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News Release

Last modified: Friday, April 11, 2008

Early Childhood Center at IU to conduct audit of Indiana's First Steps system

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services has asked the Early Childhood Center at Indiana University to conduct an independent evaluation and audit of the Indiana First Steps Early Intervention System.

The Early Childhood Center is part of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, a research, education and service center affiliated with Indiana University Bloomington.

Indiana's First Steps System is a locally based, coordinated system that provides early intervention services to young children with disabilities. The audit/evaluation is intended to assess the impact of recent changes to First Steps and generate information that will be considered in implementing improved early-intervention services for future children and families in Indiana.

As part of the audit, all families who are not currently receiving First Steps but who have had contact with the program in the past 10 years are asked to participate. These families are invited to complete an online survey that should only take 15-30 minutes to finish. Results of the survey will provide valuable insight into Indiana's early intervention system.

The survey is available online at: https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/ecc/fsfamily.htm. The survey will be open to families through the end of this month, April 30, 2008. All individual responses and identifying information will be kept confidential.

If a family would like to complete the survey over the phone, or have the survey mailed to them, please contact Jackie Dutkowski at 1-800-825-4733 or e-mail eccenter@indiana.edu.

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