Webinars

The ECTA Center hosted a series of four short webinars that explore the Division for Early Childhood’s Recommended Practices (RPs)and some of the tools and resources developed to support the use of the practices. The fourth and final webinar unveiled an exciting and new family-level aRPy Ambassador Initiative designed specifically for Parent Centers.

Introduction to DEC and the Recommended Practices

• Video Recording: Introduction to DEC and the Recommended Practices
• Presentation File: Introduction to DEC and the Recommended Practices

Resources and Materials That Support Family Use of the Recommended Practices

• Video Recording: Resources and Materials That Support Family Use of the Recommended Practices
• Presentation File: Resources and Materials That Support Family Use of the Recommended Practices

Resources and Supports for Parent Centers

• Video Recording: Resources and Supports for Parent Centers
• Presentation File: Resources and Supports for Parent Centers

aRPy Family Ambassador Initiative

• Video Recording: aRPy Family Ambassador Initiative
• Presentation File: aRPy Family Ambassador Initiative

The ECTA Center invites state Part C and 619 Coordinators and their state staff to participate in a two-part virtual event that will focus on the important skills and habits of systems thinking and how these skills are an important part of the Part C and 619 coordinators’ role in leading systems change. Through discussion and activities, the participants will examine their own skills and explore resources for supporting systems change work in their own state.

• Video Recording: What's in your toolbox for leading systems improvement? Resources and strategies for state coordinators and staff guiding EI and preschool special education improvement initiatives (Part 1)

The movement of children and their families from Part C Early Intervention to Section 619 Early Childhood Special Education Services should occur as smoothly as possible. Missouri will share policies and processes for addressing summer birthdays. New Mexico will describe their state and local infrastructure for coordination and strategies such as local agreements, transition teams and transition coaches.

• Video Recording: State Strategies for Seamless Birth to Five Services: Strategies for Summer Birthdays and Local Infrastructure Supports
• Presentation File: State Strategies for Seamless Birth to Five Services: Strategies for Summer Birthdays and Local Infrastructure Supports

The Extended Part C Option is contained in the IDEA Part C regulations. The policy was designed to provide states the flexibility to allow toddlers who would be eligible to receive services under Part B, Section 619 to remain in early intervention after the age of three. The District of Columbia and Maryland share their rationale for deciding to use the option and their implementation approaches.

• Video Recording: State Strategies for Seamless Service Delivery and Transition: Implementing the Extended Part C Option
• Presentation File: State Strategies for Seamless Service Delivery and Transition: Implementing the Extended Part C Option

Presenters provide an overview of the national resources available to support COS training and TA, and how they might be incorporated into ongoing professional development (PD). State Part C and 619 leaders share information about their COS PD systems, including how they are addressing critical staff knowledge and skill development needs and impacts of training efforts on COS data quality.

• Video Recording: Guidance for Implementing Effective Training & TA on the Child Outcomes Summary (COS) Process
• Presentation File: Guidance for Implementing Effective Training & TA on the Child Outcomes Summary (COS) Process

The ECTA and DaSy Center staff have completed their national family outcomes data analysis. They discuss the national performance data, family survey approaches used, and provide a refresher on interpreting state data quality profiles. New TA resources related to family outcomes data collection, reporting, and use are also shared.

• Video Recording: Family Survey Highlights FFY 2016

The ECTA and DaSy Center staff have wrapped up their national child outcomes analysis. TA staff discuss national estimates, state variations in performance, and provide a quick refresher on how to interpret the state data quality reports. New TA resources related to child outcomes data collection, reporting, and use are also shared.

• Presentation File: IDEA Part C and Part B Section 619 National Child Outcomes Results for 2016-17
• Video Recording: IDEA Part C and Part B Section 619 National Child Outcomes Results for 2016-17
• Video Transcript: IDEA Part C and Part B Section 619 National Child Outcomes Results for 2016-17

Permanent hearing loss is an invisible condition and is the most common birth defect. In addition, the incidence of hearing loss doubles during the critical language-learning years before children enter school. Because an infant’s or toddler’s inability to hear clearly is rarely obvious to family members, health care providers or other professionals it may remain unrecognized for years. Over time, a child with an unidentified hearing loss will begin to manifest language delays and/or behavioral irregularities. In the absence of reliable hearing evaluation, these observable conditions may lead to misdiagnosis, incomplete diagnosis and inappropriate intervention.

