May Newsletter 2020
The Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC) is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to assist states to develop, implement, and evaluate integrated and comprehensive systems of personnel development (CSPD) for the early childhood workforce so that young children with disabilities and their families receive effective early childhood intervention.
Early childhood programs and professionals across the country are continuing to collect and share resources. ECPC has curated a list of resources on a  COVID-19 webpage  where you can easily access resources. Please check back often as we will update this page as resources become available.
  • General Resources
  • Part C & Part B/619 Resources
  • IHE Faculty
  • Families
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The Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) in each state works to meet the needs expressed by the voices in the field, information about how to provide home visits and supporting parents within remote services is the number one need expressed at this time by ECPC stakeholders.

ECPC's tip sheet:

The target audience for ECPC materials is IHE Faculty, PD Providers, and Family Leaders in the CSPD system. 
We have been hearing from families about how services are being offered.  

As we continue with remote services the definition of family centered care and use of family centered practices can guide us in our partnerships with families. 

Family Centered Care Definition: 
"Care that recognizes and respects the pivotal role of the family in the lives of children. It supports families in their natural care-giving roles, promotes normal patterns of living, and ensures family collaboration and choice in the provision of services to the child."   Bruder

Let’s think about the definition as it relates to providing remote services:
  • Are you connecting with parents about what they want and need during this time?
Our first consideration is the change in the environment where the child spends their day. 

For Part C (Early Intervention Birth to Three services) – the change to remote services may not look very different, just how we connect with the family.
Part B/619 (Preschool Special Education services) – your primary objective should be to work with the family to address IEP goals.

Our task in remote learning is to achieve our IFSP outcomes and IEP goals using learning opportunities within the home/Natural Learning Environment.

Illustrated below in this graphic.
Family Centered care is a foundation for providing services across all disciplines.
Over the past few years ECPC has worked with the 7 National Organizations representing PT, OT, SLP, Early Childhood Special Educators and Early Childhood Educators to develop Cross Disciplinary Competencies that align across organizations and came up with 4 areas that have a definition and indicators.

The Cross Disciplinary Competencies reflect the voice of all disciplines. Each cross disciplinary competency area is defined.

Family Centered Practices definition: Builds a relationship and partnership with each child's caregiving family to support their participation in their child's intervention and learning.

The following seven organizations representing disciplines providing services in early childhood have participated in the development of shared competencies: American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Division of Early Childhood (DEC), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); and ZERO TO THREE.
The Early Childhood Personnel Center is a project of the A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at UConn Health . The Center is funded through cooperative agreement number H325B17008 from the Office of Special Education Programs , U.S. Department of Education. Materials and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the Department of Education's position or policy.