We recently brought together teams from Florida’s birth to age 3 Early Steps program for our Florida Embedded Practices and Intervention with Caregivers – Early Steps Professional Development (FL-EPIC ESPD) initiative. Teams from all 15 local Early Steps sites and representatives from the Early Steps state office gathered in Lake Mary, FL, to help coaches enhance their understanding of FL-EPIC ESPD’s evidence-based approach, which supports caregivers of infants and toddlers with or at risk for disabilities’ use of embedded intervention strategies that enhance their child’s development and learning during everyday routines.
Since 2017, the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies has collaborated with the Communication and Early Childhood Research and Practice Center at Florida State University and the Florida Department of Health, Children’s Medical Services, Early Steps program, and local Early Steps teams throughout Florida to guide the adoption, implementation, sustainability and statewide expansion of FL-EPIC across the state of Florida to guide the adoption, implementation, sustainability, and statewide expansion of FL-EPIC through the FL-EPIC Early Steps Professional Development (FL-EPIC ESPD) project.
At this year’s FL-EPIC ESPD Coach Institute, Early Steps coaches participated in topical sessions focused on Practice-Based Coaching and embedded intervention, shared coaching experiences, and networked and celebrated their accomplishments with peers and mentors. Beyond the annual coach institutes, coaches join our monthly virtual calls to continue supporting FL-EPIC ESPD implementation.
We are always reinvigorated by opportunities to reconnect with our Early Steps partners. From Florida’s Panhandle to the Keys, our “Making Florida EPIC” community keeps growing. Together, we’re making meaningful collective impacts statewide for coaches, providers, infants, toddlers and their families!