01/07/09 - Missouri adopts intervention strategy developed by researcher

Date: January 7, 2009
Contact: Seth Seymour
423.648.1709
seth.seymour@siskin.org

Missouri adopts early intervention strategy developed by Institute researcher
Numerous states have implemented Dr. Robin McWilliam’s research focused on early childhood development and special education

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has implemented an early intervention strategy developed by the director of the Siskin Center for Child and Family Research at Siskin Children’s Institute.

The department’s Division of Special Education is adopting a team-based model centered largely on the approach of Robin McWilliam, Ph.D., in which early intervention specialists function as teams to best address the needs of children with special needs and their families. The state’s early intervention specialists, which include physical therapists, speech language pathologists, service coordinators and others, will work together to provide services such as therapy and consultation.

Early intervention specialists in Missouri previously worked individually with no communication among each other, which led to inefficiency and an overload of services for children.

Missouri is one of numerous states to adopt various strategies developed by Dr. McWilliam. His techniques have been implemented by several state education departments, including Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota.

Dr. McWilliam is the Institute’s Endowed Chair of Research in Early Childhood Education, Intervention and Development. He also is a professor in the Graduate Studies Division of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. Before coming to the Institute in September 2008, he was the director of the Center for Childhood Development at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About Siskin Children’s Institute
Since 1950, Siskin Children's Institute has served children with special needs, such as autism, developmental delays and Down syndrome. The Institute achieves its mission in a comprehensive way: a quality preschool education where children with disabilities learn together with typically developing children; family support and community outreach programs; innovative research focusing on early childhood development and special education; developmental and behavioral pediatric health care. For more information about Siskin Children’s Institute, visit www.siskin.org.

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