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The longest study of its kind shows that an early education program for children from low-income families provides benefits that last well into adulthood.

Click here to register for this free webinar What: Evidence-based prevention programs are attractive because research shows they can produce good results. The challenge is getting similar results when they are put into practice. Experts on two childhood programs will explain the keys to implementing evidence-based programs and achieving expected outcomes. Peggy Hill, Chief Strategic Relations Officer at the Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office, will introduce Nurse-Family Partnership as an example of an effective home-based health promotion program during pregnancy and infancy that has been developed through rigorous research and taken to broader scale nationally. She will describe what makes an “evidence-based” program unique, what supports for implementation are crucial for assuring that research-proven outcomes can be replicated in community settings, and how policy and administrative practice can foster success. Kristy Johnson, Director of Special Projects with Invest in Kids will describe The Incredible Years program as another proven early childhood program that supports child development in classroom settings. Kristy was responsible for creating needed supports for broader scale implementation of Incredible Years throughout Colorado, and will share lessons learned from the process of working with a researcher to make a strong program accessible and available to local schools interested in improving outcomes for young children. When: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Mountain Contact: For questions, email rbridge@mentalhealthamerica.net or call 703-684-7722.

Over the past decade, tremendous progress has been made in ensureing that families have access to hearing screening when a baby is born. Approximately 95% of babies now receive a hearing screen shortly after birth. Now, greater emphasis must be placed on training early childhood education and health care providers.

Goals: To build local capacity and expand inclusive child care options for families by providing training, resources, and technical assistance directly to Montana's child care resource and referral programs (specifically the Early Childhood Specialists), licensed child care programs, LCPs (legally certified providers), PLUK (Montana parent and training information program), and CFSP (regional child/family service providers/early intervention programs).

What:Child Care Resources has had to cancel some CSEFEL classes since they didn't fill with child care providers, so they are opening them up to social service providers and others.  The cost is very reasonable.  The focus will be more on group settings.  Child Care Resources is offering the following courses for Early Childhood educators and child care providers:1. The Pyramid Model (CSEFEL) Preschool Module 1    December 19, 2011    8:30 am - 2:30 pm    Childcare Resources - Missoula    Click here to register/more information!2. The Pyramid Model (CSEFEL) for Preschool Module One     January 23, 2012    8:30 am - 2:30 pm    Childcare Resources - Missoula    Click here to register/more information!3. The Pyramid Model (CSEFEL) for Preschool Module Two    March 5, 2012    8:30 am - 2:30 pm    Childcare Resources - Missoula    Click here to register/more information!Cost is $30 per session.Contact:Lucy Marose lucy@childcareresources.org  or  Jennifer Swartz jennifer@childcareresources.org

The transition to kindergarten is most successful when it is carefully planned out over the entire pre-kindergarten year. Starting as early as the first day of preschool, it’s important to make sure that children are developing the academic skills that help form a foundation of strong pre-reading and pre-writing, as well as the social and emotional skills they’ll need in kindergarten.

