eLearning, Presentations, and Webinars
eLearning
Early Childhood Recommended Practices Modules
These free interactive, multimedia modules support the implementation of the Division for Early Childhood (CED) Recommended Practices in all eight of the practice areas. The modules are designed to support learners in: 1) understanding and practicing using the DEC Recommended Practices in a risk-free environment, and 2) gaining confidence and competence in using the DEC Recommended Practices within their real-world practice.
The Early Intervention Process
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative
Partnership for People with Disabilities at VCU
This course includes two modules: Ben's Journey through the Early Intervention Process and Writing Functional IFSP Outcomes and Goals. In the first module, you will learn about the early intervention process by following Ben's family from initial referral through transition. The second module focuses on tips and strategies for well-written outcomes and goals. Time to complete: 3 hours
Effective Practices for Implementing Early Intervention
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative
Partnership for People with Disabilities at VCU
This course includes three modules which address effective practices for implementing evidence-based early intervention (EI). The modules cover: 1) family-centered practices, 2) providing EI in everyday routines and activities, and 3) supporting caregiver learning during EI visits. Time to complete: 3 hours
Engaging Fathers in their Children’s Lives
Early Impact Virginia
TThis module provides the information, resources and skills family support professionals need to engage fathers in home visiting and in their children's lives. family support professionals will learn how father involvement benefits children, and how mothers and fathers and will learn strategies for overcoming barriers that may keep fathers from being involved.
Family Capacity-Building Online Module
Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center
Family capacity-building can be used where the focus of early childhood intervention is using early childhood practices that are implemented by parents. This approach can be used to promote parents' use of any type of early childhood practice, and includes strategies to engage parents in activities to build their competence and confidence in providing learning opportunities for their child.
This online module:
- introduces family capacity-building to practitioners and service providers,
- explains the steps of introducing new practices to parents and families,
- includes short video excerpts demonstrating family capacity-building,
- checks a learner's knowledge understanding through a variety of interactive formats, and;
- includes a family capacity-building checklist for self-assessment or planning home visits.
Home Visiting 101: Importance of Home Visiting
Home Visiting 102: Home Visitor Skills and Strategies
Home Visiting 103: Professional Practice
Early Impact Virginia
This series of modules addresses the profession and effectiveness of home visiting, describes VA’s home visiting system, home visiting roles and skills, and professional practice behaviors, including documentation, boundaries, time management, and self-care.
Overview: Mission and Key Principles of Early Intervention
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative
Partnership for People with Disabilities at VCU
This course includes one module which covers the mission and seven key principles of Part C early intervention, including what each principle looks like and does not look like. Time to complete: 1 hour
Responsibilities of Early Intervention Practitioners
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative
Partnership for People with Disabilities at VCU
This course includes four modules which cover essential responsibilities of all early intervention practitioners. Topics include: teaming and collaboration, confidentiality and professional boundaries, safety, abuse and neglect, contact note documentation and procedural safeguards. Time to complete: 5 hours
The Many Facets of Service Coordination
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative
Partnership for People with Disabilities at VCU
This course includes one module which addresses the requirements and responsibilities of service coordination and the service coordinator’s role in ensuring team collaboration, coordinating and monitoring EI service delivery, and accessing community resources. Fiscal responsibilities are also covered. Time to complete: 2 hours
Personal Safety for Home Visitors (external website)
Early Impact Virginia
Home visiting is generally a safe area of practice. Occasionally, though, situations come up where a family support professional may be in an unsafe setting. This module will give family support professionals an overview of personal safety, describing what factors contribute to unsafe situations while traveling to and from the home visit and while in the home. The family support professional will learn how to prepare for home visits to ensure their safety and to recognize and avoid unsafe situations. The module will also show demonstrations of basic self-defense techniques. This module is not a definitive or comprehensive personal safety or self-defense course. The family support professional's supervisor should give additional guidance to ensure the family support professional's safety.
