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Early Intervention - Other Useful Links

 

Barkley Preschool, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, uses the Team Teaching model in which all special education staff, services and students are completely integrated within the general Head Start program. Instruction to students of varying skills and abilities is provided by all staff members. More information is available at: http://www.circleofinclusion.org/english/demo/lincolnbarkley/index.html

 

Centre of Early Intervention "VOINICEL", Chisinau, Moldova, created in 2003 by the support of AHEAD-Moldova from Norway, is a non-governmental organization, which aims to prevent the institutionalization of children with special needs and promote the social inclusion of families and children with disabilities. More information is available at: http://eng.voinicel.md/.

 

Down Syndrome South Africa (DSSA), Bedforview, South Africa, is the national umbrella body of Down Syndrome Associations across South Africa. It helps to establish outreach programs, support advocacy and lobbying work and training to enable people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities to stand up and speak for themselves. More information is available at: http://www.downsyndrome.org.za/main.aspx?artid=66.

 

The Early Bird Programme of the National Autistic Society, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom, combines group center-based training sessions for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders with individual home visits to help parents apply what they learn and work directly with their children. More information is available at: http://www.nas.org.uk/earlybird.

 

Early Childhood Intervention Australia (ECIA), North Rocks, NSW, Australia provides a national focus and forum, promotes the public profile of Early Childhood Intervention, facilitates effective liaison and advocacy in the community, and fosters quality information and service provision. Services include organization of seminars, workshops and a national conference every two years. It also provides an overview of resources on issues relevant to early intervention. More information is available at: http://www.ecia.org.au/links.htm.

 

Early Childhood Research Institute, Champaign, Illinois, USA, makes available a number of English-language reports on various aspects and models of early intervention, including culturally and linguistically appropriate services. More information is available at:
http://www.clas.uiuc.edu/techreports.html. 

 

Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, aims to produce a comprehensive system for continuously measuring the skills and needs of individual children with disabilities from birth to eight years of age. This measurement system includes two major elements: growth and development indicators for monitoring the progress of individual young children and solutions-oriented assessments.  This allows families, early childhood and early elementary educators to identify features of classroom and home settings they can change to improve children's developmental outcomes. More information is available at: http://www.startaid.com/review/1035850/Early-Childhood-Research-Institute-on-Measuring-Growth-and-Development.html.

 

European Association of Early Intervention is a clearing-house for information on early intervention. It includes resources on national programs in European countries and on disability-specific services worldwide. More information is available at: http://www.eurlyaid.net/. 

 

Global Early Intervention Network assists parents, service providers, specialists and others to learn more about early intervention by providing online resources categorized by types of intervention and specific disabilities. More information is available at: http://www.atsweb.neu.edu/cp/ei/. 

 

International Resources on Early Intervention from the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA is a starting point for individuals interested in learning more about the international landscape of early care and intervention services for vulnerable young children and their families. It provides links to key international organizations and resources and gives an idea of how much information is available, who produces it, and why it is important to consider other countries' policies and practices in this field and how they are similar to or different to those in the USA. More information is available at: http://www.nectac.org/topics/intl/intl.asp.

 

International Society on Early Intervention, Seattle, Washington, USA, has a large number of publications, resources and links about early intervention. More information is available at: http://depts.washington.edu/iseii.

 

Waisman Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, makes available a variety of English-language early intervention resources for families and health care providers. More information is available at:http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/birthto3/.    

 

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Highlights

1) Dumping Grounds For Forgotten People

An investigation by Bulgarian journalist Yana Buhrer Tavanier on the mental care institutions in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.   

Please visit the website dedicated to the investigation and view the new promotional video.


Judith Klein, director of the OSMHI (Open Society Mental Health Initiative) has written a foreword to the article, which appears in the newsletter of the European Coalition for Community Living, Issue No. 10, October 2009 and also on the investigation website.


2) Report of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care

A report on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care was handed over to Commissioner Vladimír ?pidla on September 23, 2009. The report was drafted by a group of independent experts convened by Commissioner Spidla in February 2009 to address the issues of institutional care reform in their complexity.  The report is also available in Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian.

Films

Karin Dom - a training and resource centre for children with special needs and their families

This short film was made following a BBC production about a children's institution in Mogilino, Bulgaria. The film features MHI partner organization Karin Dom and highlights what community-based alternatives for children can be like in Bulgaria.

UN Disability Convention

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities received its 20th ratification on April 3, 2008, triggering the entry into force of the Convention and its Optional Protocol on May 3, 2008. This marks a major milestone in the effort to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Information on the convention process:
Convention in Easy to Read
View the list of signatories
Countries that have ratified the Convention
ICRPD Ratification Toolkit
Convention and Inclusive Education
View more information

 

News reports on the Convention:
Agreement on New UN Convention
Urging Implementation
Archive Webcast: Convention Signing 
Record Number of Countries Sign
Secretary-General Ban Hails Entry Into Force Of Treaty On Disability Rights
More news reports

Publications:
UN Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol
First Implementation Manual For The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities (Addressed Specifically To Users And Survivors Of Psychiatry)


Ratify Now (The campaign to support global grassroots efforts to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

Films about Inclusion

Foster Care for Children with Disabilities: English ** Russian

I Want to Work and I Can Work!

Living Proof: The right to live in the community

Reality - film on personal assistance

Being an Unperson. A short film about the experience of dehumanization within the care system.

In My Language. A short film about autism and nonverbal communication.

A Way of Describing Autism. A short film by Dave Spicer and Amanda Baggs.

Equalise It!

A Manifesto for Disability Equality in Development Cooperation

The international committee of UK Disabled People's Council (formerly BCODP) has written this manifesto in the light of the signing of the UN Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

To read the campaign launch letter, please click here.

Organisations who wish to sign up to the Manifesto are asked to contact Bill Albert or Mark Harrison so that their name and logo can be added to the list of signatories.