Imagine: you are sharing your deepest wishes with a trusted friend. You are sharing a cup of coffee on the couch and you feel led to begin a conversation about your goals for the coming New Year. You share your regrets from the past year and your hopes and dreams about how you envision this …
Baskin Robbins: How Do I Decide?
Get the Backstory: Validating and Valuing Family Input
EI Awareness Month in VA – The Power of Family Stories
On May 1, 2021, Governor Northam proclaimed May as Early Intervention Awareness Month in Virginia. Many EI programs use this month to raise awareness and build relationships with referral sources, physician offices, other community programs, and of course, families. The video What is Early Intervention in Virginia? is often shared widely because it provides …
The Unspoken Realities of Child Abuse during a Pandemic
During the past year, our world has overturned with public health concerns, teleworking from home, social distancing, and childcare facility closures. As this shift has occurred, we as EI providers have naturally adjusted to our new reality. However, some of these exact safety measures meant to keep the public safe has created a daunting reality …
Successfully Engaging Caregivers in the Child Outcomes Summary Process Virtually
Despite not being able to meet in person, tele-intervention (telehealth) has brought new opportunities to think about how we are talking about the child outcome summary process. Let’s be completely honest. Tele-intervention forces us to use good teaming practices because there cannot be any side conversations among professionals and everyone is only able to see …
A Gift for You – New “Parents and Early Intervention” Video from EITP Illinois
You’ve worked really hard this year. You’ve stretched to fit into a mold of providing early intervention (EI) that was unlike any you’d ever experienced before. You struggled, you persisted, and you succeeded. You did it because you love what you do. You also did it because you love the families.
This new video, Parents …
Temperament and Social Emotional Development
When talking to parents and caregivers, it can be helpful to ask them what they know about temperament and assess their understanding of how their temperament matches (or doesn’t match!) their child’s. Parents may be able to talk about their child’s response to different environments, sensory preferences or reaction to change and may not have …
Tele-Intervention Has Made Me Thankful For…
Many of you have been providing early intervention services via virtual visits for nine months now. That’s a long time….I probably don’t need to tell you that because you are living it. It’s been a long time since you sat in a family’s living room, since you held a baby, since you blew bubbles with …
3 Key Strategies for Building Relationships with Dads
Several years ago, I found that my EI caseload included a couple of families with stay-at-home dads. This was a first for me, and I found myself struggling to connect with family caregivers, which hadn’t happened to me since I was new to the field. Both men were quite nice, but I stumbled when I …