Maryland SEFEL Initiative
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The Maryland SEFEL partnership includes the University of Maryland, the Maryland Coalition of Families for Children’s Mental Health, the Center for Maternal and Child Health, Maryland Infants and Toddlers and Preschool Special Education Services, Head Start Collaboration, Child and Adolescent Services, the Maryland Committee for Children, Inc., and Abilities Network, along with the CSEFEL team consisting of Vanderbilt University and Georgetown University.
At the recent Addressing Challenging Behaviors Conference in Clearwater Florida, Dr. Al Zachik presented on how Maryland has worked to infuse SEFEL into early education and care settings for young children. Other state teams were impressed by Maryland’s accomplishments and substantial progress towards achieving the goals. It became abundantly clear that much of the success of Maryland was due to the strong commitment and collaboration between the MSDE and the DHMH.
As of September 2008, Maryland SEFEL initiative has accomplished the following:
- Completed a Pyramid Model orientation
- Completed a four-day intensive Train-the-Trainers model that created 150 SEFEL trainers throughout the State
- Selected four demonstration sites and fully trained their to implement SEFEL in the fall of 2008:
- Baltimore City Umoja Head Start, serving 187 3-5 year old students
- Caroline County’s Judy Center Partnership
- The Surrey Child Care Center, serving 225 children birth to five,
- The Prince George’s County Public School System, Preschool Special Education Division, implementing SEFEL in 25 preschool classrooms
- Conducted a 3-day Leadership Institute held in August of 2008 to preapre the demonstration sites for implementation
Future activities include:
- A four-day intensive training is being planned for November 2008 and January 2009.
- A SEFEL Parent Training has been developed and plans are underway to train trainers to provide the SEFEL approach to parents statewide.
- A framework for certification and monitoring is being developed; the Office of Child Care has already approved SEFEL training for core of knowledge clock hours.
- Utilize Maryland’s Early Childhood Gateway (EC Gateway) as a vehicle for disseminating information via the Internet, including the CSEFEL / SEFEL training models, information on the demonstration sites, and to facilitate interactive communication among demonstration sites and others implementing the Pyramid Model on their own via the Early Childhoold Electronic Learning Community (ELC)
- Undertake public awareness and marketing efforts, as well as identification of funding to sustain the initiative.
Members of the state planning team include:
- Patricia Wilson, Child and Adolescent Institute, UMB School of Medicine
- Mary LaCasse, Center for Maternal and Child Health, Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Valerie von Behren, Preschool Special Education Services, Division of Special Education and Early Intervention Services, Maryland State Department of Education
- Shirley Clark, Maryland Infants and Toddlers, Division of Special Education and Early Intervention Services, Maryland State Department of Education
- Joyce Pollard, Child and Adolescent Services, Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Dona Jo Ponn, Training and Technical Assistance, Maryland Committee for Children, Inc.
- Steve Rohde, Training and Technical Assistance, Maryland Committee for Children, Inc.
- Jessica Steele, Abilities Network
- Dana Yates, Baltimore Mental Health Systems
- Al Zachik, Child and Adolescent Services, Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Linda Zang, Head Start Collaboration, Maryland State Department of Education
The CSEFEL team includes:
- Mary Louise Hemmeter, Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, CSEFEL Principal Investigator
- Roxane Kaufmann, National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development
- Lan Le, National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development
