Project InSPECT: Integrated School Psychology Early Childhood Training
Project InSPECT is a four-year curriculum to prepare new Ed.S.-level school psychologists with an integrative specialty concentration in early childhood. This program is available through the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program at the University of Denver and the School Psychology Program at the University of Northern Colorado.
Trainees will learn to provide state-of-the-art services to infants, toddlers, young children and their families as collaborative members of community, home, and school-based teams. Full-time students who are accepted into Project InSPECT will receive partial tuition reimbursement.
In addition to the strength of faculty from both institutions, Project InSPECT has established a Community Resource Council (CRC) to help guide the development of curriculum and practicum experiences for students specializing in early childhood service delivery. The CRC is made up of highly respected expert partners in the field of early childhood working in the community, schools and non-profit organizations as well as parents of children with disabilities.
This five-year project is made possible through a United States Department of Education Preservice Personnel Preparation Grant: Preparation of Special Education, Related Services and Early Intervention Personnel to Serve Infants, Toddlers, and Children with Low-Incidence Disabilities (Award Number H325A030049).
Please review the following sites if you are interested in applying to this innovative graduate program as a full time EdS student.
How to apply
To qualify for Project InSPECT, acceptance into the EdS Degree Program is required. You may apply at DU or the University of Northern Colorado.
If you are interested in applying to this innovative graduate program as a full time EdS student and to find out more information about Project InSPECT and the University of Denver and/or University of Northern Colorado, please contact:
Gloria Miller, PhD, University of Denver, 303-871-3340, glmiller@du.edu
Karen Riley, PhD,University of Denver, 303-871-7874, kriley@du.edu
Michelle Athanasiou, PhD,University of Northern Colorado, 970-351-2356,
Checklist
- A completed application for the EdS program for the University of Denver/University of Northern Colorado.
- Project InSPECT Application Essay: On a separate page please describe your professional experiences with children aged birth to 5 years and discuss your reasons for applying to Project InSPECT (maximum 300 words).
- Deadline: Application to Project InSPECT is recommended as soon as possible after applying to the EdS program OR when you apply to the EdS program.
NOTE: The application deadline for both DU and UNC is December 15th.
Curriculum: Project InSPECT Trainees will be enrolled in the Ed.S. degree with a coursework focus on early childhood. This document is a comparison of curricula for the EdS general track and the Project InSPECT/Early Childhood track. Link to Curriculum table (per Dr. Miller and Dr. Riley)
Students accepted into Project InSPECT will have a unique experience to be part of an integrated sequence of coursework and clinical experiences that will go beyond that expected at most institutions. Students will develop proficiency through experiences at school-, community-, and home-based settings. The high-level training will include:
- 90 Hours of Mentorship in Year 1
- 200 clinic hours in Year 2 (includes play clinic and psycho-educational clinic rotation)
- 300 field hours in field practicum in Year 3
- 1,200-hour, paid internship in Year 4 Community Placement Site
School Agencies: Adams County School District 12, Fischer Early Learning Center ,Ft. Lupton Public Schools, Jefferson County Public Schools, Littleton Public Schools, Pioneer Charter School, The Village for Early Childhood Education, Cherry Creek School District, Denver Public School District, Douglas County School District, Weld County School District: Windsor
Community agencies:
Ft. Collins Therapy Service MHCD- Pearl Project Mount Saint Vincent Home for Children Tiny Tim Center: Longmont Samaritan House
Home-based Agencies: The Children's Hospital: Child Development Unit JFK Partners: Project ENRICH TIKES of Weld County
Project InSPECT - Community Resource Council
Our Community Resource Council (CRC) is comprised of invited members, ex-officio members and faculty and grant personnel members who represent a wide array of school and community service professionals with expertise and interest in early childhood from both the greater Denver metro area and Weld County.
Beth Jackson: School psychologist with the Windsor County School District in Weld County.
Barb Schintz: School psychologist for Adams County School District 12.
Sandra Link: EC occupational therapist working with PartC agency serving families and children in Weld County.
Kirk Ward: Licensed clinical social worker and Director of Clinical Services at Mount Saint Vincent's Home.
Laurie Beckel: Ms. Beckel is the Colorado Project Director of Harambe, an organization dedicated to promoting social-emotional development of young children through the promotion of a network of early prevention and intervention resources. She has extensive early childhood service delivery and program development experience and was instrumental in initiating the Aurora Mental Health Therapeutic Preschool.
Janet Flaugher: Dr. Flaugher is the Director of the Family Educational Network/Head Start in Weld County.
Karen Frankel: Dr. Frankel is the Director of the Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health. She is also the Director of Kempe Therapeutic Preschool and an Associate Professor at University of Colorado School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry.
Helena Huckabee: Dr. Huckabee is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Executive Director of Emerge PC, an organization that specializes in services for autism and behavioral challenges. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Houston, completed a doctoral internship at Baylor College of Medicine, and a post-doctoral fellowship at DePelchin Children's Center and JFK Partners.
Marcee Martin: Dr. Martin is the Director of the Fisher Early Learning Center, a preschool located on the University of Denver campus. She began her career in education nearly 33 years ago as a Kindergarten teacher in Pontiac Public Schools and over the course of her career was an upper elementary teacher, elementary principal, curriculum director, and assistant superintendent in various Detroit metropolitan school districts.
