Online Learning Modules

This training curriculum is being produced by NICHCY at the request of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education.

Modules are designed to help all those involved with infants and toddlers with disabilities understand and implement Part C of IDEA 2004.

Module 1: Basics of Early Intervention
Module 3: Pre-Referral and Referral Activities
Module 4: Screening, Evaluation, and Assessment Procedures
Module 5: Procedures for IFSP Development, Review, and Evaluation
Module 6: Content of the IFSP
Module 8: The Transition Process and Lead Agency Notification
Module 9: Development of the Transition Plan
Module 14: System of Payments and Use of Funds in Part C

Online modules designed for faculty and other professional development providers to build knowledge about how early childhood practitioners' can make evidenced based practice decisions. The instructional resources use a 5-Step Learning Cycle, an approach for making evidence-based decision about practice dilemmas, based on the integration of multiples sources of evidence. The topics of the modules, available in English and Spanish are:

Embedded Interventions
Transition
Communication for Collaboration
Family-Professional Partnerships
Assistive Technology Interventions
Dialogic Reading Practices
Tiered Instruction

As noted in the personnel standards, online training modules, called the Essentials of Early On, have been developed to support personnel working with infants and toddlers with disabilities. The Essentials of Early On consists of five online training modules and five corresponding competency quizzes.   The 5 modules include:

Early On 101

IFSP Process

Procedural Safeguards

Facilitating Smooth and Effective Transitions

Foundations for Early Intervention

The Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences - University of Washington has a library of free online training modules.  These resources offer a space for the early learning community to engage with the latest science of child development. Modules present cutting-edge research in a way that is relevant, accessible, and usable.

The Institute offers Family Support Professionals everywhere the opportunity to learn new skills and grow their careers. Through engaging, online modules and a personalized learning map feature, professionals take charge of their growth and advancement.  This website can be easily used for faculty to embed modules into their discipline specific coursework.  Modules include: Infant and Early Childhood Development, Parent-Child Interactions, Child Health, Safety, and Nutrition, Dynamics of Family Relationships, Family Health, Safety, and Nutrition, Community Resources and Support, Relationship-based Family Partnerships, Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness, Effective Home Visits, and Professional Practice.  

Provides faculty resources and modules to improve outcomes for all children, especially those with disabilities birth through age twenty-one.  Top tips for faculty, sample syllabi collection, and coursework planning forms are just a few of the vast materials on this website.

Early Childhood Recommended Practice Modules (RPMs) are free modules developed for early intervention and early childhood special education faculty, early care and education, and professional development providers to use within their coursework and trainings.  The modules support the implementation of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) Recommended Practices.  

The SpecialQuest Multimedia Training Library was designed to strengthen the inclusion of young children with disabilities and their families in programs serving infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The Library includes four learning modules. Each module contains a presenter’s guide, training scripts, handouts, and videos. Including Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities module examines the beliefs and attitudes that influence and affect adults and children in inclusive settings. The module provides numerous practical strategies and tools to help families and providers implement high-quality inclusive services.

The Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC) developed e-learning lessons and products for Higher Education faculty and state professional development staff when training early childhood interventionists across disciplines to use evidenced based practices with children with disabilities and their families.  These e-learning lessons provide authentic learner activities and opportunities for self-evaluation and student-guided mastery experiences. Each learning series has an introduction, practice illustration and implementation activities along with a practice guide and additional resources.

The EarlyEdU Alliance^® is part of Cultivate Learning, a center within the University of Washington College of Education.   The EarlyEdU Alliance has developed in-person and online higher education courses and maintains a large repository of professional development resources that include:

• Multimedia Resource Library with an extensive collection of videos to use in teaching and professional development
• Flexible teaching resources including full courses, modules, and a Faculty Community of Practice

The Early Intervention-Early Childhood Professional Development Community of Practice (EI-EC PD CoP), formed a working group comprised of members with extensive experience developing and delivering early intervention training. They designed a "Universal Online Part C EI Curriculum" for faculty and PD providers that include the following:

• A national curriculum of the early intervention process
• Current topics include the Seven Key Principles and Agreed Upon Practices and Foundational Pillars of Early Intervention
• Asynchronous, online, interactive modules with embedded videos and learning activities
• Original PowerPoint file with scripted notes
• “Bite-size” version of the presentations that breaks the content into smaller sections
• Facilitator’s Information Guide providing guidance for using the materials
• Supplemental Resources
• Modules adaptable for state specific information

The Virtual Lab School provides online learning modules focused on infants and toddlers that include content such as cognitive development, family engagement, physical development, communication and language development, social emotional development, etc.