Meaningful Participation of Diverse Constituents: The Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Institute

Abstract

The increasing number of diverse children with disabilities and their families served in schools and other early childhood programs highlights the need to ensure that services and supports are culturally and linguistically appropriate and relevant. Factors that affect the degree to which appropriate services are delivered include the lack of well-trained professionals who reflect the cultural, ethnic, and linguistic background of the children and families they serve and the lack of participation of relevant constituents in research and school activities. Promoting the meaningful participation of diverse constituents in research, higher education, service agencies, and schools is one of the primary ways of supporting efforts to ensure that programs are relevant to children and their families. However, one of the difficulties that many programs confront is recruiting students to teacher education and recruiting and retaining diverse personnel, volunteers, and participants for various activities, boards, committees, and programs. This article describes the work of the Early Childhood Research Institute on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services with regard to recruiting, preparing, and retaining diverse constituents as reviewers of materials.