A critical part of improving developmental and educational results for children with disabilities is using effective practices in early intervention, wherever services are being provided—an agency setting, the home, and across the child’s natural environment.

An impressive knowledge base of experience has been built on the delivery of early intervention services.  CPIR is pleased to launch you into that knowledge base with these “starter” connections to the experts.

Organizations with Serious Expertise

Land first at the ECTA Center.
ECTA is the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center. That name says it all, doesn’t it? The link we provide takes you to ECTA’s “topics” page, where you can pick your pleasure.
http://ectacenter.org/sitemap.asp#topics

Early Childhood Research & Reference Portal.
Also from the ECTA Center, the portal links to national and state by state EC data sources, evidence-based practices, online journals, literature databases, and grants databases.
http://ectacenter.org/portal/portal.asp

Visit Project CONNECT.
CONNECT has developed web-based, instructional resources for faculty and other professional development providers that focus on and respond to challenges faced each day by those working with young children with disabilities and their families. The modules help build practitioners’ abilities to make evidence-based decisions.
http://community.fpg.unc.edu/

Let the Children Play (to Learn)!

Solutions Tool Kits: Practice guides for parents and early childhood staff alike.
The RTC on Early Childhood Development just keeps on comin’ with materials you can use. Their Solutions Tool Kits include collections of practice guides for promoting child development and learning. The link below will take you to the tool kits page. Scroll down and see all of the following categories, under which you’ll find multiple resources. Any of these topics interest you?

—Games for growing: Teaching your baby using early learning games
—Lap It Up: Early learning through parent-child lap games
—Powerful Playtime: Toys and learning for the very young child
—Literacy for Little Ones: Activities to boost beginning reading, writing, and much more!

Find them all at:
http://www.puckett.org/productSolutions.php

Visit CELL, the Center for Early Literacy Learning.
Lots of practice guides here, for promoting early literacy learning. Guides for parents and practitioners, including many in Spanish.
http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/

Up Close and Personal: Strengthening the parent-child relationship.
http://www.puckett.org/productSolutions.php
Scroll down the page a bit to find all the Up Close and Personal briefs.

Hands-on ways to build social emotional skills through everyday routines.
Visit the Book Nook at CSEFEL (Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning) and have a look at the guides offered there for teachers/caregivers and parents. Examples of suggested activities include using rhymes to talk about being friends, making emotion masks to help children identify and talk about different feelings, playing games around what to do with hands instead of hitting, and fun music and movement activities to express emotions.
http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html#booknook

Online module on embedded interventions.
Learn about the practice of embedded interventions to help children participate in a variety of early learning opportunities and environments promoting high-quality inclusion. Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. From Project CONNECT.
http://community.fpg.unc.edu/connect-modules/learners

Addressing Behavior Challenges in Young Children

Accentuate the Positive: Strengthening positive child behaviors.
http://www.puckett.org/productSolutions.php
Scroll to the very bottom of the page to find the Accentuate the Positive briefs.

Supporting children’s mental health and reducing challenging behaviors.
Visit the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, whose target audiences include  Head Start administrators, staff, and programs, as well as mental health consultants and families. The Center translates research in healthy mental development into materials tailored to the needs of each of the target audiences, and makes them available on this website.
http://www.ecmhc.org/index.html

Assistive Technology for the Little Ones

Using assistive technology.
Research shows that using assistive technology can help young children with disabilities learn valuable skills. Find out more about AT for infants and toddlers at the link below.
www.pacer.org/publications/pdfs/ALL7.pdf

Really? Assistive technology for infants and toddlers with disabilities?
Yes, indeed, there are many ways in which AT can optimize such young children’s development and learning. Visit the Tots ‘n Tech Research Institute (TnT) and find out how. TnT has lots of materials and guidance for families and early interventionists alike.
http://tnt.asu.edu/

Funding assistive technology.
This resource page of the ECTA Center will connect you with the various assistive technology funding sources for infants, toddlers, and young children with disabilities.
http://ectacenter.org/topics/atech/funding.asp