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(Unit 5) Topic 2: Planning Developmentally Appropriate Activities for Children

2 Clock Hours of Early Childhood Education

Planning for Exceptionalities

​Topic 2 Page 13

Children come to early childhood programs from different backgrounds, with different learning styles, and different exceptionalities or special needs. A quality early childhood program will plan for students with exceptionalities and make accommodations as needed. Whether your particular program has the training and capabilities to meet the needs of those students, really depends on the staff, director, and inspiration to do so.

At some point in your career as an early childhood professional, you will have a child in your program that has some sort of exceptionality. A learner with an exceptionality is a child whose physical, behavioral, intellectual, communicative, or cognitive performance is so different from the norm that additional services, resources or considerations are required to meet their needs. 

The term “exceptionality” does not necessarily only refer to disabilities, handicaps or challenges. 

An exceptional learner may be a child who is gifted, visually impaired, has a speech disorder, learning disability, or other unique situation. It is important that children with exceptionalities not be stereotyped, generalized, or labeled. Remember: an exceptionality is part of the child, not the only part of the child. ​

Quality early childhood programs and their staff are adamant about remembering that children with special needs, or exceptionalities are children first. They realize that these children have the same needs as all children: a place where they feel physically comfortable, loved and secure; opportunities to play and learn; people who care about them; and activities that allow them to be successful.  ​The benefits of including children with exceptionalities or special needs in child care are that all of the children in the program learn respect, how to be helpful, appropriate behavior and responses. Children with special needs benefit greatly from being with other children and from receiving quality and consistent care from a caregiver throughout the day.

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