Sure, Janice. I work for the Partnership for People with Disabilities at Virginia Commonwealth University. I’m on our state’s EI professional development team under a project called the Integrated Training Collaborate. Before that, I worked in EI as a child development specialist/educator and a service coordinator doing intervention visits out in families’ homes and in other community locations.

Do you do joint planning with the parents of children in your center? What does this look like? Do you talk to parents at the end of the day or do you send something home with the child?

Great idea, Joyce! A notebook is a great place to capture strategies, questions and progress!

I had a simple form that I took to each visit that we used as the intervention plan. It looked like a table with columns for the description of the specific strategy steps, who would do them, when, and what the child would learn. We’d save the last 5-10 min of each visit to discuss the plan and I’d usually record it as we wrote. Parents liked that because I was able to capture the steps as the parent thought it through. I really like the idea of the parent writing it down in his/her own words, but if that’s too problematic, could you capture their words as they talk through the plan?

Another idea might be to record the parent talking through the plan (as an audio note or a video) using the parent’s phone (if available). Or, take a video during the session while the parent is practicing using the strategy in real time, so he/she has the video clip as a reference point for later. Not exactly a joint plan but close!

I think finding what works for you and the family is the key! I love it that you’ve shared this great strategy with others too! Thanks Caty!

I have not tried that. I think I would rather the parent focus on what I’m doing (I do the session notes at the end). And I worry they might get bogged down in details that don’t really matter in an effort to get “everything”. The duplicate sheets work great and I have even gotten old school therapists to try it! Pay back for all they teach me!

Love that idea, Caty!That way you both have a record to go back to. I know of another educator who gives the plan to the parent and invites the parent to actually do the writing while they discuss the steps for the plan. That way, the plan is actually in the parent’s own words. Have you ever tried that? I hadn’t but thought it was another great idea.