Special Section: Capacity Building in Early Childhood Intervention

Abstract

The articles included in this special section are based on the authors’ presentations at the International Society on Early Intervention Conference: Research to Practice in Early Intervention held in Sydney in June 2019. Of note, all six articles reflect a collaboration between researchers and practitioners, with the data and discussions presented having implications for the work of families, early childhood educators, and specialist practitioners. All articles detail approaches designed to support the inclusion of young children with disabilities/delays in home and early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. The important contributions of family members, carers, and early educators are recognised and strategies are proposed for supporting them in their critical roles through capacity building. In the first article, Fulcher et al. detail an investigation into the effect of a locally developed social skills program for young children with hearing loss. The authors are able to demonstrate changes in measures of theory of mind following implementation of the program but suggest that this may not be sufficient to ensure that young children with hearing loss will develop social skills at the same rate as their typically hearing peers. They suggest strategies for addressing this developmental gap. In the next three articles, researchers evaluated professional development programs designed to develop the capacity of early childhood educators to implement evidence-based early childhood inclusion models. These models were designed to assist children with additional needs to engage and participate in inclusive ECEC settings, and can also support a quality general early childhood program. Swalwell and McLean detail an evaluation of a professional development program designed to build the capacity of early childhood educators to implement the Pyramid Model in early education and care settings. This model was originally developed and researched by Hemmeter and her colleagues in the United States (Hemmeter, Hardy, Schnitz, Adams, & Kinder, 2015). Another model that has had considerable exposure in the research literature is the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) developed by Rogers and Dawson (2010). Aylward and Neilsen-Hewett trialled this model and, in their article in the special section of this issue, they report educator perceptions of the impact of the ESDM professional development program on successful inclusion in ECEC settings. The impact of Way to Play, a program designed to assist adults to engage in play with young children with autism, is reported in the article by Beaumont, Blakey, Stuart, and Woodward. This capacitybuilding training and coaching approach, developed in New Zealand, involves teaching early interventionists to work with family members and educators to implement a relationship-building program with the young children with autism in their care. In the next paper, Quick, Flatley, Sellwood, Alam, and Vukovich used the barriers to inclusion identified by early childhood practitioners to propose a model of inclusion that incorporates capacity building in the early childhood sector. This model has been developed and funded for operation in community preschools by the New South Wales Department of Education. Core elements of this capacity-building model include training, coaching, and mentoring by specialist staff and are key to successful inclusion, as identified by early childhood educators and researchers in the field.