On Reagan’s first visit with Cole’s family, she feels like she is “under the microscope.” Cole’s grandmother, Celia, seems wary of Reagan, and of early intervention. Cole’s physician recommended the referral due to delays with Cole’s communication, but his grandmother is not concerned. She has raised three children, all of whom, she says, “talked when they were ready and are fine now.” When Reagan asks Celia about which parts of the day go well for Cole and which parts are challenging, Celia laughs and asks “Do you even have kids?”

Reagan is 25 years old, recently completed her graduate program, and does not have children. Celia’s question makes her uncomfortable, but she answers honestly, saying that she doesn’t have children yet but has been lucky to work with many. She gets the sense that Celia is not satisfied with her answer, and thinks that she will have to try extra hard to build rapport here.

Have you been in Reagan’s shoes? Are you there now? How did getting asked this question feel to you?

If you’ve been asked this question before, then you know the awkwardness that comes with it. I remember being asked it many times, having worked in early intervention for 9 years before having my son. For some families, it was asked out of curiosity or just to make conversation. For others, it felt like a test of my competence. Finding the right way to answer was not always easy.

While I think this is a genuine question for some families who feel that people with children are the only ones who really “understand what it’s like” to parent, I think the real question is this:

Do you have to be a parent to be a good early interventionist?

I guess, from my own experience, I would reply with a hearty NO. I absolutely do think you can be an excellent early interventionist without being a parent. You can be a competent, skilled, and knowledgeable service provider without the experience of having raised an infant or toddler. In fact, you may be better able to remain objective when issues arise that are specific to parenting. You may be less biased than someone who has raised a child and had a different parenting style than the style of the parent in early intervention.

Interventionists who are not parents can bring the collective experiences of having worked with many parents and children to each visit. Since we know that the best way to support families is not by telling them what to do, you really don’t need to have done their job (parenting) first. Instead, you join them in their daily life and help them explore solutions to problems, plan for and practice how to embed intervention strategies into their experiences (not yours). Using these best practice strategies are universal, whether you’ve been a parent or not.

Reality Check

The reality is that raising any child is different from raising any other, and most of us who will be both parents and early interventionists will not be raising a child with delays or a disability. While having been a parent does give you the advantage of knowing what it’s like to care for a child 24/7, it does not give you liberty to assume that you “know what it’s like” for a family with whom you work. You can never truly know what it’s like for another family. You can only draw on your own knowledge, skills, and experiences to individualize the support you provide. If you haven’t been a parent, then you might have to work a little harder to be sensitive to what daily life is like for the parent. Really, though, we all need to do that, especially when developing intervention strategies and making suggestions that will hopefully “fit” into their everyday life.

We all take our experience and shape them to help us support families. You don’t automatically have a “leg up” if you’ve been a parent. What’s really important is understanding the role you play as a service provider, committing to individualizing your support, and focusing on the unique experiences of each family. How you use your experience and how confident you are in this does not need to depend on whether or not you have children.

What are your thoughts? How have you answered this question before? 

Share your experiences in the comments below!

The post Do You Have to Be a Parent to Be a Good Early Interventionist? appeared first on Early Intervention Strategies for Success.

First, let me thank Lisa Terry for the idea for this post! Lisa posted “Feeling inspired” on our Facebook page during the Early Intervention Institute we hosted on Tuesday. I couldn’t agree more so decided to “borrow” her words! Thanks Lisa! 🙂

In the past 2 weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of attending and presenting at 2 fantastic events: the Early Intervention Institute here in VA this week, and the Division for Early Childhood Conference in St. Louis last week. Both were inspirational and rich with opportunities to learn and share information, network with colleagues and catch up with friends. I always wonder which is more important – the learning, the sharing, or the networking? Maybe it doesn’t matter because there’s inspiration to be found in them all.

I thought I’d share a few bits of inspiration that I picked up:

It’s all about relationships – This seemed to be a theme for me across both conferences. Whether we’re talking about blogging for professional development (my session at DEC) and building a relationship with your readers (I love you guys!), building rapport with families in challenging situations, or supporting the parent-child relationship during and between visits…it all comes down to healthy collaboration and supportive relationships. EI is not about toys or paperwork; it’s about relating well to those we support and enhancing their learning and capacity to independently meet their own needs. When we “dig deeper” (to borrow Dathan Rush’s words during our keynote), we find that the best intervention and learning occur in the context of all of these pivotal relationships.

