Technical Assistance for Meeting Early Intervention Personnel Standards

Abstract

This article describes the technical-assistance activities of the Partnerships Project, which represents a partnership among a university, a state department of education, and a university-affiliated program in the state of Illinois, and is designed to support the implementation of new early intervention personnel standards. Three major functions of the project, each utilizing extensive peer review for its implementation, are described: (a) assisting in the formulation and implementation of a new portfolio-based credentialing process, (b) supporting geographically and financially available field-based training opportunities that assist personnel in meeting credentialing standards through the portfolio process, and (c) supporting activities to expand the ability of colleges/universities to provide early intervention training.Five individuals are seated around a table covered with file folders. One by one the folders are reviewed. The file of the individual being discussed includes a certificate of attendance at a 2-day, 16-hour inservice session, which focused on feeding issues for young children with special needs. The individual has requested that this session be counted as coursework rather than inservice because she already has the maximum number of credit Address: Jeanette A. McCollum,

Implementing Inclusive Early Childhood Education

“…• There is both growing interest in and support for interdisciplinary personnel preparation (Kilgo & Bruder, 1997;McCollum & Yates, 1994).…”

Getting Ready Strategies for Promoting Parent–Professional Relationships and Parent–Child Interactions

“…The Getting Ready strategies were developed with an appreciation for two respected interventions: triadic consultation (McCollum & Yates, 1994) and collaborative/conjoint consultation (Sheridan & Kratochwill, 1992, 2008) Triadic consultation aims to increase parental warmth and sensitivity with infants and young children with disabilities, while also supporting parent competence in everyday parent–child interactions. Conjoint consultation provides a structured problem-solving process in which families, professionals, and consultants come together to create continuity across the children’s many learning environments and support children’s development.…”

“…As often as possible, the Getting Ready strategies aim to have parents demonstrate key adult interaction behaviors with their children in planned or unplanned daily activities at home and in the community, as a foundation for natural teaching /learning opportunities. These key adult behaviors are adapted from the work of McCollum and Yates (1994) and Roggman et al (2008) and include having parents (a) physically arranging the environment to be supportive of a shared interaction with the child, (b) sustaining the child’s interest and engagement by introducing novelty, (c) encouraging turn taking, (d) following the child’s current interest and attention, and (e) scaffolding their child’s learning by challenging new skill acquisition or understanding, while supporting their efforts. These parent–child interactions can be encouraged in brief informal moments (such as at school pick up and drop off times; “Show your mother.…”

Taking the Past Along

“…In 1992, through a collaborative effort among the Illinois State Board of Education, the Human Resource Committee of the Council for Early Intervention, and the University of Illinois, we were able to obtain 1 of 5 federally funded Partnerships Projects. We used these funds to support the development of a statewide personnel system that included a credentialing system (McCollum & Yates, 1994), as well as a variety of activities to support personnel and system development (Wischnowski, Yates, & McCollum, 1995).…”