Mark A. Greenstein, M.D.
ICC Chair/Pediatrician
Sharri Lungarini
Vice Chair/Parent
Carol Peltier
American School for the Deaf
Jennifer Miner
Dept. of Insurance
Kim Nilson
Dept. for Children and Families
Elisabeth Teller
SARAH-Kidsteps.
Corinne Griffin
Parent
Gerri Hanna, alternate
University Center for Excellence DD
vacant
Parent
Elaine Balsley
Reachout
Lynn Johnson
Office of Early Childhood
Vacant
State Senator
Dr Carol Weitzman, M.D.
American Academy of Pediatrics
Ginny Mahoney
Dept. of Social Services
Anne Giordano
Education Connection
Lorna Quiros-Dilan
Office of Protection and Advocacy
John Reilly
Board of Education and Services
For the Blind
Maria Synodi
State Dept. of Education
Louis Tallarita
SDE-Homeless Children
Alice Torres
Early Head Start
Ann Gionet
Dept. of Public Health
Myra Watnick
Rehabilitation Associates, Inc.
Vacant
House of Representatives
New Business/ Announcements:
Lynn announced a conference to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ADA and 40 years of IDEA on October 2 & 3 at the Marriott in Farmington It is hoped that families, self-advocates and professionals can attend. Mark asked about interpretation services and there will be sessions in Spanish. They are looking into sign language interpretation. Registration info: http://buildingagreatlife.eventbrite.com
Lynn also noted the departure of CES from the Birth to Three program and said that this did not seem related to recent events as much as to long term fiscal issues for the program. Birth to Three central office staff plan an activity to celebrate and thank the CES Birth to Three staff for all of their work. Many of the staff have found employment in other programs.
Ann Gionet attended the Family Support Council and is a member who can report updates/activities of the Council activities. She noted that the FSC notes that she cannot vote and represent two constituencies (she attends as a representative of the DPH). Mark noted that by statute he is the representative and that we (the ICC) need to consider and vote on actions so we will continue to ask Ann to serve as an observer but we will not be voting at present. Mark has noted that we need to add a section for reports on the FSC at each of our meetings.
Alice Torres announced that the Community Renewal Team (CRT) received an Early Head Start grant for the Hartford area.
Corrine brought a flyer about “Music Together” a franchise program for children in Southington and other parts of Connecticut.
The Recording Secretary position on the ICC is available. Cindy Jackson, former recording secretary, reviewed the duties and Elaine Balsley volunteered. Mark reviewed our bylaws, appointed Elaine and then made a motion to approve her as Recording Secretary for the ICC. Elisabeth Teller seconded the motion. The Motion passed unanimously.
The ICC would like to recruit more parent member representatives to join the Council. One parent is reported to be in process and Anna will check on her status.
Lead Agency Update/Fiscal UpdateLynn Johnson, Division Director of Office of Early Childhood-Birth to Three System gave the lead agency update.
Lynn noted that, as expected, there was a 2.9 million dollar deficit which was managed via movement of resources from DDS. Going forward, since this is an entitlement program, OEC has plans to manage deficits or to use deficit mitigation process.
Lynn went over the Child Health and Developmental Institute of Connecticut’s issue brief on Mid-Level Developmental Assessment: Addressing developmental concerns in young children efficiently. She had met with Dr. Paul Dworkin and Kareena Duplessis (Infoline), especially about triage for children from 3 to 5. Mark asked about the State Department of Education’s involvement as children this age are within their purview. It is not clear how this will be worked out but Maria Synodi agreed these are important issues. The MDLA evaluations were trialed at Yale, Reach Out, the Village for Children and Families and a private office. Cindy Jackson shared concerns, echoed by others, around possible errors or misleading comments about costs and noted that this project’s cost exceed those of full Birth to Three assessments which are not $1300 (the noted projected costs of Birth to Three evaluation). The SICC is concerned about this and how this may confuse legislators and families.
IDEA Part C
2015 OSEP Leadership Conference The conference was held last week in Washington D.C. Both Part C staff (Lynn, Alice, Aileen, Deb) and Part B staff attended (Maria) as well as Nancy Prescott (CPAC). The next conference is not for another two years. Mark noted that we have not had other SICC representatives at this meeting (Lynn is a member of the SICC) and urged members to consider this going forward.
