Reforming Personnel Preparation In Early Intervention

Shows instructors how to prepare early intervention students and staff to work as a cohesive team, offering advice on assessing staff needs, designing and linking pre-service and in-service training, and integrating content and process to prepare a multidisciplinary audience. Examines teaching methods, key elements of personnel preparation, and examples of successful models, with chapters devoted to family-centered practices, service coordination, child evaluation, and public policy. Includes instructional ideas and activities. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Eighteen new chapters have been added to the 2000 edition of this valuable Handbook, which serves as a core text for students and experienced professionals who are interested in the health and well being of young children. It serves as a comprehensive reference for graduate students, advanced trainees, service providers, and policy makers in such diverse fields as child care, early childhood education, child health, and early intervention programs for children with developmental disabilities and children in high risk environments. This book will be of interest to a broad range of disciplines including psychology, child development, early childhood education, social work, pediatrics, nursing, child psychiatry, physical and occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, and social policy. A scholarly overview of the underlying knowledge base and practice of early childhood intervention, it is unique in its balance between breadth and depth and its integration of the multiple dimensions of the field.

Through the passage of P.L. 99-457 (Amendments to the Education of the Handicapped Act, 1986), states have been provided assistance in order to establish comprehensive systems of service delivery for infants, toddlers with handicaps and their families. Two components required by the law address policy in the areas of personnel development for 10 specific disciplines (Audiology, Education, Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Psychology, Social Work, and Speech and Language Pathology). The purpose of this research was to determine what infancy-related content was regarded as necessary in the training of early interventionists from multiple disciplines, and to distinguish those seen as unique to each discipline from those which are held in common across disciplines. A rating scale was rated and returned by 97% of the sample representing each of the 10 disciplines including practitioners in early intervention and higher education faculty preparing early intervention personnel. Data were then analyzed by frequencies, means, rankings, and standard deviations as well as by a two-way analysis of variance. Overall, the data indicated that a majority of the disciplines ranked particular content areas at a higher level. Those content areas that may be referred to as core areas included the following: (a) Professional Orientation; (b) Atypical Development; (c) Services to Families: Assessment and Intervention; (d) Early Development; and (e) Services to Infants: Assessment and Intervention. One of the most significant contributions of this study was the obtaining of data in support of training content focusing on Professional Orientation, Characteristics, and Development of Personnel in Early Intervention. A strong consensus was achieved across all respondents as to the importance of training in this area. Clear within discipline patterns were identified with regard to health issues by professionals from Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy. Furthermore, the results from this study indicated that certain disciplines were more similar in their scoring patterns. Education, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Psychology, and Speech and Language Pathology obtained the greatest similar scores. Very few statistically significant differences were obtained at the.05 level between practitioners and trainers. However, these data should not be interpreted as necessarily representing a consensus by respondents, since individual difference with and across disciplines per item were not addressed.

This book is designed to provide guidance on effective practices that are related to better outcomes for young children with disabilities, their families, and the personnel who serve them. Practices were identified through focus groups of stakeholders: practitioners, personnel trainers, researchers, administrators, and family members. These practices were integrated with those found from an extensive review of the literature. The resulting practices underwent a field validation. After an introductory chapter, chapters are provided that list recommended practices in the following areas: (1) assessment; (2) child-focused interventions; (3) family-based interventions; (4) interdisciplinary models; (5) technology applications; (6) polices, procedures, and systems change; and (7) personnel preparation. Each of these chapters begins with an introductory statement written by the research strand chair and includes the organizing principles or key features that serve as the foundation of each strand. Also included are definitions of terms that are specific to the strand. A listing of the recommended practices follows. Chapters 9 and 10 discuss methods and activities used to produce the recommended practices and provide applications to illustrate ways the practices can be used in the field. Appendices include information on applicable federal laws and resources and position papers. (Chapters include references.) (CR)

Organizational Behavior Management and Developmental Disabilities Services: Accomplishments and Future Directions examines the advances of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) in human service agencies for individuals with developmental disabilities. Management researchers, working managers, and supervisors will learn strategies for effectively

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a federally funded project that was designed to increase the availability of graduate level Essential Early Educators in Vermont who can: (1) provide integrated, family-centered, early childhood special education services to young children with disabilities and their families; (2) provide direct and consultative services across home, center, and inclusive community-based settings; (3) work with other agencies and disciplines to implement a comprehensive, coordinated system of services; and (4) assume the multiple education and leadership roles required for coordinating, implementing, and evaluating early childhood special education services in rural, sparsely populated settings. The project established and maintained a representative statewide Advisory Council to oversee activities related to Vermont's goals of establishing a unified system of early care, education, and intervention services. The project also succeeded in recruiting 28 participants from Head Start, Parent-Child Centers, child care, preschool and kindergarten programs to train to become Essential Early Educators. Appendices include the training strand for a master's in special education with an emphasis in Essential Early Education, and the training strand for a master's in special education with an emphasis in leadership. (CR).