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15
Steps to
inclusion
Below is a selection of quotes illustrating the contribution to all the partners of the inclusion
programs at the De Lowe Early Intervention Center.
•
Quotes by parents:
"For us, the overall view that our daughter Tamar was first of all a child, but
also a daughter, granddaughter, and a member of the community, was very important. It was of
importance not only in terms of Tamar's development and experiences as a child with the same
rights as any other child, but also in terms of our coping, as a family, with a child with disabilities.
Coping with regard to the outside world - the community in which we live, and also inwardly - we
ourselves, and how we see ourselves. The past year has been a very emotional and powerful
experience for us. We were happy and excited to take Tamar to kindergarten every Friday, and
to see her happy, playing, trying to imitate, enjoying and loved. The idea of inclusion is so natural
on the face of it, but at the same time so different and revolutionary, and this is its power and its
strength" (mother of a child in the inclusion program).
•
Kindergarten teachers of included children:
"S., a little girl with difficulty in planning
movements, suddenly insists on getting into the sandbox on her own, and trying to jump on the
mattress with her friends. M. insists on swinging on the swing with no support, asks me to go away,
and only agrees that Yoav, the hunky guy of the kindergarten, should swing her. And D., who so
resists new tastes and will only eat dry food, tastes tuna for the first time, looks at the kindergarten
teacher, and asks for more..."
•
Kindergarten teachers of inclusive children:
"We saw children encouraging a little boy who
was making an effort to climb onto the slide, standing at the bottom of the slide and calling out in
encouragement, and others insisted on the right of the child whose voice was not being heard. For
example, when Y. put his hand up and I did not see it, the children called out to me: 'Y. has his hand
up, he wants to say something'! "
The contribution of the program to the children, their
parents, and the staff