IDEA Dispute Resolution-FY14
Written complaints. There are 2 complaints pending investigation.
Requests for mediation or hearings. There were no mediation and no hearings since the last report. There was one facilitated IFSP meeting.
Office of Early Childhood
Strategic Plan Framework Public Forums
The Office of Early Childhood (OEC) will hold five public forums across the state seeking input from the public on its strategic plan framework. The public forums will allow families, providers and stakeholders to participate in the strategic planning process. Additional information about the strategic planning process and the dates and locations of the forums is found here: http://www.ct.gov/oec/strategicplan2015.
In addition, OEC staff will be available at this meeting to answer any questions about the work underway at the agency.The OEC summer newsletter provides an update about the major initiatives underway: http://www.ct.gov/oec/cwp/view.asp?Q=567402&A=4546
Home Visiting Consortium – The first meeting was held last week, Sharri was not informed of a location change but that error has been corrected for future meetings. Lynn Johnson, Elisabeth Teller (provider representative) and Shari Lungarini (parent representative) will be attending going forward.
Help Me Grow (HMG) program. During the recent biennial budget negotiations, HMG was slated for elimination or cuts that would have severely limited its full implementation and growth. The OEC is pleased to note that the Help Me Grow (HMG) program - including the vital Ages and Stages Developmental Monitoring program (ASQ) - is still operational. Families of children who are not eligible for Birth to Three supports should continue to be offered enrollment in ASQ and information about HMG and other community resources that match their concerns. Mark reminded the SICC that they had approved a letter from Mark on their behalf to support the continued support for HMG.
Birth to Three System Update
Update on Change to Billing Medicaid for Birth to Three Services
A document created with DSS staff will be shared that lists all the steps that need to be completed prior to the change in payment to the Birth to Three programs. Birth to Three would like to propose to the ICC a new subcommittee specifically tasked with giving the Lead Agency recommendations on a payment procedure for services for all children and families. The committee would have representatives from each of the types of programs and agencies currently contracted to provide services including a dedicated group of ICC members. Elaine Balsley suggested that a representative from the insurance industry participate as many children have private insurance and the subcommittee is tasked with assisting the Lead Agency on a payment procedure for all families, not just those with Medicaid. Lynn noted the crucial need for commitment of members and need for rapid work. A long discussion followed and Mark recommended that this be a function of the already existing Legislative/Fiscal subcommittee, currently headed by Myra Watnick. ICC Members (Myra, Alice Torres, and Elisabeth Teller as well as and other stakeholders that volunteered include: Joe McLaughlin, Cindy Jackson, Steve Hunt.
Systems Support Team
Alice Ridgway gave an update on the State Systematic Improvement plan (SSIP).
She noted that there is a need to work on the four major strands and urged members to review the email she sent on 7/31 (attached). Alice attached to it a draft of the “chunks” or implementation strands that we will be using to reach our SiMR. Each strand will have an implementation team that will develop a logic model / implementation plan and we need to increase the participation of parents on these teams. She noted that staff learned a lot at the OSEP Leadership meeting and that this approach is what many states are using.
The three components of Phase II (Infrastructure Development, Support for EIS programs and providers Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices, and Evaluation) are the requirements for the report due April 1st. The implementation strands are what we will report progress on over the next several years. The table below shows how the implementation plan for each strand will need to address all three components.
Phase II Components>
Implementation Strands vvv / Infrastructure Development / Support for EIS programs / Evaluation
1 – Marketing / Messaging
2 – Personal Development
3 – Procedures / Payment
4 – True Family Outcomes
In addition the lead agency staff are working with providers and the OEC to complete the ECTA / DaSY System Self-Assessment as the results will help us to identify priority areas that need attention. The next step for the SSIP will be to start developing implementation teams and plans for each strand. Alice will send out a survey asking you to identify which strand(s) you would like to work on.
Our next full stakeholder meeting will be after the ICC meeting in October. (see below regarding our standing committees)
Due to time constraints the remainder of the lead agency notes were distributed but not discussed at the SICC meeting.
