Summit 2016 – Family Engagement Initiative Update Megan Cote & Peggy Malloy nationaldb.org info@nationaldb.org The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education #H326T130013. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Teaching Research Institute, nor the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project Officer, Jo Ann McCann.

Initiative Goals Provide training and resources to state deaf-blind projects to help them ensure that families have the support they need to partner effectively with early intervention and education service providers. Build the capacity of national family organizations to create a cohesive network of family leaders across the country.

Work With Parent Centers What was promised at Summit 2015? Working Together For Families: State Deaf-Blind Project and Parent Center Collaborations Report released on the NCDB and CIPR sites (April 2016) 2 national webinars - 7 state pairs shared their collaborative work (NJ, NC, MI, MD, WV, PA, NY) Archived webinars: Part 1: https://nationaldb.org/library/page/2608 Part 2: https://nationaldb.org/library/page/2610

Work With Parent Centers – Survey Results Parent Center Survey (n = 25) 63% would like TA related to evolving a relationship with SDBP 38% “sometimes” refer children with combined vision/hearing loss; 58% “always” refer Only 25% rated themselves “very knowledgeable” about conditions of combined vision & hearing loss

Family Specialist Support What was promised at Summit 2015? Monthly Mastermind Calls for individuals serving as the family specialist for their SDBP Started February 2015 (so we’ve been meeting for 16 months) 27 participants

Family Specialist Support Training What was promised at Summit 2015 (cont.)? Family Specialist Training (Pre-NFADB Symposium) “Serving on Groups that Make Decisions: A Guide For Families” Action planning Knowledge and skill training needs Support/training needs of families in their individual states. 33 participants (560 combined years experience serving families!)

Family Specialist Support Recommended Knowledge and Skill Sets Work What was promised at Summit 2015? (cont.) Recommended Knowledge and Skill Sets for State Deaf-Blind Project Family Engagement Coordinators Work group comprised of members from 5 state deaf-blind projects, NCDB, NFADB, PTAC, CHARGE Foundation Multiple iterations Focus group of SDBP directors and coordinators

Family Specialist Support Recommended Knowledge and Skill Sets Work (cont.) Recommended Knowledge and Skill Sets for State Deaf-Blind Project Family Engagement Coordinators (cont.) Conducted survey of family specialist training participants (self-ranked their knowledge and skills) Survey results used for the action planning portion of the training in Austin

Families Matter Stories What was promised at Summit 2015? “Families Matter” Stories 2 completed (KS and AZ) A few more are in the works (MI, PA) Goal: to have at least one story from every state How are they being used? By universities in their training programs By school districts in staff training By providers By families

Friday Family Fun Facts Started September 2015 Facebook reach 43,960! Family specialists report that families feel empowered and honored when asked for their individual contributions

Online Study on Interveners The Role of Interveners in Educational Settings using OHOA Module 3 – for families only Offered by NFADB with support from NCDB 7 cohorts conducted since Spring 2014 (2 since Summit 2015) approximately 70 participants have completed Next: October 3 through November 7 Registration begins August 22 (NFADB and NCDB will send out announcements)

Other Family-to-Family Pilot Expansion Webinar describing the project held June 8 Follow-up call for states interested in taking part is set for August 17 @ 12 PT Familieslead.org website Tours conducted for the Regional PTACS as well Mastermind group Plan to use this site for family specialist work going forward

Discussion Topics/Questions What type of support from NCDB would be most helpful related to collaboration with parent centers? Family specialists Use of the knowledge and skills document by the network and in individual states Implications for your family specialist Implications for professionalizing the role Re-naming from Family Specialist to Family Engagement Coordinator Identification/development of family specialist training materials What level of participation do you want in this process? As a network, how do we want to support family specialist training? Action planning around needs of individual families – national needs survey. What should be included?