Early Intervention Training and Service Development Program

Patricia Snyder, Ph.D., Interim Program Director

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Goal:               To support, assist, and enhance services delivered to young children with disabilities and their families through the provision of training, technical assistance and consultation. 

 

Intended Impact:    Improve the delivery of coordinated, comprehensive, family-centered early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families

Improve the quality of preschool special education and related services provided to children in a continuum of service settings

Increase the opportunities for families to obtain quality early intervention for young children in natural (inclusive) programs and environments

Increase the number of current and future service providers who are well prepared to deliver family-centered, culturally competent, developmentally appropriate services to children from birth to six and their families

 

Topics/Areas of Expertise:

Training and technical assistance in recommended practices for early intervention and preschool personnel

Training and technical assistance in recommended practices to Head Start and Early Head Start personnel

Information dissemination to parents and professionals about early education and care

Preparing students in coursework focused on family systems theory and family-centered practices, infant assessment, and medical management of young children with disabilities

Child Care Quality Assurance

Collaborative program development and planning with community agencies

Technical assistance to State Department of Education in early intervention personnel preparation issues

Overview of Selected

Activities/Accomplishments:

#       On-site technical assistance provided to personnel in approximately 200 preschool classrooms

#       Outreach and technical assistance provided to over 20,000 individuals at 250 scheduled events

#       Monitoring of 35 early intervention agencies including hospital and family service coordination agencies

#       Publication and dissemination of LEEP Newsletters distributed to 2,400 teachers and 1,600 families eight times per year.

#       Three early intervention core courses taught to approximately 60 students in New Orleans

#       Common infancy core courses developed and infused into curricula in five additional universities in Louisiana, and disseminated throughout the nation

#       Regional early intervention conference provided training to 220 early intervention and child care personnel in meeting the needs of young children with challenging behaviors

#       Required ChildNet training delivered to 125 early intervention providers

#       Publication of book chapter on early intervention personnel preparation practices authored with parent

#       Design and implementation of external program evaluation of training provided to child care personnel throughout Louisiana

#       Onsite behavioral observation for data collection purposes in 57 child care centers

#       Presentations at national and state forums including American Educational Research Association, Division of Early Childhood, AAMR, State Department of Education Superconference, State Head Start Conference, LAEYC Conference

 

Directions for Future Program Development:

#       Interagency collaboration to establish a public/private partnership supporting a model inclusive community-based child care program

#       Development, dissemination and data analysis of survey to determine parental needs and requirements for convenient, quality child care for infants and toddlers

#       Onsite follow-up training for providers and administrators in community-based child care centers

#       Collaborative development of an interagency early intervention training facility

#       Collaboration, training and technical assistance to enhance the capacity of Head Start and Early Head Start Programs to serve young children with disabilities and their families, especially those with more significant disabilities

 

Revised May 25, 2000