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INFANT, PRESCHOOL DISABILITY SITE IS LATEST DEPT. OF EDUCATION ADDITION

June 9, 2000

The Federal Interagency Coordinating Council launched a new web site this month to give parents and others associated with infants and pre-schoolers with disabilities access to information on coordinated federal, state and local efforts to serve them. The new FICC site is specifically designed with parents in mind, according to Assistant Secretary of Education Judy Heumann, who heads the effort. "This site offers parents, in particular, easy access to disability-related information and contacts that can make a difference in the lives of their children," she said.

The FICC, formed in 1995, is charged with cutting down on duplication of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and preschool services for children with disabilities by federal, state and local agencies. The group also works to coordinate various federal early intervention and preschool programs and identify gaps in federal programs. The council consists of six federal agencies as diverse as the Department of Defense and the Department of Agriculture, as well as the expected Education and Health and Human Services Departments, five state agencies and about a dozen other members from local communities. The group acts as an advising body to cabinet secretaries from those agencies, plus the Department of the Interior and the Social Security Administration.

FEDS LOOKING FOR PARENTS EAGER TO GET INVOLVED October 13, 1999

The site is primarily a place for the FICC and its members to post information for parents, such as FICC meeting schedules and transcripts of past meetings. All meetings from 1995 through 1999 have been documented on the site, but the first two meetings of this year -- in March and earlier this month -- had not been added at press time. The site also includes contact information for each member of the council, to direct parents to specific sources of assistance. For states, the site provides information on federal efforts that impact state programs. "States also will be able to use this site as a forum through which to share issues of importance with council representatives," the FICC says.8