Pacific TA Meeting: Quality Practices in Early Intervention and Preschool Programs

Pacific TA Meeting:Quality Practices in Early Intervention

and Preschool ProgramsOverview to Trends and Issues

in Quality Services Jane Nell Luster, Anne Lucas,

and Joicey Hurth

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Key National Trends

• Quality Programs• Successful Participation• Family Involvement and Family-

Centeredness • Teaming and Collaboration

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Quality Programs

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Quality Programs

• Data Quality Standards• Integration of Early Childhood Systems• Programs Standards • Evaluation of Program Quality • Measurement of Child and Family

Outcomes for Accountability and Program Improvement

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Data Quality Standards

TimelyAccurateo Reliable

Consistent Objective

o Valid Complete Credible

SecureUsefulo Interpretableo Relevanto Transparento Accessible

Data collected, submitted, analyzed, and reported must be:

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Data Quality Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4gj_RdtKCw

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Integration of Early Childhood Initiatives

• Integration of Part C and Section 619 IDEA services with the broader early childhood community and establishing cross-agency collaboration at the systems level is essential to plan, coordinate and improve the various early childhood services

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Program Standards

• Standards related to children with special needs (e.g., inclusion) should be incorporated into the various program standards established by other early childhood initiatives

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Program Quality Evaluation

• Evaluation or rating systems for early childhood initiatives need to be developed and consistently implemented (e.g., QRIS) in states/jurisdictions to assess and improve program quality across the various early childhood initiatives

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Measuring Child and Family Outcomes

• Integrating child outcome measurement into the IFSP / IEP process is important to help establish meaningful IFSP outcomes / IEP goals and appropriate services

• Using child and family data for program improvement is critical and relates to OSEP’s results effort

• States/jurisdictions are still working on quality of data for child outcome

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Successful Participation

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Successful Participation

• Functional Assessment• Functional IFSPs and IEPs• Natural Environments and Inclusive

Settings/Least Restrictive Environments

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Successful Participation

From ECO Stakeholder Process – Ultimate Purpose for Children:• To enable young children to be active and

successful participants during the early childhood years and in the future in a variety of settings – in their homes with their families, in child care, preschool or school programs, and in the community

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Functional Assessment

• Functional assessment conducted in a variety of settings assists the team in:– Identifying what’s working and what’s

challenging in everyday routines and activities (child strengths and needs) to develop functional IFSP and IEP outcomes –Determining the child’s performance across

settings in the 3 global outcome areas

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Functional IFSPs and IEPs

• Functional IFSP outcomes and IEP goals form the basis for promoting how children learning best (e.g., learning through participation in everyday activities that are interesting and important to them)

• Incorporating child interests as the basis for involvement in everyday activities (materials, activities and people) in IFSPs and IEPs , children can be more engaged in playing, interacting and participating

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Natural Environments and Inclusion/LRE

• Since mastery of functional skills occurs through high-frequency, naturally occurring activities in a variety of settings that are consistent with family and community life, provision of early childhood services in natural environments and inclusive settings (e.g., home, community, and/or classroom) best supports learning and promotes successful participation

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Promoting Family

Involvement/ Family

Centeredness

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Promoting Family Involvement/ Family Centeredness

• Family – Professional Partnership• Family Supports and Services Impact

Quality of Life• Caregiver Confidence and Competence• Involving Families in Evaluation and

IFSP/IEP Development and Implementation

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Family - Professional Partnerships and Quality of Life

• Partnerships with professionals influence families’ quality of life (e.g., family interaction, emotional and physical well-being, parenting, disability support)

• Partnerships are defined as “mutually supportive interactions between families and professionals, focused on meeting the needs of children and families and characterized by a sense of competence, commitment, equality, positive communication, respect, and trust”

(Turnbull and Posten, 2010)

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Family Supports and Services Impact Quality of Life

• Services and supports provided to the family also impact on the family’s quality of life

• Families report being fairly satisfied with supports and services they receive but need a clearer understanding of what is available receive – national focus on developing a framework for services and supports

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Building Caregiver Confidence and Competence

• Strengthening families is a way to ensure children have the best outcomes

• Building on family strengths and resources helps to support confidence and competence

• Visits/services provided too frequently can impact caregivers’ confidence and competence

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Involving Families in Evaluation and IFSPs/IEPs

• Involving families in evaluations and the development and implementation of IFSPs and IEPs is critical since parents and caregivers:–Know their child best–Have strengths and influence their child’s

learning and development• The classroom experience should be a

supplement to parenting

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Teaming/Collaboration

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Teaming/Collaboration

• Integrated Service Delivery• Primary Provider Approach to Service

Delivery• Linking with Broader Early Childhood

Services• Early Childhood Transition

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Integrated Service Delivery

• Research shows young children make more developmental progress when therapy services are “integrated” into ongoing classroom routines in collaboration with the teacher vs. the child receiving therapy in one-on-one “pull-out” session (builds capacity of teacher)

(see Integrating Therapy Into the Classroom at: http://www.siskin.org/downloads/Integrating_Therapy_into_the_Classroom.pdf

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Primary Provider Approach to Service Delivery

• The primary-service-provider (PCP) model can be defined as one professional providing ongoing support to the family, backed up by a team of other professionals who provide services to the child and family through joint home visits and consultation with the primary service provider

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Linking with Broader Early Childhood Services

• Partnering with other agencies for service delivery is critical to ensure that young receive necessary services and that services are provided in natural or inclusive settings

• Early childhood providers working with Head Start teachers, child care providers, etc., help to build capacity of caregivers in interacting with and supporting each individual child’s learning and development

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Early Childhood Transition

• Quality transition is highly dependent on the participating agencies/systems engaging in a shared vision with shared policies, procedures and practices requiring collaboration between Parts C and B. This includes:– Developing interagency agreements that address

clear responsibilities, especially for children referred late to Part C

– Aligning policies and procedures

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Contact Information

Jane Nell Luster, DACJluste@lsuhsc.edu

Anne Lucas, NECTAC/WRRCAnne.Lucas@unc.edu

Joicey Hurth, NECTACJoicey.Hurth@unc.edu

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