Early Childhood Development

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Early Childhood Development Communication
Intervention
Carol M. Trivette, Ph.D. Carl J. Dunst,
Ph.D. Co-Principal Investigators Center for
Evidence-Based Practices Orelena Hawks Puckett
Institute Asheville, North Carolina Morganton,
North Carolina Grants, New Mexico Presentation
prepared for Early Head Start Disabilities
Summit Washington, DC, February 5, 2003
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Purpose of the Presentation

• Describe the goals, activities, and products of
  the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Early
  Childhood Development.

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Research and Training Center (RTC) on Early
Childhood Development

• Center Aim
• The major aim of the Research and Training
  Center on Early Childhood Development is to
  implement a coordinated and advanced program of
  applied research on knowledge and practice that
  improve interventions associated with the healthy
  mental, behavioral, communication, preliteracy,
  social-emotional, and interpersonal development
  of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with or at
  risk for developmental disabilities.
• RTC Investigators focus on translating
  evidence-based information into easy to
  understand and use practice guides informed by
  research.

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RTC Goals

• Goal 1. Synthesize research findings about
  effective early childhood intervention practices.
• Goal 2. Develop practice guides that parents and
  practitioners can use to implement evidence-based
  early childhood interventions.
• Goal 3. Conduct research-to-practice studies of
  the effectiveness and usefulness of the practice
  guides.
• Goal 4. Provide pre-service and in-service
  training to undergraduate and graduate students
  in research-to-practice syntheses, practice guide
  development and use, and dissemination and
  utilization methods and approaches.
• Goal 5. Disseminate and promote utilization of
  the research syntheses and evidence-based
  practice guides.
• Goal 6. Collaborate with OSEP staff, U.S.
  Department of Education funded early childhood
  centers and institutes, and other early childhood
  professionals.

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Conceptual FoundationsCENTERSCOPE

• Evidence-based practices are defined as
  practices that are informed by research, where
  the characteristics and consequences of
  environmental (intervention) variables are
  empirically and functionally established, and
  the relationship directly informs what a
  practitioner or parent can do to produce a
  desired outcome.
• RTC Investigators are open to the possibility
  that widely accepted and used practices may not
  have an evidence base.

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RTC Operational Framework
Characteristics
Consequences
Processes
Relationships between the characteristics and
consequences of an intervention or practice and
the processes operating to explain the
relationship between the variables.
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RTC Definition of Evidence-Based Practices

• Practices are considered evidence-based when
  multiple research studies investigating the same
  or similar practices are related to the same or
  similar results or findings.
• Replication of the same effects across studies
  strengthens our ability to relate a specific
  practice to a specific outcome.

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RTC Goal 1. Synthesize research findings about
effective early childhood intervention practices.

• Objective 1.1. Conduct research-to-practice
  literature reviews during each project year.
• Objective 1.2. Prepare practice-based research
  syntheses from each literature search.
• Objective 1.3. Solicit internal and external
  reviews and critical analyses of the research
  syntheses by researchers and other early
  childhood experts.

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Topic Selection

• RTC synthesis topics are selected from the
  following practice and knowledge utilization
  domains
• Behavioral-based practices
• Social-emotional practices
• Preliteracy and literacy intervention practices
• Situated and contextually based learning
  practices
• Environmentally based practices
• Interpersonal interaction practices
• Instructional practices
• Complementary therapy practices
• Allied health therapy practices
• Diagnostic practices
• Knowledge utilization strategies

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RTC Synthesis-Based Products

• Bridges
• Bridges are practice-centered research
  syntheses of topics related to early childhood
  development.
• Bridges research syntheses involve systematic
  analysis and integration of small bodies of
  research that have investigated the same or
  similar practices leading to or producing the
  same or similar outcomes.

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RTC Synthesis-Based Products

• Bottomlines
• Bottomlines are one-to-two-page summaries of
  Bridges research reports written in jargon-free
  language for parents and practitioners.
• The purpose of these reports is to answer the
  bottom line question, Is the practice supported
  by research? based on the evidence synthesized
  in a Bridges report.

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RTC Goal 2. Develop practice guides that parents
and practitioners can use to implement
evidence-based early childhood interventions.

• Objective 2.1. Obtain external reviewers
  evaluations of whether practice guide
  characteristics are warranted based on available
  evidence.
• Objective 2.2. Obtain practitioners and
  parents assessments of the understandability and
  usefulness of evidence-based practice guides.
• Objective 2.3. Conduct different field tests of
  the use of the practice guides.

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Solutions Practice Guides

• Cornerpiece brochures summarize the
  characteristics of evidence-based, recommended
  practices
• If It Fits idea pages are lively newsletters
  focused on implementing evidence-based practices
• PowerPiece practice guides are narrated
  PowerPoint presentations of evidence-based
  practices
• StraightCut videos describe and illustrate the
  characteristics of evidence-based practices
• Solutions Tool Kits include multiple practice
  guides that are developed for related practices

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RTC Goal 3. Conduct research-to-practice studies
of the usefulness and effectiveness of the
practice guides. RTC Goal 4. Provide
pre-service and in-service training to
undergraduate and graduate students in
research-to-practice syntheses, practice guide
development and use, and dissemination and
utilization methods and approaches. RTC Goal 6.
Collaborate with OSEP staff, U.S. Department of
Education funded early childhood centers and
institutes, and other early childhood
professionals.
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RTC Goal 5. Disseminate and promote utilization
of research syntheses and evidence-based practice
guides.

• RTC Hierarchy ofDissemination and Utilization
  Strategies
• RTC Website
• (www.researchtopractice.info)
• RTC Electronic Mailing List
• ERIC-EECE
• Presentations/Publications

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Research and Training Center Website

• www.researchtopractice.info