The individualized education program in early childhood education: improving inclusive practices through action research

Despite the fact that the Individualized Education Program (IEP) has the potential to function as a valuable inclusive process free of exclusionary or segregating practices, its practical implementation in early childhood education appears to be convoluted and restrictive, limiting the IEP to a tool used exclusively by special educators and children with disabilities. This action research focuses on inclusive educational practices which can be adopted during the development and implementation of the IEP in early childhood education and documents how the utilization of the IEP yielded improved educational outcomes. The findings highlight the multiple benefits derived from using the IEP as a framework for the implementation of inclusive educational practices throughout the educational process, provided that there is a fundamental shift in the perception of the IEP from a merely bureaucratic, administrative document which dictates how to manage diversity among students to a multi-disciplinary, collaborative educational program for children with and without disabilities.