The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services vvv

Links and Resources

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Virginia Resources

The Arc of Virginia:
The Arc of Virginia is a statewide advocacy organization for people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities, and their families. Family Involvement Project Web site
Central Directory:
United Way Information and Referral online data base of Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia Central Points of Entry and other resources statewide.
Dental Health:
Educational information on oral health for all ages and children with special health care needs. Also included on this site is a "Find A Dentist" link.
Family Involvement Project:
The Family Involvement Project focuses on the following three areas of Virginia’s early intervention system, The Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia:
* Strengthening and increasing diverse family involvement with local interagency coordinating councils guiding local early intervention services;
* Ensuring Parent To Parent support is available to all families receiving services from The Infant&Toddler Connection of Virginia; and
* Working with the Part C Monitoring and Improvement Measurement System (MIMS) Consultants to recruit and train parents to serve on MIMS State Review Teams.
Home Visiting Consortium
Virginia’s Home Visiting Consortium is a collaborative effort of the early childhood home visiting programs which receive state funds and serve families of children from pregnancy through age 5. The Consortium reports to the Governor’s Working Group on Early Childhood Initiatives and is part of Virginia’s Plan for Smart Beginnings. Seeking to increase the quality and effectiveness of home visiting services, the Consortium has identified a core set of knowledge areas and developed 12 modules as the common basic training for all early childhood home visitors. To see a list of available trainings, or to register for an upcoming training, go to www.jmu.edu/outreach. In the left sidebar, click on “Professional,” then “Home Visiting Consortium.” If you have already created an account, log-in to your account and select “enroll yourself” in the training you want to attend. If you do not have an account, select “Create Account”. Choose “HVC-Home Visiting Consortium” as an interest, so that you will receive information about future trainings. You can also create an account to register your interest in upcoming trainings without registering for a specific training. If you have questions about the Home Visiting Consortium, please contact:

Catherine J. Bodkin, LCSW, MSHA
Virginia Department of Health
109 Governor Street, Room 825C
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Phone: 804-864-7768
Fax: 804-864-7771
Catherine.Bodkin@vdh.virginia.gov

If you need assistance with registration, please contact:

Heather Taylor, M.Ed.
James Madison University
Phone: 540-568-8849
Fax: 540-568-6374
taylo2hl@jmu.edu

Partnership for People with Disabilities
Our mission is to partner with communities to support, respect, and include individuals with disabilities and their families. Based on current knowledge and research, we work with others to increase choices for individuals, change systems, improve services, and affect public policy. We prepare personnel concerned with developmental disabilities, provide technical assistance, conduct research, disseminate information, and engage in advocacy and prevention activities.
Project Hope:
Project HOPE, the Virginia Education Program for Homeless Children and Youth, is a federally-funded grant authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act. Project HOPE ensures the enrollment, attendance, and the success of homeless children and youth in school through public awareness efforts across the commonwealth and subgrants to local school divisions.
Smart Beginnings:
Virginia's Plan for Smart Beginnings brings public and private agencies and organizations together with the purpose of building and sustaining a system to support parents and families as they prepare their children to arrive in kindergarten healthy and ready to succeed.
Start Strong Initiative :
Governor Kaine's Start Strong Initiative will expand access to high-quality preschool for more of Virginia’s four-year-olds. Start Strong will build on the existing network of public and private providers, removing barriers to access such as geography and family income.
Training and Technical Assistance Centers (T-TAC)
The mission of Virginia's Training and Technical assistance Centers (T/TAC) is to improve educational opportunities and contribute to the success of children and youth with disabilities (birth - 22 years). The Centers provide quality training and technical assistance in response to local, regional, and state needs. T/TAC services increase the capacity of schools, school personnel, service providers, and families to meet the needs of children and youth.
Virginia Family Connections :
The Children’s Services System Transformation Web site link moved in 2009. Its renewed focus is on collaboration and education about system transformation. "How to Transform" features Promising Practices with specific guidance and examples from agencies. "Results & Data" shows bar graphs of standard categories updated monthly. "News" spotlights events, people, legislation and messages. "Talking Transformation" features coverage and communications from national/state/local media and partnering agencies.
Virginia Infant & Toddler Specialist Network :
The Virginia Infant & Toddler Specialist Network strengthens practices in early care and education programs to enhance the healthy growth and development of infants and toddlers.
Virginia Integrated Network of Family Organizations (VA-INFO) Center:
The VA-INFO Center provides youth and parents of children with special needs, including those with behavioral and mental health needs, service providers and others:

