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Navigating Excellence - Parent Center Assistance & Collaboration Team
Region A E-News
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Inspirational Quote
"Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us." - Wilma Rudolph
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Message from Carolyn & Diana
Parent Center staff know from our own experience that our dreams - for our children, for our ourselves, for our organizations, for the children, youth and families we serve - have tremendous power. We also know the power of believing in each person's potential to live a full life and make a meaningful contribution. Every day, we speak with families, youth and professionals whose spirits have been dampened by the many challenges they face in trying to achieve that potential - the low expectations, the failure to provide needed supports, the discrimination against children and families because of disability, poverty, racism, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and all the other isms. What we do helps to rebuild dreams, nourish the human spirit, and unveil the potential that is in each of us. Remember that NEPACT is here to help you! Don't hesitate to contact us at any time; we're just an email or a call away. We hope you have a wonderful end-of-the-summer, and we look forward to getting together in October in Maryland to learn about how implementation and improvement science can make our work and outcomes even more efficient and effective!
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Reminder about the NE-PACT/Region A Parent Center Workspace!
You've been invited to join NE-PACT: A group for Region A Parent Centers.
Check your email for this invitation to our
universal location to house all of our resource collections, materials, documents, and files, including the Transition Resource Repository, Trauma Toolkit, Drop-in call notes, webinar announcements and recordings, peer to peer and CQI applications, TA resources, and much more! Reach out to Rosslin Mensah-Boateng at
rmensah-boateng@spanadvocacy.org
if you can't find your invitation or need other assistance accessing the new Region A parent center workspace.
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Featuring...
AFCAMP: Watch this
video on AFCAMP's I LEAD Youth Summit, bringing together youth leaders impacted by multiple systems - child welfare, education, behavioral health, and juvenile justice, among others - and hear how AFCAMP is supporting youth as they develop and apply leadership skills, on their home page
.
Long Island Advocacy Center (LIAC): Check out the Long Island Advocacy Center's
videos on special education topics including their "Establishing an IEP" and "Rights of Students in Special Education: Discipline" videos
. Scroll down and access the videos on the right side of the page.
Rhode Island Parent Advocacy Network (RIPIN):
From their formation in 1991, RIPIN has grown into an organization with almost 100 employees supporting children, youth, families, and adults across the state. Read about their impressive array of programs and accomplishments in their 2018 Annual Report.
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Opportunity to Make an Impact
EI and Special Education Determinations: As you heard at OSEP Leadership, the US Secretary of Education is considering modifying the factors the Department of Education will use in making its determination in June 2020 on State implementation of IDEA. (For more information on "determinations,"
click here). ED's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) provided parents, States, entities, early intervention service providers, local educational agencies, and other stakeholders with an opportunity to comment and provide input during OSEP's 2019 Leadership Conference. OSEP has established a dedicated mailbox at OSEPDeterminations@ed.gov to receive additional input through August 30, 2019.
Food Stamp Rules:
Proposed changes to food stamp rules could make hundreds of thousands of students lose eligibility for free lunch.House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott is raising concerns that the USDA is concealing internal estimates on the impact of its proposed changes to eligibility for food assistance and the effect on free school meals. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Scott (D-Va) asked the USDA to immediately make public its estimate that more than 500,000 low-income students would lose automatic eligibility for free school meals under a proposed revision of those who are "categorically eligible" under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The proposed rule, released July 23, would make changes restricting SNAP eligibility, which is used to calculate categorical eligibility for free and reduced school meals. When the rule was published in the Federal Register, the Regulatory Impact Analysis did not include discussion of the rule's impact on free school meal eligibility. Comments on the proposed rule are due September 23, 2019. More information.
Mental Institutions: President Trump has blamed recent mass shootings on "mental illness," this time explicitly calling for the rebuilding of institutions as the answer to gun violence. The National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health has information and resources to respond (see Call to Action on the right side of the home page.)
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Upcoming Events/Dates to Remember
NEPACT Region A Parent TA Center Conference: Join us on November 4-6 in Baltimore - Inner Harbor, Maryland for our 2019 Regional Conference focused on using implementation and improvement science to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our work including our ability to use evidence-based practices. More information will be forthcoming soon. We will start at noon on Monday, November 4 and end around 3 on Wednesday, November 6 (the REACH for Transition day will be Wednesday).
