About_DEC/Whats_NewFri, 27 Jan 2012 22:35:48 GMTCopyright 2012. All rights reserved.Pyron Technologies SuiteFin CMSFri, 27 Jan 2012 22:35:48 GMTCreating Embedded Learning Opportunities Using the DEC Recommended Practices Webinar Have you been looking for a way to be more effective and save time? If you work directly with young children with disabilities and their families, this webinar is just for you! Join us to learn more about the background, importance and use of the DEC Recommended Practices and find out how you can use what works to help children achieve their goals. This webinar will show you how to creatively embed learning opportunities in daily routines. You will learn practical strategies that you can use immediately. The strategies work in the home, community, child care, or preschool program. You will love the creative ideas to turn mealtime, toileting, and even running errands into meaningful learning opportunities. Imagine being able to use the routine and play materials to give a child more learning opportunities throughout the day. Then imagine how you will feel when you have helped a child accomplish important developmental milestones without adding anything else to your already busy routine! Don’t waste any time—register now for this very fun, creative, and inspiring webinar. Target audience: Practitioners working with young children from birth to five years of age. This webinar is designed for those working in early intervention, infant and toddler child care programs, Early Head Start, family child care providers, Head Start, preschool programs, and preschool special education programs. Date: February 20, 2012 Time: 1:00 p.m. MT, 2:00 CT, 3:00 ET Duration: 75 minutes Cost: $55 for DEC members and $75 for non-members Click here to register.http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=138Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:12:38 GMTDEC Members, we need your help! What CEC needs: Part C and 619 success stories!!! Why CEC Needs Our Stories . . . Every year, CEC publishes the Federal Outlook for Exceptional Children, providing an overview of federally-funded programs – IDEA and Javits grants – that impact the lives of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. The Outlook is distributed to members of Congress, federal agencies, and other leaders in the education community with the hope that a better understanding of such programs will lead to increased federal funding for special/gifted education programs. The Outlook includes personal stories and photos of children and youth participating in early intervention and preschool special education accross the country. These success stories help put a human touch on the graphs and charts that typically illustrate the need for increased funding for IDEA. Success stories may be submitted by anyone in contact with a child with disabilities and/or gifts and talents (with parent’s permission) – including, teachers, related service providers, school administrators, and parents. To date CEC has only one Part C story for the current budget book!!! But we know many children and families who have benefited from successful Part C and 619 programs across the nation. We MUST showcase success stories from BOTH programs to ensure continued funding and to request increased funding for the programs we know are important in supporting our young children and their families. Pleaseclick here for the story submissionformandencourage all you know to share stories about child and family success in your area! Thanks for all you do to support young children with special needs and their families! Sharon, Sarah, and Sarihttp://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=137Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:26:53 GMTDEC is requesting manuscripts for YEC Monograph No. 14: Supporting Young Children who are Dual Language Learners with or at-risk for Disabilities. Pleaseclick here for details on to contribute your work. Manuscripts due February 15, 2012.http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=131Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:40:44 GMTAnnual conference news, exciting policy updates, important publications releases, and opportunities to advocate for young children with special needs and their families are now just a tweet away.Click here to stay informed!http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=132Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:03:15 GMTTo help special educators and early interventionists in their monumental task of implementing the updated regulations, the Division for Early Childhood (DEC), the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and the IDEA Infant Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA) have released a side-by-side comparison of the 2011 final Part C regulations, published on Sept. 28, to Part C regulations from 1999. The early childhood special education community received welcome news last month that the U.S. Department of Education had finalized regulations for IDEA’s Infant and Toddlers with Disabilities Program, known as Part C. IDEA Part C serves more than 340,000 infants, toddlers and their families each year. “With limited time available for implementation and the huge amount of information in the new regulations, this side-by-side comparison document is a great way to help the field sort through the regulations in a timely and easy-to-understand fashion,” said Marilyn Friend, president of CEC. “Most of all, we hope that the document will help provide clarity within the field on implementation of the law.” The final Part C regulations contain numerous changes and additions, including: Transition requirements have been revised, including provisions related to notification of the local education agency (LEA) and state educational agency (SEA), timelines, an opt-out policy, the transition conference, and the transition plan. The 45-day required timeline from referral to the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) meeting has been retained with the addition of some provisions permitting documentation of extraordinary circumstances for a delay Natural environment provisions have been revised to reflect the 2004 statutory change. Changes in the content of the IFSP have been made, including in the “early intervention services” and “other services” components. Several changes have been made to procedural safeguards, including provisions related to written prior notice, confidentiality, surrogate parents, and dispute resolution. Changes have been made in provisions related to financial responsibility, systems of payment and ability to pay as well as to the use of public benefits, insurance, and private insurance. Provisions related to monitoring, enforcement, reporting, and allocation have been included in a new subpart of the Part C regulations. The new regulations, which were promulgated under IDEA, complement IDEA 2004, the most recent reauthorization of IDEA. These final regulations are effective Oct. 28, 2011. The document will beavailable for downloading in its entirety or by subparts, which are: Subpart A: General Subpart B: State Application for Grant and Requirements for a Statewide System Subpart C: Procedures for Making Grants to States Subpart D: Program and Service Components of a Statewide System of Early Intervention Services Subpart E: Procedural Safeguards Subpart F: State Administration Subpart G: State Interagency Coordinating Council Subpart H: Monitoring and Enforcement, Reporting, and Allocation of Funds Both formats of the document are available on the Web sites of all three associations: www.cec.sped.org; www.dec-sped.org; and www.ideainfanttoddler.org. “Working together to complete the document within weeks of the publication of the new regulations demonstrates a strong collaborative partnership and commitment to providing timely, relevant materials to CEC members,” said Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, president of DEC. “We hope that the side-by-side will facilitate implementation of the new regulations and ensure quality early intervention services for young children with disabilities and their families.” Kim Wedel, president of ITCA, agrees. "During this time of fiscal and other challenges, state resources are strained,” she said, adding that “this collaborative product is an example of the efficiency of working together and the support offered for state programs for infants, toddlers, and their families." The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is an international community of professionals who are the voice and vision of special and gifted education. CEC’s mission is to improve, through excellence and advocacy, the education and quality of life for children and youth with exceptionalities and to enhance engagement of their families. The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) is an international membership organization for those who work with or on behalf of young children with disabilities and other special needs. The IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA) is established to promote mutual assistance, cooperation, and exchange of information and ideas in the administration of Part C and to provide support to state and territory Part C coordinators.http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=128Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:05:37 GMTThe Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services has released a 20 minute video highlighting the major changes to the regulations of Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which governs the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities. http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=127Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:11:30 GMT The U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Departments) have posted Race to the Top –Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/faq.html. The purpose of the guidance is to provide information about the RTT-ELC program. The Departments are jointly administering RTT-ELC. The Departments will provide additional or updated program guidance as necessary on the RTT-ELC Web site, www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge. If you have further questions that are not answered here, please email RTT.Early.Learning.Challenge@ed.gov. Please visit us at http://www.ed.gov/early-learning. http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=122Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:31:32 GMTClick here to visit DEC's Facebook page and connect with students, colleagues, and other organizations in Early Childhood. People are saying things like this: "Excited for the conference!!! It is an great way to meet new people, connect with old friends and learn new things in practice and research!!!" And this: "Registered...looking forward to catching up with colleagues and the entire conference experience in general. It is a fantastic way to network as well as to gain new insights and perspectives from the field."http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC/Whats_New?id=83