Projects Search Details

Purpose: This project will prepare graduate level personnel to work with young children in inclusive settings with an emphasis on children with disabilities. Specifically, this project will: (a) recruit for application to the program students with disabilities or those who have family members with disabilities, and students from underrepresented populations; (b) provide a high quality interdisciplinary training program based on federal, state, and local standards for young children and develop and embed training activities and experiences throughout the program, including relevant case studies, information sharing from professional collaborators through co-instruction, hands on experiences, and family-centered field-site experiences, especially in inclusive high poverty and inner city settings that serve a high number of English Language Learners (e.g. early intervention programs, public schools in low poverty areas); (c) develop a collaborative partnership with community experts (professional collaborators) in the identified disability areas who will serve as co-instructors, mentors, and field-site placements; (d) develop and implement a mentoring program for retaining personnel working with young children with disabilities; (e) disseminate the preservice model that infuses the identified disability areas within a family-centered framework to other institutions of higher education, especially in North Carolina; and (f) evaluate the impact on trainees and the overall project effectiveness.

Method: The program design has eight absolute priority requirements: (a) program components and activities are based on current research that identifies effective outcomes for young children; (b) three intensive field experiences will integrate information from coursework with practice; (c) professional organization and state identified competencies related to serving children from diverse cultural and language backgrounds are infused throughout the program; (d) partnerships with community experts, schools and/or service organizations will be developed; (e) training opportunities in diverse settings, including high poverty communities, rural and urban areas will be a major focus; (f) interns will develop knowledge and skills for working with young children that are based on North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning Standards; (g) a mentoring program to enhance student retention and success will be developed; and (h) a plan for evaluating graduates' knowledge and skills founded on research-based instruction and services that results in improved outcomes for young children is included.

Products: Over the 4 years of this project it is anticipated that 27 new professionals will be trained to work with birth-kindergarten children with and without disabilities with an emphasis on children from culturally and linguistically diverse populations.