Recommendations for Certification of Early Childhood Special Educators

Abstract

EDITOR'S NOTEThe E'xecutive Board of the Division for Early Childhood will at times approve position papers related to topics of interest to the field. Beginning with this issue, such papers will be published in the joumal. Comments or concems about the papers should be communicated to the chairof the committee preparing the paperorlhe president of the Division forEarly ChiIdhood. OVERVIEW This position paper contains recommendations for the certification of early childhood special educators who will be employed in early intervention programs serving children with special needs from birth through five and their families. These recommendations represent an approach to creating a certification structure that, in the view of the Division for Early Childhood, Council for Exceptional Children, will ensure a minimum level of beginning and continuing professional competence within the discipline of Early Childhood Special Education. The primary features of these recommendations are: (a) creation of a certificate in Early Childhood Special Education, to cover the birth-5 age range; (b) a 2-level certification structure to include a Beginning Professional Certificate and a Continuing Professional Certificate, with the former being a generalist certificate covering the birth-5 range and the latter a specialist certificate focused on either the infant/toddler or preschool level; (c) specific content areas at Univ of Connecticut / Health Center / Library on June 13, 2015 jei.sagepub.com Downloaded from 196 that are considered essential for early childhood special educators' working with young children with special needs and their families, supporting the unique contributions of this discipline to early intervention systems, and (d) a structure that ensures continued professional development.The first section reviews issues that were considered and that contributed to the positions taken in this paper. The second section contains specific recommendations for establishing a certificate in this area. An elaboration of content areas listed as a part of these recommendations may be found inThis position paper is not intended to be mandatory. Its purpose is to provide guidance to states as they develop personnel standards for early childhood special educators. Individual circumstances within each state will require flexible use of these guidelines. BACKGROUND

Variables That Influence Collaboration Between Parents and Service Coordinators

“…Service coordinators also described produc- tive behaviors such as providing information to parents about resources in the community or researching information for parents who lack information. These responses, like those regarding interpersonal relationships, are consistent with the literature (McCollum, McLean, McCartan, & Kaiser, 1989). Other categories that emerged from the content analysis of questions about productive characteristics of service coordinators include demonstrates a concern for the family's children, has a positive attitude towards the family, is a parent of a child with a disability, has general experiences with children and has certain innate abilities (as one parent put it, "She'd have to have nerves of steel!…”

Combining General and Special Early Childhood Education Standards in Personnel Preparation Programs

“…This philosophy statement emphasized that students must be prepared to (a) provide services in integrated settings (Miller, 1992;Odom & McEvoy, 1990;(b) work as intersdisciplinary team members (Nash, 1990); and (c) provide family-centered services (Winton & Bailey, 1990). The philosophy statement also served as a guide to develop a program that (a) recognizes the unique training needs of nontraditional students, (b) incorporates competencies into the curriculum (McCollum et al, 1989;Smith & Powers, 1987); and (c) actively involves students in making decisions about their learning experiences (Knowles, 1984).…”

“…This task involved examination of roles supported in the literature (Bailey, Palsha, & Huntington, 1990;McCollum, 1987) and delineation of the primary roles for which this program would prepare personnel. The next step was to establish the knowledge and skills required to fulfill those roles by reviewing recommended personnel guidelines from early childhood and early childhood special education organizations (ATE, 1990;McCollum et al, 1989;NAEYC, 1988). These recommendations then served as the foundation for the program competencies.…”

The Relationship Between Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Special Education

“…Among its activities is the setting of standards for professional preparation programs and standards for state licensure of personnel. DEC established guidelines for personnel preparation of early childhood special educators (DEC Task Force on Recommended Practices, 1993;McCollum, McLean, McCartan, & Kaiser, 1989) that will be used in developing a joint statement.…”