ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on intervention and collaborative working, which is critical to ensuring that children with special educational needs receive adequate and appropriate supports and resources in order to maximise their development within the early childhood education and care setting. It interrogates the following components: Influence of family educators, peers and context, which constitutes four distinct concentric systems. A child's learning and development is shaped by multiple layers of influence, ranging from the structural, political and ideological; through to individual setting contexts. The intentional leader plays crucial role in supporting and empowering staff to communicate effectively and to work collaboratively with parents and other professionals involved with the child. The ability to communicate effectively with parents is critical to their role as active participants in their child's education and care, the early intervention process. Working with and including parents in their child's early education and care is correlated with educator attitudes, values, beliefs, and is embedded within the setting's culture.