“Parents are a child’s best motivators” – This quote also came from our keynote at the EI Institute. I think we know this as early interventionists, but do we actually practice it? As the professionals, we want the children to like us and want to interact with us, but no matter how much fun we can be, at the end of the day the parent is really the person the child needs and most wants to engage with. Carry that with you, instead of your toy bag!

“Practice self-reflection” and “become comfortable with discomfort” – I attended a session on evidence-based coaching models at DEC. The presenters talked about practicing and facilitating self-reflection when using coaching. I think both are important to expanding knowledge and skills – for practitioners and for the families they support. The presenters talked about the importance of “wondering, empathy, not knowing, and reflecting” as means to build knowledge and understanding. They talked about the need to “become comfortable with discomfort” which is like getting comfortable with silence, something we often struggle with as natural problem-solvers. Facilitating self-reflection in families we support requires that we hold the space for the family to think about options, reflect on what they know, have tried, or want to do. Practicing our own self-reflection is so important to moving our skills forward. It’s uncomfortable to not know the answer, or to not provide your answer right away to a parent seeking help. Holding the space for self-reflection is an intentional act that allows you to grow, and allows the parent the space and support to try to find the answer he/she seeks. Facilitating self-reflection might just be a key to building those relationships, taking advantage of the magical interaction between the parent and child, and becoming a better early interventionist.

I’d love to hear about something you’ve learned recently – whether you attended a conference session, read an enlightening article, were inspired by a colleague or had an “ah-ha” moment with a family. I’ve shared a few things that have recently inspired me…

What’s inspired you lately?

If you’re interested in checking out some of the handouts from the EI Institute, visit the Institute’s page on the VA Early Intervention Professional Development Center site.

The post Feeling Inspired! – What’s Inspired You Lately? appeared first on Early Intervention Strategies for Success.

Visiting all kinds of environments is one of the things that I’ve always loved about early intervention. No two days or two visits are ever the same. Along with this flexibility comes the unpredictable nature of the environments in which we find ourselves. You can easily drive from one home that is pristine to another that is unclean (by your own standards). One of the lessons that every interventionist eventually learns is that one family’s perspective on cleanliness and their living conditions may be very different from another’s. This is not to say that one is more right than the other, or to say that the early interventionist has the most accurate perspective. It’s just a reality of the work we do that we must adjust to different environments and do so without judgment.

One Interventionist, Two Home Environments

Consider these real-life examples:

Jessica looks at her schedule for the day and remembers that she is visiting with Sam and Reggie’s families. Sam’s family lives in an upstairs apartment in an older townhouse. She knows that the entrance to the townhouse is always completely dark so she takes a flashlight with her. The steps leading up to the townhouse are slippery from use and there is often a strong garbage smell. The family’s apartment is uncluttered but the carpet is well-worn and dirty, despite Sam’s grandmother’s repeated attempts to clean it. She keeps their living space as tidy as possible, but struggles with cockroaches because her downstairs neighbors and the landlord refuse to treat the house. After visiting with Sam’s family, Jessica drives to Reggie’s home, which is in an affluent neighborhood near the university. Reggie has a fully equipped playroom and several pets. During visits, Jessica has often seen the dogs having accidents on the dark carpet and there is a strong urine smell in the home. Reggie’s mom often apologizes, saying she can’t keep up with the dogs and with Reggie. Jessica, Reggie and his mom typically spend time in the playroom or his bedroom, but in both places they struggle to find a place to sit as the floor and bed are usually piled with clothing and scattered toys.

DO’s and DON’Ts

Both of these environments reflect challenges related to cleanliness. Both families are probably doing their best to keep their homes clean, but both environments have the potential to make a visitor to the home uncomfortable. If you were to walk into either home, here are a few do’s and don’ts for managing yourself and the situation:

DO remember that you are guest in the family’s home. Be respectful and do your best to adjust. Like Sam’s grandmother, the family may be doing the best they can in their given situation.

DON’T make or share judgments about the living situation, unless you have real health or safety concerns. Try to ignore the challenges in the environment as must as possible. If you must address concerns, do so in a respectful manner and be specific about how your concern relates to the child’s health or safety (i.e., “I’m worried about the cockroaches too because of Sam’s asthma.”)

DO dress appropriately so that you don’t have to worry about your clothing getting messy. Keep a change of clothes in the car if needed – if, for instance, you, like Jessica, know that it is quite likely that you will sit in a wet spot or get messy during the visit.

