01/23/09 - $1.36 million research grant transferred to Institute

Date: January 23, 2009
Contact: Seth Seymour
423.648.1709
seth.seymour@siskin.org

$1.36 million research grant transferred to Siskin Children’s Institute
Federally funded grant to help improve early intervention services for children with disabilities

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A $1.36 million federal research grant to help improve services nationwide for infants and toddlers with disabilities has been transferred to Siskin Children’s Institute.

The four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences was originally awarded in 2007 to the Center for Child Development at Vanderbilt University. However, after the center’s former director, Robin McWilliam, Ph.D., became the director at the Siskin Center for Child and Family Research, the grant was relocated to the Institute.

The grant funds the study, “TEIDS-Plus,” which explores innovative ways of using the Tennessee Early Intervention Data System (TEIDS). TEIDS is the Web-based program that early intervention professionals use to develop individualized family service plans.

As part of “TEIDS-Plus,” researchers at the Institute’s research center, with collaborators at the University of Florida, Middle Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University Media Center, are creating a supplemental program that includes extra material such as online trainings of recommended practices that early intervention professionals can implement as they use the TEIDS. The findings will be shared with many states that have implemented such systems.

"The individualized plan is the backbone of support to families with infants and toddlers with disabilities,” Dr. McWilliam said. “We anticipate this study will show us that professionals make these plans better by following our procedures.”

The Siskin Center for Child and Family Research at Siskin Children’s Institute opened in September 2008. Led by three doctoral-level researchers, the center focuses on advancing the fields of early childhood development and special education. Its discoveries are disseminated to educators, higher education institutions, social agencies, advocacy groups and government agencies locally and worldwide. The center partners on various projects with academic institutions such as Vanderbilt University, the University of Florida, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee State University.
To learn more about the Siskin Center for Child and Family Research, visit www.siskinresearch.org.

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; and developmental and behavioral pediatric health care. For more information about Siskin
Children’s Institute, visit www.siskin.org.

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