Although Part C and Part B/619 Regulations require that evaluation and assessments include hearing, current guidelines do not specify how that should be carried out. Despite this requirement and the availability of technology that allows for infants and toddlers to be reliably screened, it remains unclear how consistently this occurs as a part of Part C and Part B/619 services. Providers may unknowingly label and focus on observable speech-language delays or behavioral problems and initiate intervention without accurately assessing the underlying condition.

For the past 20 years, with funding from the Office of Head Start and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative has been providing training and technical assistance to Early Head Start, Head Start and other early care and education providers to improve the quality of hearing screenings provided to young children. This webinar will include insights about current hearing screening and evaluation practices in Part C and Part B/619 settings, important questions that need to be explored and will introduce you to educational and program development resources that are available to support the provision of quality services at state and local levels.

• Video Recording: Early Identification of Hearing Loss in Young Children: Issues to Consider for Children Entering Early Intervention Programs

Greater collaboration between Early Intervention Systems and Child Welfare Systems can lead to reducing the underrepresentation of children in IDEA Part C who have been maltreated. CAPTA requires referral provisions and procedures to IDEA Part C be in place for children under age three who are involved in substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect. Two webinars that can be viewed independently or in tandem will provide viewers with a background of the CAPTA requirements and highlight successful collaborative state and local efforts.

• Original posting: Promising Referral Practices... A FREE Webinar from the DEC Protection & Well-Being SIG in Collaboration with the ECTA Center

This is the fourth of four webinars hosted by the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center in partnership with the National Center on Early Development, Teaching and Learning. These webinars focus on questions that frequently arise when local early childhood programs collaborate to build high quality inclusion.

• Streaming Presentation: Partnerships for Inclusion: Professional Development to Support Effective Inclusion Practices

Pay for Success (PFS) is an innovative and promising financing model that has the potential to expand high-quality services for young children at risk or with disabilities and their families. In this webinar for state staff, DaSy provided a brief overview of PFS and described three ways states can build their capacity to pursue PFS:

• Participate in a learning community that will work intensively to pursue PFS as a possible strategy in your state.
• Participate in an interest group that wants to learn more; participate in discussions with TA providers and other states to help you decide if and how you might apply PFS in your state; or
• Receive periodic informational updates about new developments in PFS.

The Learning Lab on Coaching for Practice Change provides a remote learning opportunity to explore how coaching can be supported by states and used within programs to improve implementation of evidence-based practices. The Learning Lab provides information, resources, implementation approaches, and thoughtful discussions with experts and colleagues.

Concerned about child outcomes data quality? Learn about a new resource, the Local Child Outcomes Measurement System (L-COMS). Come hear how one state has been using the L-COMS to help local programs improve data collection.

• Presentation File: Supporting Improvements of Local Child Outcomes Measurement Systems

The ECTA Center partnered with the DaSy Center, Ann and Rud Turnbull, and invited guests to facilitate an interactive four-part web broadcast series aimed at supporting early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) systems leaders with building capacity in personnel and families to develop trusting partnerships. These partnerships in a child’s early years lay the foundation for achieving the long-term intended outcomes for children/students with developmental delays and disabilities articulated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The series features discussions of the role that data play in strengthening family-professional partnerships. Suggestions and resources for designing personnel and family development activities to support partnerships are also be shared.

• Session 1: Getting to the Bottom Line of Family Engagement
• Session 2: Enhancing Trusting Partnerships at the Systems and Practice Levels: Reciprocal Opportunities for Professionals and Families
• Session 3: Infusing Partnership Principles and Practices into Family Engagement Activities
• Session 4: More on Infusing Partnership Principles and Practices into Family Engagement Activities

This is the third of a series of four webinars hosted by the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center in partnership with the National Center on Early Development, Teaching and Learning. These webinars focus on questions that frequently arise when local early childhood programs collaborate to build high quality inclusion.

