Thank you to Washington State's publication Include Me: Guide to Inclusive Child Care for the following descriptions of the benefits of inclusion.

Benefits of Inclusion

When children are cared for together (whether or not they have special needs) they:

• Experience a sense of belonging and feel part of their community
• Have better self esteem
• Develop a wider variety of friendships with other children
• Have positive expectations about things they can do
• Learn from other children
• Share daily experiences
• Learn that people have different kinds of abilities
• Develop sensitivity and understanding towards others
• Learn to value differences in themselves and in others
• Are encouraged to be resourceful, creative, and cooperative.

When you care for children with special needs you benefit by:

• Developing an understanding of the special needs of all people
• Learning to value and appreciate individual differences
• Growing in your experiences and skills, which benefits all children in your care
• Learning about community resources
• Enhancing and strengthening your program through parternships with people and agencies in the community
• Demonstrating your belief in equal opportunities and equal rights for all people.

All families benefit from inclusive child care by:

• Having a choice of high quality child care
• Feeling connected to the community
• Seeing their child form friendships with a variety of children
• Observing their child learn new skills
• Having an opportunity to develop friendships with other parents
• Developing an awareness and understanding of people with disabilities
• Having opportunities to teach their own child about diversity and individual differences.

Communities can work together to support inclusive child care:

• Child care providers and other service providers can come together to learn about existing community resources.
• Community members can coordinate and advocate for additional training and access to consultation to assist providers in caring for children with special needs.
• Community members, policymakers, and business leaders can work together to increase funds available to support quality, inclusive child care.

Descriptions of the benefits of inclusion found on this page are from "Include Me: Guide to Inclusive Child Care," a publication of the state of Washington's Department of Social & Health Services. The full document can be found online at: http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/esa/dccel/22-486_guide_to_inclusive_cc.pdf