Webinar - All About Apps for Education: Just the Apps and Nothing but the Apps Thursday, May 5, 2011, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Mountain – Web-Based Training, register Discover the wonderful world of apps for education. This webinar will help you navigate and maximize your use of the iPod/iPad. The presenters will take you on an app adventure and share a variety of apps in such categories as early childhood, literacy, autism, communication, organization, and more. Funding for this webinar is made possible by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education. The source of funding is from federal award, Grants to States-Special Education CFDA 84.027, P.L. 108-446 Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Basic Vocabulary Organization in PRC Devices Monday, May 16, 2011, 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mountain – PACER Center, Bloomington, MN, register This free workshop is for parents and professionals to learn more about Unity vocabulary organization included in all Prentke Romich Company PRC Communication or AAC Devices.  Participants will be introduced to the vocabulary options available.  This workshop will be held in the PACER computer lab where participants can bring their own device or use computer emulation software (Vantage Lite PASS software version 5.02).  The training will include hands-on experience to become familiar with how Unity supports creation of spontaneous novel communication, and to teach basic device operations such as customizing messages, changing icons, hiding keys, and backing up the device. The presenter is PRC Regional Consultant Helen Canfield.  The workshop is limited to 20 participants. Classroom Suite Version 4 Foundations Wednesday, May 18, 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mountain - PACER Center, register This workshop is designed for educators, SLPs, OTs, AT specialists, paraprofessionals and parents who are new to (or have limited experience with) Classroom Suite V.4. The goal of the Foundation Workshop for Classroom Suite V.4 is to enable educators to use Classroom Suite to teach early concepts, reading, writing, and math to students struggling because of learning difficulties or access issues. This workshop is sponsored by Cambium Learning Technologies. Registration fee $225. Kurzweil 3000 Version 11 Foundations Thursday, May 19, 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mountain - PACER Center, register This workshop is designed for educators, SLPs, OTs, AT specialists, paraprofessionals and parents who support students with learning disabilities and are new to (or have limited experience with) Kurzweil 3000. This workshop is sponsored by Cambium Learning Technologies. Registration fee $225.00. Putting LAMP (Language Acquisition through Motor Planning) to Work: AAC Strategies to Promote Communication Friday, May 20, 2011, 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mountain – PACER Center, Bloomington, MN, register Language Acquisition through Motor Planning (LAMP) is a therapeutic approach based on neurological and motor learning principles.  The goal is to give individuals who are nonverbal or have limited verbal abilities or speech a method to independently and spontaneously express themselves.  This workshop is for parents, professionals, and SLPs and will give an overview of the LAMP treatment approach, discussion of the components of LAMP and how and why children with autism would benefit from using a voice output AAC device, and discussion of features that are beneficial for teaching language to children with autism and other disabilities.  Lunch will not be provided.  A one hour lunch break will be taken and maps to area restaurants will be provided.  This free workshop will offer 0.5 ASHA CEUs.

We spoke to Uta Frith, author of Autism: A Very Short Introduction and asked her about diagnosis, the perceived links between autism and genius, and how autism is portrayed in culture. Autism was not identified before the 1940s. Weren’t there any autistic people before this? Autism was not a new phenomenon starting in the middle of the 20th century, but it needed people like Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger to point out the striking constellation of poor social communication and stereotypic behaviours for others to see it too. Clinicians used the terms ‘infantile’ or ‘early childhood autism’ and located it among the neglected population of children who were born ‘mentally deficient’. Gradually clinicians became aware that most of this neglected population showed similar problems in varying degrees, and that specialist services were needed to educate children who could not communicate appropriately. They embraced the idea of the autism spectrum. So, just as there has been an increase in the autism spectrum diagnosis, there has been a corresponding decrease in the diagnosis of mental retardation.

Some children who are accurately diagnosed in early childhood with autism lose the symptoms and the diagnosis as they grow older, a study supported by the National Institutes of Health has confirmed. The research team made the finding by carefully documenting a prior diagnosis of autism in a small group of school-age children and young adults with no current symptoms of the disorder.

The statistics weren’t comforting: In March 2012 the Centers for Disease Control estimated that one in 88 American children is somewhere on the autistic spectrum. We’re still not sure exactly what causes autism, and we’re not sure why the number of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has increased since the early 1990s. According to the National Academy of Sciences, it could be because people are more aware of autism spectrum disorders today; because pediatricians are doing more screening; and because there have been changes in how autism disorders have been defined and diagnosed. In other words, more children with milder symptoms are being identified as somewhere “on the spectrum,” where they wouldn’t have been in years before. But as the Dimicks discovered—like many other parents before them—plenty of doctors claimed to have all the answers. The road parents must navigate is made more perilous by medical professionals willing to prescribe all sorts of treatments, from hyperbaric oxygen chambers and chelation therapy (which removes heavy metals with chemicals) to shelves full of dietary supplements and other alternative remedies they say can treat, even cure, autism. At best these treatments remain unapproved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; at worst they are downright dangerous. To compound the problem, a host of celebrities act as unpaid marketing reps for these unproven treatments, touting a pervasive (but incorrect) belief that autism is caused by childhood vaccines. This misinformation campaign has led, in the last few years, to a decline in the number of children receiving lifesaving inoculations. And Texas has become a center for alternative autism treatment and the anti-vaccine crusade.

