Interdisciplinary Master's Degree Preparation for Personnel Serving Children with Disabilities
Project Description:
The purpose of this program is to develop, implement and evaluate a preservice project for the Interdisciplinary Preparation in Special Education, Early Intervention, and Related Services for Personnel Serving Children with Disabilities. The emphasis of the training project is the population of infants and toddlers under the age of 3 with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This project will ensure that an interdisciplinary group of fully credentialed personnel will have the necessary skills and knowledge that derives from evidence-based practice, to be successful in serving high needs infants and young and their families. The program will develop, implement and evaluate an interdisciplinary master's level program of study to increase the number of masters trained special educators and related service personnel trained to provide early intervention and early childhood special education to infants and young children who have (ASD) and their families. The masters degrees will be awarded to the students through the University of CT (UConn) Schools of Education (special education- early childhood special education-SPED-ECSE) Liberal Arts and Sciences (Speech, Language and Hearing (SLP) and Social Work (SW). Thirty five scholars were supported over 5 years of funding through this grant The students will meet their own discipline requirements for the master's degree, as well as participate in an interdisciplinary program of 12 credit hours of joint coursework, assignments and practicum. The students will be prepared to enter professional practice in a variety of inclusive early childhood educational settings, children and families' homes, and community settings, while collaborating with providers, families and administrators. The four main objectives of the program include (1) program planning, including recruitment and course revision; (2) implementation of program coursework, offered in a hybrid format, covering the topics of three cross disciplinary competency areas: Family and Centered Practice (fall semester); Evidenced based Assessment and Intervention Practices (spring semester); Collaboration and Teaming (summer semester); (3) implementation of program practicums (home-based birth-to-three placement and classroom-based placement of 3- to 5-year-olds) ; and (4) evaluation of the personnel preparation program. Both formative and summative evaluations will be conducted on both process and product outcomes. The evaluation plan that is proposed will consist primarily of an objectives or goal-based approach to evaluation. The major evaluation measure for student progress will be the completion of program competencies and the organization of them by content area in a portfolio. The competencies reflect the indicators of the ECPC cross disciplinary competencies and will be aligned with the recommended practices during the planning year and subsequently be used to measure student acquisition of cross disciplinary knowledge and skills.
Keyword(s):
Developmental Disabilities, Early Childhood – General, Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults with Special Health Care Needs, Interdisciplinary, graduate training
Core Function(s):
Training Trainees
Area of Emphasis
Education & Early Intervention, Other - Leadership
Target Audience:
Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, General Public
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Urban, Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County, Mulit-County, State
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
