Program Announcement: Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education CFDA 84.324A

Program Officer:
Dr. Joan McLaughlin
Joan.McLaughlin@ed.gov
(202) 219-1309

Purpose

Through its research program on Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education (Early Intervention), the Institute intends to support research that contributes to the improvement of developmental outcomes and school readiness of infants, toddlers, and young children (from birth through preschool) with disabilities or at risk for disabilities by: (1) exploring malleable factors¹ (e.g., children's skills, instructional practices, curricula) that are associated with better developmental and school readiness outcomes for children with disabilities or children at risk for disabilities, as well as mediators or moderators of the relations between these factors and child outcomes, for the purpose of identifying potential targets of intervention; (2) developing innovative curricula, instructional approaches, programs, or professional development training to improve developmental outcomes and school readiness for children with disabilities or children at risk for disabilities; (3) evaluating the efficacy of fully developed interventions, programs, curricula, and professional development programs to improve developmental outcomes and school readiness for children with disabilities or children at risk for disabilities; (4) evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, programs, curricula, or professional development programs that are implemented at scale and designed to improve developmental outcomes and school readiness; and (5) developing and validating assessment tools that can be used by practitioners to assess infants, toddlers, and young children with disabilities or at risk for disabilities, assess the performance of early intervention and early childhood special education practitioners, or assess systemic practices or policies. Developmental outcomes that may be addressed through this program are cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, adaptive, and physical outcomes.

The long-term outcome of this program will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., assessment tools, curricula, programs, services, interventions) that have been documented to be effective for improving developmental outcomes or school readiness of infants, toddlers, and young children with disabilities or at risk for disabilities.