Early Childhood Transition Project
Woodfords Family Services is pleased to embark on a one-year pilot project (August 2009-July 2010) focusing on early childhood transitions for children with special needs in collaboration with CDS Opportunities, serving Oxford County; MSAD #17, serving the towns of Harrison, Hebron, Norway, Otisfield, Oxford, South Paris, Waterford and West Paris; and MSAD #72, serving the towns of Brownfield, Denmark, Fryeburg Lovell, Stoneham, Stowe and Sweden. This project has been generously funded by IDEA Discretionary Funds, administered through the Maine State Department of Education.
The purpose of the Early Childhood Transitions Project is to develop training programs around positive transitions that ensure the highest quality of service delivery for children and meet the needs of all stakeholders involved, including parents, educators, CDS staff and other service providers. The project is designed to improve children’s transitions from Part C home-based services to Part B preschool services and from Part B preschool services to Part B Kindergarten services.
The goals of the professional development curriculum regarding the transition programs are:
- Increase the demonstrated level of technical knowledge regarding the Part C to Part B and Part B Preschool to Part B Kindergarten transition processes, special education regulations, compliance issues, and rights/responsibilities among all stakeholder groups, including parents, preschool teachers/staff, Kindergarten teachers/staff, CDS case managers and other service providers.
- Increase proactive solutions to common challenges in the current transition processes by offering all stakeholders the opportunity to share concerns, suggest improvements, better understand all stakeholders’ roles and participate in developing best-practice strategies to improve outcomes.
- Achieve increased satisfaction rates regarding the entire transition process among all stakeholder groups by giving transition teams the opportunity to define clear goals and measure success, as demonstrated by pre- and post-survey data.
- Reduce the instances of due process complaints and proceedings resulting from the transition process within the regional collaborative.
To Learn More About Early Childhood Transitions
As part of this project, Woodfords Family Services and the collaborating organizations have developed two online resources to help you learn more about positive transitions. Please check them out!
Online Resource Library
When it comes to learning about services for individuals with special needs and positive transitions, the resources are virtually endless. The Woodfords Online Resource Library is a great place to start if you are looking for specific information related to diagnoses, legislation, special education and the latest news updates. Also, check out our FAQ page. If you can’t find what you are looking for, please post a question and we will do our best to help you access relevant information.
Connections Newsletter
Please read and share Connections, our monthly newsletter specifically devoted to positive early childhood transitions. To have the newsletter delivered directly to your email inbox each month, email Barbara Hawkes, project coordinator.
Past Newsletters
- Connections Newsletter_January 2010 Edition.pdf
- Connections Newsletter_December 2009 Edition.pdf
- Connections Newsletter_November 2009 Edition.pdf
For more information about the Early Childhood Transitions Project, please contact Barbara Hawkes, at (207) 878-9663.