Birth to Three Blog
Benefits for Children With Disabilities
January 22, 2019
The Social Security Administration has updated its Benefits for Children with Disabilities pamphlet (2019) describing benefits available to eligible children with disabilities and how to apply. Some benefits included are Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and employment support programs. A 2018 version is also available in Spanish.
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Learn the Signs Act Early
January 22, 2019
CTAEYC is excited to offer a new Platform Academy as part of our Connecticut Early Childhood Professional Development Platform, which looks to strengthen the functions of early childhood, specifically Family Child Care (FCC) and Infant and Toddler (I/T) Care. February 9, 2019 9 AM – 12 PM UConn Farmington, CT More Information Here
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FFY20/SFY21 APR and SSIP Draft Available
January 9, 2019
Every year the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood submits a report to the US Department of Education about how we are doing on compliance and results for Part C of the IDEA. The draft report is available here https://www.birth23.org/aboutb23/gensup/apr/. If you have any suggestions or questions just email Nicole.Cossette@ct.gov before 1/29/22.
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CCMC: Feeding Conference March 9, 2019
January 4, 2019
CT. Children’s is hosting Clinical Assessment and Intervention for Pediatric Feeding Problems on Saturday, March 9th. The conference is being presented by the Occupational Therapy Department. Click here for more information.
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Caregiver Coaching: Moving Principles to Practice (Session 3)
December 27, 2018
Webinar January 10, 2019, 2-3 PM. Presented by Dathan Rush and M’Lisa Shelden, this session will help further clarify the purpose of caregiver coaching and how to use the five characteristics of the practice to help caregivers build their capacity to promote a child’s learning and development, including social and emotional development. Register Here. Did you miss the first two sessions? Access the recordings at any time in the Virtual Event Archives!
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Assistive Technology Resource!
December 27, 2018
The Let’s Participate! project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, was designed to help infants, toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities participate more fully in everyday activities through the use of assistive technology (AT). Let’s Partcipate’s newly revamped website is chock-full of information on using AT with young children.
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Toddlers Need Laps More Than Apps!
December 21, 2018
In a recent interview with leading pediatrician, Dr. Dimitri Christakis (December 2018), Director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Hospital, he explains that toddlers are depending more and more on screens for self-soothing. When toddlers are left on their own with the device, they are “missing out on those critical human interactions” during a vulnerable period of brain development. He states that “toddlers need laps more than apps” and promotes the AAP’s recommendation that parents and caregivers avoid digital media use for children under age 2.
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Baby Talk: Resources to Support the People Who Work With Infants and Toddlers
December 13, 2018
New newsletter is out! Information and resources included on the following topics: The Importance of Faces for Infants’ Learning; New Guidance on Low Birth Weight, Prematurity, and Early Intervention; Does Research Support a Link Between Smart Phone Use and Behavior?; What Do Babies Learn By Pointing; I Said I Want the Red Bowl! Responding to Toddlers’ Behavior. Access newsletter here.
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Webinar – The Caregiver Coaching Framework (Session 2) – Dathan Rush & M’Lisa Shelden
November 29, 2018
Caregiver coaching consists of five research-based characteristics that when used together result in positive parent-identified outcomes for infants, toddlers, and their families. This one-hour webinar will introduce participants to the coaching characteristics of observation, action/practice, reflection, feedback, and joint planning. For more information and to Register
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Dispute Resolution Information Available in Spanish
November 19, 2018
Spanish Early Intervention (IDEA Part C) Family Guides Source: The Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) In October 2018, CADRE released Las Guías para familias de intervención temprana de la IDEA Parte C están disponibles in Español (Early Intervention Family Guides for Part C of the IDEA in Spanish). The resource includes four family guides, an early intervention dispute resolution comparison chart, a list of common terms, and additional information about due process procedures under Part C of the IDEA. CADRE also offers Family Guides translated in Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Hmong, Korean, Russian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Portuguese, Japanese, … Continue reading
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Writing Functional IFSP Outcomes – Webinar sponsored by DEC
November 15, 2018
1 hour Webinar on November 29th, 1-2 PM EST. Effective IFSP outcomes are the foundation of intervention. This presentation reviews new guidance documents adapted from the ECTA Functional Outcome Framework. This session will support functional outcome writing with visual guidance documents. Register: https://divisionearlychildhood.egnyte.com/dl/TpETpuC2ut
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Baby Talk: Resources to Support the People Who Work with Infants and Toddlers
November 15, 2018
Baby Talk is a free monthly newsletter with links to research and tools to support working with families of infants and toddlers. This month’s newsletter covered topics such as: The Importance of Faces for Infants’ Learning; New Guidance on Low Birth Weight, Prematurity, and Early Intervention; What Do Babies Learn by Pointing? Each issue features high quality, readily available, and free resources. Some resources are available in English and Spanish. To join the listserv, send an email with no message to mailto:subscribe-babytalk@listserv.unc.edu
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Five New Developmental Tools for Early Learning
November 13, 2018
Access some new tools on inclusion in childcare, developmental milestones (English and Spanish, teaching language and literacy to very young children. Newsletter
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Early Intervention Specialist course through UCEDD – January 2019!
