Infant & Toddler

Connection of Virginia

May 2025



PART C UPDATES

Test your Knowledge with our Poll Feature

Pick your answer and scroll below to find the correct answer and explanation!

Governor Youngkin Proclaims the Month of May as

Early Intervention Awareness Month

During the year 2024-2025 the Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia provided early intervention services to more than 24,100 infants and toddlers experiencing developmental delays, diagnosed conditions at risk for delay or developmental disabilities?

View Proclamation

Celebrating Retirements!



Although we are very sad to see them go, we are celebrating our colleagues and friends, David Mills and Tracy Walters, who are retiring on June 1^st.

David Mills has worked in the state Part C Office for thirty years! He was a technical assistance consultant when he first joined our staff but has been the Part C Data Manager for most of his time at DBHDS. When David became the Data Manager, our “data system” included a one-page list of the information we needed for the annual child count.

David worked tirelessly, through many starts and stops and many versions of an outdated data system, to lead us toward the comprehensive system, TRAC-IT, we have today.

David also helped create public awareness campaigns and materials over the years to help families and referral sources know where to find help for infants and toddlers with developmental delays and disabilities. He has certified hundreds of practitioners and submitted countless federal reports. We appreciate his many years of service to Virginia, his support to his state colleagues, local system managers and practitioners; and his commitment to infants, toddlers and their families.

David plans to enjoy time with his family (including his grandson) and spend time gardening, reading and word carving. We will miss his kindness, wicked sense of humor and spot-on pirate imitation. We wish him joy and relaxation in his retirement! David’s last day of work will be May 30^th.

Tracy Walters has been the state’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Coordinator for the past four years. In that relatively short time, she has made a big impact on our state team, on our early intervention workforce, on our vision for infant and early childhood mental health in Virginia and, by extension, on children and families. She led Virginia’s effort to expand the mental health endorsement to early childhood, coordinated pilot projects to embed reflective supervision in early intervention, initiated a reflective leadership group for local system managers, and presented to any and every possible audience on the importance of infant and early childhood mental health. Her empathy and compassion and her focus on relationships have made a lasting impact on the state team and the system.

Although Tracy is retiring from state employment, she is not leaving the field of early childhood. She will transition to direct work with children and families at the Cottage School RVA that she co-created with friends and colleagues from her prior work at VCU Health Systems. We will miss her warmth, authenticity, funny stories and quick laugh. We wish her fun and happiness in her next adventure! Tracy’s last day of work will be May 23^rd.

Introducing the ITCVA Monthly Monitoring Community of Practice!

Join the ITCVA Monitoring Team—Ariel Chambers, Sarah Moore, Telisha Woodfin and Richard Corbett—for a monthly monitoring community of practice (“MCOP”) call covering a variety of topics related to Part C general supervision and monitoring. Our kick-off call will be held on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, from 3:00PM to 4:00PM. Subsequent calls will be held on the first Wednesday of each month and begin at three o’clock.

ITCVA MCOP calls are open to anyone who is interested in the topic(s) being covered. Calls will be recorded for those who are unable to attend. Please visit the Monitoring Community of Practice page of the ITCVA website for a list of upcoming topics and corresponding Microsoft Teams meeting links.

May 2025

Compliance Indicators Measurement and Verification (CIMV)

Verification of Correction on Noncompliance Prior to Notification

June 2025

Determination Reports (Copy 1 of 2)

Structured and Supervised Local Monitoring

July 2025

Part C Expenditure Reporting

Important! Compliance Indicators Measurement and Verification (CIMV) Reporting Deadline

On Friday, May 16, 2025, the Part C monitoring team will generate TRAC-IT reports for each locality to determine local compliance percentages for indicators C-1 (Timely Initiation of Services), C-7 (45-Day Timeline) and C-8A-8B-8C (Transition). These calculated percentages will be reported on each locality’s SFY25 determination report; aggregate compliance percentages will be reported to OSEP in February 2026.

Prior to May 16^th all local systems must ensure that all data is accurate and complete in TRAC-IT in order for compliance percentages to be obtained. Please do not leave this verification activity to the last minute.

CIMV will be covered in depth during the May 2025 MCOP call. And, as always, your locality’s Part C monitoring consultant is available to assist or answer any questions.

Periodic Oversight of Systems and Methods (POSM)

On April 25, 2025, twelve (12) localities were notified of their inclusion in the next POSM cycle (July 1, 2025—June 30, 2026). The localities and the months of POSM launch include:

·       ITC Crater (July 2025)

·       ITC Henrico Area (August 2025)

·       ITC Greater Prince William (September 2025)

·       ITC Central Virginia (October 2025)

·       ITC Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck (November 2025)

·       ITC Loudoun County (December 2025)

·       ITC Danville-Pittsylvania (January 2026)

·       ITC Virginia Beach (February 2026)

·       ITC Blue Ridge (March 2026)

·       ITC Roanoke Valley (April 2026)

·       ITC Western Tidewater (May 2026)

·       ITC Richmond (June 2026)

More information about POSM is available online.