National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health 30th Anniversary Conference, November 14-16, Phoenix, Arizona:
A full day Serving on Groups Train-the-Trainer and half day Leading by Convening workshop will be featured at this conference, along with an array of other useful workshops.
Find out more and register
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Non-Profit Management Resources
Expert Advice to Improve Culture and Morale at your Nonprofit Organization:
It's no secret that people working at social good organizations, and at nonprofits in particular, have the reputation of being "overworked and underpaid." According to the 2018 Nonprofit Finance Fund State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey
, 86% of respondents said demand for their services was rising and 57% said they didn't think they could meet it; 59% cited employing enough hands to do all that work as a challenge. While slightly more than half reported increasing staff and compensation, that still leaves a large portion of organizations that didn't. And for those organizations that did, given the challenges of meeting that increased demand, it's likely that many employees are still working long hours and for less pay than they could get working in other sectors. In fact, "an inability to hire qualified staff within a limited budget" was the most commonly cited challenge in the 2017 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey,
which also found that 81% of nonprofits do not have a formal retention policy. Want help? Read this article.
Time Management Tips for Small Non-Profits:
For most who get involved in nonprofit organizations, their reasons are entirely selfless. In many cases, however, they quickly find out just how much time philanthropic endeavors require. This can be disheartening - especially for smaller nonprofits that have to stretch a small staff as far as possible. Fortunately, there are a variety of time-management tips for nonprofit organizations to increase their effectiveness. Check out these 7 time management tips.
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Family-Centered and Youth-Centered Services Resources
Supporting Children and Parents Impacted by the Trauma of Separation: Research shows that children can recover and thrive after experiencing a traumatic event such as forcible separation. A strong and growing evidence base indicates that trauma-informed care (TIC) can promote resilience among children and families who experience traumatic events or circumstances.
Access information and resources that can help you.
Supporting Families Impacted by Trauma:
Providers aware of the impact of trauma on family relationships and functioning can help members access supports and treatments that focus on all family members and work to stabilize the whole "family unit." Find out more in this fact sheet.
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Staff Development Resources
Components of an Effective Professional Development Process: Developing an effective professional development program takes a lot of thought, and requires elements from many different areas. The elements of effective professional development can be organized into six important components: integrated goals, assessment, planning, embedded-ness, the ongoing cycle of learning, and culture (see below). Learn more.
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Bilingual/LEP
English Learners with Disabilities: Shining a Light on Dual-Identified Students
:
The New America Prek-12 team released a brief
that examines the intersection of
English learners
and
students with disabilities
, or "dual-identified" students. Schools need to know how to ensure students are receiving the right services and not being mislabeled.
Report Spotlights English Learners in Urban Districts
:
Check out this report by the Council of Great City Schools that spotlights English learners in urban districts
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Bullying
Decline in Violence: New federal data show reports of student fights, bullying, and other forms of victimization have continued a decades-long trend of decline.
Preventing Bullying, Harassment, and Electronic Aggression:
Check out the overview and resources from the American Psychological Association.
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Choice/Charter Schools/Vouchers
DC Voucher Program had no effect on student achievement: A
report from the Institute of Education Sciences finds that the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program, the nation's only federally funded private school voucher program, had no effect on student achievement after three years. Read the report.
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Data
Children's Faces of Medicaid: Data Analysis Series: Many children with behavioral health needs who receive Medicaid are served by multiple public programs, putting them at risk for receiving fragmented or inappropriate care. Improper care leads to poor health outcomes at high costs. The Center for Health Care Strategies "Faces of Medicaid: Data Analysis Series" is designed to uncover patterns of behavioral health care use and expense for children in Medicaid and to help states and other stakeholders discover opportunities to improve outcomes. Check it out.
Correlation is Not Causation! Writing for Ahead of the Heard, Cara Jackson highlights important things to consider when interpreting education research. Read more.
