August 2009

FND Southern Regional Conference

A full day of workshops from Early Childhood through Transition into Adulthood available in English, Spanish & Creole. Workshops include: IDEIA, IEP, Related Services, Conflict Resolution and many MORE! This event is most relevant for parents/family members of students with disabilities,self-advocates, professionals, agencies, providers and other interested parties.

CSEFEL Positive Solutions for Families

During the FND Regional Conference a training series for families of young children will be initiated.  Participants in this session will receive a workbook and resources to support healthy emotional development in the young child. Individuals completing the entire series will be eligible for a stipend of $50.00 (one stipend per family please). The remaining 5 (1 to 2 hour) sessions will be scheduled with those in attendance.

For more information about the FND conference please call 1 800 825-5736. This session is sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities and the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, Inc.

More Television Equals Less Talking for Very Young Children

Television reduces verbal interaction between parents and infants, which could delay children’s language development, says a U.S. study that challenges claims that certain infant-targeted DVDs actually benefit youngsters. The researchers studied 329 children, aged 2 months to 48
months, and found that for each additional hour of television exposure, there was a decrease of 770 words (7 percent) heard from an adult by the children. The study also found that the more hours spent watching television, the fewer vocalizations infants made when adults talked to them. Details and additional resources are available at http://healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.aspx?docID=627566.

Resources from the National Head Start Center for Inclusion

Check out this nice variety of helpful resources from the National Head Start Center for Inclusion!  The overarching goal of this center is to increase the competence, confidence, and effectiveness of personnel in Head Start programs to include children with disabilities. Look here for training materials, tools for teachers and coordinators, as well as other resources. Visit the National Head Start Center for Inclusion at http://depts.washington.edu/hscenter/.

Pearson Developing 4th Edition of DIAL and Looking for Centers to Provide Feedback

Pearson is developing a fourth edition of the popular Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL) screening tool and is looking for sites such as preschools, day care centers or Head Start programs, as well as individual examiners to participate in the DIAL-4 Standardization. Your professional feedback is critical to our successful development of the DIAL-4.

Important Project Details

• We are seeking examiners with access to assess children ages 2 ½ through 5 years old who are English, Spanish, or bilingual (English and Spanish) speaking. Because we will be using this data to develop Norms, most of the children assessed should be typically developing (not diagnosed with a disability/disorder). However, we are conducting clinical studies where we are looking for children with one of the following primary diagnoses: Speech and Language Disorder, Developmental Delay, Autism or Physical/Motor Impairment. 
• Project timeframe is October 2009 through May 2010. Early participation is encouraged.  
• Administration time is approximately 45 minutes for the entire assessment, and 15 minutes per area (Motor, Language, Concepts). 
• Examiners will conduct assessments using either an individual examiner approach where one examiner administers all three sections (motor, concepts, and language), or the stations approach where children move from one station or table to another. The stations approach requires 3 participating examiners from one site.  
• A Parent and a Teacher Questionnaire will be collected as part of the project. 
• Compensation is provided to participating examiners, examinees, teachers, parents and schools/organizations.
• All information is completely confidential. Scores will NOT be available as this assessment tool is still in the development process.  

Please click here to reach an information sheet containing specific details regarding the project and assessment process.  After you have read the information sheet, you will have the option to apply for the project. If link doesn’t work, please type the following in your URL address https://www.surveymk.com/DIAL4ProjectInfo.  It is important that we hear from you as soon as possible so that we can reserve a DIAL-4 kit for you and make sure that we have all of your information in order before testing begins in October.  If you have further questions please contact Priscilla Villanueva at Priscilla.Villanueva@pearson.com.

Evidence-Based Social-Emotional Curricula for Children 0-5 Years and Their Families

The Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI) recently published Evidence-Based Social-Emotional Curricula and Intervention Packages for Children 0-5 Years and Their Families. This synthesis provides information that programs can use as guidance in selecting curricula or intervention packages that are most appropriate for their setting and that best meet the needs of the children and families they serve. It is available at http://www.challengingbehavior.org/do/resources/documents/roadmap_2.pdf.

The Harvard Family Research Project Family Engagement Policy Brief

Harvard Family Research Project and the National Parent-Teacher Association have teamed up to bring you a ground-breaking policy brief that examines the role of school districts in promoting family engagement. “Seeing is Believing: Promising Practices for How School Districts Promote Family Engagement” spotlights how six school districts across the country have used innovative strategies to create and sustain family engagement “systems at work.”  Drawing from districts’ diverse approaches, we highlight promising practices to ensure quality, oversight, and impact from their family engagement efforts. We also propose a set of recommendations for how federal, state, and local policies can promote district-level family engagement efforts that support student learning. To download this policy brief please visit http://www.hfrp.org/.

From Edutopia “Standardized Testing Fails the Exam”

If enough educators — and noneducators — realize there are serious flaws in how we evaluate our schools, maybe we can stop this absurdity. For the last four decades, students’ scores on standardized tests have increasingly been regarded as the most meaningful evidence for evaluating U.S. schools. Most Americans, indeed, believe that students’ standardized test performances are the only legitimate indicator of a school’s instructional effectiveness.  To read more of this article by W. James Popham please visit http://www.edutopia.org/standardized-testing-evaluation-reform.

Data Rich, Information Poor: Alliance for Education Brief

A new policy brief from the Alliance for Education brings attention to data use in the classroom, stating “while many policy discussions focus on data-driven decision-making as the answer, too often these conversations do not include how classroom teachers can and should use data to improve instruction.” Ensuring effective data use by teachers requires focus from policymakers at all levels, and the recognition that it’s a significant shift for most teachers in how they perform their jobs. Not all data are equally useful for daily instructional practices. The brief argues against summative assessments for teachers (while acknowledging their usefulness for administrators and the public), and cautions against district-administered interim assessments. Instead, the brief endorses formative assessments, “the process whereby teachers diagnose where individual students are in their learning and adjust instruction to ensure that all students are mastering the desired outcomes.” To learn more please refer to http://www.all4ed.org/files/AchievingWealthOfRiches.pdf.

Helping Educators Improve Learning in Diverse Classrooms

As part of an effort to improve the teaching of students of color, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program has launched a new online initiative. The Teaching Diverse Students Initiative (TDSi) offers interactive multimedia tools to help educators improve learning opportunities and outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse students. TDSi is the first set of professional development tools specifically designed to improve teaching practices and school conditions that, while important for all students, are especially productive for students of color. TDSi’s resources include learning activities, case studies, video of effective practice, reports and articles, and video commentary by leading researchers. School districts interested in working with TDSi should contact Michelle Garcia at TDSI@tolerance.org. The research-based tools of TDSi are available free of charge. To learn more about TDSi please visit http://www.tolerance.org/tdsi. 

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