Infant & Toddler

Connection of Virginia

September 2024

PART C UPDATES

Ginny Heuple – Early Intervention Career Path

Working in Early Intervention has been an amazing journey. I fell in love with EI when it became clear that...Read Ginny's story

The Work and Heart of Early Interventionists, Stories from the Field

There are so many beautiful people who make up Virginia's early intervention work-force whose stories we'd like to share with you. This "mini-series" has been created to tell the stories we think will be encouraging to current and future early interventionists.

Thank you for the good work you do on a daily basis on your teams, the local and state workgroups you participate in, and most importantly, with the babies, toddlers and families you serve. Your work is important and the ripple effects of your time, expertise and heart change lives. You may not ever hear how the supports and services you provide helped a family long term, since toddlers transition out of early intervention at such a young age. Then it happens, out of the blue, a former child or family member gives you a call, sends you a card, or catches you in the aisle of the grocery store to tell you how you helped their child and family learn and grow. It's beautiful. Relish those moments. Share those stories. Breathe it in. Own it.

Please reach out to Terri.Nelligan@dbhds.virginia.gov to share your story. We'd love to hear from you.

Introducing POSM: Periodic Oversight of Systems and Methods

Over the past year the ITCVA monitoring team has been focused on revisiting, revising and, wherever necessary, expanding its general supervision and monitoring (GSM) framework to reflect current OSEP guidance as well as Virginia-specific changes (most notably full implementation of TRAC-IT in December 2023). Examples of this ongoing work include replacing the ARR with CIMV earlier this year and a soon-to-be-launched cyclical monitoring process that we are calling Periodic Oversight of Systems and Methods—or POSM, for short.

The purpose of POSM is to support positive outcomes for infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities and their families while assuring compliance with federal and state Part C requirements. Over the course of the next 5 years, each local early intervention system in Virginia will participate in POSM. Some of the POSM activities planned include interviews, document review, and case reviews, divided into discovery, engagement and closeout phases.

Localities will participate in POSM in groups of 8; Group A—our POSM pioneers—have been notified. The ITCVA staff looks forward to working with (and learning from) these local systems.

An upcoming statewide call will be held on September 18^th at 2:30PM to further introduce POSM and answer questions. A shareable meeting link will be sent to LSMs on or before September 13^th.

Child Find Trends

States and jurisdictions must actively identify, locate and evaluate children birth to twenty one who may have disabilities or suspected to have disabilities as early as possible. This process is known as child find. There are federal requirements for child find across Part C and Part B, Section 619.

States, jurisdictions, families, and other referral sources will find information about federal requirements under IDEA, information and resources on public awareness and developmental monitoring, effective screening and evaluation and assessment processes (including performing these services remotely.

Additional tools for improving child find are also provided.

Readers will also find useful information on cultural and linguistic diversity, and information on specific disability populations (including child maltreatment and substance abuse).

Pyramid Model Framework

Definitions of Family Coaching Strategies and the Pyramid Model Framework

This resource provides definitions and examples that illustrate family coaching strategies. These strategies are used by early interventionists to support caregivers as they build their competence and confidence in supporting their child’s social emotional development.

Definitions of Family Centered Coaching

Caregiver Planning English

Caregiver Planning Spanish

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A GEM YOU MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN?

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED?

WHAT'S COMING

UP NEXT?

This one is for supervisors! Don’t forget about VEIPD’s Learning Bytes - brief learning activities that supervisors, faculty, or other leaders can use to facilitate professional development with staff or students. These activities are designed to be of short duration and explore topics of importance to EI practitioners.

In case you missed it...VEIPD recently launched a new path focused on hearing loss in the Sensory Disabilities Learning Path. Learn about supporting families who have infants or toddlers with hearing loss with the latest “path” in the Sensory Disabilities Learning Path. Learning paths are “choose-your-own-adventure” professional development activities that allow each EI professional to customize their own learning.

VEIPD is launching the first workshop in its new offering - ElevatED EI: Expert Led Workshops. Register now for Navigating Substance Use in Homes. For this workshop, VEIPD and Early Impact Virginia (EIV) are partnering with the Opioid Response Network (ORN) to provide the most up-to-date information on this topic for early intervention (EI) and home visiting professionals.

VDOE Early Childhood Special Education Consortium

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The Employment Opportunities page on the ITCVA website receives nearly 5,000 visits each year!

Practitioners: Early intervention needs you! Influence the future of infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities and their families by putting your skills and expertise to work today! Please visit the Employment Opportunities page on the ITCVA website for links to current job openings.

LSMs and local contracted agencies: Let us help connect you to qualified applicants! Are you a Local System Manager (LSM) or the director of an agency that contracts with one or more local early intervention systems in Virginia? Are you looking to find qualified applicants to fill vacant positions? Please visit our Employment Opportunitie s page for instructions on how to submit a job posting.

ITCVA DIRECT ACCESS

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 i tcva.online.

MEDICAID ENROLLMENTS

If you have questions about enrollments for children with Medicaid please

contact Keisha White at keisha.white@dbhds.virginia.gov.

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.

PART C STAFF DIRECTORY

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

Do you have colleagues who aren’t getting the Monthly Part C Update? Ask them to check their spam folder. If they're still not receiving it, have them email anne.brager@dbhds.virginia.gov.

DMAS RESOURCES

DMAS Early Intervention Support

For specific Medicaid questions related to billing and supports for Early Intervention, please use these emails:

M4EarlyIntervention@dmas.virginia.gov:

CCCPlusEarlyIntervention@dmas.virginia.gov

Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia

1220 Bank Street

Richmond, VA 23219

(804) 664-2462