Early Intervention Strategies for Success

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

 

I will admit it.  When I see a friend whose toddler is rocking the paci all day every day, I struggle not to judge.  This, from a mom whose 7-year-old climbs in her bed with her each night.  Parenting is a series of tough choices, choosing the battles worthy of fighting and those you can …

I wish I woke up every morning with a smile on my face, excited about another day, another opportunity to serve families in my community!  But I don’t.  Don’t get me wrong: I do love my job. I’m very grateful and often humbled when families let me into their sacred space, their lives, even just …

Sofia just coordinated the worst assessment ever. With her head spinning, she takes a moment in her car to reflect on just what went wrong so that she can prevent it from happening again. In a nutshell, here’s what happened:

Sofia had originally met with Max’s father for the intake, who had planned to attend the assessment …

Jenni began working with a new EI program a few weeks ago. She’s really happy in this new position and one of the reasons is the great leadership. Her supervisor is a wonderful resource for how to implement best practices. He’s current in his knowledge and skills and supports his staff, including Jenni, in growing …

I have to admit…talking about financial stuff was one of the most uncomfortable parts of my job as a service coordinator. Asking families about their income and even their tax information to assess their ability to pay for EI services…not fun for me or them. As with many aspects of service coordination, I found that …

EI…IFSP…eligibility determination…Part C…outcomes…Part B…huh? Oral motor…abduction…sensory processing…cognition…what???

Okay, so it’s quite clear that we have our own language in early intervention. We have our own lingo (PDF, New Window) and our own technical jargon, and we are quite fluent in our language. This is normal for many fields, right? What may be different for us, though, is …

On a given day, you might have anywhere from 2-6 visits with families. If you step back and reflect, how do these visits typically work? There may be a similar way you begin or end your visits. You may find yourself conducting visits in the same parts of the home across visits or asking similar questions …

Finally…some sunshine and warm weather! This time of year is a perfect time to break your floor play habit and get up and move around. Taking early intervention outdoors does not have to mean that you just move your bottom from the living room floor to a blanket of toys out in the grass, which …

Last week, our May Talks on Tuesdays webinar presenter, Jeannie Odachowski, presented about Approaching Families About Early Mental Health Care. Something she said really stuck with me and I’m still thinking about it over a week later. She talked about “wondering” with families – encouraging service providers to wonder with the parent about why the …

As you get to know Jackie, Teddy’s mother, you learn that she has very high expectations for her son. She expects him to feed himself without getting messy, sit during children’s church on Wednesday and Sunday, and begin potty training – but Teddy is only 19 months old. He’s just learned to walk a few …

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