MB McDermott: Ms. McDermott has a wealth of experience with graduate training and work experience in mental health, school psychology, consulting for CDE, and as an administrator of Special Education. She served as the Special Education Coordinator for Littleton Public Schools for 8 years and also has worked as a school psychologist for 20 years in Colorado, Massachusetts, and California. Currently, she works for Cherry Creek schools as a school psychologist in early childhood education. Ms. McDermott has a passion for early childhood and plans to continue working with the preschool population.
Pam Parker-Martin: Dr. Parker-Martin is a school psychologist with Douglas County School District where her focus has been on Preschool and Child Find services for the past 14 years. Currently, she is also serving as the school psychology internship and practicum student coordinator for the district. She has also taught for Metropolitan State College and the University of Colorado at Denver. Tom Patton: Mr. Patton currently supervises preschool special education and child find at the Colorado Department of Education. He previously worked in and supervised the Part C of IDEA program, called Early Childhood Connections at CDE since 1996.
Christy Scott: Ms. Scott works for the CDHS Early Childhood Connections Program as the Program Quality Control Coordinator. She has been working in the birth to three field for 15 years.
Ex-Officio Members:
Barbara Bieber: Senior Consultant, Colorado Department of Education, Special Student Services Division
Ginger Maloney: Dean of the Morgridge College of Education at DU
Eugene Sheehan: Dean of the Morgridge College of Education at UNC
Nan Vendegna: Senior Consultant, Colorado Department of Education, Early Childhood Preschool Division
Teresa Schrotberger: Consultant, Colorado Department of Education, Early Childhood Preschool Division Faculty and Grant Personnel Members
Michelle Athanasiou, PhD, associate professor and current Chair of the School Psychology Program at UNC-Greeley who completed an EC post-doctoral fellowship and who has been instrumental in promoting EC competencies for school psychologists at the state and national level.
Toni Linder, PhD, professor in the Child, Family, and School Psychology program at DU who has worked with children with disabilities for more than 30 years and has developed nationally recognized play-based assessment and curriculum.
Gloria Miller, PhD, professor in the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program at DU who has worked extensively coordinating and designing effective early prevention services at the local and national level.
Karen Riley, PhD, clinical research assistant professor in the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program at DU who holds a Masters and Doctorate in EC who has worked extensively with birth to five populations in both medical and community settings.
Program Assistants Patrick Callahan (2006-2007): Mr. Callahan is a second year Ed.S. candidate in the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program at DU. He is also a recipient of the InSPECT grant and working as the InSPECT grant Student Coordinator/Program Assistant for the 2006-2007 school year.
Trainee spotlight
Keyea Meyer
I am an intern at Heartland AEA 11 in Des Moines, Iowa and a soon to be graduate of the University of Denver CFSP program. The time has flown by, it seems like just yesterday I was a first year at the graduate school orientation wondering how I was going to do it all. Now, I am graduating in 4 short weeks and will officially be a school psychologist. My internship year has been very different than most. First of all, I decided to venture out of state. Second, the state I decided upon for internship treats interns like normal, first year, full-time employees. It was quite a shock to be responsible for a caseload of my own and not have knowledgeable professors encouraging me the whole way. The good news is that DU has prepared me well and I have survived.
Another big difference in my experience is that I have been able to serve my internship entirely in the early childhood setting. I spend my entire day working with kids ages 0-5. Thanks to InSPECT I was prepared to provide home intervention to children ages 0-3, collaborate with a variety of professionals, consult with teachers, form and implement interventions, and perform a variety of formal and informal assessments. I have found that my time at DU truly prepared me to be a great school psychologist and, more importantly, inspired me to be a life long learner, change agent, evaluator and leader. Now that I have finished my schooling at DU I look forward to the exciting adventures to come and hope to see my fellow graduates as successful practitioners in the field.
Maura Ryan
I am a Colorado native who graduated with an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Colorado State University. With a passion for young children, education, and mental health, I sought graduate programs that would support my professional growth. I looked at a number of schools but the University of Denver and Project InSpect offered exactly what I was looking for. Attending the University of Denver allows me to live in a metropolitan area with numerous early childhood opportunities as well as stay in beautiful Colorado. As a first year graduate student, I am currently finishing my mentorship in Douglas County, CO. My mentor is an Early Childhood School Psychologist who supports area preschools and Child Find. Throughout my yearlong mentorship, I have had an array of unique experiences.
I've had the opportunity to attend professional development training seminars, community resource council meetings, and observation/intervention within preschool classrooms. These experiences have not only furthered my education on early childhood development, they have also offered me a chance to work alongside early childhood development experts. Throughout the year, my mentor has served as a role model demonstrating all of the qualities I hope to integrate as I develop professionally. Project InSPECT has been more than simply mentorship; it has also been a great interactive educational experience. During the fall quarter, I was able to attend the Community Resource Council meeting. During the meeting, I was able to share my experiences and hear from respected community members who are supporting Project InSpect. Being a trainee in Project InSPECT has been an invaluable experience that will only benefit me as I continue my graduate studies.