California Governor Jerry Brown Appoints Pasadenan to State Council

Pasadena educator Marie Kanne Poulsen was recently appointed to the State Inter-agency Coordinating Council on Early Intervention by California Governor Jerry Brown.

The ICC encourages a family-centered approach, family-professional partnerships and inter-agency collaboration, and provides advice and assistance to state agencies, including the Department of Developmental Services and Department of Education, that implement the California Early Start Program.

Members of the ICC, who are appointed by the Governor, include parents of children with disabilities, early intervention service providers, health care professionals, state agency representatives, and others interested in early intervention.

Poulsen has been associate director of the University of Southern California, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities since 2015, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine since 1998 and chief psychologist at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Division of General Pediatrics since 1995.

She was a teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1961 to 1963. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, World Association for Infant Mental Health and the Infant Development Association of California.

Poulsen earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in exceptional children and psychology from the University of Southern California.

The California Early Start Program was developed in response to federal legislation that authorized states to maintain and implement statewide interagency systems to provide early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.

In 1993, the California State Legislature passed the California Early Intervention Services Act, which established state authority to develop an early intervention service system congruent with federal requirements.

Beneficiaries of the program are families whose infants or toddlers have a developmental delay or disability or an established risk condition with a high probability of resulting in a delay.