Dr. Jenna Weglarz-Ward from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is conducting a study to understand the impact of a professional development experience on family-centered practices in early childhood.
Family-Centered Practices for Children with Disabilities during Distance Learning and Beyond: Supporting Early Childhood Professionals (FCP & Beyond) seeks to deliver virtual professional development experiences for professionals of preschool-age children with disabilities to implement family-centered practices. Outcomes of this project are focused on professional experiences. The outcomes of this project include:
- Changes in early childhood special educators’ beliefs and attitudes related to family involvement and engagement
- Increases in early childhood special educators’ use of evidence-based family-centered practices
- Perceived benefits of components of virtual professional development
To be eligible to participate in the study, you must be an: early childhood professional who works directly with children with and without disabilities under five years old in the state of Nevada in public schools or the Lynn Bennett Early Childhood Education Center.
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to do the following:
- Attend six 90-minute virtual learning sessions including guest speakers and family panel discussions (sessions will be recorded for later viewing).
- Individualized action planning and consultations to support use of family-centered practices in your professional roles and settings.
- Virtual community of practice to interact with other professionals and share resources.
- Complete a brief survey before and after your experience.
- These activities will take place across four months and outside of contract time.
There will be no financial cost to you to participate in this study. You will receive the following compensation,
At the beginning of the experience:
- Individualized consultation with family practice expert
- Books: Early Childhood Coaching Handbook (Rush & Shelden, 2020) and Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Families (Dunlap et al., 2017)
Upon completion of four months of the professional development experience:
- One year membership to the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Early Childhood (DEC)
- Conference registration for Nevada DEC Annual Conference Day (1-day) or equivalent professional development experience
- Nevada Department of Education Continuing Education Credits
- Nevada Registry Credits
The study will take 15 hours of your time across 4 months (three-four hours per month) of your time.
This study has been reviewed and approved by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Institutional Review Board and is funded by the Nevada Department of Education.
To learn more, click on this link.