Welcome to Our 2003 Summer Edition of “Leadership Notes”!

 

2003 ICC Parent Leadership Institute

Our fourth Parent Leadership Institute was held in Nashville, Tennessee this year from May 28 to June 1. Four state teams attended: Tennessee, Iowa, Georgia, and North Carolina. The four-day meeting included parent storytelling, interactive activities and discussions, all of which were interesting and intense. The state teams and faculty worked hard to create state team plans, and each team committed to carrying out an event or activity on parent leadership within six to nine months after the Institute. The National ICC Parent Leadership Development Project for ICCs will be offering these states support as needed.  Participants wrote extensively about the value of the meeting and were generous in their suggestions about future Institutes. Here are just a few of the comments expressed by more than one participant:

 

Highlights

  • State team planning
  • Learning the process of the Focused Conversation Method, cultural diversity issues, and “True Colors”
  • Learning new leadership information (e.g., the Transition Curve)
  • Deep listening, resources, learning about each other’s states, building intercultural communication, improving skills
  • Diversity teaching
  • Reciprocal outreach and practicing communication skills
  • Learning what other states are doing
  • Networking with other parents

 

Accomplishments

  • Learning about Reciprocal Outreach, True Colors, and “deep listening”
  • Connecting with my state team and with such a great group of parent leaders
  • Seeing staff participate and not create a distance
  • All the great instruction
  • Socialization; meeting other people, getting inspiration, learning new ideas
  • Cohesiveness that developed, among my team
  • Family stories
  • Networking
  • Gaining new skills/knowledge to use and share with others. The humor shared among the leadership team!

 

Resources

At the last ICC Parent Leadership Development Institute, participants shared resources from their states. A sample follows:

 

Georgia

Children with Special Needs Office

  • Babies Can’t Wait/Early Intervention, a program designed to benefit children with developmental delays from birth to 3.
  • Children’s Medical Services, a program that serves children, birth to age 21, with chronic medical conditions and whose families meet certain income requirements. 
  • High Risk Infant Follow-up, a developing system designed to serve infants, newborns to age one, who have been diagnosed  with a health or medical condition, and who may be at increased risk for morbidity and mortality.

For more information, call the Children with Special Needs office at (404) 657-2726

 

North Carolina

Growing Up Naturally:  Early Intervention in Natural Environments—A Guidance Document for Early Intervention Providers in North Carolina

The NC Early Intervention System, Together We Grow program, is designed to support children who are at risk or have disabilities, age birth to 5. This program includes infants and toddlers ages birth to 2 and the pre-school program ages 3 to 5.

 

Tennessee

Tennessee’s Early Intervention System-A Time of Growth and Change: Implementing Our Improvement Plan

 

Iowa

Early Access for Children and Families, this program is for children ages birth to 3 who may have a health condition that may affect their development. To find the regional Early ACCESS program nearest you, call (800) 779-2001.

 

If you would like to share your stories, an article, a poem, or any ideas you may have, please call or email Marilyn Gutierrez-Wilson (marilyng@fcsn.org) or call (800) 493-2338 x 151.

 

Check out our website for more details: www.iccparent.org