Diamond 4

his session will be an open discussion on the important topics you need to understand to advocate for young children with disabilities under Part B of IDEA including parent rights, child find and evaluation, eligibility, Individualized Education Programs (IEP), Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), child records, Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and extended school year. The implications of two other federal laws – Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act – will also be discussed.

Parents Interacting With Infants (PIWI) is an evidenced-based set of practices based on a belief system (a “philosophy”) about families, children, and helping relationships. The objectives of PIWI are to increase confidence, competence, and positive relationships for parents and children ages 0-36 months. It does so by keeping the parent-child relationship at the center, and by supporting responsive, respectful parent-child interactions. The primary focus of PIWI is parent-child groups, but it may be used in home visitation and other settings.

The presenter of this session will discuss practical strategies that professionals can use to support children with autism in early childhood settings (e.g., childcare, home, classroom). Attendees will be asked to identify situations, with children they support, where strategies may be helpful. At the end of the session, the presenter will share several resources for individuals interested in learning more about autism in early childhood.

Intended Audience

Childcare providers, teachers, foster care workers, and other early childhood professionals.

The presenter of this session will discuss practical strategies that professionals can use to support children with autism in early childhood settings (e.g., childcare, home, classroom). Attendees will be asked to identify situations, with children they support, where strategies may be helpful. At the end of the session, the presenter will share several resources for individuals interested in learning more about autism in early childhood.

Intended Audience

Childcare providers, teachers, foster care workers, and other early childhood professionals.

The early childhood workforce is engaged in work that is both rewarding and taxing. The emotionally intrusive nature of the work often leads to high rates of vicarious trauma, stress and burnout - all of which affect the quality of services provided. Reflective practice assists in mitigating the effects of the emotionally intrusive nature of the work by helping individuals examine their current and past actions, emotions, experiences, and responses in order to evaluate their work performance and learn to improve in the future.

The focus of this presentation will be Douglas County (Omaha), Nebraska's journey to identify a need for systemic change when working with child welfare cases involving domestic violence. This presentation will show how we identified: What is services are available in our community, what is working, what needs improvement, what additional considerations do we need to account for (barriers, buy in, etc.), what can we do better as a community and what we are doing to make change happen.