The Early Childhood Intervention Doctoral Consortium (ECiDC) is federally funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to train a new generation of doctoral scholars to address the needs of infants and young children who have high intensity (HI) needs because of cognitive delays, the vast majority of whom will meet criteria for intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) by the time they reach school age. These children require intensive, interdisciplinary, and individualized interventions to support their achievement of developmental and behavioral milestones to fully participate in families, friendships, schools, employment, and community living.
28 scholars from 9 institutions of higher education (IHEs) across 4 academic disciplines and 15 programs of study receive generous support to fund their doctoral training, including tuition, stipend, and research funding.
The core curriculum focuses on advanced training in four competency areas: (a) Pedagogy for Infants and Young Children with HI Needs, (b) Advanced Research Methods, (c) IHE Teaching, and (d) Community Engagement and Advocacy.
Scholars collaborate in research and scholarship with faculty and other scholars across the consortium to support family and child outcomes via high-quality early childhood intervention service systems.