This facilitated round table discussion will provide participants the opportunity to

• distinguish among terms commonly confused in the early care and education fields (itinerant teaching, consultation, collaboration, teamwork, coaching and other terms generated by the audience),
• review recent research about how early education and intervention professionals view the consultation process and what factors affect their comfort in the consultation role, and
• consider challenges to consultation in early care and intervention.

Discussion will include

• What are creative solutions to logistical obstacles in consultation (e.g., billing, travel, caseload)?
• How can we develop an empirical base for consultation practice?
• How can supervisors support early intervention consultants?

Come discover curricula, activities, videotapes and other resources for preparing personnel to support the learning of all young children in inclusive and/or natural environments. You will discover applications that range from the awareness level to the attitudinal level and resources for use in teaching, training, staff development, supervision, self-assessment and policy development. Handouts will include diverse examples that can be helpful in many institutions, states and applications. Time will be available at the end of the session to explore a "petting zoo" of resources and raise individual questions.

This session will present the Collaborative Planning Model which has been used successfully by early childhood interagency community teams to work together in promoting collaborative, inclusive, quality services. Learnings from these teams will be shared along with practical tools for collaboration - sample letter to recruit a team; formats for team meeting agendas, ground rules, and minutes; sample forms; step-by-step instructions for activities such as assessing the current community context, visioning, priority setting, action planning; and a generic interagency agreement format.

This session describes the results of two studies - one conducted with classroom teachers, the other with parents of young children enrolled in inclusive programs - to examine the role of adult involvement in fostering friendships between children with and without disabilities. In addition to highlighting specific friendship strategies reported by parents and teachers, we explore the policy implications for promoting children's social competence with peers in inclusive contexts.

Come discover curricula, activities, videotapes and other resources for preparing personnel to support the learning of all young children in inclusive and natural environments. You will discover applications that range from the awareness level to the attitudinal level and resources for use in teaching, training, staff development, supervision, self-assessment and policy development. Handouts will include diverse examples that can be helpful in many institutions, states and applications. Time will be available at the end of the session to explore a "petting zoo" of resources and raise individual questions.

The Building Blocks model is a set of educational practices designed to help teachers do a more effective job of including young children with disabilities and other special needs in preschool classrooms. The model consists of four blocks: high quality early childhood programs, curriculum modifications and adaptations, embedded learning opportunities and child-focused instructional strategies. These blocks are held together by the effective collaboration of all the team members, including families. This session will describe the model and offer suggestions for how it can be implemented in different early childhood settings.

Respondents:
Ruth Miller, Provider, Chapel Hill, NC
Phyllis Mayfield, 619 Coordinator, Montgomery, AL
John Hoffman, Parent, Minneapolis, MN

In this session, participants will be presented with a model for enhancing high quality child care for children with disabilities in inclusive settings. The model consists of three major interrelated components: routines-based assessment for functional intervention planning, integrated therapy, and embedded intervention. Participants will be provided with information on the three components (i.e., what it is and why it is important) and strategies and tools for implementation (e.g., checklists and assessment tools).

Participants will gain an understanding of natural environments as applied to a family's journey through every phase of early childhood, from birth through kindergarten placement. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in activities that show "natural environments" as routines that are ordinary and natural to a family. Participants will see, through the eyes of a family, the simple, yet effective tools that were utilized in making the home and playground a "natural learning opportunity."

Administrators hold a powerful role in creating and maintaining inclusive classrooms for young children. During this session, the Administrators’ Guide to Preschool Inclusion will be presented. This guide was developed by the Early Childhood Research Institute on Inclusion and funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).

Early Head Start offers excellent inclusive services for children with special needs and their families. Staff from the WAGES EHS/HS in Goldsboro, NC will present "A Special Quest" a unique training opportunity that has helped them to include children with significant disabilities in their program.

In this session, participants will learn about a continuum of six service delivery models for the provision of therapy and specialized instruction in the preschool classroom. An emphasis will be placed on the how-tos and benefits of two integrated models of service delivery.

Over the past few years, the U.S. Supreme Court has limited the reach and scope of the ADA in important ways. This session will review the changes and describe the ways in which these changes are being responded to. In light of these limitations, the session will also focus on the growing importance of state laws protecting persons with disabilities and the ways in which these laws differ from, and may be more expansive than, the ADA. (While the ADA will be compared and contrasted with IDEA, the primary focus of the session will be on ADA law rather than IDEA law.)

