The authors tell the story of baby Jessica, a child whose disabilities are caused by her encounter with cytomegalovirus while still in her mother's womb. She is almost three years old and must be fed through a gastrostomy tube. she needs a ventilator to breathe. The parents want the child to have as normal a childhood as possible and to interact with other children, so they enroll her in an inclusive model preschool at the university. This does not work out as intended, however, for Jessica has more severe disabilities than the other children in the program. Each child is different and has special needs. However, one problem with the program was that the staff was not trained in the special needs of children with disabilities. Efforts in the fist months were focused on establishing consistent, developmentally appropriate child care for all children and then to maintain the quality of that care. The mother had second thoughts about how jessica might fit in, but she was assured by the head teacher that Jessica would fit in just like all the other children. The problem for Jessica was increased because staff members who considered her needs too great said nothing when she was admitted and made it seem that the parent would get what they wanted out of the program. Then, they did not include jessica as they should have until this fact was pointed out to them, after which they sought to include her in all activities. the case shows the importance of an alliance between parents and caregivers in developing a program for such children.
This case involves parents with a boy with disabilities. They want to mainstream Ben by getting him into a regular kindergarten class in the local elementary school. This was unusual because in this community, children with disabilities were placed in a separate school designed to meet their special needs. Other districts integrated children like Ben into the regular school p
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