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 …
Tele-Intervention Has Made Me Thankful For…
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 …
EI Tele-Assessment Video Chats & Strategies: You’ve Got This!
Here’s the question: Whoever, in a million years, thought we’d be doing developmental assessments using video conferencing??
Really, when you think about that, it’s equally unnerving and amazing. Unnerving because it can seem like a completely new way of gathering information about a child’s development without even being physically present with the child. Amazing because …
7 Technology Tips for Tele-Intervention
Technology is great when it works, right? It’s such an embedded part of most of our lives when we are not in the throws of a global pandemic that many of us hardly think about it. Now, though, when early interventionists are chin deep in trying to navigate tele-intervention, figuring out how to connect through …
Introducing Teleflections©: We Are All in This Together
We are all in this together. Early interventionists are exploring and learning new telehealth options. For many, this may mean learning new technology platforms, navigating limited wifi access, and simultaneously focusing on providing exceptional service delivery through telehealth. Teleflections©, a new resource, provide reflections from early interventionists who share their own experiences including their successes …
10 Strategies for Engaging Parents (not Children?) during Tele-Intervention
Let’s get right to the point. You are not trying to engage an infant or toddler on video for 45-60 minutes during your virtual visit. Re-read that last sentence and let it sink in. Take a deep breath in and breathe out any expectation you may have had about playing with the baby you see …
Creating Cognitive Dissonance as a Learning Strategy
We all have times when we leave visits feeling like it went great because we were able to successfully engage the caregiver. Other times, we leave visits feeling defeated and wondering what we could have done differently or if the caregiver may not be completely on board with early intervention yet. Honestly, there are a …
3 Interventions Every Early Interventionist Needs to Know – Part 3
So far in this series, you’ve learned about the importance of two interventions associated with positive outcomes for children and families. In Part 1, we explored strategies that emphasize caregivers’ awareness and interpretation of their own actions. In Part 2, you learned how to help caregivers identify and use everyday learning opportunities to enhance child …
Technology and Toddlerhood
Ever been in a home visit with a parent who is
simultaneously using his/her phone while discussing the child with you? There
are lots of ways that phones and screen time show up during visits. For
instance, parents hand their child a phone to keep him quiet or distract other
children in the home. Parents may pull out their …
Overcoming Tantrums
Tantrums are a normal part of every young child’s life. If we are honest, we throw our own “tantrums” as adults. When working with young children, especially those with a language delay, we have to understand that tantrums are a mode of communication when emotions become overwhelming. Marci Melzer offers five steps to handle tantrums …