Effective collaboration among institutions of higher education, community programs and state agencies can yield enormous benefits to families, faculty members, administrators, practitioners and students, as well as effect systemic change. Participants in this session will learn about new and creative approaches that are changing personnel preparation systems (what students/personnel learn, where they learn it, how they learn it, who they learn it from). Presenters will share findings, including lessons learned and innovative strategies, from work with many states. Handouts will include diverse examples that can be helpful in many institutions, states and applications.

Participants will gain an understanding of natural environments as applied to a family's journey through every phase of early childhood, from birth through kindergarten placement. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in activities that show "natural environments" as routines that are ordinary and natural to a family. Participants will see, through the eyes of a family, the simple, yet effective tools that were utilized in making the home and playground a "natural learning opportunity."

Workshops on special needs tend to attract "the choir" – those with experience in the area of special needs – not necessarily those in need of the training. Since attitudes and awareness continue to be a barrier to successful inclusion, incorporating information during other training opportunities is a good place to start reaching beyond the choir. This session will provide ideas and activities that allow participants to expand, include and infuse information, concepts and principles regarding children with special needs into their trainings.

This panel from an award-winning preschool program will share how the Edgecombe County Schools created inclusive preschool services. The process of becoming fully inclusive evolved over a number of years and involved using multiple funding sources in creative ways. The preschool has a clear vision and mission statement that guide the program’s operations as well as a unique staff development arrangement that has resulted in high quality classes throughout the program.

How do we "widen the circle," so that we can include voices that have not been traditionally heard? New Voices is a model designed to support personnel who work with culturally and linguistically diverse children including those with disabilities, particularly Latino children and families. The model will support professionals in acquiring knowledge, developing skills and examining attitudes about differences with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of services they provide to children with disabilities. The model will be presented and participants will discuss issues related to inclusion and diversity.

This session will present the Collaborative Planning Model which has been used successfully by early childhood interagency community teams to work together in promoting collaborative, inclusive, quality services. Learnings from these teams will be shared along with practical tools for collaboration - sample letter to recruit a team; formats for team meeting agendas, ground rules, and minutes; sample forms; step-by-step instructions for activities such as assessing the current community context, visioning, priority setting, action planning; and a generic interagency agreement format.

With the tremendous growth in the number of local Head Start, child care, and pre-kindergarten programs that are combining their efforts and funds to provide quality full-day, year-round services, this session will increase participants’ understanding of (1) the history and context of early education partnerships, (2) the many types of blended programs being successfully implemented across the country, and (3) strategies and tools for accessing and managing a variety of funding sources to finance and sustain quality programs including those serving children with disabilities. The session will also introduce participants to the federal Head Start and Child Care Bureaus’ QUILT - Quality in Linking Together training and technical assistance resources.

This presentation will focus on ways to:

1. Put families whose lives are affected by poverty, substance abuse, AIDS, family violence, abuse, neglect, etc. at ease so they are able and willing to learn, grow and develop.
2. Systematically identify with the family their family concerns and service needs using a Family-Centered Transagency Service Delivery Approach and recommended practices.
3. Provide interventions and access community services that address the basic safety, social and emotional needs of the family and build their competencies.
4. Work with the family on identifying and implementing activities in the child’s daily routines and natural learning environments that will lead to the accomplishment of developmental goals.

The Case Method of Instruction (CMI) presents narrative descriptions of situations that practitioners are likely to encounter in their work. These case stories present a dilemma from the point of view of a practitioner. As in real life, the situations are complex, with multiple factors contributing to the problem(s). In addition, there is no one obvious solution to the problem, but rather several alternative solutions. CMI will be used in this session to explore issues around inclusion.

The panel will present an overview of its philosophy and how the inclusion program was developed in Rockingham County, NC. Also included will be resources used to identify funds, barriers, and lessons learned. Participant involvement and questions will be encouraged.

Research comes alive as participants hear illustrations of how evidence-based practices and policies helped the Sloop family achieve their dreams for their son Peter. Participants will have a chance to assess their own communities in terms of support for inclusion and develop an action plan for how to bring information from the Institute "back home."