2025 Family Survey Schedule

• Wave 2 begins mailing (all non-responding families) - 4/21-5/2
• Calls begin to localities with less than 15 completes - 5/12-5/30

(Multiple email reminders will also be sent after wave 1 and before data collection is cut off).



SUPPORTING POSITIVE SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS



Pyramid Model Framework

Click to Read:Understand the Meaning of a Child’s Challenging Behavior

Children use challenging behaviors to either:

1. Get something, such as attention or a toy, or
2. Get out of doing something, such as going to bed, eating a new food or getting buckled in the car seat.

The first step to help a child learn a new appropriate behavior is to determine if he or she wants something or wants to avoid doing something.

For some ideas for parents and providers on how to do this, check out the backpack series like the one shown above- also available in many other languages on:

Challengingbehavior.org



PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A GEM YOU MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN?

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED?

WHAT'S COMING

UP NEXT?

Interested in supporting the next generation of EI practitioners? Check out the Early Intervention Pre-Service Consortium’s article that examined perceptions of early intervention (EI) program managers about EI student field placements, needs, and expectations for accepting students into placements and partnerships between their programs and institutions of higher education.

Our very own Cori Hill received the esteemed VCU President's Award for Excellence from Dr. Rao at the Service Award Recognition Celebration on April 16th! We know how incredible Cori is as a leader at VCU and in the field of EI and we could not be more thrilled for this work to be recognized! 

HeartWired is a video series exploring key aspects of social-emotional (SE) development through expert interviews, real-life interactions, and practical insights. Designed for professionals and caregivers, Heartwired offers learning, growth, and connection in the journey of fostering social-emotional well-being for all families.

Watch the first video here and subscribe to the playlist to get the next one - coming very soon! 



SURVEY RESPONDANTS NEEDED

Research Recruitment: Provider and Family Voices Needed

Researchers at the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University are seeking your insight into how you balance family centered care with the unique needs of each family you work with. The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete and asks questions on the family centeredness of your EI practice, activities completed during typical EI sessions, and how families' social determinants of health may influence your EI plan of care. You will receive a $20 gift card upon completion. Please email ecresearch@vcu.edu with any questions or concerns.

Provider survey link: link: go.vcu.edu/ei-provider

They are also asking these same questions to the families you work with! Please pass along this link to your families: go.vcu.edu/ei-family



RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES

New Resource for Parents from CADRE (Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education):

Your Role in Your Child's Early Intervention Team

This resource was developed to support families in the early intervention process by providing general information regarding IFSP teams, what to expect and how to prepare for IFSP meetings, communicating with service providers, and advocating for the child.

Highlights:

• What is Early Intervention?
• Early Intervention: An Unexpected Journey
• Developing the Individualized Family Service Plan [IFSP] and Implementing Services
• You are Your Child’s Advocate
• Tips for Preparing for the IFSP Meeting
• Providing Services: Conversations with Service Providers
• Tips for Communicating with Service Providers
• Guiding Principles of Early Intervention
• Your Role in Your Child’s Early Intervention Team

View the resource here.

POLL ANSWER AND EXPLANATION

The correct answer is “c”

All these questions may be appropriate to ask during visits, but “c” is the only one listed in the practice manual as required to be asked at least monthly.  Providers are the most frequent IFSP team member in family homes and are often the first to learn of changes. It is important to ask routinely about insurance changes and share any changes with the service coordinator or local system manager so that family cost share agreements can be updated, and insurance claims can be filed.

See Practice Manual Chapter 8, pg. 10, #14 for the full reference. 

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The Employment Opportunities page on the ITCVA website receives nearly 5,000 visits each year!

Practitioners: Early intervention needs you! Influence the future of infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities and their families by putting your skills and expertise to work today! Please visit the Employment Opportunities page on the ITCVA website for links to current job openings.

LSMs and local contracted agencies: Let us help connect you to qualified applicants! Are you a Local System Manager (LSM) or the director of an agency that contracts with one or more local early intervention systems in Virginia? Are you looking to find qualified applicants to fill vacant positions? Please visit our Employment Opportunities page for instructions on how to submit a job posting.



ITCVA DIRECT ACCESS

EARLY INTERVENTION CERTIFICATION



For questions about intial certification of practitioners, contact Anne Brager- 804-664-2462.

For questions about re-certification of practitioners, contact David Mills • 804-317-7776

For questions related to completing the online application, contact VATRACITsupport@ssg-llc.com or from 8AM-5PM ET by calling 804-508-7229.

Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia is part of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services

https://www.itcva.online/itcva-staff-1

1220 Bank Street, 9th Floor, P.O. Box 1797, Richmond, Virginia 23219-1797

Main Office: (804) 786-3710 • Main Fax: (804) 371-7959

Do you have colleagues who aren’t getting the Monthly Part C Update? Ask them to check their spam folder. If they're still not receiving it, have them email anne.brager@dbhds.virginia.gov.

DMAS RESOURCES