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Discipline/Seclusion, Restraint and Aversives
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Early Childhood/Early Intervention
Child Care Access and Affordability:
A
report
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General provides evidence that state Child Care and Development Fund policies fail to adequately address eligible families' needs due to low reimbursement rates and other problems including perceived paperwork burdens. The IG surveyed providers and state agencies. Most providers of full-time infant care, including most providers serving CCDF children, charged higher rates than the state reimbursed. A substantial % of providers charged more than 50% above the state reimbursement rate. The report includes state-by-state data and makes recommendations for what the federal government can do to support improvements.
ECE Quality Indicators and Child Outcomes: Analyses of Six Large Child Care Studies
:
A recent study published in
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
, investigated the association between Early Childhood Education (ECE) quality (structural and process quality indicators defined by multiple indicators) and children's language, literacy, math, and social outcomes. The study employed data from six large studies of ECE quality to relate structural and process quality indicators based on professional guidelines to children's language, literacy, math, and social outcomes. The study found small gains related to some quality indicators such as teacher-child interactions, curriculum, and teacher and director education for some child outcomes, but not to other indicators. Read more
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Education Reform/Every Student Succeeds Act/School Improvement
Common Core Impact on Student Learning:
Matt Barnum
of Chalkbeat
reviews
new research about whether adoption of the Common Core improved student learning.
The Leading Edge of Local System-Building: ESSA and Continuity Across the First Decade of Children's Lives: In this piece, David Jacobson explores how ESSA plans present opportunities to improve quality and significantly deepen collaboration between schools, districts, and community organizations. Read it.
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Equity
Spotlight: What is Equity?
Policy Matters is a video chat series between Teri Talan, Michael W. Louis Chair and Senior Policy Advisory at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, and guest thought leaders in early childhood policy. This episode features Dr. Aisha Ray, Distinguished Fellow, BUILD Initiative.
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Health
The Vibrant and Healthy Kids Report: Aligning Science, Practice and Policy to Advance Health Equity:
This report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlines steps to move children at risk for negative outcomes toward positive health trajectories and reduce health disparities. The report applies the science of prenatal and early childhood development to policy, program, and systems changes.
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IDEA/Special Education
IDEA Part B, Section 619 National Survey (2019 Summary Report):
This report describes the results of a survey conducted with State IDEA Part B Section 619 Coordinators in 2018. It provides a national picture of state administration and practices related to serving young children with disabilities in accordance with the IDEA Part B, Section 619 Program. The report is intended to assist State 619 Coordinators, state and local partners and national efforts in enhancing the quality of services for preschool children with disabilities and their families.
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Immigrant
Adults in Immigrant Families Report Avoiding Routine Activities Because of Immigration Concerns: Changes in federal immigration policies and heightened immigration enforcement over the last several years have caused fear and insecurity for many immigrant families across the country. In addition to stories of rising fear among families reported in the press, several studies have documented evidence of widespread anxiety and instability among immigrant families and children. Beyond avoiding participation in public programs, many immigrant families may be changing how they go about their daily lives. Reports show immigrant families increasingly avoiding routine activities, such as interacting with teachers or school officials, health care providers, and the police, which poses risks for their well-being and the communities in which they live.
Read more.
Immigration and Trauma: Series Materials: Recent changes in immigration policy are presenting new and intense challenges to infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families, and the teachers and programs that work with them. Families and programs are experiencing increased trauma due to the immigration climate. With funding from the Irving Harris Foundation, the BUILD Initiative has completed a series of webinars and blogs in partnership with the Center for Law and Social Policy for providers, state policy leaders, and advocates.
Access all the materials from the series.
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Inclusion
Inclusive School Self-Assessment: This instrument is designed to provide schools with a self-assessment instrument to guide a review of current practices regarding inclusive education. Stetson and Associates considers inclusive education to be synonymous with the requirements for the provision of education and related services in the least restrictive environment. Decisions about instructional setting are determined on an individual student basis and while there is a strong preference for instruction in the general education classroom, the IEP team makes the determination of the appropriate location(s) for services. It is our position that the emergence of the terms 'inclusive practices' and 'inclusive education' served to refocus national attention on this critical philosophy and practice for every student. The notion of inclusive practices is relevant for all students.
Access the tool.
