On-site Training Curriculum
At KIT, we pride ourselves on the consistent positive feedback we receive after training sessions or workshops. We are passionate about helping people include children of all abilities in their schools and programs, and that passion comes across to our learners. Our highly-experienced trainers make inclusion training engaging for your staff.
After nearly 20 years of training experience, KIT has a wealth of knowledge and experience regarding disability inclusion–from basic to advanced. Check out our in-person training topics. We recommend starting with the Core Training Workshops.
Let us help you experience the joy of including ALL kids.
Core Training Workshops
Including children with disabilities in child and youth development programs can seem daunting or challenging. However, nothing is more rewarding than witnessing a child make a friend, enjoy a game or experience an accomplishment. This highly-interactive workshop allows participants to face the fears involved in inclusion (I don’t know what to do! I don’t know anything about that disability!) through activities designed to promote understanding and support children with disabilities.
Learning Objectives:
- Define socially responsible language
- Determine whether 5 statements are consistent with the philosophy of inclusion
- List 3 ways to address one of the barriers identified in your group
Children come to your program as part of a family unit. Learning to create a partnership with a child’s family will help you provide the best service to all children. Learn to communicate successfully with parents, how to set up a positive relationship, and what to do when challenges arise.
Learning Objectives:
- List 5 types of knowledge that parents and providers each bring to a partnership
- Describe 2 ways to build rapport with families
- Practice discussing a concern with a family through a role play scenario
Pathway to Positive Behavior addresses the fact that all children display some type of behavioral challenge. This workshop will focus on how to prevent negative behaviors before they occur and how to create environments that offer positive behavior support to children with behavioral challenges.
Learning Objectives:
- Define the purpose of behavior in your own words
- Redesign your environment to include 3 adaptations to support positive behavior
- List 3 possible techniques to support positive behavior for children in out-of-school time programs
Making your program accessible to children with disabilities requires creative and responsive accommodations. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) addresses the necessity of making accommodations for children with disabilities so they can participate in community programs. This workshop provides insight into what constitutes a “respectful accommodation,” including specific examples for children with various disabilities.
Learning Objectives:
- List 3 sources of information on designing accommodations in an out-of-school time environment
- Sketch at least 3 qualities an inclusion facilitator should possess
- Employ 4 accommodations to support inclusion for a child depicted in a scenario
Additional Training Workshops
This session will equip professionals with inclusion strategies for children with autism spectrum disorders. Participants will address common assumptions about autism and learn how to provide environmental and interpersonal accommodations. This workshop also offers strategies that support positive behavior, communication, and sensory needs.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe 3 sensory processing differences depicted in a video
- Using a scenario, apply 4 accommodations to support a child with autism in an inclusive setting
Challenging behaviors can negatively influence your staff. In this workshop, participants will learn strategies for addressing challenging behavior and guidelines for responding to them. Participants will discuss how to identify influences on behavior, define behavior problems, and develop plans to teach skills. The session concludes with a discussion of appropriate behavior support tools.
Learning Objectives:
- Recognize the ABCs of behavior in 3 scenarios
- Compose a clear, simple statement of the problem in 1 scenario
- Create a plan for using behavior support strategies in your setting
This training session will help managers explore their skills for supporting staff in improving inclusive practices within their programs. Discuss and practice using assessments to create attainable goals for both children and staff. You will also learn coaching and mentoring techniques and be given an easy-to-use worksheet to implement child and staff support strategies.
Learning Objectives:
- Write 2 goals for a child/youth in your program based on the assessment completed during the session
- In a role play, accurately demonstrate 2 strategies to assist staff to support a child/youth
- Given a scenario, complete the Implementing Strategies worksheet
Every child wants to make friends, and your program can help them. Many times, children with disabilities struggle with initiating and maintaining friendships. In this workshop, participants will learn how to help all children develop their social skills.
Learning Objectives:
- Practice an activity to remove the barriers to friendships for children with and without disabilities
- Apply a social mapping tool to examine friendship interactions
- Develop a plan to enhance friendship interactions in a scenario
This workshop explains the concept of responsive communication and covers staff responsibilities for helping children and youth send and receive communication messages. Learners will have opportunities to explore their learning styles and get hands-on practice using verbal and non-verbal support strategies.
Learning Objectives:
- Reflect on your own learning style and answer questions about how it affects communication
- Role play 3 verbal support strategies during simulated play with a partner
- Plan 2 non-verbal support strategies to support responsive communication
A powerful introduction to inclusion for summer camp staff, this workshop provides the basic skills necessary in a “top tips for inclusion” format. Topics covered include accommodations for day camps, confidentiality, working with families, positive behavior supports, and strategies for supporting friendships.
Learning Objectives:
- List 3 things you need to know in order to serve all children at camp
- Summarize 3 things you can do to support inclusion at your camp
- Discuss 3 resources for supporting inclusion
Aggressive behavior can be frightening for your staff. In this workshop, we highlight how perceptions influence responses to aggression. Learners explore different characteristics of children who use aggression and the underlying influences on aggressive behavior. We present a course of action for responding to aggressive behavior, along with an in-depth focus on how to develop environmental supports.
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss a scenario using different lenses for interpreting and responding to behavior
- Design or improve upon 2 environmental supports for children in your program to help them feel safe and connected
Chances are you serve children with ADHD every day in your existing programs. Explore myths about children with ADHD and discover what to look for as you design your program. Help all children be successful by preventing challenging behaviors with positive support strategies.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify 6 possible visual distractions for a child with ADHD
- Describe 3 observation signs or signals depicted during a role play
- Collaborate with a partner to apply 3 accommodations to a scenario
Childhood has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. This training covers the changing landscape of childhood and how to create opportunities for children to develop social-emotional skills like coping and self-regulation. Additionally, we discuss specific techniques on what to teach and how to teach skills.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the relationship between emotions and learning
- List 3 social skills that can be promoted in your own environment
- Recall 3 techniques for supporting children’s social-emotional needs
Tweens and teens deal with a lot of emotional highs and lows. They feel great one minute but sad and tearful the next. Creating a welcoming and supportive environment during these often turbulent years requires intentional planning. This session will explore the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes that are happening so staff can support tweens and teens. Participants will learn to create accepting cultures within their programs and provide a safe environment for tweens and teens to thrive.
Learning Objectives:
- Accurately define “Safe Space” in your own words
- Correctly identify 1 staff skill required to create a welcoming and safe environment with equal opportunity for contribution, voice, and choice for all youth
- Create a plan to implement an accommodation for 1 youth in your program utilizing the peer engagement strategies taught in the training
This workshop will assist participants in learning strategies that use group process to involve children/youth in planning the program, as well as gaining experience in activity planning to meet the needs and interests of their children/youth.
Learning Objectives:
- List 3 group process techniques that can be used to engage children in program planning
- Demonstrate 2 techniques that can be used to include children & youth in program planning
- Complete an Activity Planning Form using ideas generated during the session
Pilot Training Workshops (CEU’s available for Pilot Workshops as well)
Staff members in inclusive programs fall into one of three roles: support, bridge, and coach. Through activities, learners explore their thoughts about inclusive programs and making accommodations. Using case studies, specific staff responsibilities are outlined and reinforced.
Learning Objectives:
- Sketch at least 3 essential qualities staff should possess in an inclusive program
- Apply staff responsibilities to support children in 2 scenarios: Design accommodations and social supports for the child in scenario #1
- Develop a plan to monitor safety for the child in scenario #2