November 7, 2018
The University Center for Excellence in Disabilities (@ UCONN) is offering an Interdisciplinary Training for Early Interventionists. The goal of these Master’s level courses is to enhance the knowledge and skills of professionals currently working in the field of early intervention. This year long training offers participants the option of receiving credit for 3 masters level courses through UCONN or a stipend of comparable value. Successful completion also awards the Birth to Three Credential which allows paraprofessionals to be considered early intervention specialists (professionals) for the purpose of job duties and insurance requirements. For information contact Gabriella Freyre-Calish at (860)679-1563 or … Continue reading
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Coaching Webinar! November 6th!
October 25, 2018
Zero To Three is sponsoring a series of three live webinars by Dathan Rush and M’Lisa Shelden. The first is on November 6th and will focus on the background and rationale for the use of coaching by early intervention providers, Early Head Start and Head Start home visitors, and others who work closely with parents/caregivers. We encourage staff to take advantage of the upcoming training opportunities! Register Here!
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Part C Dispute Resolution Guides
September 17, 2018
Here is a new resource from CADRE for Part C! https://www.cadreworks.org/events/introducing-part-c-dispute-resolution-family-guides From here you can watch the webinar that was held September 10th or download the slide deck or visit this page to download the guides: https://www.cadreworks.org/resources/idea-early-intervention-family-guides/
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Hard Work Planning Service Coordination Revisions!
July 19, 2018
Thanks to Heather our Service Coordination Planning meeting space at Beacon Service of CT. was a bit more enticing – given the weather was more appropriate for the beach than for work! Lots of effort going into development of online training modules to support orientation of new staff and service coordination training.
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Words Count-Free Literacy program for families in Greater Hartford
July 10, 2018
Words Count is a short-term, parent-directed, play based program that builds creativity and caregiver-child bonds. The program is based on research showing that the number of words a child hears by age 3 can have a significant impact on his or her future academic success. Research that tells us that by age three, children growing up in poor neighborhoods or from lower-income families may hear up to 30 million fewer words than their more privileged counterparts. During in-home and community-based coaching sessions with a literacy specialist, parents and caregivers are helped to increase their children’s vocabulary and enhance their conversational abilities. … Continue reading
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Procedures and Forms now Easily Searchable
July 5, 2018
Now that all the forms and procedures have be “finalized” as of July 1, 2018, we combined them into small PDFs. These PDFs can be stored on your phone so you can search all of them at once without access to the internet and without having to remember in which procedure to look. Here is the link to All Current Procedures (1.6 Mb, 222 pages) Here is the link to All Current Forms in English (<1 Mb, 62 pages) Here is the link to All Current Translated Forms ( 3.5 Mb, 223 pages) We will continue our efforts to streamline … Continue reading
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Reflections from a Family: We are getting it RIGHT!
June 14, 2018
From an interventionist in the field: I just wanted to share a “feel good” Birth to Three story. It’s from a family who has been with me for a year and a half now and tomorrow turns three, so today we said “goodbye”. We were reflecting on our time together and all the progress her son has made. When she first started with CT. Birth to Three she had just left NY where her son was receiving services through the medical model. I asked her how CT’s Birth to Three natural learning environment model varied from the NY medical model … Continue reading
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