DON’T request that families clean up when you come. Also don’t cover the surface you are sitting on or bring a blanket to avoid the floor. I’ve actually heard stories about providers who have brought a carpet square for themselves only or told a family to clean up a corner of the room for the visit – yikes. Remember that intervention doesn’t just have to take place on the floor (PDF, New Window).

DO your best to get to know the family and make them comfortable. If they feel like you are judging them and their home, then it is unlikely that you will build a strong rapport. Building the parent-provider partnership is pivotal to successful intervention.

DON’T ignore your own discomfort, though. While it is our responsibility to be flexible and meet families wherever they are, we are also individuals with our own feelings too. If you are in an environment that makes you uncomfortable, talk to your supervisor for guidance. The truth is that it is impossible to only see families in pristine environments so you must learn to adjust and do so in a respectful manner. However, if there is an environment where you don’t feel safe, then let someone know.

What strategies do you use when you encounter an unclean environment? What advice would you have for a new early interventionist in this situation?

The post Do’s & Don’ts for Managing an Unclean Environment appeared first on Early Intervention Strategies for Success.

Maybe you’ve been working in early intervention for many years and you’re great at what you do. Or perhaps, you’re brand new to the field and eager to try out your skills. In either position, it can be a struggle to get out there and find that you need to release your role to someone else, whether it be to a colleague who’s acting as a primary service provider (PSP) or to the parent. Role release can be a struggle for even the most confident of early interventionists.

Why is Role Release a Struggle?

We love to play with babies. This was probably the hardest thing for me to let go of as I learned role release. Teaching someone else how to do what I knew I could do really well was hard. Plus, it meant that I wasn’t necessarily the one who would get to interact with that cute little person, and that felt like a bit of a loss.

We worked hard to develop our knowledge and skills. At my very first conference presentation, I was teaching about collaborating with other professionals and families and a woman approached me afterwards, clearly shaken and unhappy. She waited in line for her turn to demand how she was supposed to teach a parent everything it took her years of graduate school to learn. Clearly she was struggling, but that was actually a good thing because the presentation made her think. We have worked very hard to hone our skills and knowledge, but we are only with the family for what amounts to 1-2% of their week. If we can’t share what we know with the parent, then the work that we are so dedicated to won’t really have much of an effect on the child’s development. Sharing what we know spreads the possibilities out and increases the chances of farther reaching effects, which is REALLY what we trained for.

We don’t always trust that others can do what we can do. It’s a difficult thing to trust. Trusting in someone else to take what you know and implement it is pivotal to the early intervention relationship – between the PSP and the consultant, between the provider and the parent. Without trust, there’s an assumption of expertise that can only be provided by the expert. This, again, is limiting and most often just plain wrong. When it all comes down to it, there is no real magic. What works in early intervention is working together, learning about families, and problem-solving to develop intervention strategies that fit the child’s abilities and the family’s life. What you learned in graduate school were techniques and information; when you share your role with others, you take what you learned and adapt it to the uniqueness of the child and family. You can’t do that if you don’t trust and share.

So How Do We Get More Comfortable with Role Release?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Get to know your colleagues – Spend time together. Talk about your experiences and backgrounds. Join visits, observe, and learn from each other. Build trust and rapport with your fellow interventionists, just like you do with families.

2. Trust families – They really do know their children best and know what happens in their everyday life better than you ever could. Build a partnership and, if you have even an ounce of it, let go of the “…but I’m the expert” attitude. Your job will be so much more meaningful and impactful if you trust those you trained to collaborate with.

3. Practice sharing what you know – Be there for your colleagues and families as a consultant when needed. Practice sharing and teaching others. I truly believe that all of us in early intervention are teachers, regardless of our disciplines. We teach each other and parents teach us.

4. Understand that role release really means role sharing – Maybe “release” isn’t really the best term because it implies that you’re giving away something you might not get back. My professor (I’m in grad school) likes the term “role sharing” and maybe that’s a softer way of emphasizing the give-and-take of the collaboration. We aren’t trying to turn parents into therapists and I wasn’t trying to turn colleagues into early childhood special educators. We were sharing what we knew to build meaningful intervention strategies that worked for families by sharing our knowledge and skills.

Role release is a critical component of successful early intervention. Take a moment to reflect on your own feelings about releasing your role, or sharing it with others. Why is it hard?

