Itinerant Early Childhood Special Education Services

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore professionals' orientation toward child assessment and planning. Semistructured questionnaire data and interview data were collected from child neurological units in Finland. Legislation in Finland does not specifically provide guidelines for family centeredness and comprehensiveness in early intervention, yet professionals have widely accepted these approaches in their work with children with disabilities and their families. Results of this study indicated that practices were not implemented consistently. Professionals' varying perceptions of the concept of comprehensiveness and family involvement seemed to interfere with the implementation of these guidelines. Kovanen 25at

MINI-THEME COMMENTARY: "Itinerant ECSE Teachers in Action"

“…Contrary to the belief that high quality itinerant services should reflect a consultative approach (Buysse & Wesley, 1993;Dinnebeil & McInerney, 2000;Horn & Sandall, 2000;Lieber et al, 2002;McWilliam, 2002;McWilliam et al, 2001; this issue) we have found that itinerant teachers typically engage in direct services, spending most of their time interacting with children (Dinnebeil et al, 2001). As discussed by Klein and Harris (this issue), teacher educators in the field of ECSE face important challenges.…”

“…Evaluating the effectiveness of an itinerant approach is also based on an assumption that one can define, describe, and replicate the intervention that an itinerant teacher provides. Our own work (Dinnebeil, McInerney, & Hale, in press;Dinnebeil, McInerney, Roth, & Ramaswamy, 2001) has explored the activities of itinerant ECSE teachers providing educational support for children with disabilities who were served in community-based early childhood programs. Over 300 itinerant ECSE teachers' employed in Ohio reported that their primary activities consisted of direct services to children, (e.g., small group instruction, one-to-one instruction, taking over the classroom, etc.)…”

“…Do they provide direct services because they lack the expertise and confidence to engage in a consultative approach? Do they believe that providing 1 hour of direct service per week (Dinnebeil, McInerney, Roth, & Ramaswamy, 2001) is more effective than providing consultation that would enable caregivers to provide IEP-based instruction throughout the week? It is clear that considerable research must be conducted on the beliefs, assumptions, and motives of itinerant ECSE teachers.…”

The Role of Family Childcare Providers in Early Intervention

“…Similar definitions of itinerant teacher exist throughout the United States; for example, the state of Ohio has defined itinerant early childhood special education services (1995) as ''Services provided by preschool special education teachers or related services personnel which occur in the setting where the child or the child and parent(s) is located as opposed to providing services at a centralized location'' (Dinnebeil, McInerney, Roth, & Ramaswamy, 2001). The itinerant special education teacher is responsible for providing special education services in the early childhood setting in the community.…”

“…The itinerant special education teacher is responsible for providing special education services in the early childhood setting in the community. The role of the itinerant service provider goes beyond that of direct instruction in which learning is structured around predetermined objectives, to one of collaboration in which the itinerant teacher and other professionals make support and strategies available to early childhood providers to ensure an inclusive environment (Dinnebeil et al, 2001). It is interesting to consider this role with regard to family childcare providers.…”