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Infant & Toddler
Connection of Virginia
March 2024
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Welcome New LSM Brandie Kendrick | |
Brandie Kendrick accepted the position as Local System Manager for ITC-Danville Pittsylvania in November 2023. She has worked in Early Intervention as a Service Coordinator, Intake Coordinator and Provider of Developmental Services for the past eight years. Before her time in EI, she has worked various roles within the Early Childhood world since 2006. Including working as an educator for children with autism, as an advocate for childcare providers, and a coordinator for local non-profit early childhood groups.
Brandie currently works as an adjunct instructor for the Early Childhood Education program at Danville Community College. When she is not working with infants and toddlers; she is immersed in her world of mothering her two daughters. She can often be found field side, courtside, or backstage supporting her girls in their various extracurricular activities. Alongside her is often her daughter’s service dog in training, Ella. Brandie works alongside a dog trainer often to help prepare Ella for her work in providing deep pressure and sensory related tasks to her oldest daughter with Autism.
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Welcome New LSM LaShonda McDade
LaShonda spent the last 19 years working in early intervention and a total of 21 years in the early childhood profession. Her overall experiences have included teaching preschool and prekindergarten children with special needs, service coordination, developmental therapy, coaching and supervision for developmental therapy agencies in North Carolina’s EI program, service coordination supervision in Virginia’s EI program, and several opportunities to serve temporarily in the role as the Local System Manager in Alexandria ITC over the last 9 years.
LaShonda received her undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), with a focus on Birth-Kindergarten and my graduate degree in Family & Consumer sciences, with a specialization in HDFS. She is very passionate about positively impacting the lives of children and families and loves having the opportunity to help empower families to advocate and support their young children as they develop. Over the last nine years, she has also enjoyed coaching and mentoring service coordinators in early intervention as they work to support children and families. LaShonda's professional interests include outreach and awareness, infant and child mental health, racial equity, and early childhood trauma and its impact on development. Outside of work, LaShonda enjoys spending time with family and her four children, ages 4, 6, 12, and 14.
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TRAC-IT Need To Knows
The ITCVA website has a page dedicated to TRAC-IT. There you will find updates, webinars and helpful samples and documentation tools. Keep an eye on the email section for the most up to date information.
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SSIP Update: Screening and Assessment Recommendations
The two stakeholder work groups looking at screening and assessment of social-emotional development and screening and assessment of family factors related to social-emotional development have delivered their recommendations to the state office. State staff will be reviewing and considering those recommendations in April, so watch for more information and opportunities for input coming soon!
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2024 Family Survey
Timelines for conducting the 2024 family survey are as follows:
Flyers begin mailing - 3/1
Samples for the fliers, survey and cover letter can be found on our website on this page https://www.itcva.online/itcva-resource-library under Family Survey
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Wave 1 begin mailing - 3/29-4/5
For families who have included their email address, the survey will be emailed directly to them. For the rest of the families the survey will be mailed to the address supplied. Languages included in this years survey include Arabic, Mandarin, Farsi, Korean, Urdu and Vietnamese languages.
Wave 2 begin mailing - 4/19-4/23
Families who did not respond to the first round of surveys will receive a second copy of the survey to increase the overall response rate.
Calls begin to localities with less than 15 completes - 5/14-5/21
These calls are intended to increase each systems survey response to have a representative
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Transition Conference Documentation Requirements
The Office of Special Education Programs recently published the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2023 Early Childhood Transition Questions and Answers (OSEP QA 14-01). Included in this document are Part C documentation requirements for communicating with the local school system regarding the transition conference.
The local early intervention system must send the local school system written notice of the meeting. If the local school system does not respond, the local early intervention system must document the following:
- Document the method (phone call, email, text, etc.) used to coordinate with the
- local school system.
- Document the number of attempts to schedule the transition conference.
- Document the lack of response.
- Document the date the invitation to the transition conference from the local early intervention system was sent to the local school system.
Please make sure service coordinators in your system are entering this information in the contact notes related to scheduling transition conferences.
