SPIES for Parents and Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings (SPIES)

Project Details

Project History
Young children with disabilities or special health care needs and preschoolers who may be at risk for developing a disability can benefit by learning through every day activities and routines in the home.

SPIES for Parents is a web based curriculum built to help caregivers learn to use daily activities to teach preschool children. Video clips and text suggest ways to talk to children and give them help during everyday routines in order to help their development and learning.

The website, http://www.spiesforparents.cpd.usu.edu/Start.htm/ , also includes other information for parents such as:
- links to other helpful websites
- strategies that teachers use in preschool classrooms
- a language development program, Kid Talk, by authors at Vanderbilt University

SPIES for Parents is adapted from Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Setting (SPIES). This is a print and video-based curriculum to help adults promote young children's development during daily routines and ordinary activities. The curriculum describes how to recognize teaching opportunities and provide help, incidental teaching, and interventions for infants to improve their skills. These skills may have been identified as important to the child's growth and development in an Individual Education Program (IEP) or Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) or in some other way. The program is based on the belief that any time children and adults are together, there are opportunities for learning and development.

The SPIES' strategies have been documented to be effective in developing language and other skills. The curriculum was field tested with personnel in various agencies including Head Start, child care, education, early intervention, and preschool. Data from more than 365 participants indicate that adults who participated in training with the SPIES curriculum increased their knowledge of intervention techniques.

Project Services/Products
SPIES for Parents Curriculum is found at http://www.spiesforparents.cpd.usu.edu/Start.htm

The validated curriculum 'Strategies for Preschool Intervention in Everyday Settings' (SPIES) can also be made available. This curriculum is used to help adults to teach young children in the context of daily routines wherever they might happen - in homes, preschools, child care settings, and in the community. SPIES also provides ways to track the progress that a child is making.

The SPIES curriculum includes print materials and captioned videotapes in English and in Spanish. A condensed version is also available on CD ROM. These materials can be mailed at cost upon request to project staff.