I’m glad you found the info helpful, Bari! Have you see our What is Early Intervention in Virginia? video? It is designed to help families learn about EI and why it’s important. We also have a page on our website entitled, Early Intervention, What It Is and Why It Works, that is dedicated to this topic. Check it out and let me know if the resources you find there are helpful!

Great question, Kate. I’ll ‘fess up…I’m completely fine with longer contact notes and used to write them a little longer myself because I liked to really capture what happened during a visit. However, I know that with time and space limitations, being concise is wise. I’d recommend throwing in terminology from coaching when you can, like “Problem-solved with parent on how to manage Devon’s frustration when he wants something. Modeled prompting for 2-word phrases and waiting for Devon’s response, then provided feedback as mother practiced same strategy. Reflected on strategy success, then developed joint plan for how she will prompt Devon at pantry when he wants a snack in the afternoons.” If possible, your agency could also come up with abbreviations or codes you could use when referencing coaching strategies in your notes, like JP (joint planning), A/P (action/practice), Ref (reflection), etc. Hope these ideas help! 🙂

Thanks Nathan! I’m so glad to hear that this post helped you reflect on what you’re doing. I think that idea of pausing before giving suggestions is probably one of the hardest coaching strategies to do because we are natural helpers. The fact that parents have reported in the literature that problem-solving with them is so valuable makes the effort taken to step back really worth it! I know you’ve worked hard on coaching and I’m curious – how are you doing with the caregiver practice with feedback strategy (or action/practice and feedback in Dathan and M’Lisa’s terminology)? Do you find opportunities to facilitate this on most of your visits?

Nathan
ESIP