A Content Analysis of Public-Facing Part C Early Intervention Websites of US States and Territories

Abstract

In the United States (US), early intervention (EI) programs under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have demonstrated a commitment to teaming and collaboration through multidisciplinary assessment and coordinated service delivery. However, there continues to be broad variability as to the EI service delivery model described on public-facing EI program websites and in state-level documents. In this study, we performed a review of the websites of EI programs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five US territories, and two federal departments responsible for providing EI services to specific constituencies. Using a qualitative content analysis approach to analyze the data from all 58 entities led to three primary findings: (1) the challenge of finding information on public-facing websites and related documents about teaming practices within each state, (2) the inconsistency in the types of documents, dates, and ages of posted information, and (3) the variability across states, including the language used to describe and discuss teaming models and practices. These results lead to a call for action to improve the consistency of information on teaming models and the implementation of practices that better support all children and families served under Part C.