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Early Childhood Inclusionary Practices Webinar Series

Early childhood educators have the opportunity to engage in a webinar series during the 2023-2024 school year. This series is open to preschool educators in Tennessee who directly serve diverse learners, including those with autism, ideally in an inclusive environment. The purpose of this webinar series is to provide early childhood educators with knowledge and strategies to better serve all students, with an emphasis on evidence-based practices for autistic learners. Participation in the full webinar series is highly encouraged as content from earlier webinars will be referenced throughout the series. However, individuals may sign up for individual webinar sessions. Online modules for deeper learning will be shared with participants as a follow-up to each webinar.

Participant Requirements Participants in this project must:
  1. Register as an individual. Participants should be early childhood teachers working with students receiving special education services, ideally in an inclusive setting.
  2. Participants must have the technology for accessing the webinars (i.e., computer, webcam, etc.).
  3. Participants are expected to view online modules prior to webinars. This will maximize participation and learning in webinar sessions.
Please note: Participation in the full webinar series is strongly encouraged.
Training Topics
  • Characteristics of autism in young children and its impact on learning
  • Effective ways to structure and set up your classroom for student success
  • Evidence-based practices (EBPs) that help children achieve the goals set by the TN Early Learning Standards and optimize learning for all students, including but not limited to:
    • Environmental arrangement
    • Schedules
    • Task analyses
    • Reinforcement
    • Prompting
  • Other topics covered in the webinar series include:
    • Play
    • Emotional literacy
    • Scaffolding instructional support
    • Classroom staffing
    • Home-school connection
    Please note: This series is focused on class-wide and group strategies, not individualized student support.
Webinar Format
  • Large group instruction, modeling, and discussion via webinar format
  • Small group application and role play activities via webinar format
  • Online, self-paced e-learning
Online Learning Assignments
  • Asynchronous online learning modules will be assigned over the course of the webinar series
  • All modules are brief in length (20 minutes or less)
Proof of Attendance Participants will receive certificates documenting their participation in the early childhood webinar series. Educators can earn up to 18 hours of professional development.*
*Participants must attend all webinars and view all online learning modules to receive the full 18 professional development hours.

Dates:
March 20, 2024
April 10, 2024

Times:
2-4pm CST / 3-5 EST

Sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Education, through the Tennessee Technical Assistance Network (TN-TAN) and available at no cost to LEAs in Tennessee.

TRIAD is a proud member of the Tennessee Technical Assistance Network (TN-TAN) through the Tennessee Department of Education. TRIAD, the autism institute at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, provides training, consultation, and coaching services for supporting educators and developing school and system-wide supports to address needs specific to autistic students, Pre-K-12.

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