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Juvenile Delinquency/Juvenile Justice
October is Youth Justice Action Month! Now is the time to start planning for Youth Justice Action Month! Since 2008, YJAM events and activities have elevated and amplified the conversation about the need for better youth justice policies. Over more than a decade, we have made steady progress reforming our justice system to treat more children as children and fostering a culture in which children in trouble with the law are loved and cared for rather than criminalized. This year's focus is on the need for people to ACT to End Racism.
Find out more and sign up.
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LGBTQ
Queer-inclusive Curricula: In the fifth and final post in her series on LGBT-inclusive open learning, Sabia Prescott explains how state and district leaders can support the creation and implementation of
queer-inclusive curricula.
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Mental Health
Fear of Harm Syndrome: Fear of Harm (FoH) is a subset of juvenile bipolar disorder. A person suffering from Fear of Harm (FoH) has intense fear of harm coming to him/herself or someone for which they care. Mental health professionals serving children/youth who have FoH estimate at least 250,000 children/youth have this disease. It appears that there is a physical limitation in the brain that causes these children/youth to be unable to regulate their body temperature. They are hot all of the time. Wide swings in ambient temperature seem to act as a trigger for various isolating behaviors including violent behavior towards anyone in a position of authority as well as anyone else that may harm them or others that they care for. Check out the website for the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation and look for a presentation by Elizabeth Errico on the value of the correct diagnosis.
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Military Families & Youth
What is Secondary Dependency? (Adult Children with Disabilities)
:
This quick resource (with handout) is a guide for military families to help their adult child with disabilities continue to access military benefits, many of which would otherwise end at age 21. It includes lists of and links to necessary military forms.
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Native American Families & Youth
National Museum of the American Indian: To be able to more effectively serve Native Americans/American Indians, it is important to learn more about Native American history, cultures and lives. Two features of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian can help.
Native Knowledge 360° provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history, cultures and contemporary lives.
Essential Understandings about American Indians is a framework that offers new possibilities for creating student learning experiences.
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Parent/Family Collaboration and Engagement (and Youth!)
Parent Engagement in Schools:
The American Psychological Association has a brief overview of parent engagement in schools with links to resources.
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Parenting
Family-Centered Prevention to Enhance Parenting Skills during the Transition to Elementary School: A Randomized Trial
:
From the Journal of Family Psychology, researchers evaluated an intervention program called the Family Check-Up (FCU). The evaluation centered on how well FCU improved parenting skills for parents of children in kindergarten and first grade. The sample included 321 families of kindergarten children in 5 public elementary schools who were randomly assigned to either the FCU or to a school-as-usual control group (n = 164 assigned to intervention). Researchers "predicted both direct and moderated effects of the FCU on changes in parenting, including positive parenting, monitoring/family routines, and negative parenting skills." While the study found no effects on positive parenting skills, there was a significant reduction in negative parenting that was larger in high-stress families. Find out more.
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Poverty
Re-segregation: Hechinger Report's Emmanuel Felton highlights how wealthy school districts are increasingly splitting from poorer, more diverse districts, resulting in a trend towards
re-segregation.
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Racism
Tracking Impact: Writing for the Atlantic, Whitney Pirtle highlights how tracking has created separate and unequal education systems within single schools.
Read more.
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Social-Emotional Learning
Help Your Baby Deal with Emotions:
Just like adults, babies experience a wide range of daily emotions. It's a parent's job to help them sort through the difficult ones. But do you know how to help your infant cope? New research offers some clues. Learn more.
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Substance Abuse
SAMHSA's 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Report Data Findings:
SAMHSA will release the latest data findings from the 2018 NSDUH on Tuesday, August 20th. The NSDUH measures the use of illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; as well as mental disorders, treatment, and co-occurring substance use and mental disorders in the United States at the national, state, and sub-state levels. NSDUH data also help to identify the extent of substance use and mental illness among different sub-groups; estimate trends over time; and determine the need for treatment services. Learn more.