• Streaming Presentation: Partnerships for Inclusion: Supports that Ensure High Quality Inclusion

This webinar focuses on supporting participation of children with disabilities in high quality inclusive environments through understanding:

• Federal policies and laws, including IDEA and Head Start Performance Standards, related to providing services and support for young children with disabilities,
• Evidence-based practices that promote active engagement, participation, and a sense of belonging, and;
• Each sector's (ED/HHS) role in ensuring young children with disabilities are fully participating and engaged with typically developing peers.

This session was presented as a part of the ECDTL Series of High Quality Inclusion.

• Streaming Presentation: Supporting Participation for all Children: Essential Features of High Quality Inclusion
• Presentation File: Supporting Participation for all Children: Essential Features of High Quality Inclusion

The Self-Assessment Comparison Tool provides a mechanism to examine changes over time in the implementation of improvement processes for components of the ECTA System Framework and DaSy Framework.

• ECTA/DaSy Framework Self-Assessment Comparison Tool
• ECTA/DaSy Framework Self-Assessment Comparison Tool Guidance Document

This 2016 national webinar introduces Pay for Success (PFS), an innovative funding model used to address complex social problems. In a typical PFS Financing model, private investors finance the cost of operating a promising or proven social program that has the potential to save the government money in the long term. Over 40 PFS projects are currently being implemented or planned nationwide to address critical needs in the areas of health, justice, labor, and early education.

• Streaming Presentation: Pay for Success (PFS): An Innovative Funding Structure in Early Childhood (56 minutes)
• Presentation File: DaSy Center: Pay for Success (PFS): An Innovative Funding Structure in Early Childhood
• Additional Resources: DaSy Center: Pay For Success (PFS) Resources

This national webinar hosted by NCSI, ECTA, and DaSy, for state Part B and Part C staff focused on strategies for assessing the impact of SSIP infrastructure improvements.

Representatives from two state departments of education and two state Part C programs will participate in a "virtual state panel" and share their experiences with implementing infrastructure changes as well as their approaches to assessing the impact of those changes on their SSIP improvement strategies and ultimately, their SIMR.

• Streaming Presentation: Assessing Impact of Infrastructure Improvements (70 minutes)
• Presentation File: Assessing Impact of Infrastructure Improvements
• Chat Transcript: Assessing Impact of Infrastructure Improvements

• Streaming Presentation: Session 1: Dual Language Learners with Disabilities: Supporting Young Children in the Classroom: This session offers an overview of young Dual Language Learners. Presenters highlight the importance of maintaining children and families' home language at the same time they are learning a new or second language. Further information on screening and assessing these children will be discussed, as will strategies for supporting them in inclusive preschool programs.
• Streaming Presentation: Session 2: Early Childhood Environments: Designing Effective Classrooms Module & Website Tour: This session will overview the IRIS Center Module Early Childhood Environments: Designing Effective Classrooms. Presenters Amy Harris (IRIS Center), Rob Corso (Vanderbilt University), and Ilene Schwartz (University of Washington) provide details about the interrelated physical, social, and temporal components of effective early childhood environments, as well as information on the ways in which well-designed early childhood environments benefit all young children. Additional emphasis will be placed on how to navigate the IRIS Center Website, IRIS Resource Locator tool, and STAR Legacy Modules.

Are you interested in learning more about the validity of the data from the Child Outcomes Summary (COS) Process? Join this webinar to hear an overview of final results from the ENHANCE project. Four studies conducted in eight states provided information about the implementation and validity of COS information for accountability and program improvement. Results are drawn from a provider survey, coding of videos of the COS process, a study examining relationships between the COS and assessment tool scores, and examination of statewide and national population data. Participants will learn about the findings and implications for states using the COS process.

• Streaming Presentation: Validity of the Child Outcomes Summary (COS) Process Data: An Overview of Findings from the ENHANCE Project
• Handout: Validity of the Data from the Child Outcomes Summary Process: Findings from the ENHANCE Project

• Kickoff: Inclusion in Early Childhood Programs (February 11, 2016)
• Preschool Inclusion: What's the Evidence, What Gets in the Way, and What do High-Quality Programs Look Like? (February 18, 2016)
• Early Childhood Inclusion: Implementation of the State Recommendations (April 14, 2016)