Title: Expanding Opportunities Promoting Inclusive Opportunities for Young Children With Disabilities: A Cross Agency Initiative
1Expanding Opportunities Promoting Inclusive
Opportunities for Young Children With
Disabilities A Cross Agency Initiative
- OSEP/NECTAC National Early Childhood Conference
- December 3, 2007
- Washington, DC
2Inclusion Policy Forums
- In 2004, CCB, ADD and OSEP held two policy forums
to discuss challenges and strategies in the
inclusion of young children with disabilities in
community-based settings and activities. - Participants included parents, service providers,
researchers, federal, state and local
administrators and technical assistance
providers.
3Policy Forum Recommendations
- Create a comprehensive, cross-systems approach to
inclusion. - Bring together national-level stakeholders to
build and implement a common vision. - Additional recommendations in Awareness/Public
Relations, Policy, TA and Dissemination,
Professional Development, Data Collection and
Analysis, Financing Strategies, Monitoring and
Accountability, Research. - Two Project Forum proceedings documents are
available through NECTACs Expanding
Opportunities page www.nectac.org/expopps/default
.asp High Quality Inclusion Opportunities for
Preschool-Age Children with Disabilities and
Inclusive Early Care and Education Forum Synthesis
4Cross-Agency Inclusion Initiative
- In response to these Policy Forum
recommendations, the Child Care Bureau, Office of
Head Start, Administration for Developmental
Disabilities and OSEP have invited cross-agency
teams from 3 to 4 states per year to participate
in a strategic planning initiative called..
5Expanding Opportunities for Young Children with
Disabilities and Their Families Through
State-Wide Interagency Efforts
- First meeting was held August 2005 as a
pre-conference day at the Fifth National Early
Childhood Inclusion Institute in Chapel Hill, NC - Subsequent teams met in 2006 and 2007.
6Expanding Opportunities (Cont.)
- State teams included representatives from Head
Start, Child Care, Administration on
Developmental Disabilities programs, and IDEA
early childhood programs. - Teams came together to develop state action plans
targeted at improving inclusive opportunities for
young children with disabilities in their state.
7Federal Partnerships
- Child Care Bureau, Office of Head Start and
Administration on Developmental Disabilities each
provided funds for the state representative from
each of their respective agencies to attend the
meeting. - Each Federal agency committed their TA network to
provide follow-up support to the Inclusion Teams
as they began to implement state plans.
8Technical Assistance Follow-Up
- Once teams returned to their states, Technical
Assistance Networks from CCB, Office of Head
Start, OSEP, and ADD began to work with state
teams on further developing and implementing
their plans.
9Technical Assistance Contacts
- National Early Childhood Technical Assistance
Center (NECTAC) www.nectac.org - National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC)
http//nccic.org/itcc
- Regional Resource Centers for Special
Educationwww.rrfcnetwork.org - National Head Start Training and Technical
Assistance Resource Center www.hsnrc.org - Head Start Regional Disabilities Services TA
Providers
10Participating States
- Year 1 (2005) Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Montana
- Year 2 (2006) Delaware, Idaho, Tennessee,
Wisconsin - Year 3 (2007) Kansas, Massachusetts, Oregon
11State Team Contacts
- Florida Kim Galant
- Iowa Mary Schertz
- Montana Karen Martin
- Arizona Valerie Andrews
- Delaware Jim Lesko
- Idaho - Mary Jones
- Tennessee Debbie Cate
- Wisconsin Jill Haglund
- Kansas Jennifer Spencer
- Massachusetts Patricia Cameron
- Oregon Jennifer Olsen
http//www.nectac.org/expopps/states.asp
12Federal Team
From Left to Right Beth Caron, OSEP Nancy
Treusch, OSEP Ginger Johnson, OSEP Jim O'Brien,
HS Jennifer Tschantz, OSEP Zack Poimboeuf, CCB
and Moniquin Huggins, CCB. Jennifer Johnson, ADD,
was not able to attend the meeting.
13Federal Partner Contacts
- Jim OBrien
- Office of Head Start
- Administration for Children and Families
(ACF)U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) jim.obrien_at_acf.hhs.gov - Beth Caron
- US Department of Education
- Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services - (202) 245-7293 beth.caron_at_ed.gov
- Moniquin Huggins
- Director, Program Operations
- Child Care Bureau
- Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at
HHS - (202) 690-8490
- mhuggins_at_acf.hhs.gov
- Jennifer Johnson
- Administration on Developmental Disabilities
- Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at
HHS - (202) 690-5982
- jjohnson1_at_acf.hhs.gov
14Other Initiatives
- CSEFEL
- SpecialQuest
- National Professional Development Center on
Inclusion (NPDCI)
15Next Early Childhood Inclusions Institute
16State TeamsIdaho
17State TeamsOregon