Research and Training Center on Service Coordination

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The Research and Training Center is a national initiative to examine the status of service coordination for children with disabilities and their families receiving early intervention services under Part C of IDEA.

 

Partnerships

The center is a partnership of:

• The University of Connecticut
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Indiana University
• The Federation for Children with Special Needs (MA)
• Utah State University

This partnership established the Research and Training Center on Service Coordination at the University of Connecticut, A.J. Pappanikou Center for Developmental Disabilities.

 

Participants

There are three strands of participants for the center:

• families
• service providers
• system administrators

Members of these groups participate in all center activities.

 

Status

Now in the fifth year of the project, the Center has completed a series of in-depth descriptive and intervention studies on the status of service coordination nationally. Research activities have included:

• Four studies on national service coordination models and training
• Focus groups from four focal states (Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, and North Carolina) that yielded outcomes and practices of service coordination
• Delphi studies to narrow down the numerous outcomes and practices generated from the focus groups to those most essential for service coordinators
• Two national surveys, one on outcomes of early intervention, service coordination and natural environments and one on service coordinator practices
• In-depth interviews with family members of children enrolled in early intervention and their early intervention service coordinators.

A data comparison from the various research initiatives yielded vital immediate, intermediate and long-term outcomes. Research from the center was used to develop a Logic Model outlining components that contribute to the achievement of these outcomes for children, families and systems. Center staff are currently working on developing competencies for service coordinators and training materials to support successful demonstration of those competencies.

The Research and Training Center on Service Coordination is a five-year project funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education.