What strategies have you used for collaborating with others and sharing your wealth of knowledge? Do you have an example to share of when role release was a challenge or when it was a great success? Let us know!

The post Letting It Go…Role Release and Why It Can Be Hard appeared first on Early Intervention Strategies for Success.

I graduated in May 2013 from JMU with my Master’s degree in Inclusive Early Childhood Education. From the moment I stepped off stage after receiving my diploma I knew that I was destined to work in early intervention. I knew that I was ready to get my own caseload full of children and families who could use my support and expertise. I knew that every day I would make an impact on someone and go home feeling like I was on top of the world because I had made a difference. I knew what early intervention was all about and what I would be doing as a service coordinator (as soon as I had a job). In all reality, I was not prepared for some of the tasks and situations I have faced or the questions I have been asked as a service coordinator. Below are some things that would have been helpful to know before entering the EI field.

It Would Have Been Helpful To Know…

It’s okay to say no.

During my first few weeks, I began working with a family that consisted of a single mother with four children. Upon walking in the family’s home for my very first visit, the mom’s first words to me were: “So you’re gonna be the one to take me to get groceries and dress my kids and take care of all that other stuff that kids need, right?” My first thought was “Are you asking me to raise your children?!” But, being so new to the job and wanting to make a difference my response was “I can try to help you with everything that you need.” I quickly learned that trying to help ‘raise’ 45 kids (average caseload at my program) and their siblings is not feasible nor is it in my job description. I now know how to nicely say ‘no’ and I no longer feel bad afterwards.

Community resources are plentiful!

Many of the questions I get asked can all be answered by community resources. Over the past few months, I have been asked questions such as “I can’t pay my electric bill, what do I do”, “our food stamps have run out and we have no food, can you help”, or “how do I get a handicapped parking permit”. Fresh out of college, I would not have been able to answer any of these questions. Luckily, there will generally be community resources that you can use to address any of these questions. I have started my own list of community resources that I can refer to when a family asks me a question, and I have even given this list to families to empower them in meeting their own needs. Having a list of community resources can be a true lifesaver and a way to avoid a lot of stress!

There is no ‘typical’ home visit.

I have been going on home visits for almost 5 months now, and I can say with all honesty that I have never had a visit go as planned. Working with families means planning for the unexpected and being able to adapt to each situation (trust me, you’ll never be in the same situation twice). I have experienced food fights, total meltdowns (both from families and kiddos), snotty kisses, and hugs. I walked in to homes with children who have the climbing abilities of chimpanzees and the ‘flying’ abilities of eagles (needless to say I got a workout on those visits). There is no typical visit and I have learned that it is completely okay.

Every day is a new experience when you work in early intervention, especially as a service coordinator. I am constantly learning new things with each child and family I work with, and I wouldn’t want it any other way!

What is surprising about your job? What do you wish you had known before you began working in early intervention?

Casey Leary attended James Madison University where she completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies with a minor in Inclusive Early Childhood Education in the Spring of 2012. She then became a ‘Double Duke’ earning her Masters degree in the Spring of 2013. Casey now works as a Service Coordinator/Developmental Services Provider for the Infant & Toddler Connection of Harrisonburg/Rockingham. Casey can be reached at: cleary@hrcsb.org.

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In the most recent issue of Young Exceptional Children, Bonnie Keilty, Ed.D., wrote the “Voices from the Field” about using infant & toddler development and family systems as the framework for early intervention practice.  She suggested that building effective practices around child and family development, family functioning and family systems would help practitioners do two important things: 1) be better prepared to implement effective practices and 2) better understand the link between recommended practices and their actual work with families. Both of these align well with the mission of this blog so naturally they snagged my attention.

Bonnie also described how this perspective could be woven throughout how we approach intervention and the strategies we use with children, how we support families, and what we expect of a competent EI workforce. This made me think about the scope of early intervention professional development (PD): how are we preparing and supporting early interventionists so that they have the knowledge and skills necessary to do the job well?

A Blog-to-Blog Collaboration

To be honest, I don’t think that I have or any one blogger has the answer but I do believe that combining ideas often leads to better things. I’m excited to join Bonnie and her colleague, Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, Ph.D., of B2K Solutions, Ltd. to do some thinking about this question and the framework Bonnie described in her article.

