Welcome to: “Project Find Helping Young People Succeed”

Christy CallahanDirector, Early On ®Training and Technical Assistance

Victoria Meeder Marketing/Public Awareness Supervisor

67th Annual Council for Exceptional Children ConferenceMarch 1st, 2007 11:00 – 12 noon

Clinton County RESA

Office of Innovative Projects

Project Find Child find for Special Education, birth – 26

Early On Public Awareness Child find for Infants and Toddlers, birth – 3

Early On® Training and Technical Assistance Personnel development for Early On

Project Find Michigan

Project Find Child Find Components - Part B of Individuals with

Disabilities Education Act Birth to Age 26 (Special Education) Outreach to Communities through Public Awareness

Activities Outreach to Project Find Coordinators Statewide Toll-free Referral Line: 1-800-252-0052

What is Early On®?

Early On is the system of early intervention services for infants and toddlers, birth to three years of age, with disabilities or delays, and their families. Early On is supported by funding from Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services.

What is Early On® Public Awareness?The Office of Innovative Projects Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency

State mandated project Assist in the child find component of Part

C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

Identify and locate children birth to 3 who are in need of early intervention services

Responsibilities: Operate the statewide toll-free referral

line Celebrated 1 Year Anniversary, referred

over 3,340 (Oct. 1, 2005)

What Is Early On Public Awareness? (cont….)

Provide outreach to communities Develop informational materials for Early

On Clearinghouse for Local Central Directories In collaboration with CEN Statewide

Central Directory for Infants, Toddlers & Students with Disabilities www.cenmi.org

Early On Traveling Display Boards Maintain the website for

www.1800EarlyOn.org Assist locals with graphic art for display

boards, promotional items, business cards

Project Find for Michigan

What does Project Find look like across the State of Michigan? Each county in the State of Michigan has a

designated Project Find/Child Find Coordinator (57 Coordinators)

Housed in Intermediate School Districts/Regional Educational Service Agencies

Required component of ISD Plan for Special Education Programs and Services

The public awareness program must provide for informing the public about–

(a) The State's early intervention program;

(b) The child find system, including–

(1) The purpose and scope of the system;

(2) How to make referrals; and

(3) How to gain access to a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation and other early intervention services; and

(c) The central directory.

Early On Public Awareness

Federal Guidelines

Sec. 303.321 Comprehensive child find system. The child find system must include the policies and procedures that the State will follow to ensure that–

(1) All infants and toddlers … who are eligible for services … are identified, located, and evaluated…

(1) The child find system must include procedures for use by primary referral sources for referring a child to the appropriate public agency within the system for– (i) Evaluation and assessment…

(2) The procedures must… (ii) Ensure that referrals are made no more than

two working days after a child has been identified…

Early On Child Find – Federal Guidelines

Special Education Child Find (300.111) All children with disabilities residing in the State, …

regardless of the severity of their disability and who are in need of special education and relates services, are identified, located, and evaluated.

Mandated: Homeless children Migrant children Children advancing from grade to grade with a

suspected disability Native Americans (Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 156/Monday, August 14, 2006/Rules and Regulations)

Priority Audiences: Non-English Speaking Communities (Spanish & Arabic)

Parents of younger youth (Pre-K – 6th grade) High school drop outs

Public Awareness – How do we provide outreach?

Connect with Project Find and Early On Coordinators.

Present and display at conferences for professionals who may refer children, youth, and young adults

Offer a Web presence Disseminate promotional items, ie

posters & brochures

Public Awareness – How do we provide outreach?

Email campaigns Work with special education stakeholders

Michigan Alliance for Families Center for Educational Networking Michigan Family-to-Family Health

Information Education Center Training and Technical Assistance staff

members work with ISDs to provide training and TA for Early On

Statewide Referral Line Project Find

1-800-EarlyOn Referred over 3032 to Early On

1-800-252-0052 Referred over 658 to Special Education(3-26)

Other Referral Modalities NEW! Online process Fax Email

Examples of Support (Statewide Level)

Provide written materials

Early On ® brochure (supplied to READY kits, that were shipped to every licensed childcare provider in the State) (Available in English, Spanish, and Arabic)

Guidebooks (1-4) Welcome to Early On Our Individualized Family Service Plan Transition: Leaving Early On Early On Family Rights

(All Available in English, Spanish, and Arabic)

Examples of Support (continued)

Child Developmental Wheels (reprinted 30,000. Now aligns with the “Immunize Your Little Michigander” campaign) Available in English, Spanish, and Arabic

“Baby Steps” developmental poster (distributed 7,000)

NEW Baby emergency numbers magnet (distributed 11,000)

Directory for

Infants and Toddlers

To download a copy, visit our

Website at www.1800EarlyOn.org

Highlights of the Directory include: Contact information for the

Office of Early Childhood Education

And Family Services MDCH and MDE IDEA Mandated Activities

Part C & B Early On Coordinators Intermediate School Districts Institutions of Higher Education Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Physicians Outreach

“Guide for Physicians” /Pocketguide

59% of our referrals are from hospitals/ physicians/health care providers

Michigan Department of Community Health – Genetics Program Creating 2500 Birth Defects

Tool Kits

Contact Media - TV

Early On® Michigan

Public Service Announcement “Sitting Still”

October 2005 – March 2006

Aired 78,535

Versions Available in English, Spanish, and African-American Dialect

Project Find Coordinators

57 Project Find Coordinators in the State of Michigan

Networking Meetings

Spiderphone Conversations

Public Awareness updates via email

Yahoo! Listserv

Examples of Outreach

A Calendar for Michigan Families Potential to

reach thousands Available in

English and Spanish

Family and Consumer Sciences, MSU Extension

(517) 432-8204

Project Find Youth K-6

1-800-252-0052 TTY Line: 517-668-2505 www.projectfindmichigan.org

Project Find Translated

Spanish

Arabic

Project Find Michigan

Older Youth Dropped Out

Project Find Michigan

Arabic, Older Youth Arabic, Dropped Out

Project Find Michigan

Spanish, Older Youth Spanish, Dropped Out

Traveling Display Boards One Statewide Early On Traveling Display Board Mike Bobo, Public Awareness staff member

Michigan Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics Conference Scheduled for 11 conferences during the 2006-2007 year

Calendar can be found at website at www.1800EarlyOn.org

•Two (small) Two (small) Early Early OnOn boards boards

• available to locals for available to locals for community usecommunity use• To schedule the small To schedule the small display boards for an display boards for an event, contact Early On event, contact Early On Public Awareness atPublic Awareness at

1-800-Early-On (327-1-800-Early-On (327-5966)5966)

Project Find Display Board

Launch NEW Websitewww.1800EarlyOn.org

Other Examples of Generating Awareness – Transit Kalamazoo County:  Metro Transit Buses, 8 buses Genesee County:  MTA/Flint Buses, 20 buses

Macomb County:  SMART Buses, 40 buses Washtenaw County: SMART Buses, 25 buses

(Kick-off began September 15, 2006: 6-8 week duration)

TRANSIT - continued

Captive Audience – U of M (Washtenaw)

September 23 – Wisconsin

October 7 – M.S.U.

(potential of reaching over 107,000 at each game)

Thank You for Attending

Project Find Public Awareness

“Helping Young People Succeed”