Personnel Preparation for Early Interventionists

Abstract

Participation by states in Public Law 99–457, Education of the Handicapped Amendments of 1986, Part H, requires the development of systems of coordinated, comprehensive, interagency, and multidisciplinary services for infants and toddlers with disabilities from birth through 2 years. One of the required components of a statewide system under the law is a comprehensive system of personnel preparation. To address California's planning needs related to early intervention personnel, the California Early Intervention Personnel (CEIP) Study Project was established. One of the goals of this project was to conduct a comprehensive study of the existing personnel preparation programs within California for the major disciplines providing early intervention services. These professional disciplines included audlology, early childhood education, special education, medicine, nursing, nutrition/dietetics, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychology, social work, and speech pathology. This article presents the results of this survey of California's personnel preparation programs and describes the current training content and practices for these disciplines. Coursework and practica experiences varied greatly across personnel preparation programs both within and across disciplines. The survey results also indicated that programs provide relatively little training that is specific to early intervention and the birth to 3 population.