Early Intervention Strategies for Success

Sharing What Works in Supporting Infants & Toddlers and the Families in Early Intervention

 

Who is the Focus of your Visit? – Adult Learning & Early Intervention

Posted on February 05, 2013 by in Adult Learning, All, Bridging the Gap, Engaging Families, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies

When you walk in the door to a family’s home, who is the focus of your visit? Who are you there to work with?

These might seem like two very straight-forward questions, but think about them for a moment. The early intervention world revolves around the infant or toddler with the developmental delay or disability, the little person …

I Don’t Have Any Concerns Because She’s Perfect How She Is…What Do You Do?

Posted on January 31, 2013 by in All, Engaging Families, Service Coordination, What Would You Do?

You meet the family of a newborn baby girl who has just been diagnosed with Down syndrome. You ask the baby’s father about how his daughter is doing and he replies that he doesn’t have any concerns because she’s perfect just how she is. He says he thinks she’ll be just fine. His wife fidgets as …

Adding Siblings to the Intervention Mix

Posted on January 15, 2013 by in All, Engaging Families, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies

Rule of thumb…never bring a xylophone to an intervention visit when there are siblings in the mix.

This was one of my biggest rules when I was working in EI and still lugging around a toy bag. Ages ago I had a visit where I brought the xylophone along and the preschool-aged brother of the child …

You’re on a Visit and the Children are Sick…What Do You Do?

Posted on January 10, 2013 by in All, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies, What Would You Do?

You’ve been in a home working with a family for about 15 minutes when the child’s older brother walks into the room, sneezes on you, and sits on your lap. The child feels like he has a fever, has very runny nose and is coughing. The mother tells you that he’s been sick since yesterday and …

Can You Compete with Dr. Phil?

Posted on January 08, 2013 by in All, Engaging Families, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies

How many times has this happened to you? You arrive for your EI visit to a family’s home and find that the large screen TV is on and a favorite show is airing. Perhaps it is a beloved cartoon for the child, or maybe it is the mother’s favorite talk show host. Is the father …

7 Specific Questions to Ask When Exploring Family Routines

Posted on December 12, 2012 by in All, Engaging Families, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies

Ask any 3 families what bathtime is like for their child, and you’ll get 3 different responses. For one family, bathtime might be a long, fun, wet playtime each night for the parent and child. For another, it might be a very busy time of bathing 3 young children, getting them in and out of …

Strategies for Rescuing a Shaky First Visit

Posted on November 19, 2012 by in All, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies, Service Coordination

We’ve all had that visit…the one where we knock on the door for the first time and the family is less than pleased to see us arrive. Or the visit where, after we arrive, the parent leaves us in the living room and doesn’t reappear for 10 minutes. Or, the visit where the parent is …

Videos of Early Intervention in Action – Examples & Resources

Posted on November 13, 2012 by in All, Bridging the Gap, Professional Development

Last week I wrote about strategies for using videotaping during and between EI visits.  Here are three fabulous resources to help you think more about the potential use of video to positively impact our work with families:
Results Matter Video Library
Larry Edelman from the University of Coloradco produced these videos and has been a leader in developing short videos for use in …

Peeking into Real Life: Videotaping Routines between EI Visits

Posted on November 06, 2012 by in All, Bridging the Gap, Engaging Families, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies

One of the interesting ideas that’s percolating around in my brain following the DEC conference is about using videotaping during and between early intervention visits. Here are a few ways I’ve either heard about or read about for using videotaping in early intervention to help families bridge the gap between visits and everyday life:
Using a …

Traditional vs. Collaborative EI Visits: What’s the Difference?

Posted on August 30, 2012 by in All, Bridging the Gap, Engaging Families, Intervention Visits, Practical Strategies

We know from research in early intervention that making the change to using collaborative, family-centered practices during early intervention visits continues to be challenging for EI providers. One of the reasons that this continues to be a challenge is because most of us think we are already doing it!

Each of us needs to take the …

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