About Our Center

WestEd’s Center for Prevention and Early Intervention in Sacramento, provides

• statewide high quality training
• technical assistance
• resource development, dissemination, and support

to state agencies and community programs that administer or provide prevention and early intervention services for children and youth birth-22 with disabilities and other special needs and those at risk. The state agencies have included the California Departments of Education, Developmental Services, Health Services, Social Services, Mental Health, and Alcohol and Drug Programs.

The Center for Prevention and Early Intervention is recognized as California’s premier source of training, technical assistance and resource development and provision supporting early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and at-risk conditions and their families as well as students with disabilities and other special needs and those at risk of academic failure.


Overall Outcomes
Collectively the Center for Prevention and Early Intervention has

• developed competencies for professionals and paraprofessionals in early intervention in conjunction with the development of the Early Start Personnel Model;


• developed, implemented, and disseminated two- and four-year college curricula and successfully facilitated articulation agreements between two- and four-year colleges;


• identified and promoted best practices in working with young children with special needs and their families via annual training Institutes that provide evidence-based knowledge and skill building opportunities;


• conducted targeted outreach to underserved and special populations;


• facilitated the coordination and implementation of the State Comprehensive System of Personnel Development for Part C of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act;


• facilitated local agency capacity to successfully include children and youth with disabilities in education and child development programs;


• supported and promoted a statewide initiative recognizing the importance of building healthy, positive relationships betweens infants and young children and their parents and caregivers and its impact on school readiness;


• published and disseminated public awareness materials, informational reports, and training guides.


• worked to build the capacity of the state and districts to support students with special needs in order to close the achievement gap;


• provided support to program improvement districts statewide to ensure the inclusion of students with disabilities; and


• engaged in a variety of capacity building projects between general and special educators in order to improve core instruction to students with disabilities in the general education classroom and to address the needs of at-risk students.