Young Children in the Digital Age

What is your point of view on technology and young children?

How do we moderate their use and exposure to screen time when children are born into a world of technology, and when they see the adults around them routinely using technology?

What kinds of conversations have you had with parents about screen time?

Here's a resource from Defending the Early Years: Young Children in The Digital Age: A Parent's Guide

Welcoming the new year... and our new co-leaders!

Happy New Year! We thank you again for the opportunity to serve as co-leaders of the DEC Early Intervention Community of Practice for the past two years.

We have an exciting update to share with you. Please join us in warmly welcoming our new co-leaders, Drs. M'Lisa Shelden and Dathan Rush!

As we suspect many of you already know, M'Lisa and Dathan have a wealth of hands-on experience, knowledge, and expertise to support and empower others to use recommended practices for young children, providers, and families in EI/ECSE. We look forward to their leadership!


P.S. You may have noticed the change in the blog title, to reflect the new name and structure based on recent changes from the DEC Executive Office. The Special Interest Groups are now called Communities of Practice (CoP). Read more here.  The link to our webpage remains the same.

Child Trends Video: Babies May Understand Words Before They Can Talk

I hardly talk on a more personal level here, but it has been a truly fascinating experience witnessing my infant daughter (now almost 7 months) change and grow particularly in terms of language development. We have been talking a great deal to her (giving a "play-by-play" of what is happening), reading to her (Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You Hear? and Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon have been longtime favorites), singing to her, etc... and while I know she is absorbing everything before she can actually express what she knows, I'm always curious about what she understands.

A newly released video from Child Trends explains how babies may understand words before they can talk. The video is available in English and Spanish. 

How do we support parents in exposing their child to language within their existing routines and activities? 

Friday Feature: Building Family Capacity

#FridayFeature:

The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center's Family Capacity-Building Online Module

What does it mean to build family capacity, and how do we do it? 

What do you currently do to support parents and caregivers in implementing intervention between our visits, within their naturally occurring routines and activities?

See this online module to learn more!

Here's the description from the ECTA Center:

This online module:

• introduces family capacity-building to practitioners and service providers,
• explains the steps of introducing new practices to parents and families,
• includes short video excerpts demonstrating family capacity-building,
• checks a learner's knowledge understanding through a variety of interactive formats, and;
• includes a family capacity-building checklist for self-assessment or planning home visits.

Part C funding

This chart from the ECTA Center illustrates how funding for Part C has decreased, while the number of children being served is increasing.

Have you seen/felt the direct impact of funding cuts in your work in EI? How has it impacted you as a professional? As a program? How has it impacted the children and families with whom you work?

As the $ per child goes down, and the number of children served in Part C goes up, how do we ensure high-quality services for families of infants and toddlers in Early Intervention?

How can we advocate for increased funding for Part C?

It's a million-dollar question, pun intended...

Friday Feature: Recommended Practices Modules

To what extent does the DEC Recommended Practices guide your work in EI?

Which specific RPs are you routinely able to implement?

Do you experience any challenges in implementing the DEC Recommended Practices? 

Here's a resource for today's #FridayFeature:

Early Childhood Recommended Practice Modules (RPMs) are free modules developed for early care and education, early intervention, and early childhood special education faculty and professional development providers. The modules support the implementation of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) Recommended Practices. This page also links to a resource library of audio clips,
handouts, and activities related to the DEC Recommended Practices.

https://rpm.fpg.unc.edu/

Friday Feature: A History of EI/ECSE in the United States: A Personal Perspective

It's been a while since we've done a #FridayFeature -- here's an article hot off the (cyber)press:

A History of EI/ECSE in the United States: A Personal Perspective
by Diane Bricker, Huichao Xie, Sharon Bohjanen

An interesting read on the evolution of the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education field... Download the PDF here.

Bricker et al (2018) wrote: "service delivery has been predominately a “patchwork” of separate and nonaffiliated offerings across communities" (p. 12).

Questions to think about:

• Does this "patchwork" of separate/fragmented services ring true in your EI community? What have some of your experiences and challenges been like?
• What needs to change? What are your ideas for implementing coordinated, comprehensive, and cohesive services for young children and families?
• What can YOU do as an EI practitioner or program to move towards more cohesive services?