ECTA
Center
eNotes
A News Service from the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center
Current and past issues of eNotes can be viewed and searched online at http://www.ectacenter.org/enotes/enotes.asp
ECTA
Center
eNotes
The following new research synthesis from the Tracking, Referral and Assessment Center for Excellence (TRACE) has recently been posted online:
Public Awareness and Child Find Activities in Part C Early Intervention Programs.
It is available at http://www.tracecenter.info/cornerstones/cornerstones_vol3_no1.pdf
Title: Foundations for Learning Program
Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Summary: This program supports projects to help eligible children become ready for school. To be eligible for funding, a project must propose one or more of the following: (1) To deliver services to eligible children and their families that foster eligible children's emotional, behavioral, and social development; (2) To coordinate and facilitate access by eligible children and their families to the services available through community resources, including mental health, physical health, substance abuse, educational, domestic violence prevention, child welfare, and social services; (3) To provide ancillary services such as transportation or child care in order to facilitate the delivery of any other authorized services or activities; (4) To develop or enhance early childhood community partnerships and build toward a community system of care that brings together child-serving agencies or organizations to provide individualized supports for eligible children and their families; (5) To evaluate the success of strategies and services provided pursuant to the grant in promoting young children's successful entry to school and to maintain data systems required for effective evaluations; and (6) To pay for the expenses of administering the grant activities, including assessment of children's eligibility for services.
Applications Available: February 22, 2007.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 13, 2007
For complete information go to http://www2.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2007-1/022207b.html
Title: Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program
Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Summary: The purpose of the ECEPD program is to enhance the school readiness of young children, particularly disadvantaged young children, and to prevent them from encountering difficulties once they enter school, by improving the knowledge and skills of early childhood educators who work in communities that have high concentrations of children living in poverty.
Applications Available: February 20, 2007.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 20, 2007
For complete information go to http://www2.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2007-1/022107a.html
The largest search for autism genes to date, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has discovered new evidence of an association between small variations in the genes and autism. Findings from a study conducted by the Autism Genome Project Consortium, a public-private collaboration of more than 120 scientists and 50 institutions in l9 countries have implicated components of the brain's glutamate chemical messenger system and a previously overlooked site on chromosome 11. The study involved scanning the genomes of the largest cohort of families with Autism Spectrum Disorders to date (1,168 families with at least two affected members). To read the full press release go to http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2007/nimh-18.htm
The problem of insufficient healthcare services for infants and young children identified with hearing loss and their families has reached crisis proportion in America. To address this issue the Office on Disability at the Department on Health and Human Services (DHHS) initiated the National Initiative to Close the Gaps in Health Care and Educational Services for Infants and Young Children with Hearing Loss. Based on recent recommendations from this initiative the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders/National Institutes of Health (NIDCD/NIH) held a workshop in December, 2006 entitled Outcomes Research in Children with Hearing Loss. The purpose of the workshop was to determine and prioritize research needs and discuss design considerations unique to outcomes research in children with hearing loss. A summary of the workshop is now available online at http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/funding/programs/hb/outcomes/
The authors of an article published in the February 2007 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine report on data that describe the conjoined effects of low birth weight (LBW) and childhood abuse on impaired adaptation and illness in adolescence and adulthood. To read a summary of these findings go to http://www.mchlibrary.info/Alert/2007/alert022307.html#4
Article citation:
Nomura Y., & Chemtob C. M. (2007). Conjoined effects of low birth weight and childhood abuse on adaptation and well-being in adolescence and adulthood. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 161(2):186-192.
Abstract available at
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/2/186
[Originally published in MCHAlert © 2007 National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health and Georgetown University. Reprinted with permission.]