Supervision in Early Intervention (external website)
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities at VCU
This module reviews the basic rules of supervision, including understanding work styles, listening, providing feedback, etc. Chapters also address gathering and analyzing data; using what you know; team building and resolving conflict; personnel development and management; and planning and program development. Completion of this module takes approximately 2 hours and results in a certificate of completion.
Webinars
Dads Matter! Why and How to Include Them into Routines-Based Intervention - PART I, PART II
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Megan Schumaker Murphy, EdD
In modern families, dads are more involved with young children than ever before. This two-part webinar series helps early intervention providers to understand modern fatherhood including the unique influences dads have on their young children’s development. The second session offers effective strategies for engaging dads in routines-based intervention. Participants are encouraged to share their own experiences and current tricky situations working with dads for the opportunity to receive reflective feedback from the group. Click the link above to visit the 2020 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Delivering EI Services in Child Care Settings
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Dana Childress, Ph.D., Cynthia Core, Ph.D., Patty Eitemiller, M.Ed., and Andi Englert, OTR/L
This web discussion series focuses on providing EI services in child care settings. In Part 1, we explore some of the challenges of providing services in child care settings and explore some solutions to the challenges. We answer your questions throughout the web discussion to help you consider how your program can provide services in child care settings. In Part 2, we dig deeper and discuss several challenging scenarios with a panel of experienced service providers, including an occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, and developmental services provider. The panel will share strategies they use to manage these challenges, and we also invite the audience to share what's worked for them. Join us for a lively discussion as we get real about working in child care settings! Click the link above to visit the 2017 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Embedded Learning Opportunities within Everyday Activities and Routines
VA Division for Early Childhood (VA DEC)
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Christan Grygas Coogle and Lisa Terry
Embedded learning opportunities are naturalistic episodes that take place within typically occurring activities and routines. Teachers, practitioners, family members, and other caregivers can enhance the functional development of all young children. Watch this archived web discussion to explore implementation of the Instructional strand of the DEC Recommended Practices within embedded learning opportunities. Click here for the webinar handout. This webinar was a collaborative effort of the VA Division for Early Childhood (VA DEC) and the Integrated Training Collaborative.
Engaging Families During Visits: How to Engage Families During Visits so that They Know What to Do Between Visits
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Kimberly Travers
This archived webinar focuses on important elements of engaging families during intervention visits, from a family’s perspective. The presenter shares her experiences as both a mother of children who were enrolled in EI and an EI service provider. Content includes consideration of the relationship between early intervention services and families' everyday lives and how service providers can more effectively provide services and supports to families. Click the link above to visit the 2015 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinar.
Frequency & Length of Early Intervention Services
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Facilitated by Dana Childress and Cori Hill
This archived web discussion explores patterns of frequency and intensity across programs and how we make these decisions about service delivery. Click the link above to visit the 2015 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinar.
HOW ARE YOU? A Web Discussion about Tele-Intervention
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Dana Childress, PhD
Watch this lively web discussion to check in with yourself and other early intervention practitioners about experiences providing tele-intervention. We will acknowledge the current reality of EI, process what tele-intervention has allowed you to do (differently? better?), share strategies and support for when tele-intervention is hard, and think about the future. Click the link above to visit the 2020 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
I Know It but Can’t Explain It: What the Evidence Based Practices Are in EI
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Kyla Patterson
This webinar provides information about the concepts that form the foundation of early intervention practices, including a discussion of the Mission and Key Principles of Early Intervention developed by the OSEP Workgroup on Principles and Practices in Natural Environments. This information is then linked with VA’s initiatives to implement coaching practices and integrate the OSEP child outcomes into the IFSP process. Click the link above to visit the 2013 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinar.
Let Go of the Toy Bag & Get Up Off the Floor! – Tips for Best Practices in Early Intervention
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Dana Childress
This archived webinar focuses on how to move early intervention off the floor, out of the toy bag, and into the routines that naturally occur in children and families' everyday lives. Content includes considering the differences between collaborative and traditional intervention and the relevance of still bringing a toy bag when intervention is routines-based and family-centered. The webinar also includes tips for making these practices successful. Click the link above to visit the 2015 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinar.
