Marissa Nio-Terreo

Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
Chapter 14 Guided Notes: Early Childhood Special Education
1. What is Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education?
Early Intervention refers to providing interventions and services starting from
birth to age 2. Early Childhood Special Education is a preventative approach
to providing children between the ages 3 to 5, with various educational and
related services, which aim to reduce the effects of a disability and help
decrease the need for special education services when the child begins
school.
2. Discuss Early Intervention for Infants and Toddlers as mandated by IDEA:
According to IDEA: early intervention services must be provided to children
under the age of 3 who meet the following criteria:

Require services be provided to children with developmental delays

in one more of the following areas; cognitive, physical, communication,
social, emotional, or adaptive development; or
The child has been diagnosed with a physical or medical condition that
puts the child at increased risk of acquiring a developmental delay.
Explain:
Developmental delays: refers to a broad range of atypical development
that encompasses any of the 13 defined disability categories of IDEA. Note:
the child does not have to be labeled as having one of the 13 disability types
in order to qualify for early intervention services.
At risk conditions: are medical and/or physical conditions that always
result in a developmental delay or disability (i.e., Down syndrome, fragile X
syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome etc).
IDEA states the term at risk can be broken down into 2 categories:
biological risk or environmental risk:
a) Biological risk conditions: include children who have a history of pre or
post-natal conditions (i.e., premature birth, low birth weight, or other
complications) that place the child at an increased risk of developmental
delay and/or disability.
b) Environmental risk conditions: include children who due to various
environmental conditions (i.e., poverty, abuse, homelessness etc) are at
an increased risk of developmental delays or disability.
3. Discuss Special Education in Preschool as mandated by IDEA:
IDEA requires that children between the ages of 3-5 (preschool age)
must be provided with special education services. Children do not have to
have a diagnosis of one of the 13 disability categories defined by IDEA, the
only requirement is that the child have a developmental delay. Based on
which state the child lives in, the ages in which a child can be served under a
diagnosis of developmental delay varies, usually between ages 3-9.

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Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
Preschool children do have an IEP developed, but the IEP includes
information and suggestions for the childs parents.
Service delivery methods varies and can include services being
provided at home and/or school. Preschool special education programs can
meet the requirement of providing a full range of services by contracting with
other agencies and using services from those agencies.
4. How are early intervention services delivered?
IDEA requires that and Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) be
developed by a multidisciplinary team, which includes the childs parents and
family, which will provide early intervention services for children under the
age of 3.
Individualized Family Services Plan has 8 components :
a. A clear explanation of the childs level of physical, cognitive,
communication, social, emotional, and adaptive development that is
based off of objective criteria
b. A clear explanation of the priorities and concerns of the family in regard to
the familys role in assisting the child with a disability
c. A statement that defines and explains what results/outcomes the child is
expected to achieve as a result of early intervention services (i.e.,
development of language skills). There must be a clear explanation of how
the childs progress will be monitored (i.e., observations, procedures,
criteria etc.) that will serve to assist the team in determining whether the
child is making progress. If progress is not being made, then the team
must determine whether modifications/revisions should be made to
promote progress.
d. A clear explanation of the evidenced based early intervention services
that will be provided to the child, and also include information about how
often the child will receive these services and how the interventions will
be provided to the child.
e. A statement about the natural environment in which the child will receive
the intervention services. If the child is not going to receive services in a
natural environment, then there must be a clearly explained reasoning
why interventions are not going to be provided in a natural setting.
f. Specific dates of when intervention services will begin, as well as
information about how long the child will receive service and how often
the child will receive services.
g. Information about the assigned service coordinator who is responsible for
putting the plan into motion, as well as working with other agencies and
individuals to provide services for the child.
h. Clearly defined steps that need to be taken in order to help the child
transition into preschool or other services.
5. How does an Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) differ from an
Individualized Education Plan (IEP)?
Individualized Family Services Plan are family focused. IFSP is based on the
idea that the childs family plays a critical role in the childs life. An