In a series of blog posts, I’m going to provide some strategies for PD providers and early interventionists about to how to use this framework to support effective practice, and Bonnie and Kristie are going to tackle strategies for administrators and families. We’ll include links to both blogs so that you can follow the discussion and share your ideas. You can start by reading the “Voices from the Field” article, then check out Bonnie’s first post, Developing and Promoting Early Intervention Expertise – What Administrators Can Do.

Three Ideas for Professional Development

So here we go. Here are three ideas for EI professional development using a common framework of child and family development:

Idea #1 – Let’s Raise the Bar on Professional Development Requirements

Okay, I started with a big one. I do believe that, as a field, we need to raise the bar for what we expect makes up a competent, highly qualified workforce. Imagine if all early interventionists had adequate foundational knowledge in infant-toddler development and family systems. Imagine if there were common standards for all early interventionists across our country. What if each state had minimum requirements for practitioners and for on-going professional development so that interventionists had to achieve and maintain a certain level of proficiency? I wouldn’t want a physician who was using outdated practices or who didn’t understand development helping me with my child; I think the same standard should apply to our field.

What can you do? – Review your state’s standards and start this conversation at the local and state levels.

Idea #2 – Let’s Rethink How University Training Programs Teach About Early Intervention

It’s not uncommon for early interventionists to enter the field with very little training in how to work with babies and families, how to provide intervention in family routines, or how to work outside of a classroom or clinic setting. Because there is so much to teach when training students, and EI is such a sub-specialty, the EI portion of the content in many programs is unfortunately quite minimal. Is there a way to equal the playing field and spend more time on EI content? Can more information about child development and family systems be woven into existing coursework? Can students be pointed to other resources that exist outside of university programs for this information?

What can you do? – Partner with your local universities. Have current service providers and administrators collaborate with faculty to review curricula and make improvements together.

Idea #3 – Let’s Make Ongoing Professional Development Available that Emphasizes the Interaction between Child Development and the Family System

Making sure that all interventionists understand the interaction between child development and the family context will help the pendulum swing from what is still practiced in some programs as a clinical model, to a more family-centered model of support. As Bonnie suggested, too, without this knowledge, it can be so hard see the link between what we should be doing and what we actually do with children and families. By making this information readily available and weaving family systems theory throughout our training opportunities, we can build the knowledge base and support providers in applying what they learn when interpreting development and supporting it in the context of where development naturally occurs.

What can you do? – Offer learning opportunities that teach and refresh these concepts. Link with other PD providers to share resources so that we aren’t all “reinventing” the wheel on these common training concepts.

What Do You Think?

We can teach interventionists how to fill out the IFSP form all day long but it won’t be meaningful without an understanding of development and the interconnectedness of the child to his/her family members. Maybe with a little collaboration and creativity across professional development systems, we can accomplish the goals we all have – that every interventionist is well-prepared and that children and families receive the supports they need.

What are your thoughts about using child and family development as the framework for EI professional development? What suggestions do you have for improving the preparation of early interventionists?

The post Developing & Promoting Early Intervention Expertise – What Professional Development Providers Can Do appeared first on Early Intervention Strategies for Success.

Here in VA, we are so excited to release our new video series entitled Early Intervention: A Routines-Based Approach! These videos were professionally produced, are less than 7 min each, and are available for FREE on our professional development website or on our YouTube site. I’m going to give you a quick description of each video below. I encourage you to watch them, use them, and of course give us feedback! After the embedded videos, you’ll also find 3 ideas for how you can use them for staff development. Enjoy!

Early Intervention: A Routines-Based Approach – Part 1: Traditional vs. Routines

This 5 min video is the first in the series and features an experienced early interventionist sharing her personal journey from a traditional, clinical approach to one focusing on family routines and activities as the context for effective early intervention.

Early Intervention: A Routines-Based Approach – Part 2: What Intervention Can – and Should – Look Like

This video is about 7 minutes long and features three early interventionists discussing and demonstrating what intervention looks like when it is provided by collaborating with families during their natural routines and activities. Examples of parent-provider collaboration during a trip to a restaurant and visits in families’ homes are shown.

Early Intervention: A Routines-Based Approach – Part 3: Changing the Mindset

This video is under 5 minutes and focuses on insights from the three early interventionists about how they evolved their practices toward a more effective, routines-based intervention approach.

Three Ideas for Using these Videos

If you are a program supervisor or trainer, here are a few ideas about how you might use these videos for staff development:

Idea #1: Group Staff Development – Plan a staff development activity across 3 staff meetings. Watch one video each meeting and reflect together on where individual and program-wide practices are on a continuum of traditional to routines-based intervention.

