Services

Through funding by lead state agencies responsible for young children with disabilities, PFI offers a variety of services including

  • consultation,
  • training,
  • product development,
  • on-going support for early childhood inclusion, and
  • committee and board representation.


Consultation

PFI provides consultation to early childhood programs that are interested in improving the quality of services provided to young children with disabilities and their families. Using an 8-stage consultation framework, Inclusion Specialists collaborate with consultees to address their needs and priorities for change related to high quality inclusive services. Participating counties include Chatham, Cleveland, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Greene, Halifax, Harnett, Haywood, Hertford, Lee, Lincoln, McDowell, Pender, Randolph, Sampson, Scotland, Stanly, and Warren.


Training

PFI offers a variety of training opportunities to support the professional development of early care and education professionals serving young children with disabilities in a variety of early childhood environments. For a list and brief description of trainings, go to Training page.

Product
Development

Over the years, PFI has developed a variety of products to support early childhood inclusion. For a list and brief description of products for purchase as well as free resources available, go to Products page.

College Teaching Activities Project (CTAP)

PFI’s newest product provides a collection of 50 activities for community college instructors to use in their early childhood courses. These activities provide students opportunities to consider the needs of each child in inclusive early care and education. Activities include children of diverse ages, abilities, and cultures, their families, and related professionals.

The CTAP activities can be accessed on the general EDU instructor resource website which uses Blackboard as the management platform. Five CTAP activities can be found in each portfolio for the 10 Early Childhood Education core courses. Each portfolio for a core course will have one agree/disagree activity, one dilemmas activity, one reframing activity, and two vignettes.

Each activity has been aligned with standards, outcomes, and competencies that guide the professional preparation of early care and education professionals - NAEYC Standards for Professional Preparation Programs/Associate Degree Accreditation Standards, July 2003 (5 standards), Fall 2009 NC Community College Early Childhood Education Program Student Learning Outcomes, and Fall 2009 NC Community College Early Childhood Early Childhood Education Course Competencies.

On-going
Inclusion Support

To provide on-going support to early care and education professionals who desire to increase their knowledge and skills related to serving young children with disabilities in inclusive settings, PFI is facilitating regional meetings focused on the provision of high quality inclusion. To learn more, go to Inclusion Support page.

Committee and
Board Representation

Through participation on a variety of committees and boards, PFI collaborates with state, regional, and local agencies to develop policy and program initiatives, and professional development opportunities that facilitate early childhood inclusion. PFI staff members serve on the following boards/councils and committees.