Early Childhood Special Education and Assistive Technology Blog

By: Carrie Portrie , M.Ed, EC-SEAT Project Coordinator and PhD Student in Education While perusing my Facebook feed this afternoon, I saw a post from Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families  on  2015 Baby Facts by State and Toolkit . As I jumped to the site, I began thinking about all the wonderful resources for families caring for and professionals working with infants and toddlers. Learning about and observing children's development early on is joyous and is also important for detection of potential concerns. When a potential concern, developmental delay or disability is detected families can access early intervention for their child. What is early intervention? The  Center for Parent Information and Resources (2014) overview  explains it is "Authorized by law. Early intervention is available in every state and territory of the United States. The  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act  (IDEA) requires it–Part C o...

Each spring, the University of New Hampshire Department of Education offers graduate students studying early childhood education a class on socio-cultural perspectives on teaching and learning. Students participate in 50 hours of field experience enhancing their abilities to support diverse families. The course expands students' knowledge base by considering culture, community and family.  Personal reflections and exploration of several socio-cultural perspectives on development are applied during 25 hours of field experience at a local Early Head Start. Students engage with parents, infants and toddlers, and home visitors to build their professional capacities through field-based research. Currently, 8 students are paired with Early Head Start home visitors in Rochester and Dover, New Hampshire from February through May. Each student is participating in parent meetings, play time, meals and home visits. Charna Aversa is the Early Head Start/Community Collaboration partnership ma...

There is much debate regarding how much and what kind of screen time is appropriate for children. Two sources that may be of interest in the continuing conversation about technology and young children are below: Lisa Guernsey's article on Slate.com Zero to Three - National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families: Screen Sense downloads

Building the Legacy for Our Youngest Children with Disabilities Follow the link above to NICHCY's new home page the Center for Parent Information and Resources . The Office of Special Education Programs has asked them to create training modules for IDEA 2004 Part C.

The ECTA Center has a few upcoming free webinars highly relevant to early childhood special education. These webinars are not only available live, but they are also available in the ECTA center's webinar archive . First on the list is the Part C finance  2014 series. It contains four parts for early interventionalists. It is encouraged by the ECTA Center and its collaborators the ITCA Fiscal Initiative and the Regional Resource Center Program (RRCP)  for Part C coordinators attending the webinars to listern with a team in order to build "fiscal knowledge and capacity within their state." Understanding Part C financing within states is an important part of leadership and advocacy in early intervention and early childhood. Follow this link to access this four part series promoting technical assistance: http://ectacenter.org/~calls/2014/financepartc/financepartc.asp Additionally, The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) released their current recommended practices . On ...

When developing supports and curriculum for very young learners in early childhood settings and at home, it is important to look toward evidence-based practices and professional competencies put forth by your organization and state. The New Hampshire Child Development Bureau, Division for Children, Youth and Families, and the NH Department for Health and Human Services (2013) have written New Hampshire’s Infant and Toddler Workforce SpecializedCompetencies . This document provides core knowledge, components and topics for the infant and toddler workforce in NH. Core Knowledge 4: Promoting Child Growth and Development includes children with special needs. Among the knowledge and skills listed is: “ Skill 4.1T4S2: Participates in multidisciplinary planning teams, and provides input in and follows specific plans for infants/toddlers (Individual Family Support Plan, Individualized Health Plan); incorporates assistive technology as needed.” The Infant Toddler Credential Task Force ...