1 Year Anniversary for St. Louis Area SPOE

July 1 2010 marks the 1 year anniversary of AWS as the contractor for the St. Louis Area SPOE. We have been very busy over the past 12 months adjusting to changes and working with the community to ensure that we are continuing to provide supports to the families we serve. As we venture into the second year of our contract, we'd like to take a moment to look back at the last year as well as look forward to more successes and opportunities to improve the role we play in the lives of families.

Since July 1, 2009 we have:

• Established 1 central SPOE office that accepts referrals and provides service coordination for the entire St. Louis Metropolitan Area
• Transitioned our Family Service Coordinators to working in the community from their home offices
• Begun the implementation of Early Intervention Teams by creating a pilot team for St. Louis City in Dec. 2009 while continuing the pilot for St. Louis County. In addition to the pilots, held numerous EIT Workgroup meetings throughout the metropolitan area where we shared details regarding our plan to implement EIT in the area and gathered input from a variety of stakeholders


• With consent from both committees, successfully combined the local RICC's for Region 1 and Region 2 into 1 unified group


• Obtained a perfect 4 rating for both SPOE Regions from the state based on criteria set by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in regards to meeting timelines and accuracy of data.
• As a final step to moving forward with the state's plan for EIT in Missouri, obtained final approval of our EIT plan from DESE

It has been a very exciting year and we look to continue our momentum with goals we have ahead of us:

• Implementing the next phase of Early Intervention Teams in the metro area
• Continuing our efforts to establish and improve our relationships with community partners and First Steps referral sources
• Continue to meet the standards set forth by DESE and OSEP regarding SPOE performance standards
• Insist on providing quality supports that aim to build family confidence and their capacity to meet their own individualized goals

Thank you, and we look forward to another year working together!