Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs

Endorsed by DEC as supporting Recommended Practices!

See what's new in the third edition!

Expanded with timely new content and consistent with DEC Recommended Practices, the third edition of this bestselling book will fully prepare a new generation of early childhood educators to teach and include every child. Like the groundbreaking previous editions, this updated Building Blocks guide gives pre‐ and inservice teachers three types of practical, evidence‐based inclusion strategies: curriculum modifications, embedded learning opportunities, and child‐focused instructional strategies. Educators will learn how to apply these three strategies for the benefit of all children; review the latest research that supports the Building Blocks model; and find ready‐to‐use tips and guidance on key topics, such as fostering friendships, encouraging independence, and promoting positive behavior. Reproducible forms help with planning and assessment, and seven comprehensive new training modules make it easy to teach the Building Blocks framework in college courses and professional development sessions.

Equally useful as a student‐friendly textbook and a go‐to inclusion guide for practicing educators, this is a resource teachers will return to again and again for proven, easy‐to‐use strategies that support the success of every young learner.

NEW GUIDANCE AND TIPS ON:

• Applying UDL principles to engage every student in your diverse classroom
• Integrating literacy and STEAM into daily activities and routines
• Supporting the executive function skills of all young learners
• Applying new and expanded curriculum modifications
• Collaborating successfully with other team members to ensure the best child outcomes
• Conducting classroom quality assessment

Includes 7 training modules!

• Using the Building Blocks framework
• Conducting ongoing child assessment
• Planning for the individual child
• Using visuals to support learning
• Applying the Building Blocks framework to math and science
• Applying the framework to challenging classroom behavior
• Extending the framework to infants and toddlers

Each module includes a slide deck, presentation notes, learning activities, and a list of other resources and references.

View our recorded webinar: Building Blocks for Including and Teaching Young Children with Disabilities

presented by Susan Sandall, Ph.D.

Dr. Schwartz is Professor of Special Education and Director of the Haring Center at the University of Washington. Dr. Schwartz is also the Director of Project DATA (Developmentally Appropriate Treatment for Autism), a school‐based early intervention intensive behavioral intervention program for children with autism. She has an extensive background working with young children with special needs and their families, specifically with young children with autism and related disabilities.

Dr. Schwartz is the director of the Applied Behavior Analysis Program at the UW, and is dedicated to creating high quality inclusive schools so that all children, regardless of their background or ability, can attend the school of their choice and receive a high quality education.

Dr. Schwartz has published numerous chapters and articles about early childhood education and social validity. She serves on the editorial review boards of Topics in Early Childhood Special Education and the Journal of Early Intervention.

Dr. Joseph is the Bezos Family Distinguished Professor in Early Learning at the College of Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. She teaches courses, advises students, provides service and conducts research on topics related to early care and education.

Dr. Joseph has been involved in a number of research projects and training and technical assistance activities at the local, state and national levels related to child care quality, teacher preparation, and promoting children's social emotional development as well as preventing challenging behavior in early learning settings.

She is the Founding Executive Director of Cultivate Learning, and was the Principal Investigator and director of the Head Stat Center for Inclusion (Headstartinclusion.org) and Co‐PI of the National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning funded by the Office of Head Start. At Cultivate Learning she oversees the work of quality ratings in all licensed childcare and state prek programs in the state.

Dr. Gauvreau is a clinical faculty member and Field Director of the Special Education Program at the University of Washington. Dr. Gauvreau has extensive experience as a preschool special education teacher, home visitor, behavioral consultant, and teacher trainer, and has lead numerous trainings on early intervention and autism, inclusive education, promoting positive behavior support, and family centered practices.

Her research interests include effective special education teacher preparation and strategies for inclusive education. Dr. Gauvreau is principal investigator for a project exploring family centered practices in teacher education and serves on the editorial review board of Young Exceptional Children.

Dr. Sandall is Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington. She has directed personnel preparation projects, developed curriculum materials for all age groups, and published materials on educational practices to facilitate optimal outcomes for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities.

Her scholarly interests are effective instructional practices for young children with disabilities in inclusive settings, the changing roles of teachers of young children, and effective approaches to professional development and knowledge utilization.

She was Principal Investigator of the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning for the Office of Head Start; the Center continues its work as the EarlyEdU Alliance at Cultivate Learning at the UW. Dr. Sandall serves on the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) Commission on Recommended Practices and edited publications on the practices. She is on the editorial boards of Journal of Early Intervention and Topics in Early Childhood Special Education.

Mary Louise Hemmeter, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on effective instruction, social-emotional development, challenging behavior, and on coaching teachers.

She has been a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on numerous projects funded by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Through her work on the National Center on Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning and Institute of Education Sciences (IES)–funded research projects, she was involved in the development of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Young Children and practice-based coaching, a model for supporting teachers in implementing effective practices.

She is currently the PI on on an IES–funded development project on programwide supports for implementing the Pyramid Model, a co-PI on an IES developmental project on implementing the Pyramid Model in infant–toddler settings, and a co-PI on an IES efficacy study examining approaches to supporting teachers in implementing embedded instructions.

She is a co-author on the Connect4Learning Early Childhood Curriculum and the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT™). She was a coeditor of the Journal of Early Intervention and President of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Early Childhood (DEC). She received the Merle B. Karnes Service to the Division Award and the Mary McEvoy Service to the Field Award.

Horn is a Professor and investigator at the University of Kansas. She has worked in early care and education and early childhood special education community and university settings for many years specializing in effective strategies for supporting the development and learning of all young children. Her research focuses on designing effective curriculum and instructional strategies that maximize opportunities for all children's full participation and positive learning outcomes in natural settings, and on professional development for evidence‐based early educators. She has directed numerous externally funded grants including educator and doctoral leadership preparation, and IES research projects. She coordinates the KU ECE/ECSE blended undergraduate and graduate educator and leadership preparation programs. Dr. Horn currently serves on the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) executive board in the presidential line.

Dr. Lieber is a professor of special education in the College of Education at the University of Maryland. Her research interests include curriculum development for young children with disabilities and those at risk for school failure. She has been in the field of early childhood special education for 40 years, working both in public school and university settings. She has led numerous demonstration, personnel preparation, and research projects. She and colleagues from the early childhood program at the University of Maryland have recently developed a blended teacher certification in early childhood education and early childhood special education that incorporates universal design for learning, differentiation, and individualization in each course in the program. She and early childhood colleagues are also developing a curriculum for 4‐year olds in Maryland under the auspices of the Maryland State Department of Education.

Dr. Odom is the former Director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he remains as a Senior Research Scientist. He is the author or co-author of over 175 journal articles and book chapters and has edited 10 books on early childhood intervention and developmental disabilities. His current research is addressing treatment efficacy for children and youth with ASD in elementary and high school grades. In addition, he is the Co‐Director of the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice at FPG. In 2013, he received the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize awarded for career achievement in research on social inclusion and child development from the Theordor Hellbrugge Foundation in Munich, Germany. In 2016, he received an honorary doctoral degree from Stockholm University. He is currently a visiting professor at Stockholm University and San Diego State University.