By Craig Chamberlain
Many infants, toddlers and preschoolers with developmental delays -- in
learning, language, social or motor skills -- are not getting the help they
and their families need, says Susan Fowler, a UI professor of special education.
The developmental problems of too many children from minority groups, who
make up one-third of the preschool population, are not being identified
or not dealt with effectively, Fowler said. Barriers of language or culture,
and often poverty, mean parents are intimidated by the system, or unaware
of services. Professionals who provide the services are unsure how to cross
the cultural divide. As a result, children from minority groups are seriously
underrepresented in special education programs for those younger than 5,
but overrepresented after that when they reach school, she said.
With a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the UI, as
the lead institution in a collaborative effort, will spend the next five
years working to change that. The grant will set up and fund the Culturally
and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Early Childhood Research
Institute. Fowler will be the director and principal investigator of the
institute.
Also included in the grant are the UI-based ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary
and Early Childhood Education, led by Lilian Katz, a professor of early
childhood education; the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education,
in Reston, Va.; and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
The institutions are well-matched for the effort, Fowler said. The federally
funded ERIC system (Educational Resources Information Center) supports the
world's largest database of education-related literature. UWM, like the
UI, is a source of expertise on early childhood special education, and faculty
members from the two schools recently collaborated on a book about effective
practices in the field.
Concerns about language and culture are especially important in early childhood
special education because services are provided mainly within the context
of the family, Fowler said. Without understanding the cultural influence,
"you may recommend approaches or strategies that are very inconsistent
with what the family is willing to do."
Among the principal goals of the institute will be to collect, review, test
and catalog materials and strategies developed for use with families and
children in minority populations. The institute will develop a system for
rating the materials, so professionals know what they're getting. Where
gaps are found, the institute will work to create and test new materials
through various research sites.
The ultimate goal is to make most of these collected and developed materials
readily available to professionals who need them, including on the World
Wide Web, Fowler said. The institute began operation Jan. 1. Its home page
will be complete within the next two weeks and can be accessed at http://ericps.ed.uiuc.edu/clas/clashome.html.
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