Family and Community Support Team
Service Coordination training is held 4-5 times per year to meet the needs of the providers. The team is looking into revising the training to make the materials and presentations more applicable to their daily jobs. Specifically, they are also looking into the training needs of our Autism and Hearing specialty programs as well as the individual training needs of our professionals based on their clinical backgrounds and experience in Birth to Three.
The FY15 annual data report to the Governor is under development and is expected to be distributed to State ICC members at the October 23 meeting. Thanks go out to the six SICC volunteer reviewers who will receive a draft in late August and submit feedback one week later: Myra Watnick, Corinne Griffin, Carol Peltier, Elisabeth Teller, Gerri Hanna and Mark Greenstein. The featured family has had a rich experience with their Birth to Three team since their son came home from the hospital, and offers a wonderful example of how families, medical providers and Birth to Three personnel working together produce the best outcomes. The report will also include information about the SSIP and SiMR.
The “Lost Contacts” SICC ad hoc committee held their first phone meeting to identify factors contributing to this area of concern and advise the Birth to Three System on strategies for successfully converting a Contact to a Referral. Initial data analyses are underway, and the group will soon review communication processes between the CDI Intake office and referral sources, including parents. Thanks to Sharri Lungarini, Elisabeth Teller, Kim Nilson and Anne Giordano for their support of this effort.
Parent Support Grant Update
Nancy Prescott, Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center (CPAC) Director gave an update on the activities at the 2015 OSEP leadership conference held in Washington DC as well as contract activities with the Birth to Three System. She noted that CPAC received a 5 year continuation of their grant as a Center for Parent Information and Training. The SICC congratulated her. Nancy also announced that she is retiring. This was sad news but she assured the SICC that CPAC is working to find a new director. The SICC will want to do something to honor her work but she noted she wishes to do this quietly.
Committee Reports
Mark shared some retreat minutes generated by the three standing subcommittees and their future. Each has a wide range of areas that they felt could be covered. Discussion focused on clarifying the expected activities and leadership in each committee. After discussion the SICC decided to keep all three standing committees; members have offered to join leadership positions. Our bylaws state that we should have a parent co-chair for all committees but at present we only have two parents.
Alice noted that our discussions reflected the strands noted in the SIMR and that this should work nicely. All the chairs should be in touch with Alice to help shape activities and let their members know of what can be worked on.
Legislative/Fiscal Committee: (Co-Chairs: Myra Watnick & Elaine Balsely) Members of this committee will work with Lynn, the lead agency and DSS as we deal with the critical changes coming in Medicaid reimbursement and CMA reviews and approvals/questions. Ginny Mahoney and Jennifer Miner have also joined this committee.
This committee will align with the SSIP implementation strand that addresses needed changes to Procedures / Payment
System Support (Quality) Committee (Co-Chairs: Anne Giordano, Elisabeth Teller): There was active discussion about the other two standing committees, Quality (which is the descendent of a committee founded to deal with specialists recommending specific time allotments and treatments many years ago) and personnel/training issues. Deb Resnick and Linda Bamonte have also joined this committee.
This committee will align with the SSIP implementation strand that addresses needed changes to Personnel Development Communications/Education/Outreach Committee: (Co-Chairs: Corinne Griffin, (Sharri Lungarini & Carol Peltier) Dr. Carol Weitzman & Alice Torres also joined the committee. Historically this committee has dealt with internal communications (such as Bylaws) and external communications, such as many letters about SICC activities, public imaging and relations. This committee has also taken on community education role/marketing/public relations.
This committee will align with the SSIP implementation strand that addresses needed Marketing/Messaging and will include outreach to the CT Academy of Pediatrics and other practioners.
Aileen will be reaching out to also see who is willing to work on the fourth SSIP implementation strand, “True Family Outcomes as part of a national learning collaborative Legislative/Fiscal Committee: (Co-Chairs: Myra Watnick & Elaine Balsely) Members of this committee will work with Lynn, the lead agency and DSS as we deal with the critical changes coming in Medicaid reimbursement and CMA reviews and approvals/questions. Ginny Mahoney will represent DSS on this committee.