William F. McInerney

Itinerant Early Childhood Special Education Services Service Delivery in One State

This article describes a survey of itinerant early childhood special education teachers in one state. Itinerant teachers address the Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals and objectives of children who receive special education services in their homes or in a community-based program. Itinerant teachers who responded to this survey identified a range of strategies they use as part of their jobs. Most of the strategies identified as frequently used involve providing direct services to children. Teachers reported infrequent implementation of indirect services such as modeling intervention techniques and writing intervention plans for general education teachers or parents. Itinerant teachers reported being satisfied with their job and were generally welcomed in classrooms and homes.

The Role of the "Tuesday Morning Teacher"

Laurie A. Dinnebeil, Ph.D., and William F. McInerney, Ph.D., University of Toledo Jacob is three years old and attends Honey Tree Preschool along with his five-year old sister, Heather, and his best friend, Todd. Every morning either his mother or Todd’s mother drops the children off. Jacob enjoys preschool and his teachers, Ms. Henderson and Ms. Pollock. Along with his everyday teachers, Jacob has another teacher who visits the Honey Tree Preschool once a week. Ms. Scott is Jacob’s &dquo;Tuesday morning teacher.&dquo;

Using Implementation Checklists to Reinforce the Use of Child-Focused Intervention Strategies.

Sonja was preparing for her visit to the Hillcrest Child Development Center to see Nolan, a 3-year-old little boy on an individualized education program (IEP). Nolan attended Hillcrest full-time and was a member of Mr. David’s class. Nolan had difficulties interacting appropriately with his peers. His teachers, David and Ellen, were frustrated with his behavior and had used (unsuccessfully, in Sonja’s opinion) time-out to reduce his inappropriate behavior. For the past month Sonja had been working with David and Ellen to help Nolan learn other, more appropriate ways of interacting with his peers. She had tried all of the ways she knew to help David and Ellen. For example, she had explained repeatedly that sending Nolan to the time-out chair did not appear to be working since Nolan’s

An Innovative Practicum to Support Early Childhood Inclusion Through Collaborative Consultation

personnel visit the settings rather than being housed there permanently&dquo; (Odom et al., 1999, p. 192). Itinerant services can either be ’direct’ in which the itinerant personnel work directly with the child or ’consultative.’ Within the consultative model, the primary responsibility of the itinerant professional is to work directly with the general education teacher to assist them in addressing the IEP objectives within daily routines and activities. While early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers are prepared to work directly with children, they generally receive inadequate preparation to serve as consultants or ’coaches’ to other adults. To address

MINI-THEME COMMENTARY: "Itinerant ECSE Teachers in Action"

As the authors in this mini-theme have made clear, a significant paradigm shift is occurring in the role of the early childhood special educator. Young children with disabilities enrolled in community-based early childhood programs such as child care centers, Head Start classrooms, and families’ homes are commonly served by itinerant early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers (Odom et al., 1999). These teachers are “traveling” teachers. Instead of functioning as a classroom-based teacher, itinerants visit children on their caseloads on a regular basis and have a responsibility to address the goals and objectives found on the child’s Individual Educational Plan (IEP). Although the itinerant service delivery model is often used to maintain inclusive services to young children with disabilities, little is known about what teachers actually do during their visits to community-based programs. For example, there are a range of ways in which itinerant teachers can “implement” interventions that address IEP goals and objectives. One way is to provide direct services to the child, working with the child either individually or in small groups with other children to address IEP objectives. Another way that itinerant teachers can fulfill their responsibilities is through indirect methods by supporting the work of general education staff (i.e., early childhood teachers and caregivers) as they address children’s IEP objectives within the context of naturally-occurring JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSULTATION, 15(2), 167–175 Copyright