Marissa Nio-Terreo
Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) focuses of providing services to the child
only, versus the IFSP, where early intervention services are provided to the
family as well as the child. IFSP focuses on providing services in natural
environments (i.e., home) versus school settings.
6. Explain the four reasons assessment and evaluation in early childhood
education are conducted.
a. Screenings: are used to identify children who may have a
disability and should receive additional testing to confirm they have
a disability. Screenings are typically quick and easy to administer.
b. Diagnosis: is a detailed and comprehensive assessment that looks
at all areas of development in order to determine if a child is
eligible to receive early intervention or special education services.
c. Program Planning: are assessments used to determine the childs
current skill level, identify objectives, and plan interventions. The
assessments used are criterion and curriculum based.
d. Evaluation: are curriculum and criterion based measures that are
used to identify if the child is making progress towards their
IFSP/IEP objectives.
7. Identify and explain the 3 screening tools used to identify children who may
have a disability.
a. Apgar Scale: The Apgar Scale is a test that measures how much
oxygen an infant was deprived of during birth. This is a screening that
is done in all US hospitals to identify high risk infants (i.e., infants
who are at higher risk of developmental delay). The infants heart rate,
breathing, response to stimulation, skin color, and muscle tone is
measured 2 times to look for any signs of oxygen deprivation. The
infant receives a score between 0-2. First test is given 1 minute after
birth: if infant receives a low score then hospital staff will begin
resuscitation. The second test occurs 5 minutes after resuscitation. A
score of 6 or below, which indicates moderate-severe oxygen
deprivation (asphyxia), requires the infant receive additional
assessments.
b. Newborn blood test screening: newborn blood tests are collected
within 24-48 hours after birth. The blood test can detect 30 conditions
(i.e., cystic fibrosis, sickle cell, and hyperthyroidism) that can cause
physical, cognitive, developmental, and sensory impairments. Some of
these conditions, if caught early, can be treated to decrease the effects
on the childs development.
c. Developmental screening tests: are tests used to look at a childs
gross motor skills, fine motor skills, language development, and
personal/social development. The most common developmental
screening test is the Denver II. Denver II tests can be used for children
between 2 weeks to 6 years old. The test uses both observations from
administrator doing the screening as well as using information
provided by parents. One screening tool parents can use is the Ages

Marissa Nio-Terreo
Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), which has 11 questionnaires, each
questionnaire has 30 questions. The parents complete the
questionnaires starting when the child is 4 months all the way until 48
months. The ASQ looks at how well the child is developing in regard to
motor skills, communication, personal, and socially.
8. Two common diagnostic tests for assessing developmental delays:
1. Battelle Developmental Inventory-II
2. Bayley Scales of Infants and Toddler Development-III
9. Identify and Explain the 5 diagnostic areas that are tested when screening
tests indicated a potential disability or developmental delay:
a. Motor development:
An individuals ability to move their body and manipulate objects in
their environment. Includes:
Flexibility
Endurance
Eye-hand coordination
Strength
Gross and fine motor movements
Mobility
b. Cognitive development:
A child cognitive skills include the ability to:
Remember skills theyve learned or things theyve done in the
past
Make future plans and decisions
Integrate new information with old information
Problem solve
Create new ideas
c. Communication and language development:
Children use communication and language skills are used to receive
and share information and control their surroundings.
Includes the ability to:
Respond with gestures, smiles and actions
Acquire spoken language skills:
o Sounds
o Words
o Phrases
o Sentences
d. Social and emotional development:
Children demonstrate appropriate social skills by:
Sharing
Taking turns
Working with others
Conflict resolution skills
Ability to feel good about themselves
Ability to express emotions and feelings

Marissa Nio-Terreo
Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
e. Adaptive development:
Self-care skills:
Dressing and undressing
Eating
Washing hands
Brushing teeth
Etc.
10.Program Planning and Evaluation Tools:
a. Curriculum Based Assessments (CBA)
All items in the CBA are directly related to a skill in the programs
curriculum. One common CBA tool is the Assessment, Evaluation and
Programming System: For Infants and Young Children (AEPS).
CBAs can be used to:
1. Identify the childs current functioning levels
2. Selected IFSP/IEP goals and objectives
3. Determine the most appropriate interventions
4. Evaluate the childs progress
11.Discuss Early Childhood Special Education in terms of curriculum and
instruction
a) Curriculum and Program Goals:
a. Support families achieve their goals:
Since families work together as a unit to better support the childs
success should strive to support families in achieving goals they
have identified as important.
b. Support childs maximum independence and mastery:
The program should work to reduce the extent that a child relies on
others for help and the extent they differ from their peers. Programs
should facilitate the childs active engagement, initiative, autonomy
and self-sufficiency when appropriate.
c. Promote development in all important domains:
The text suggests instructors use only instructional strategies that
promote rapid learning to help close the developmental gap
between children in early childhood special education and their
typically developing peers.
d. Build and enhance social skills:
These are important skills to teach because they often do not
develop naturally with many children with disabilities.
e. Help the child generalize the skills theyve learned:
Teach the child how to use skills theyve learned in many different
areas, situations and times.
f. Prepare and assist children for typical life experience they will
encounter with families, in school and in their communities:
This involves educating the child in a setting that is typical for other
children without disabilities to play and learn.
g. Help families and their children with transition:
Typical transitions occur at 3 years when the child transitions from a
home-based program to a preschool and again at 5 years when the
child transitions from preschool to a kindergarten classroom.

