IOTI - Child Care Providers of Children with Significant Disabilities

Project Details

Project Context:
Research demonstrates and experience confirms that people with disabilities and children, in particular, are underserved in many aspects of life. One area that children with disabilities are underserved is in the availability of appropriate child care services. The state of Utah is no exception. Current statistics from the Office of Child Care show that currently only 318 of Utah's 5,055 child care providers are trained to care for children with disabilities. With nearly 5% of the children in Utah identified as having one or more disabilities, providers with a Special Needs endorsement are critical.

The Office of Child Care teaches a 40 hour training that results in a Special Needs endorsement for providers. However, the curriculum is outdated both in language used when discussing people with disabilities as well as techniques and procedures for working with children with special health needs. Many current providers have requested updated training.

Project Focus:
The main objective of this project is to increase the number of child care providers who have earned the Special Needs endorsement. As with any quality program the first step is having an appropriate and effective curriculum. The Center for Persons with Disabilities in collaboration with the Office of Child Care will review, update, and revise the curriculum and provide appropriate training to child care providers. These trainings will improve the knowledge and ability of child care providers and offer families of children with disabilities the assurance that their child is being cared for by a provider trained to care for children with special needs.


Products/Services:
1. Updated curriculum for Special Needs endorsement training
2. Seventy (70) trainers will be trained using the updated and revised curriculum
3. Potentially hundreds of additional child care providers throughout the state will receive a Special Needs endorsement.