The report, commissioned by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, offers a number of recommendations for policymakers and educators. They include: high expectations for all learners with accountability measures that indicate how individual students are doing; early-childhood programs that prepare children for reading and identify young children at risk of having reading problems; curricula, instructional practices and tools, and assessments that are science-based and accessible to all students; and teacher training and ongoing professional development that incorporate findings from neuroscience as well as best practices for how to teach reading.

There’s a fine line between a naturally active child and a child who is affected by hyperactivity disorder. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tends to become noticeable early on in childhood, at around 2 or three years old, but because most kids are naturally prone to daydreaming, fidgety behavior and a short attention span, ADHD is often not recognized until much later on in life.

Click here to participate in the Talk!What:AppleTree Institute in Washington, DC, has been implementing RTI in preschool settings since 2007 to support the development of language, social-emotional, and foundational academic skills of three- and four-year-old children. Join Mary Anne Lesiak and Lydia Carlis as they explore the application of multi-tiered systems of support in early childhood settings and answer your questions about key issues. Ms. Lesiak and Dr. Carlis will offer specific tips for how school teams can work together to introduce and sustain RTI at the preschool level.When:Tuesday, December 13, 20111:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. MTContact:National Center for Learning DisabilitiesToll-Free: 888-575-7373 Phone: 646-616-1252Fax: 202-842-1942

Play is essential to the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being of children beginning in early childhood. It is a natural tool for children to develop resiliency as they learn to cooperate, overcome challenges, and negotiate with others.

Click here for Registration and more information! What and When: Adolescent and Young Adult Health Institutue Saturday, Feb. 11, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Interested in learning more about how your maternal and child health program can better serve adolescents? How well do you understand adolescent development? We know that adolescence is a time of biological, psychological and social changes – but we often view adolescence as a monolithic stage of development and design adolescent health programs accordingly. However, the reality is that there are several stages of development within adolescence – each with its own unique biological, psychological and social changes. If you’re interested in learning more about the different stages, needs and risk factors of adolescence and considering how these differences can impact your program design and implementation, join us for a two-part, day-long Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Institute. Special Events Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant Training-Current Initiatives and Updates Saturday, Feb. 11, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. This session will provide an update on Title V MCH Block Grant activities. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and hear about the latest enhancements to the Title V Information System (TVIS); changes to the FY 2013 Title V MCH Block Grant Application/FY 2011 Annual Report submission process; revisions to the MCH Block Grant Application/Annual Report Guidance; new Women’s Health Profiles available on TVIS; State Priorities from 2000 to 2010, as reported in the 5-year Needs Assessments; and an update on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. Sunday, February 12, 2012 1:00-3:30 p.m. Networking Reception and John C. MacQueen Memorial Lecture (TBD) Be an Influencer: How You Can Create Change for Healthy Tomorrows Monday, February 13, 2012 Do you experience resistant and persistent personal, team, or organizational problems? Do you feel that you have the skills you need to motivate those you work with and exert your influence in your personal and professional lives? How can we improve MCH outcomes if we are not agents of change and influence in our organizations? Join us for a discussion of proven strategies you can use to uproot entrenched habits and create change initiatives for your team and your entire organization in this real-life, solution focused session. Want more after the session? Our presenter, Candace Bertotti, will convene a workshop for interested participants who want to know more about the Influencer model immediately following the general session. Where: Washington, D.C. Contact: AMCHP Help Desk Phone: (202) 775-0436

Autism is a complex brain disorder that first appears during early childhood. It affects how a person behaves and interacts with others. People with autism might not look you in the eye when talking. They may spend a lot of time lining up toys or other objects. Or they may say the same sentence over and over. The disorder is so variable—affecting each person in very different ways—that it can be difficult to diagnose and treat. This variability is why autism is called a “spectrum” disorder. It spans the spectrum from mild to severe and includes a wide range of symptoms.

It is 8:30 on a crisp September morning, the start of a busy day for preschoolers at the Waisman Center's Early Childhood Program, a nationally renowned laboratory school.

What: All children need to actively engage in play and social activities to develop skills and communication. Many children with developmental delays are only physically present during these early childhood events. Physical presence isn't enough to ensure active participation and learning, and it can have a negative impact on the relationships between child and caregiver.