LINK Interdisciplinary Autism Training
Project Description:
Early Childhood LINK is a model training, consultation, and technical assistance project in which an expert transdisciplinary team, based at the CIDD (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), will work collaboratively with a wide range of infant, toddler, and preschool service agencies/providers/classrooms across the state.
The primary mission of the project is to help local agencies address documented service delivery needs for young children with low-incidence disabilities (e.g., visual impairment, deafness/hard of hearing, autism), and another condition of higher-incidence, which remains significantly under-targeted (i.e., young children with mental health problems). Training can be tailored for both general and special education personnel across a wide range of agencies and programs. The Early Childhood LINK team coordinates and implements content-oriented institutes, workshops, and seminar series, and offers both child and program consultations.
The main goals of Early Childhood LINK are to (1) implement a training protocol to address training needs using a transdisciplinary training, technical assistance and consultation model; (2) maintain a resource lending library of pertinent materials for professionals and parents (including materials related to screening, assessment, intervention strategies, curricula, and interagency/ transdisciplinary collaboration); (3) emphasize the importance of functional assessments of young children with these complex and difficult-to-assess disabilities; (4) maintain a website with current information for professionals and parents of children with low incidence disabilities; and (5) increase communication and coordination among agencies providing services to the target populations.
Keyword(s):
low incidence, early intervention, autism, VI, challenging behavior
Core Function(s):
Training Trainees, Performing Research or Evaluation, Developing & Disseminating Information
Area of Emphasis
Quality Assurance, Education & Early Intervention, Child Care-Related Activities, Health-Related Activities
Target Audience:
Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Geographic Areas, Rural/Remote, Urban, Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County, Mulit-County, State
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
