Inclusion Program

Children With Disabilities and Developmental Differences: Cherry Preschool’s Commitment to Inclusion

  • Warren W. Cherry Preschool believes that all children, regardless of ability, deserve to have access to a high quality preschool education.
  • Since 1992, our program has specialized in the inclusion of children with additional needs in the context of the preschool classroom
  • Inclusive classrooms enrich the lives of all children by bringing them together in a community that nurtures growth, acceptance, respect, and appreciation of individual differences.
  • Approximately 10% of our classroom population each year benefits from the support of our Inclusion Program.
  • Through the generosity of our community and various foundation grants, Cherry Preschool’s Inclusion Program is provided at no additional cost to families.
  • If you would like to donate to the Rhonda Cohen Inclusion Program, please click here.

Find out more about our Inclusion Program:

Do you have a child who would be a good fit for our Inclusion Program?  Read more below to get started.

For further information, please contact:
Lindsey Underway
Child Development & Inclusion Director
847-492-1213
lindsey@cherrypreschool.org

 

How can we adequately explain what the Inclusion Program has meant to the special needs children of Cherry and their families? As parents of “graduates” of the program, we know first-hand how much our children benefited from being part of a regular preschool program where they were given the support to share in the benefits of the program and the opportunities to model the behaviors of more typically developing children and become members of a community that valued them wherever they were in their development. We firmly believe that our children would not have gone on to have the successes that they have had — academically, socially, and emotionally — if not for the experiences they had at Cherry in these critical, early formative years. Their years at Cherry changed their lives, and our families’ lives, immeasurably. We and countless others whom we know are deeply indebted and grateful beyond what we can convey.

Cherry Preschool Parent

​Getting Started:

  1. Contact the Inclusion Director: If you have a child who may benefit from our Inclusion Program and you are interested in Cherry Preschool, please reach out to our Inclusion Director to schedule a time to visit the school and learn more about our Inclusion Program.
  2. Determining Possible Placement: The Inclusion Director will work with your family to determine the types of classroom support that may benefit your child, including potential placement with an aide.
  3. Applying to Cherry Preschool and the Inclusion Program: Once you have spoken with the Inclusion Director about your child’s needs, please fill out Cherry’s application for enrollment. There will be a place to indicate your desire for placement in the Inclusion Program.
  4. Enrollment: During the enrollment and placement process, the Inclusion Director will work with our Admissions Director to place children in the Inclusion Program in classrooms with Inclusion Aides.
  5. Space is limited: Cherry works to support as many children with special educational needs as possible.  However, we have a limited number of inclusion aides; therefore, space in the Inclusion Program is limited.  Please reach out in advance of the enrollment deadline for the best chance of receiving a placement with an Inclusion Aide.  If you enroll without first discussing your child’s needs with the Inclusion Director, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to support your child with an aide.

Please reach out to our Child Development and Inclusion Director to learn more about our Inclusion Program or to see if the Inclusion Program may be a good fit for your child.

Lindsey Underway
(847) 492-1213
lindsey@cherrypreschool.org