The Colorado Department of Education

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Preschool Special Education Services ~ Training and Events

Online Courses

* Currently there are no online courses listed for May, 2012. Please check back soon.

All our online course are offered through CDE-Blackboard system.

Prerequisite for all our online courses: College degree and completion of tutorial for Blackboard (online once registration is complete)

 

- Developing Functional Preschool IEP Goals

 

Course Description: 5-week course. Professionals working with preschool-aged children with disabilities or developmental delays and their families spend a significant amount of time developing Individual Education Programs, yet IEPs can sometimes be less than helpful for the classroom teams supporting the children. The challenge to professionals, then, is to write functional IEP goals that guide the team in supporting a child within his/her everyday routines, activities and places, and to engage in ongoing monitoring of the child's progress, amending the IEP as necessary.
 

* A certificate of participation for 15 contact hours will be issued upon successful completion of online course.

 

 

- Preschool Practices for Inclusion

 

Course Description: This year Preschool Practices for Inclusion, a 10 week course, will be divided into two 5 week sections for your convenience and to avoid the busiest times of your school year.

Professionals working with preschool-aged children with disabilities or developmental delays and their families benefit from learning strategies that will assist them in including those children in the general education curriculum. The challenge to professionals is to embed intervention for all children into the everyday routines and activities of the classroom and to maintain a team focus in supporting the child, the family and each other.

The purpose of this course is to provide information and strategies for classroom staff and interventionists to include preschoolers who have disabilities or developmental delays in the general education classroom. Participants will increase their understanding of and comfort with various aspects of inclusion. Family-centered practices with respect for cultural diversity are a given throughout the training units.

 

* A certificate of participation for 30 contact hours will be issued upon successful completion of online course.

 

Conferences

 

- 2012 State Child Find Coordinators Meeting

March 1, 2012

Session A

The Culture of Family presentation.- Susan M. Moore & Clara Pérez-Méndez

State Updates:

March 2, 2012

Session A

Multi-Tiered System of Supports in Early Childhood: Response to Intervention and the Teaching Pyramid.- Gail Neubert, Adena Miller, Kelly Wilson and Sandi Link

Session B

Meaningful Outcomes: Results Matter and the Preschool Special Education Connection.- Nick Ortiz, Mary Jo DePriest, and Deb Schell-Frank

 

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Regional Workshops

 

- Dual Language Learners

 

Workshop purpose: Learn more about patterns of first and second language acquisition, early bilingual behaviors, and implications for assessment by Child Find Teams as well as implications for progress monitoring, classroom teaching and/or intervention.

 

Topics:

  • Child Find Assessment Processes: Distinguishing Second Language Acquisition Processes from Language Impairments: Forming & Documenting Your Clinical Opinion Using Multiple Sources.

  • Communication with families who speak a language other than English is critical for establishing parent-school partnerships.

  • What Every Provider Needs to Know About Culturally-Responsive Teaching.

This workshop provides perspective through a cultural lens that views each child in the context of their home and culture. Strategies for teachers foster the leaning of ALL students in their classrooms with a focus on children from culturally, linguistically, and ability diverse backgrounds.

 

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- Coaching to Support Professional Development for Early Childhood Teachers

 

Workshop purpose: These trainings and meetings are designed to promote sustainable growth in the necessary attitudes, skills, and knowledge to effectively implement the best practices for the development of young children with disabilities and their families. Coaching skills are addressed in terms of relationship building and technical development. Two day foundational workshops for coaches are offered in regional locations, 1 day foundational workshops for those being or about to be coached, and 1 day follow-up workshops for those having participated in the two day workshops.
 

These trainings promote positive coaching strategies in a variety of capacities (inclusion strategies, Pyramid Model, tiered model of supports—RtI/PBIS, curriculum, ongoing assessment, early literacy, etc.) applicable to all coaches in the early childhood field.
 

- Colorado Early Childhood Coaching Community of Practice


A Community of Practice (CoP) is a diverse group of people coming together to learn, share their collective experiences, and reflect with each other in order to solve challenging situations. We have established a CoP in coaching with the purposes of developing and supporting a Colorado community of coaches and learning together how to improve coaching skills that help teachers serve inclusive classrooms. For more information on the CoP in coaching, email to: joanyaffa@gmail.com

Goal: To support best practices for coaching in early childhood classrooms that serve children with special needs. Coaching is a proven strategy that supports teachers to implement and sustain evidence-based practices, which leads to improved outcomes for children.
 

Click here for the Colorado Early Childhood Coaching, Community of Practice (CoPCO) Fact Sheet
 

 

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- Conference phone calls

 

- Audio File from CDE-DDD Call on IFSP Form and Process, February 2011


Access the audio file of the technical assistance call hosted by Early Intervention Colorado, in which CDE and EI staff presented information and answered questions, that was held on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011. The purpose of the call was to review the recent revisions to the IFSP form and instructions manual. The following topics were covered and questions and answers from the field are incorporated: Responsibilities, Collaboration, and Interagency Operating Agreements between CCB’s and AU’s; IFSP form changes; Evaluation/Assessment process for Part C; Initial IFSP Meeting, Additional Resources

It will be helpful for you if you are able to review the materials prior to the call. Presentation slides and handouts that accompany the presentation can be downloaded from the following location on the EI Colorado website: http://www.eicolorado.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Professionals.content&linkid=713


We recommend having the following materials available while listening to the call: presentation slides, IFSP form changes, IFSP form, and IFSP instruction manual; other docs at this site are for future reference and as resources.

 

* You need Windows Media Player or any other mp3 player such as Apple Quick Time or VLC Media Player to open and listen to the call:

 

 

- Webinars

 

Recorded Webinar on Colorado Early Childhood Hearing Screening Guidelines


This 33 minute webinar provides an overview of the guidelines for providing hearing screening for young children.
 

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