Marissa Nio-Terreo
Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
Educators should help families ensure that the services will be
continued and try to minimize disruption to the family.
h. Prevent or reduce the development of future difficulties or
disabilities:
The primary goal of the program is to prevent difficulties or
disabilities in infants and toddlers.
b) Three principles educators should consider in creating
developmentally appropriate practice (DAP): DAP is a belief that
instructional practices, learning environments and other program
components used in educating young children should be reflective of what
is typically experienced and expected of children for their age and
developmental stage.
a. Knowledge must inform decision making:
Educators should consider each childs individual developmental
and learning needs, as well as the social and cultural contexts the
child lives in.
b. Goals set should be challenging and achievable:
Build on what the child already knows and create instruction that
allows the child to be challenged by new experiences that allow
them to learn new skills, abilities or knowledge. Obviously, only
challenge the child within reason.
c. Teaching needs to be intentional to be effective:
Teachers should be intentional when they set up their classrooms,
plan curriculum, strategies, assessment measures, and interact
with their students and family and always keep the students needs
in mind.
c) 5 indicators to selecting quality IFSP/IEP Goals and Objectives:
a. Functionality:
i. functional skills that increase capability of interacting with
others in their daily environments.
ii. Skills that can be performed by others if the child is unable
to.
b. Generality:
i. Representative of general concept, as opposed to specific
tasks
ii. Can the goal be modified to meet the childs ability level?
iii. Can it be used across settings, situations and with a variety
of materials?
c. Instructional context:
i. Skills should be taught in a naturalistic way, so that it is
taught in such a way the child can integrate the skill into
their daily routines
d. Measurability:
i. Can the skill be seen, felt or heard in such a way that it can
be counted or timed?
e. Hierarchical relation between long and short-term goals:

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Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
i. Short term goals should be determined by a hierarchical
relationships and should be selected to help achieve longterm goals
d) Instructional Adaptation and Modifications:
a. Embedded Learning Opportunities: An instructional technique in
which teachers create and plan situations where students can
naturally practice the skills or objective targeted in their IEPs.
i. This can be especially effective when developing
communication and language skills.
e) Pre-K Activity Schedules:
a. When creating the schedule, the teacher should try to
accommodate as many students needs as possible.
b. Include a flexible, well-balanced schedule of:
i. Child and teacher initiated activities
ii. Large and small group activities
iii. Indoor and outdoor activities
iv. Active and quiet activities
c. Transition should easily flow from one activity to the next
f) Supportive Physical Environment: creating a supportive environment
conducive to learning teachers should:
a. Thoughtfully plan and organize centers to include all the necessary
and age-appropriate materials.
i. Keeping materials where children can easily access them
without assistance from an adult
b. Keep quiet areas separate from loud activity centers and high traffic
areas of the classroom.
c. A designated open area from large group activities.
d. Have a space for each child to keep their things.
e. Use pictures to label materials, centers and other classroom items.
12.Explain the range of service delivery alternative in early childhood
intervention programs
a) Hospital-Based Programs:
a. NCIUs for babies born at low-birth weight and/or other high-risk
newbornsinclude a variety of professionals to assist the baby and
its family with their needs and provide support and education.
b) Home-Based Programs:
a. In these programs families serve as the childs primary caregiver
and teacher and an early intervention specialist will come into their
home to provide support.
b. Advantages:
i. The child is in their natural environment and typically are
able to receive more attention from their parents than they
would from a teacher at a center or school.
ii. Other family members are able to interact with the child and
assist in their growth and development.
iii. Emotional benefits for families that play an active role in
their childs learning and development.
iv. Often more cost-effective than other programs.

Marissa Nio-Terreo
Kimberly Barnett
April 20, 2016
c. Disadvantages:
i. Effectiveness varies from family to family
ii. Two-parent family structure is not necessarily the norm, so
home programs can put added stress of the family and
families may not be able to meet the needs of their children
in a home-based program
iii. Children do not always receive the wide range of services
they would in a center
iv. Potentially reduced social interactions with peers
c) Center-Based Programs:
a. Early interventions are provided to the child in special educational
centers outside of their home.
i. Some advantages of center based education include:
1. Specialists from different fields have increased
opportunities to directly observe the child.
2. Intensive instruction and related services provided are
important to children with disabilities.
3. Increased interaction with peers with and without
disabilities
4. Emotional benefits for parents (sense of relief for
additional support).
d) Home-Center Programs:
a. Combined home-center programs often use the benefits of both
programs to reduce the disadvantages of using just one form of
early intervention programs.
b. Requires coordination between center and home programs to
provide students with the services they need.