Community Cafe – Developmental Concerns
On November 9, 2023, the Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington hosted their first Community Cafe to discuss how to identify and support Southington’s young children with disabilities or developmental concerns. In addition to parents, participants from the SPARKLER, Southington School District and a local SEPTA group also attended.
The goals were to:
– Educate parents about the importance of early screening and intervention and look at current utilization (including SPARKLER and Birth-to-Three).
– Listen to community concerns about services available to children with disabilities and developmental delays, including the Birth-to-Three transition to Southington Special Education.
– Support organization of new Southington Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA).
– Develop recommendations on how things can be improved and next steps.
– Educate parents about the importance of early screening and intervention and look at current utilization (including SPARKLER and Birth-to-Three).
– Listen to community concerns about services available to children with disabilities and developmental delays, including the Birth-to-Three transition to Southington Special Education.
– Support organization of new Southington Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA).
– Develop recommendations on how things can be improved and next steps.
There was strong interest in starting a Southington Special Education Parent Teacher Association that would cover all the schools in the district. If you are interested in getting involved with this SEPTA, reach out to ECCS Parent Ambassador, Betsy Mintz at bmintzparentambassador@gmail.com.
View the materials:
- Community Cafe presentation slides
- Next Steps after Screening handout
- About Sparkler and registration codes for Southington
- These Sparkler activity booklets are designed to preview for families some of what they’ll find in Sparkler: Information on early childhood milestones; information about developmental screening; play activities to grow strong hearts, words, minds, and bodies; and parent tips in Sparkler. There are eight different versions for families with different ages of children in CT in both English and Spanish:
This free event was funded by The Connecticut Council on Philanthropy in tandem with the Connecticut Early Childhood Funders Collaborative.