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Systems Change and Improvement
Roadmap to a Culture of Quality Improvement: Change management involves the selection of strategies to facilitate the transition of individuals, teams, or organizations from a current state of operation to the new, desired state. More specifically, it involves a process and set of techniques to manage the feelings, perceptions, and reactions of the people affected by the change being introduced. The impetus of any organizational change initiative is to improve some aspect of operations or longer term outcomes. Change projects result in new policies, processes, protocols, or systems to which staff must become accustomed, and change management is used to facilitate the transition. NACCHO's Roadmap to a Culture of Quality (the Roadmap) is a tool for change management as it offers guidance on transformational change from the current organizational culture to one that fully embodies quality. Because the scope of the transformational change initiative is so large, the Roadmap integrates the "process" and "human" considerations and strategies necessary to build a culture of quality into each of the six foundational elements, and across the six phases, of a culture of quality. Access the information and tools.
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Teachers/Teaching
International Teacher Survey results
: A
new international survey
of teachers finds that nine out of 10 American teachers are satisfied with their jobs, but have low opinions of how the profession is perceived. The survey also finds that American teachers spend more hours teaching and have longer work weeks than most of their counterparts in 48 other education systems. Read more.
Teacher impact on student attendance rates
: New research finds that individual teachers can have very different effects on rates of student attendance,
explains
Matt Barnum of Chalkbeat. Read more.
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Transition to Adult Life/Youth
2nd Interactive Learning Tool: AMP e-Module: Youth-Driven Conversation - Avoiding Some Common Mistakes: The Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures has developed a second AMP e-Module interactive learning tool, "Youth-Driven Conversation - Avoiding Some Common Mistakes," designed for people who work with youth and young adults. Like the first AMP e-Module, this short online training incorporates video and interactivity to create a practical and engaging learning experience for skill enhancement. Check it out.
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Trauma, Toxic Stress, and Resilience
The Child Trauma Screen (CTS) Developed by Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut: Many children suffer from trauma in silence and alone. Screening is a way to identify children who are experiencing high levels of distress and may need help to overcome trauma exposure. The Child Trauma Screen (CTS) is being used by behavioral health providers, pediatricians, school staff, child welfare workers, and juvenile justice staff to identify children who may be suffering from trauma exposure and need more comprehensive assessment or treatment. Access the CTS.
Development and Implementation of a Pediatric Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) and Other Determinants of Health Questionnaire
:
To date, there is no known existing validated questionnaire designed to comprehensively screen young children and adolescents for exposure to ACEs in a pediatric primary care setting. Drawing from the adult ACE and other adversity and trauma screening tools, a literature review, the WHO criteria and the team's experience, the authors developed the first pediatric ACE and other determinants of health questionnaire. This approach was informed by the development of the WHO International ACEs questionnaire. Check it out.
From Burnout to Resilience: Science-Based Tools for Thriving in the Face of Stress
:
The Professional and Continuing Education program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health had recently conducted a workshop about stress, resiliency, and burnout. Listen to subject matter expert (and long-time Network Faithful) Laurie Ellington as she explains stress, the physiological responses, as well as the interactive aspects of this workshop. Get the details on how to bring this workshop to your organization at the end of the video.
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ABOUT THE REGION A PARENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER
The Navigating Excellence-Parent Assistance and Collaboration Team (NE-PACT), the Region A Technical Assistance Center, provides technical assistance to federally-funded parent centers -- Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) - located in the states of
CT-AFCAMP
,
CT-CPAC
, DC-AJE, DE-PIC, MD-PPMD,
ME-MPF
,
MA-FCSN
,
NH-PIC
,
NJ-SPAN
,
NJ-ASCF
,
NY-AFC
, NY-CIDA, NY-LIAC,
NY-UWS
,
NY-Starbridge
,
NY-INCLUDEnyc
,
NY-Sinergia
,
NY-PNWNY
, PA-HUNE, PA- ME, PA-PEAL, PR-APNI,
RI-RIPIN
, VI-DRVI and
VT-VFN
. These Parent Centers are independent non-profit organizations. We also provide support to emerging parent centers and parent organizations serving families of children with or at risk of being identified as having disabilities. In addition, we work with early intervention and education agencies (local, state and federal level) seeking information regarding best practices in involving parents of children with disabilities in systems improvement.
The center activities are specifically designed to:
- Enhance the capacity of parent centers to provide effective services to families of children with special needs and to work effectively with their states to improve special education and early intervention systems; and,
- Facilitate their connections to the larger technical assistance network that supports research-based training, including educating parents about effective practices that improve results for children with disabilities. For more information click here.
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