for the child aimed at either improving adaptive or social skills or reducing challenging behaviors. Parents also have required training sessions to attend, which help them to learn more about assisting their children with autism.
  • Early Childhood Intervention: Children under three with documented conditions that cause developmental delays or problems hearing or seeing may qualify to receive services from Early Childhood Interventions. The services received will be outlined for free in the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). However, families may have to pay all or part of the cost of services. Childcare facilities may be one of the locations where a child with an IFSP receives services.
  • Early Childhood Special Education: Children who have disabilities and are between three and five may meet the qualifications for Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE). This program ensures that participating children have the least restrictive environment (LRE) and receive free appropriate public education (FAPE). Preschool or childcare settings may offer some of the services for children in ECSE.
  • SPEDTex: SPEDTex is the Special Education Information Center for Texas. This site has valuable information for parents of children with special needs. Parents will find information on the special education process, various disabilities, and answers to common questions.
Trauma-Informed Teaching

As a childcare provider, you may have children who have experienced or witnessed potentially traumatic events. In a study of healthy children from birth through four years, researchers found that 26.3% of parents reported that their infants between 0 and 4 had exposure to a potentially traumatic event. Moreover, parents of children in poverty reported even higher rates of their children experiencing exposure to potentially traumatic events, 49%. Consequently, you should know elements of trauma-informed teaching to help children in your care to feel safe and supported as they become stronger, more resilient people.

Ways you can help children who may have experienced trauma include:

  • Tell them safety expectations by using positive language of what you want them to do.
  • Watch out for potential trauma triggers
  • Help children to learn good interpersonal skills
  • Teach children to practice mindfulness
  • Work with the child’s family to offer support

To make the most of trauma-informed teaching, you should include time to take a professional development class that gives you in-depth training and more detailed ways to make a supportive early childhood environment.

Resources for Trauma-Informed Teaching

Use the following resources to learn trauma-informed teaching tips and ways to make your childcare facility a safe place for all children:

  • Trauma-Informed Care Training: A 2-hour online class from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that is free and available to the public. This course teaches about the effects of trauma on children and practical strategies for using your knowledge of trauma-informed care.
  • 6 Principles of Trauma-Informed Approach Infographic: An illustration from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that outlines the six major steps of trauma-informed teaching. This infographic is not specific to childcare providers, but it still contains useful information on trauma-informed care in general.
  • Creating Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms: A source from the National Association of Education of Young Children that describes the importance and elements of a classroom environment that is sensitive to the needs of children who have experienced trauma.
  • Considerations for Trauma-Informed Child Care and Early Education Systems: A report from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) under the Administration for Children and Families that discusses trauma’s impact on both children and adults in early education and childcare environments and what to do about it.
  • The National Child Traumatic Stress Network Learning Center: This site free continuing education training, videos, and webinars to teach about trauma-informed care and trauma’s impact on development for children and adolescents. Some courses may apply only to teachers of older children, but the site includes resources applicable to young children, too.

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