Educating Young Children Volume 1 - Winter 2026 | Page 13

Following are excerpts from a conversation in which Alexis reflects on children’ s strengths, early childhood curricula, and how NAEYC guides her work.

NAEYC [ CS:: IS Under THERE your BRANDING guidance, FOR the percentage WOYC THAT of SHOULD 4-year-olds with disabilities ACCOMPANY in inclusive THIS classrooms BLURB?] doubled in just one year! To what do you attribute that success?

[ TITLE ] Week of the Young Child ® Is Here!

Alexis: This was such a group effort! During Join us for NAEYC’ s 2025 Week of the Young Child ® celebration the 2022 – 23 school year, our early childhood April 5 – 11! Our annual event, started in 1971, celebrates early special education transition teacher visited learning, young children, their teachers, and families. Learn every classroom serving 3-year-olds, more about WOYC activities, proclamations, and daily themes observed the children, and worked with at [ URL TO COME ]. Follow and engage with us on social media teachers to analyze student data. They using the hashtag # WOYC2025. Your voice helps elevate early then worked with the Individualized childhood education in our communities, states, and nation. Education Program [ IEP ] committee to propose inclusive services for children’ s prekindergarten year. Once the children began pre-K, special education teachers met with general education teachers and administration representatives every nine weeks to look at data gathered on each of the children in the early childhood education classrooms on our campuses. We asked,“ How are they doing? Do we need to increase support? Do we need to decrease support? Do we need to back out and say,’ This really isn’ t working; let’ s try a new approach,’ or can we move them to an inclusive classroom and really let them fly?” We also got family input— any changes to a child’ s schedule includes them.

NAEYC: You are obviously a champion for children and families. How did you become interested in early childhood education; specifically, special education?

Alexis: I come from a long line of fabulous teachers, and I always knew teaching was in my blood. When I was in high school, one of my teachers asked me if I would consider helping her sister, who had a disability. I said yes and began to go with her 27-year-old sister to Special Olympics events and her clubs and organizations. At that