Personnel Development for Inclusion

National Professional Development Center on Inclusion (NPDCI) works with states to create a system of high quality, cross-agency professional development for early childhood personnel to support inclusion using a variety of resources including a national cadre of trainers and consultants, professional development tools, rubrics for evaluating performance, research syntheses, training modules, listservs, publications and institutes.
Head Start Center for Inclusion provides training materials and tools to increase the competence, confidence, and effectiveness of a variety of audiences (teachers, administrators, TA providers, families) to include children with disabilities.
The Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention (TACSEI), funded by OSEP , provides comprehensive work with selected states and takes the research that shows which practices improve the social-emotional outcomes for young children with, or at risk for, delays or disabilities and creates free products and resources to help decision-makers, caregivers, and service providers apply these best practices in their every day work.
SpecialQuest -- created and offers a multimedia training library that supports the inclusion of young children with disabilities birth-five and their families, in early care and education settings. Materials on this website are provided at no cost with funding from the Office of Head Start.

Examples of statewide systems of training to implement recommended practice on inclusion of children with special needs:
State	System
MD	Project ACT (All Children Together) provides child care centers, Head Start programs, family care providers, and preschool to elementary school classrooms with support in fostering school success and healthy development for all children.
MN	Center for Inclusive Child Care is a centralized, comprehensive resource network supporting inclusive care for children in community settings. It provides online self-study courses for early childhood and school age care professionals interested in increasing their knowledge about the special needs of children and how to include all children in their settings.
MN	Project KITE (Kids Included through Technology are Enriched), developed at PACER Center in Minneapolis, is a training curriculum for parents and teachers to more effectively include young children with disabilities in their homes and classrooms in culturally sensitive ways through the use of assistive technology.
NC	NC-TAPP, formerly known as Partnerships for Inclusion, is a statewide technical assistance project that supports the inclusion of young children who have disabilities, ages birth to 5, in community programs across North Carolina.
OR	Oregon Center for Career Development in Childhood Care and Education is an integrated and comprehensive statewide framework that weaves the childhood care and education professions together. Competencies for care of children with special needs are incorporated within training curricula and standards for child care providers.

Links on this site are verified monthly. This page content was last updated on 11/17/2011 CH.