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Description:
Join Us March 8th @ 12-1 pm EST
to discuss and reflect on the Child Outcome Summary (COS) Process. Gather your team together to explore successful strategies for painting an accurate picture of each child's functional development when determining COS ratings.
Registration
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Description:
This webinar, presented by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Department of Education, will provide information about the transition from Early Intervention Services (Part C) to Early Childhood Special Education (Part B). The webinar will discuss Federal and State regulations, decisions that can be determined locally, program eligibility, as well as tips for how the two systems can collaborate to support families and support a smooth and timely transition. Anyone involved in the transition from Part C to Part B is encouraged to attend.
Registration
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Pyramid Model Kickoff
March 20th, 12-1 pm
"Stay tuned" for a registration link for the
Pyramid Model Framework Kickoff.
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PROMOTING SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT | |
This brief provides practitioners with practical strategies for building relationships and collaborating with families from racially and ethnically diverse cultural backgrounds. It identifies common challenges and offers strategies for addressing them. | |
A GEM YOU MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN? | |
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED? | |
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Elevator Speeches --Strategies are short videos demonstrating a variety of strategies that EI providers may support families or child care providers with implementing during their daily routines. | |
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Current: Talks on Tuesday -Autism and Neurodiversity:
Supporting Children and Families Through a Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach
Click here to register.
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CCSS Conference Registration will open April 1, 2024. For more information, click here | |
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It's March and Transition Season is Coming Soon
While transitions may occur throughout the year, annual referrals for Part B early childhood special education frequently begin during the winter months in preparation for the April 1st referral deadline.
Transition Resources
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Free Lead Inspection and Home Repairs for Families
The Lead Hazard Reduction program (LHR) is the statewide resource for income-eligible families to address the lead-based paint hazards in their homes. It is a grant program that operates with no charge to participating homeowners, tenants, and landlords. All eligible homes will receive a full lead inspection and risk assessment to determine the location and condition of the lead-based paint. Eligible families homes are those with a young child, built before 1978 with a household income at or below 80% of the area median income. Please see this fact sheet LHR-fact-sheet.pdf (virginia.gov) and share with potentially eligible families.
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Early Childhood Academy (Spring 2024: April- May) PEATC
Early Childhood Academy begins April 26, 2024 and will be open through May 31, 2024: Registration
A FREE self-paced online course for families of young children (birth through age six) with disabilities or developmental delays.
In this FREE 5-week online program, families of children with disabilities learn about supporting their child’s early learning and development - from developmental milestones to tips on our most frequently asked questions including information on making the transition from early intervention to school services easier. Early Childhood Academy is designed so busy families can learn on their own schedule with new sessions opening weekly and available anytime – day or night - during these dates: April 26, 2024 - May 31, 2024. Participants who complete all sessions receive a certificate of completion with 9 contact hours. Learn More
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Local early intervention system managers (LSMs) or their designees, or directors of programs that contract with one or more local early intervention systems in Virginia, are invited to submit employment opportunities for posting. | |
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ITC Blue Ridge | EI Case Manager | Posted 2023-10-18 | PDF
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ITC Piedmont | Internship | Posted 2023-10-03 | DOCX
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INFANT & TODDLER CONNECTION OF VIRGINIA | Looking for the most up-to-date version of the Part C Practice Manual...upcoming meeting dates...or even a new career opportunity? You'll find plenty of helpful information on the Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia's early intervention website! Be sure to visit and bookmark itcva.online. | | |
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EARLY INTERVENTION CERTIFICATION
For questions about intial certification of practitioners, contact Anne Brager- 804-664-2462.
For questions about re-certification of practitioners, contact David Mills • 804-317-7776
For questions related to completing the online application, contact VATRACITsupport@ssg-llc.com or from 8AM-5PM ET by calling 804-508-7229.
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Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia is part of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services
https://www.itcva.online/itcva-staff-1
1220 Bank Street, 9th Floor, P.O. Box 1797, Richmond, Virginia 23219-1797
Main Office: (804) 786-3710 • Main Fax: (804) 371-7959
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1220 Bank Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 664-2462
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