Mama Bear: Using Parent Narratives and Experience to Improve Engagement Practices
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by El Brown, M.Ed.
Join El Brown, a mother of a child with disabilities and an educator, to learn how to integrate family stories and perspectives to better engage families in early intervention. A process, structure, and framework will be shared to support your work as a practitioner. Click the link above to visit the 2018 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Teaming with Purpose: Overcoming Challenges with EI Colleagues PART I
Teaming with a Purpose: Effective Caregiver Team Engagement Part II
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Cori Hill, MEd and Lisa Terry, MS, M.Ed., IMH-E
Early interventionists team and collaborate throughout all aspects of their jobs BUT what happens when there are significant challenges? How can caregivers have more active, engaged participation as equal team members? Watch this two-part series to learn new strategies to overcome challenges with EI colleagues and the research behind parents' perspectives to increase team engagement. Click the link above to visit the 2021 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Tying the Knot: Engaging Families Beyond Early Intervention Visits
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Jen Newton
This webinar provides strategies for moving families from involvement in early intervention sessions to full engagement in embedding early intervention objectives into their daily lives. Click the link above to visit the 2013 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinar.
Unpacking Our Biases in Early Intervention
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Jen Newton, Ph.D.
Your impact on families goes well beyond the time you spend with them. The words you use, the compassion you show, and the integrity you model can have long lasting effects! Come talk with us about unpacking your personal biases and beliefs so you can have the most positive long term influence on the children and families with whom you are privileged to work. Click the link above to visit the 2017 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Using Eco Maps to Understand Family Relationships
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Naomi H. Grinney, LCSW, IMH-E and Jessica M. Hale, MPA, CFCS-HDFS
In Part 1 of this 2-part webinar series, information is shared about family systems theory and how relationships between family members impact child development. Eco-mapping is also explored, including how the process and strategies can be used to support families throughout all aspects of early intervention.
We Are All In This Together: Sharing Difficult Information with Families – Parts I and II
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Leah Davidson, MS, IMH-E (II), JoShirlon Capehart, BS, SC, Jessica Brickey, LCSW, Casey Stultz, M.Ed., SC, Katie Webb
This two-part webinar series features an interactive discussion on when, how, and why to have challenging conversations with the parents/caregivers with whom we work. We all grapple with the challenge of sharing difficult information. We will discuss brain research behind the way we, as adults, manage difficult information. We will also discuss practical strategies for navigating stress (yours and the parent's), the need for the parent to have all the information, and the need to maintain a healthy relationship. Click the link above to visit the 2019 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Web Discussions: Using a Primary Provider Approach to EI Service Delivery Parts 1 and 2
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Dana Childress, Susan Sigler, and Tracy Shiplett
This 2-part archived web discussion explores the use of the primary service provider approach and provides information about how the Infant & Toddler Connection of Fairfax-Falls Church has integrated the approach into their service delivery. Click the link above to visit the 2016 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find both web discussions.
Primary Service Provider (PSP) Panel Discussion (YouTube, video)
American Physical Therapy Association – EI Special Interest Group
This video features a physical therapy panel discussion about implementing a primary service provider approach in early intervention.
Video Tutorials
Part C Contact Notes – Documentation that Reflects Your Visit
This four part online tutorial series addresses documentation requirements, documenting ongoing assessment, quality documentation and documenting coaching and natural learning environments for contact notes written by early intervention providers. Follow-up activities are available for each section and a facilitation guide is included for use with groups.
Presentations
Get Up Off the Floor! Implementing Early Intervention Where Everyday Magic Happens
This poster and corresponding handout PDF include information about the continuum of traditional versus routines-based interventions. Materials were presented by the ITC professional development team at the DEC 2013 conference.
playgroup, local park). Which service a child and family receive is determined by the team who partners with the family to develop the child’s Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). EI services are based on the family’s priorities and desired outcomes related to the child’s development. For more information about eligibility, assessment, the IFSP, and supports and services in Virginia’s early intervention system, visit the Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia (external website). For practitioners, information about procedures and practices can be found in the Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia Practice Manual (external website).