All children should have the same opportunities to learn and grow in their community and it is critical that children receive appropriate care and education. Via’s Inclusive Childcare program, in partnership with the United Way, trains childcare facilities so they can provide care and education for children with special needs. Inclusive Childcare ensures all children have the opportunity to develop and learn through discovery with their peers.
  The shared mission of Via’s Inclusive Childcare program and the United Way is to foster and promote the inclusion of children with developmental disabilities in childcare programs throughout the Lehigh Valley. Via’s Inclusive Childcare program provide onsite staff support and technical assistance to childcare facilities making it possible to provide inclusive opportunities for children with special needs.
Children with disabilities significantly benefit from receiving care along side typically developing peers. Typically developing children serve as peer models from whom children with disabilities learn age-appropriate communication and social behaviors. The benefit to children without disabilities is that they learn to understand and accept differences. They also learn from being in a teaching role and they appear to be sensitive to the nonverbal communication efforts of peers in their classroom.
Via received a three-year grant from United Way to fund this project in January 2005 enabling Via to hire five full-time inclusion specialists. Inclusion specialists go into childcare facilities throughout the Lehigh Valley and work with staff to create inclusive environments. Childcare centers can become involved in Via’s program by calling and requesting inclusion training. Parents can also request to be directed to centers that provide inclusive services.
 The need is beyond the current United Way program funding for this program and grants from local companies, like Just Born, Inc., enable Via to continue working with childcare centers in the Lehigh Valley. This program is creating a positive difference in early education programs for children with and without disabilities and their families. It is also changing the early learning environment in each center served.
For more information, contact:
Julie DePhillips, Director of Children's Services
j.dephillips@vianet.org • 484-893-5392
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