Inclusion of young children with special needs in early childhood education: The research base

Increasingly, early childhood programs include children with disabilities and typically developing children. The purpose of this paper is to review the recent empirical literature that underlies the practice of inclusion at the early childhood level in order to provide a context for the research articles appearing in this issue of ECRQ. We first describe the definitions of inclusion, rationales for inclusive classes, and demographics of inclusive programs and staff. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as a conceptual framework, we review research related to variables proximal to the program (i.e., microsystem and mesosystem levels) such as classroom practices, children's social interactions, teacher beliefs, and professional collaboration. Next, we examine research associated with variables occurring more distally from the classroom program (i.e., exosystem and macrosystem levels): families' perspectives, social policy, community and culture. We conclude this review with an examination of research that illustrates the influence of variables a one level of the ecological system on those occurring at a different levels and recommend directions for future research.