4. Supervision and Support: Fostering Inclusion in Your Program

Have you ever been asked to do something that you really didn't know how to do? Maybe it was related to work or helping a friend or family member with the task. Regardless of the setting or the people involved, it never feels good to be expected to do something that makes us feel incompetent.

Let's look at Jae, a newly hired children's librarian. She's been asked to start a sensory-friendly story hour designed to be welcoming and accessible for library patrons with disabilities and sensory needs. While Jae is excited about helping the library become more inclusive, she isn't sure where to start, how to read books in a way that's interesting and understandable for children with disabilities, and what sort of sensory support should be in place. Because she's not feeling confident with this task, it's easy to put off.

When she finally does host the first sensory-friendly story hour, she's nervous and isn't sure what to do. She begins by welcoming everyone and starting the first book like she does for other story hours. A few kids sit close to her and listen, while others wander around the room, rock back and forth, and some even cry and try to leave. By the second book, only one kid is listening, and she hears a parent say to another, "I thought this was sensory-friendly. I wish we had some fidget tools or other things for my kids." Jae feels terrible. She goes to her supervisor to ask for help.

We can all empathize with Jae; we've all been there. In her case, there was a lack of training and support to do this job. She was excited about helping the library become more inclusive, but no one had helped her gain the skills she needed to do this. And like many of us, because she didn't know how to get started, she procrastinated. The day of the event arrived before she knew it.

Inclusive activities require planning and preparation. As a leader of an inclusive program, one of the most important things we can do is make sure all staff members feel comfortable and confident in supporting learners with disabilities. This means offering training opportunities on inclusionary practices for all staff members and providing ongoing support as people implement these practices with learners. Training should occur before staff members meet children and families. While it's common to have people learn on the job, this rarely provides enough time for people to learn the new skills they need and to think about how to apply them at work.

We hope these modules will be helpful. They're designed to be used as training tools for programs striving to be more inclusive. Learners should also consider how different staff members like to learn. Some people prefer to read about a new topic, others prefer to watch a video, and others would rather someone show them how to do it. That's why we've included transcripts, tip sheets, videos, and made sure all content was available in multiple languages.

Once all staff members have participated in an initial training, leaders must consider how to provide ongoing support as staff work with learners and families. Supporting staff includes celebrating when they're doing a good job and helping them improve in areas where growth is needed. Feedback, both positive and constructive, helps employees improve their skills and feel good about their job performance. This is often something we forget about, but research shows that ongoing support is the most effective way to help staff members learn new practices.

Let's go back to Jae and the new sensory-friendly story hour at the library. Her supervisor didn't do a great job supporting her. She didn't get any initial training or ongoing support and instead she was just expected to figure it out on her own. It's no wonder things didn't go well. A better approach would be for the library supervisor to provide training on inclusionary practices before Jae was expected to lead the story hour and talk with her about how to embed these new skills into her work at the library.

The supervisor may have shared some written materials or videos about what a sensory-friendly story hour might look like or helped her make a detailed plan of exactly what she was going to do and how to ensure the books were accessible for everyone. Then the supervisor should have scheduled time to observe Jae while she was leading and met with her afterwards to discuss the observation. The practice checklists related to each module here are designed for supervisors to use during observations.

During these feedback meetings, leaders should celebrate what went well and talk about ways to improve. Of course, we know there isn't always enough time or resources for supervisors to observe every staff member, especially in programs like a summer camp that only run for a short time. If this is the case for your program, you can do group observations where you observe all staff members and meet as a large group to talk about the observation, what went well, and ways to improve. In some cases, leaders might invite staff members to do some self-reflection on their use of certain inclusionary practices. Again, our practice checklists are useful tools for this as well.

In Jae's case, her supervisor could have invited all librarians to self-reflect using a practice checklist, identify what they're already doing well, and make a plan or goal for how they can improve or try a new skill. The next time librarians come together for a team meeting, the leader can revisit the checklist again to check in on how everyone's goals are going.

With group supervision, leaders often find that many staff members do well with this approach, but there will probably be a few who need additional more individualized support. So plan to make time to check in with the staff members who need an individualized observation or meeting. Group supervision can be effective for many people, but it's not the right fit for everyone.

To summarize, being a good leader of an inclusive program means making sure your staff members can use the skills and practices to support all learners and families. We can't expect that the staff will just figure things out on their own. Instead, we must be thoughtful and intentional about offering initial training and following up with ongoing support and feedback. We hope these modules, related materials, and practice checklists will be helpful as you assist staff members to use inclusionary equitable practices that make every learner and family feel a sense of belonging in your program.