Office of Early Childhood Kicks Off CLICK for Babies Campaign

August 28, 2015

The CT. Office of Early Childhood (OEC) is kicking off its participation in the nationwide CLICK for Babies Campaign organized by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.  The purpose is to create awareness of the leading trigger for infant abuse, frustration with infant crying.  The OEC and community organizations will be collecting and distributing purple handmade caps across the state to new parents.  Some good information for parents related to infant crying can be found at CLICK for Babies .  

ECTA Center eNotes

August 4, 2015

Do you get these Early Childhood TA Center emails each Friday?   The articles are often very interesting and relevant like the new parent portal at Zero to Three or the Spanish language video on Early Hearing Screening.    To sign up email sue.goode@unc.edu  

RFP for Presenters for Childhood Conversations Conference

June 24, 2015

Childhood Conversation is a statewide conference for parents, community providers, childcare providers and teachers.  The 10th annual conference is scheduled for April 2, 2016 in Windsor.  The RFP for conference presenters is now available on the Childhood Conversations website.  The deadline for submission is September 10th. http://childhoodconversations.com/request-for-presenter-2/

Provider Focus Group July 14th

June 17, 2015

The CT Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Planning Committee wants Your input on Screening A Focus Group just for Birth to Three System providers is planned for: Tuesday, July 14 9:30 – 11 AM United Way of CT – 1344 Silas Deane Highway, 4th floor, Rocky Hill Continental breakfast provided ECCS is focusing on comprehensive developmental screening in Connecticut. Your perception of current screening practices and their impact on you, childcare providers and families is vital. Please share your experiences and insight. Contact Heather Spada, ECCS Coordinator, at heather.spada@ctunitedway.org or 860-372-4240 to RSVP before July 10. Visit www.eccsct.org for more … Continue reading

Last minute news

May 21, 2015

If you are reading this in the weekly blog summary email, you’re too late.

You can however read this to see how to set your devices so you don’t miss time sensitive blog posts.

Go Baby Go!

May 12, 2015

Two great opportunities coming up to support early mobility and exploration through the Go Baby Go Program founded by the University of Delaware! Central Connecticut State University and Plainville High School will team up to build 6-8 modified toy cars for kids who need them @ Plainville High School. No cost to family, just need to register, contact  Contact: Rose Flammang PT, DPT rflammang@connecticutchildrens.org  or Michele Dischino CCSU Associate Professor dischinomic@ccsu.edu Initial modifications will occur May 26th. Kids and their families will join on May 27th 8am-11am to be fitted and final modifications made.  Families will get to take home … Continue reading

Are You Getting Weekly Birth to Three BLOG Posts? Are Your Colleagues?

May 1, 2015

If you have not signed up for weekly emails that alert you to recent BLOG posts, you may be missing key information. We post important Birth to Three updates, trainings,  information and tools that support you in providing quality services in Early Intervention.  You can sign up for weekly alerts right on the BLOG by scrolling down  until you see the sign-up on the left sidebar.  Don’t miss out on information you need.  Sign-up today! Of course, if you are reading this in an email, you are all set but will you please check with your colleagues to see if they got … Continue reading

Program Director Job Opening

April 8, 2015

Wheeler clinic has a Birth to Three Program Director position open. For more information click here.  

What Birth to Three Looks Like! Now available on website.

April 6, 2015

You will see several new pages on the Birth to Three website: What Birth to Three Look Like: Natural Learning Environment Practices, Coaching as a style of interaction, and Primary Service Provider approach to teaming.  These pages explain our research supported practices, contain references for more information, and links for useful tools for families and providers.  The pages can be accessed in two different ways: under About Birth to Three from the menu on the left side of the home page, and under the Resources tab at the top of the website. We hope this will put important information about Birth to Three services … Continue reading

B23 Banner at the Capitol This Week

March 30, 2015

B23 Banner posted across from the Capitol this week! Planning to visit Hartford this week? Be sure to pass by the Capitol building and look at 165 Capitol Avenue across the street. When Governor Malloy looks out his office window this week, he will see a 3 foot tall Birth to Three logo and our intake phone number next to the message, “Life is full of Surprises.  Call Birth to Three if your baby isn’t developing as expected.”  Hundreds of passersby have seen  our public awareness banner every year since 2006.  This week, you can too!  

Parent-Led Intervention Improves Outcomes for Toddlers With Autism

March 2, 2015

A recent research study reports that toddlers with autism have demonstrated significant improvement after intensive intervention by parents rather than clinicians. Parent-led intense intervention during everyday activities resulted in significant improvements in several areas for children diagnosed with Autism.  Parent-Implemented Social Intervention for Toddlers With Autism: An RCT Additional research found that that parent-led  intervention may lower the risk for toddlers that are at high risk for autism.  

