New Orleans, LA, April 1, 2024 — TORSH, Inc. welcomes its new strategic partnership with Arkansas’ early intervention program, First Connections, to operationalize certification and technical assistance for early interventionists across the state who serve families of children aged birth to three. This collaboration will catalyze crucial processes to ensure that early intervention professionals have the knowledge, abilities, and skills identified in the program’s “core competencies” to provide high-quality early intervention to parents of children with disabilities across Arkansas.
First Connections sought an innovative solution after navigating numerous challenges with providing technical assistance, certification training, and ongoing professional development to a statewide network of home-visiting therapists and therapy assistants, service coordinators, and staff. The small administrative team struggled to provide these offerings at the times and frequency necessary to meet the needs of busy early interventionists. After a thorough search, First Connections selected TORSH’s robust Talent platform, a secure web-based solution with a mobile application, as the perfect solution for their statewide network. Early interventionists can complete self-paced, ongoing professional development and required certification modules designed by First Connections in palatable chunks.
Tracy Turner, Arkansas’ Part C Coordinator, shared, “We are excited to partner with TORSH and design technical assistance and certification processes that are both accessible for early interventionists to manage alongside their caseloads and easy to implement for our lean team.”
TORSH Talent facilitates anytime, anywhere support and certification programs. Features to nurture ongoing technical assistance ensure that both seasoned professionals and new hires have the support they need at times and places that work for them. With over 40,000 users across 35 states, TORSH Talent has been recognized for its ease of use, robust features, and technological innovations.
“First Connections has already made a huge difference in standardizing certification training and ongoing professional development by investing in effective technical assistance and certification processes for their interventionists,” said Courtney Williams, Founder and CEO and Founder of TORSH. “We are honored to help support their mission of ensuring a well-trained workforce.”
Using TORSH Talent, First Connections looks forward to creating additional growth opportunities for early interventionists by expanding technical assistance and ongoing professional development course offerings to include modules on trauma-informed services and supports developed by Dr. Sufna John of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and her team. By cultivating evidence-based practices and skills in early intervention providers, First Connections builds pathways of success for all families of young children with disabilities throughout Arkansas to thrive.
About TORSH, Inc.
TORSH, a New Orleans-based education technology company, is dedicated to improving childhood outcomes by increasing educator instructional effectiveness. TORSH Talent, an online coaching and support platform, enables organizations to support educator growth through the entire cycle of technical assistance, from observation and assessment to feedback and coaching. Learn more by visiting torsh.co.
About First Connections
First Connections is a federally funded program for families with children under age three who have a developmental delay or disability. First Connections collaborates with families to facilitate the child’s active participation in family and community activities. When early intervention is needed, the earlier it is provided, the better the outcome for the child and family. Supports provided under First Connections are aligned with each family’s unique situation, culture, language, resources, and priorities. Learn more by visiting firstconnectionsar.org.