Strengths-based child portfolios: A professional development activity to alter perspectives of children with special needs

Attitudes and perspectives have been identified as potential barriers to successful inclusion of young children with disabilities in community-based settings. Professional development activities are frequently suggested as a strategy for influencing caregivers' attitudes and perspectives, but few studies have identified successful ways to positively affect perspectives about children with disabilities. A total of 48 child portfolio projects were completed by 65 urban, infant-toddler childcare staff members who participated in a professional development program designed to increase the quality of infant and toddler childcare, including care for children with special needs, developmental delays, or identified disabilities. Training program participants wrote a one-page story about a child they selected to participate with them in an out-of-class portfolio project. A second story was written following completion of the project. These pre- and postproject stories were rated to determine the extent to which strengths-based statements for each of eight identified themes were included. Results indicated a significantly higher number of strengths-based themes in the stories written after completion of the portfolio project, indicating that participants were more likely to view children in terms of their strengths following completion of the portfolio projects.