The purpose of this brief is to increase states' awareness of national data resources that can support states in sharing, linking, integrating, and using data on young children with disabilities to enhance the provision of early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services. The audience for this brief includes states'…

Early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers support children who qualify for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004). ECSEs generally serve children under the age of five and are often asked to guide the development of a plan to decrease persistent challenging…

The ability to significantly increase and sustain gains in early literacy for students with disabilities and a desire to bridge the gap between compliance and results-driven accountability (RDA) led Washington State to innovate a solution. This state spotlight will focus on Washington's improvement strategy to address this early literacy challenge…

Due to the diverse needs of young children at risk for or with developmental delays/ disabilities and their families, an interdisciplinary and collaborative team is required in schools to deliver family-centered, individualized early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) services (Division for Early Childhood of the Council for…

In this article, the authors use scenarios to describe three students with different individual needs related to feeding, as well as other developmental domains. Feeding difficulties affect students in multiple ways and addressing feeding-related skills on IEPs can include grocery shopping, food preparation, and placing food orders in various…

Young children's feeding issues can be a complex challenge for early childhood professionals, especially since most get little to no training addressing this key developmental area. Now there's a single comprehensive resource that provides early childhood educators and interventionists with specific, practical, research-based guidance on resolving…

This article, intended to inform educators on how to use iPad apps for literacy development for young children with developmental disabilities, briefly reviews the literature on iPad apps for literacy development, examines key apps for literacy development for children with developmental disabilities, and discusses how to incorporate iPad apps…

Physical interventions for special education students in crisis remains a controversial concept. The first minute of a crisis situation represents the most crucial time to prevent injury or the exacerbation of injury. Although preventing violence and escalation of negative emotions is the first step in crisis management, school staff also must be…

Spoken parent-educator interactions through language interpreters for parents who do not speak English can challenge early intervention/early childhood special education professionals. Research suggests that language interpretation is often inadequate to ensure that the parental participation, informed parental consent, and interpretation mandates…

Parents of young children who are in early intervention (EI) or early childhood special education (ECSE) programs want to be sure these services are helping their children develop and learn. These services are designed to make the most of each child's potential as well as to strengthen the family's ability to help their child. This report asks how…

This article describes the functional assessment (FA) strategies used in Project DATA (Developmentally Appropriate Treatment for Autism), a school-based model program for young children with autism. These strategies consist of five interrelated steps: (1) gathering information, (2) brainstorming, (3) making a plan, (4) implementing the plan, and…

Providing effective services to promote development of all children is the goal of programs serving young children; this is especially important for programs that include young children who have disabilities or are at risk. Ensuring effectiveness of programming for each individual child can be difficult, and many children will need individualized…

This article examines Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs) developed with parents with special needs/mental retardation in a model early intervention program. Results suggest that such parents can participate fully in the IFSP process when the process stresses relationship building, empowerment, interagency collaboration, and program…

This article describes a transdisciplinary team approach to functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and intervention for young children with autism who exhibit severe challenging behavior. The article discusses the types of information needed to conduct an FBA, gives examples of information collection, and examines benefits and barriers to the team…

The article describes Louisiana's approach to implementing Individualized Family Service Plans, including four model formats developed by early intervention service providers and families of young children with disabilities. Formats differ in the way the required elements are expressed, allowing application to the unique characteristics of…