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Global Resources

Arc of the United States
The Arc is the national organization of and for people with mental retardation and related developmental disabilities and their families. It is devoted to promoting and improving supports and services for people with mental retardation and their families. The association also fosters research and education regarding the prevention of mental retardation in infants and young children.
Children’s Defense Fund:
CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick or into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown.
Early Childhood Education:
Early Childhood Education is dedicated to exploring how babies, pre-schoolers and young children learn. We reveal the developmental and learning processes that children go through and look at how you, as parents, can help them to develop their mental, physical and emotional skills in a fun and enjoyable manner.
Easter Seals:
For more than 80 years, Easter Seals has helped people with disabilities in communities nationwide. From creating the first national voluntary agency to speak and act on behalf of children with disabilities in the 1920s, to leading the creation and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the 1990s, Easter Seals continues to be an integral part of life, helping more than a million people gain greater independence each year. One in every five Americans has a disability, and Easter Seals is there with expert help, hope and humanity.
Family Voices:
A national grassroots clearinghouse for information and education concerning the health care of children with special health needs.
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics:
This web site offers easy access to federal and state statistics and reports on children and their families, including: population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education.
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center:
The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute is one of the nation's oldest multidisciplinary institutes for the study of young children and their families. Research and education activities focus on child development and health, especially factors that may put children at risk for developmental problems.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (I.D.E.A.):
This site is your link to the federal law.
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation:
The March of Dimes is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of babies by reducing birth defects and infant mortality.
Mayo Clinic:
Mayo Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization based in Rochester, Minn. Its mission is to provide the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education and research.
National Academy of Child Development:
The National Academy for Child Development is an international organization of parents and professionals dedicated to helping children and adults reach their full potential.
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA):
NACCRRA is a national membership organization of over 400 community child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) in all 50 states. NACCRRA's mission is to promote the growth and development of high quality resource and referral services and to exercise leadership to build a diverse, high quality child care system with parental choice and equal access for all families.
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion:
Aims to prevent death and disability from chronic diseases. Includes information and statistics about risk behaviors, specific populations, maternal and infant health, and more.
National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NEC*TAC):
NEC*TAC is a national technical assistance consortium working to support states, jurisdictions, and others to improve services and results for young children with disabilities and their families.
National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study:
A National Study of Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families Receiving Early Intervention Services
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY):
NICHCY is the national information and referral center that provides information on disabilities and disability-related issues for families, educators, and other professionals. Our special focus is children and youth (birth to age 22).
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) :
OSEP is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth wit disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts. OSEP administers the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA authorizes formula grants to states, and discretionary grants to institutions of higher education and other non-profit organizations to support research, demonstrations, technical assistance and dissemination, technology and personnel development and parent-training and information centers. These programs are intended to ensure that the rights of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities and their parents are protected.

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Disability-Specific Links

American Council of the Blind:
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is the nation's leading membership organization of blind and visually impaired people. It was founded in 1961 and incorporated in the District of Columbia.
Autism Society of America (ASA):
The mission of the Autism Society of America is to promote lifelong access and opportunity for all individuals within the autism spectrum, and their families, to be fully participating, included members of their community. Education, advocacy at state and federal levels, active public awareness and the promotion of research form the cornerstones of ASA's efforts to carry forth its mission.
Dysphagia Resource Center:
Resources for swallowing and swallowing disorders.
Family Connect:
For Parents of Children with Visual Impairments.
Fraxa:
Fragile X is the inherited cause of mental retardation, affecting an estimated 1 in 2,000 males and 1 in 4.000 females of all races. It is relatively unknown and often misdiagnosed. For information about Fragile X , visit the FRAXA Research Foundation.
National Association for Visually Handicapped (NAVH):
National Association for Visually Handicapped works with millions of people worldwide dealing with difficulties of vision impairment.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS):
The NINDS, an agency of the U.S. Federal Government and a component of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Public Health Service, is a lead agency for the Congressionally designated Decade of the Brain, and the leading supporter of biomedical research on disorders of the brain and nervous system.
National Organization for Rare Disorders (N.O.R.D.):
The National Organization for Rare Disorders is a unique federation of voluntary health organizations dedicated to helping people with rare "orphan" diseases and assisting the organizations that serve them. NORD is committed to the identification, treatment, and cure of rare disorders through programs of education, advocacy, research, and service.

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Professional Organizations

American Academy of Pediatrics:
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and its member pediatricians dedicate their efforts and resources to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. The AAP has approximately 55,000 members in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Members include pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists. More than 34,000 members are board-certified and called Fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP).
The Pediatrician's Role in Development and Implementation of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and/or an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP):
American Physical Therapy Association Section on Pediatrics:
American Occupational Therapy Association:
The American Occupational Therapy Association advances the quality, availability, use, and support of occupational therapy through standard-setting, advocacy, education, and research on behalf of its members and the public.
American Physical Therapy Association:
The mission of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the principal membership organization representing and promoting the profession of physical therapy, is to further the profession's role in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of movement dysfunctions and the enhancement of the physical health and functional abilities of members of the public.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association:
ASHA's mission is to ensure that all people with speech, language, and hearing disorders have access to quality services to help them communicate effectively. On this site you will find information to help you understand communication and communication disorders as well as a referral service, so you can get access to qualified professionals.
Neurodevelopmental Treatment Association (NDTA):
Neuro-Developmental Treatment (NDT) is an advanced therapeutic approach practiced by experienced Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Speech - Language Pathologists. This hands-on approach is used in working with people who have central nervous system insults that create difficulties in controlling movement.

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Journals and Newsletters

Exceptional Parent:
Exceptional Parent Magazine's online resource. Continuing 30 award winning years of providing information, support, ideas, encouragement and outreach for parents and families of children with disabilities and the professionals who work with them.
Zero to Three:
ZERO TO THREE is the nation's leading resource on the first three years of life. We are a national non-profit charitable organization whose aim is to strengthen and support families, practitioners and communities to promote the healthy development of babies and toddlers.

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Miscellaneous

Pro Ed:
Pro Ed publishes books, curricular material, tests and journals for psychologists, special education and speech, language and hearing.
DMHMRSAS web site - Child & Family Services   Links to Children's Resources

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State Web sites

 

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