Two-Part Webinar Series: Supporting Young Children with Disabilities and their Families through Tele-Intervention
This two-part webinar series from the VA Department of Education provides an overview of using tele-intervention during this time of social distancing to support young children with disabilities and their families. Many teachers are now supporting families through tele-intervention (or what may also be called telepractice or telehealth) by providing coaching to parents using technology. This is an approach that many teachers have not experienced before and may require tips and strategies as they use new technology, but more importantly, support families by listening; helping them establish a sense of safety, security, and normalcy; and addressing their needs through resources, strategies, and coaching.
The webinars are for administrators, teachers, and related services personnel. The first webinar provides a brief overview of system requirements, how to plan a tele-intervention visit, and the parts of a virtual visit. The second webinar focuses on providing a tele-intervention visit and strategies to coach parents and provide support. Click here to access the Webinar Series: Supporting Young Children with Disabilities and their Families through Tele-Intervention.
Best Practices for Assessment of Young Children: Three-Part Webinar Series (NEW DATES!)
The Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Early Childhood in collaboration with the Office of Special Education Instructional Services, is pleased to offer a three-part webinar series titled Best Practices for Assessment of Young Children. During the three webinars, participants will learn about these best practices in assessing young children to ensure informed decisions are made regarding eligibility for special education and related services.
A recording will be available by request: The Essentials of Eligibility and Evaluation of Young Children
Registration is required to participate. Resources needed for the webinars will be emailed to those registered. The webinars will be recorded and made available to all who register.
Toddler CLASS Observer Training
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is supporting school divisions in building capacity to use the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS™) in all PreK classrooms. School divisions must build capacity for local, trained, reliable observers to conduct CLASS™ observations, which are required twice a year in all Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) classrooms beginning in 2020-2021. This includes VPI classrooms serving children with Individualized Education Programs (IEP).
To support these goals, the VDOE is pleased to announce CLASS™ training for the purpose of building local capacity to implement CLASS™ observations in classrooms with children with IEPs. Training is available for school division leaders who have administrative responsibilities in local ECSE programs. While the DOE is offering CLASS™ observation training for PreK and Toddler, PreK training is currently full. Spaces are available for the Toddler CLASS™ Observer Training.
The training is two days in length. Participants must attend both days of training to be eligible to receive a certificate of completion and to take the reliability test.
Registration: Space for each training session is limited and will be filled on a first come basis. Registration is limited to two individuals from a school division unless additional space is available.
Toddler CLASS™ Observer Training: The Toddler CLASS™ is to be used in classrooms with children ages 15-36 months. Each training is two days in length, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day. The deadline to register is May 26, 2020
- June 15-16, 2020
- June 24-25, 2020
Resources for Supporting Students Who Receive Early Childhood Special Education Services during Covid-19
The Virginia Department of Education and the Training and Technical Assistance Centers have developed a list of curated resources covering a variety of areas impacting young children with disabilities and their families. The lists are not exhaustive but do provide a set of resources specifically selected to assist parents, teachers, and administrators who support a young child with a disability. Teachers and administrators may want to utilize or highlight selected resources for a parent to support their child during this time.
Also provided is the Supports for Young Children with Disabilities Matrix. This is a resource for teachers to help create individualized daily/weekly lessons for students with early childhood aged children with disabilities. The lesson ideas in the sections are divided into functional activities associated with time of day (morning, afternoon, evening). The teacher and parent should work together to select activities that will help meet the needs of the individual student. When possible, links are provided to virtual resources and general resources which relate to many of the different activities within the matrix.
NEW! Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Investigators at the University of North Carolina Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), who lead the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice, have completed an updated systematic review of literature related to interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The new report on Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) includes literature published from 2012-2017 and the findings are combined with the literature from the previous review from 1990-2011. There are five new practices identified, several reconceptualizations and recategorizations of practices, new data related to the study participants (e.g., race/ethnicity/nationality data) and new information about intervention implementation (e.g., where the intervention was implemented and by whom).
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