Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks
An Emerging Strategy to Support Caregivers
In Providing High Quality Care to Infants and Toddlers

The National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative provided in May 2006 a one-day training as a pre-institute of the 10th Annual Birth to Three Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. The training, titled Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks: An Emerging Strategy to Support Caregivers in Providing High Quality Care to Infants and Toddlers, was the first national professional development opportunity specifically designed to support the work of Infant-Toddler Specialists, the States, Territories, Tribes, and communities that currently have Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks and those considering the development or implementation of this strategy.

Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks are a relatively new and promising strategy that States and Territories have implemented to improve the quality of child care and support the healthy development of infants and toddlers. Infant-Toddler Specialists provide support to the Infant-Toddler field through a variety of approaches, which may include coaching and mentoring, consultation, training, training the trainer, and technical assistance.

Participants of the pre-institute training session received several resources to raise awareness of and support work related to the development and implementation of Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks. These resources are provided below.

Resources

Agenda
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Key Facts About Children Birth to 3 Years: United States
Profile provides a national picture of children from birth to age three, their families, and the child care system that serves them.
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Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks Fact Sheet (May 2006)
Infant-Toddler Specialists are individuals whose job it is to provide support to professionals and caregivers who provide early care and education to infants and toddlers. This fact sheet includes a map showing the States that have Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks and describes each State's approach. It also includes a chart that details each network’s funding sources, staffing levels, and start-up year.
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Impact of Training and Education for Caregivers of Infants and Toddlers (Research-to-Policy Connections No. 3)
This brief, published by Early Care and Education Research Connections in 2005, adds to the small but growing body of knowledge about what approaches to training and education of Infant-Toddler caregivers are more likely to increase the quality of their care. It describes research findings on a small number of training initiatives targeting infant and toddler caregivers where quality was observed before and after the training.
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Responsive Caregiving: An Annotated Resource List
This annotated list includes organizations, programs, and publications that may be useful in understanding how to build secure, attached relationships with infants and toddlers. Infant-Toddler Specialists may use the listed resources to inform themselves and their work with Infant-Toddler caregivers.
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Early Learning Guidelines
The development of early learning guidelines for 3- and 4-year olds is one of the three goals included in the Good Start, Grow Smart initiative. Many States and Territories are including early learning guidelines for infants and toddlers in their work on this goal. This fact sheet describes special considerations in developing early learning guidelines for infants and toddlers, including those with special needs, and explains how early learning guidelines differ from program standards. It also provides links to State and Territory early learning guidelines for infants and toddlers that had been identified as of April 2006.
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Infant-Toddler Specialist Network Personnel Sample Position Descriptions
This resource is a compilation of position descriptions for Infant-Toddler Specialist Network Personnel from various States.
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Sample Day in the Lives of Infant-Toddler Specialist Network Personnel
These resources provide a snapshot of a sample day in the life of three types of positions in an Infant-Toddler Specialist Network: 

Infant-Toddler Specialist Network Coordinator
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Infant-Toddler Specialist
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Public Health Infant Nurse Consultant.
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Key Steps for Creating an Infant-Toddler Specialist Network
This resource outlines seven steps for creating an Infant-Toddler Specialist Network. It also provides links to examples of products that States have developed as they have implemented some of the steps.
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Infant-Toddler Specialist Network Statements of Work
States implementing Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks use different procedures to select the agency or contractor that will house the Network. This resource provides examples of Statements of Work that include expected outcomes, activities, and guidelines for Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks in three States.
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Infant-Toddler Specialist Network Organizational Charts
These organizational charts show State examples of where the Infant-Toddler Specialists and Infant-Toddler Specialist Coordinators are located within the specific organizations that house an Infant-Toddler Specialist Network in two States.

California
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Washington
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Mentoring, Coaching, and Reflective Practice: An Annotated Resource List
This annotated list includes publications that provide information about three strategies-mentoring, coaching, and reflective practice - that Infant-Toddler Specialists can use to support Infant-Toddler caregivers.
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Infant-Toddler Specialist Networks & State Professional Development Systems
The training and technical assistance offered by Infant-Toddler Specialists is an integral part of a system of career development for the Infant-Toddler workforce. This document provides an overview of the training, education and support services offered to the Infant-Toddler workforce within the context of the broader professional development system in three States.
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Creating a Statewide System of Multi-Disciplinary Consultation for Early Care and Education
This report, published by the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, Inc. in 2005, describes what child care health consultation is and highlights research about the effectiveness of consultation in a variety of disciplines. It describes lessons learned from State and national child care consultation models, as well as the current policy context related to consultation. The report ends with recommendations for creating a statewide system of multi-disciplinary consultation for early care and education.
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Early Care and Education Systems that Support Quality Care for Babies and Toddlers: Key Elements
This fact sheet lists key elements of a child care system that supports quality care for babies and toddlers, and describes the characteristics of each element. It also includes a graphic representation of the system that shows how the elements are inter-related and differentiates elements that impact direct services from those that are part of the child care infrastructure. The Initiative uses this model to help States and Territories map their current system to inform the planning of future work around infant and toddler child care.
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Connecting Babies and Toddlers to the Early Care and Education System in California
California implements a variety of activities focused on enhancing the quality of services for children from birth to three years of age with federal Infant-Toddler earmarked funds.

Quality Improvement Program Plan prepared by the California Department of Education Child Development Division (describes activities).
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Infant and Toddler Capacity Building System (graphical descriptions)
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Infant-Toddler Learning and Development System (components) 
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