FY14 Annual Data Report is available online

February 2, 2015

“Learning From Each Other” is the FY14 annual data report to the Governor and General Assembly about the activities of the CT Birth to Three System.  Explore data, read about the joys and challenges shared by families and providers, and learn how Birth to Three supports and collaboration with community partners made a positive difference for almost 10,000 families last year! Here is a direct link https://www.birth23.org/files/ADR/AnnualReportFY14.pdf and all of the reports can be found by visiting Birth23.org and clicking About Birth to Three > Annual Data Reports.  

What Are Other State Part C Systems Doing?

January 20, 2015

The IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA) recently posted the results of two 2014 surveys related to Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) online.  These have interesting information about what is going on in other states. 2014 ITCA Tipping Points Survey – Part C Implementation: State Challenges and Responses – This survey is used to help track emerging issues and state responses related to eligibility, finance and decisions regarding continued participation in the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C of IDEA). Forty‐eight of the fifty-six states and jurisdictions responded to the … Continue reading

IYC Article about Using Signs from ISEI

January 20, 2015

The following is from an email  to members the International Society on Early Intervention (ISEI).  Anyone can join for free and get these emails by signing up at their website listed below. ========================================== The journal Infants & Young Children (IYC) is published in conjunction with the ISEI.  As part of this relationship, the publisher of IYC has made available on the ISEI website (www.isei.washington.edu) an article from each issue of IYC for our members.  The article for this issue of IYC is: Using Signs to Facilitate Vocabulary in Children With Language Delays Susan Hendler Lederer, Ph.D., CCC/SLP and  Dana Battaglia, … Continue reading

Unexpected Lives

December 15, 2014

If you haven’t already seen these family stories, you might enjoy them and want to pass the link along. http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/12/ireport/unexpected-lives/ You should see large animated black text and then photos and then the stories. If your browser doesn’t play along, just try scrolling down to see all five stories.

FY14 Town By Town Referrals and Children Served

November 17, 2014

Get the details for each town in Connecticut on: how many babies were born in 2013, how many referrals were made for a Birth to Three evaluation how many children were served by the CT Birth to Three System Check out your own town or the towns you serve by clicking here: Look for trend data by checking earlier fiscal year reports posted under About Birth to Three on the menu to the left , then select Annual Data Reports. For non-PDF versions of this data please contact Eileen.McMurrer@ct.gov.

Email Sign up Widget Added to Blog Screen

July 8, 2014

If you are reading this in an email from the Connecticut Birth to Three System, you can stop here – your email address has already been added to the automated process for sending out blog post summaries once a week. If you are reading this from Feedburner or another reader app or directly on the Birth23.org website and have not been receiving blog post summaries via email (usually around noon on Tuesday), you can now sign up right on Birth23.org. Go to the Blog tab, scroll down and look for the last widget on the left. It looks like this:

OSEP Determinations

July 1, 2014

Last week Connecticut received the state’s “determination letter” from the US Dept. of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and for the 7th year in a row… “The Department has determined that Connecticut meets the requirements of Part C of the IDEA.”   That may not sound like a lot but it means a great deal. The only way we could continue to meet all of the requirements of Part C of IDEA year after year is through your efforts ensuring that families have timely initial IFSP meetings, new services, and transition conferences.  This is in addition to all the … Continue reading

ICD Coding

April 1, 2014

As providers recently heard at three regional meetings, there were changes to our procedures pending that were related to the changes in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding scheduled for October 1, 2014.  These changes, that impact Medicaid and Commercial Insurance billing, were to take effect April 1st so we would have six months to prepare. Yesterday, March 31st , HR4302 was passed out of the Senate and includes this verbiage: SEC. 212. DELAY IN TRANSITION FROM ICD-9 TO ICD-10 CODE SETS. The Secretary of Health and Human Services may not, prior to October 1, 2015, adopt ICD-10 code sets as … Continue reading

Welcome to the Birth to Three Blog!

January 2, 2014

We hope you like this new communication tool. There are a number of ways to view these posts. You can check this site anytime for updates or to search for a topic. Use a feed reader site like Digg, Feedly, AOL Reader, etc. You can use your own RSS feed to email service like blogtrottr.com or feedmyinbox.com Set up an RSS feed in Outlook by clicking File > Account Settings > RSS Feeds and New.  The feed is at http://blog.birth23.org/feed/  > Click Add You may also chose to add this to you favorites under the feed tab in your browser. … Continue reading