06/08/09 - Researcher presents at conference for government-funded research

Date: June 8, 2009
Contact: Seth Seymour
423.648.1709
seth.seymour@siskin.org

Institute researcher presenting at national conference for government-funded research

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The director of the Siskin Center for Child and Family Research is presenting today and tomorrow at the annual Institute of Education Sciences Research Conference in Washington, D.C.

Robin McWilliam, Ph.D., is exhibiting research about enhancing the quality of individualized family service plans (IFSP) by improving the system early interventionists use to collect data about children with special needs ages birth to two. The title of his presentation is “Enhancing IFSP quality through learning objects on a Part C data system.”

The conference is a gathering of grant and contract recipients conducting education research funded by IES and the U.S. Dept. of Education. The Institute received a grant from IES, the research branch of the Dept. of Education, for a study on TEIDS-Plus, a web-based data management system for tracking services and support that families receive. Researchers from the University of Florida, Middle Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University are collaborating on the project.

“These grants are extremely competitive, so only the top researchers in special education in the country will be there,” Dr. McWilliam said. “Project officers from IES will be there as well, scrutinizing our work.”

For more information about IES, visit http://ies.ed.gov/. For more information 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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