Idea #2: Training Activity – Have participants bring contact notes or descriptions of recent intervention visits. Collect the contact notes and shuffle them. Watch the first two videos and break the participants into small groups. Each group gets three randomly-chosen contact notes to review and discuss. They can compare and contrast the visit activities with the practices shown and discussed in the videos. You might also ask them what suggestions would they have for that interventionist for the next visit to try to use more routines-based practices. No one has to “fess” up and own the contact note but everyone can learn from them. Wrap-up the activity with the third video.

Idea #3: Individual Staff Supervision – Use these videos with individuals in your program who are struggling with adopting these practices. Rather than doing this as a group activity, watch the first video together with the individual and reflect together on the person’s current practices. Ask him to watch the 2nd video by himself and reflect on it in writing. You could create a compare and contrast handout for him to use during the week to reflect on his visits and what practices he uses. You could also tie this to a discussion and compare/contract activity using the 7 Key Principles: Looks Like/Doesn’t Look Like (PDF, New Window) document from the ECTA Center. Review the reflection together and watch the third video. Come up with a plan for “changing the mindset” with suggested readings, maybe have him join visits with others who are using routines-based practices, etc. Follow-up on the plan in supervision and provide lots of support along the way.

What other ideas do you have for using these videos for staff development??

Special heartfelt thanks to the early interventionists and families who shared their experiences with us!!

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How do you keep your early intervention knowledge and practices current? It’s not always easy!

Keeping up with current practices and thought in the field can be very challenging for interventionists for lots of reasons – lack of time, expenses involved with journal subscriptions, etc. Here are a few links, ideas, and suggestions to help you keep up!

Journals

I know, reading research articles can be a bit dry, but they are really some of the best ways to keep up with current literature in your field and your areas of interest. Since individual journal subscriptions can be pricey, see if your agency will sponsor a subscription. Look into memberships to professional organizations that include journal subscriptions (like DEC, ASHA, etc.). Visit journal websites like Infants & Young Children that offer a selection of free articles. If you are affiliated with a university, you may be able to access journals for free through your university library. Visit our EI Professional Development Center site where we have posted links to lots of free articles. Search using Google Scholar for the article or topic – you’d be surprised how often the article you need is actually already posted online!

Other than I&YC, some of my other favorite journals are: Journal of Early Intervention and Topics in Early Childhood Special Education.

TIPS! – Print out the article you want to read and keep it in your car or briefcase to read between visits or download it to your ereader. Even if it takes you several weeks to read it, that’s okay! Start a journal club at work to share articles with colleagues and talk about what you learn!

Books

It’s always hard for me to resist a good book about early intervention! You might be able to access these books through your office, local university or community library, your local T/TAC (for VA EI providers), or you can almost always find them new or used online for great prices. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Early Intervention Guidebook for Families and Professionals (Keilty, 2010) – I’m reading this one now and I love how practical it is. Bonnie Keilty was an early intervention provider (here in VA!) and you can tell that she’s “been there” as you read.

The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook (Rush & Shelden, 2011) – This was the last book I read and found it to be practical and very informative about the evidence-base behind using coaching interactions. I have their book, The Early Intervention Teaming Handbook on my short list too.

Routines-Based Early Intervention (McWilliam, 2010) – I’m also reading this book too and love the emphasis on the family. It also has great resources for writing outcomes and helpful info for different natural environment locations (home visits and child care). I find that I use this one as a resource alot and tend to skip around to find what I need. I love a book that I keep coming back to!

DEC Recommended Practices (2005) – Check this book out to find out about the components of good practice. The DEC is working to update these recommended practices now so keep an eye out for a revised version.

YEC Monograph Series – This series of smaller books is a great way to learn about recommended practices related to specific topics, like natural environments, supporting dual language learners, making informed decisions, supporting children with autism spectrum disorder, etc.

I also wanted to share with you about a book I just finished reviewing by one of the guest authors here on our blog: My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child’s Language Development (Scanlon, 2012). I really enjoyed this one and found it to be an easy, engaging read. It’s written for families but EI providers can benefit from the insights too. The author, Kimberly, describes easy-to-use tips and play strategies that caregivers can implement in their daily interactions with their little ones. The book focuses on play routines, but the tips, modeling techniques and strategies can be incorporated into any daily interaction with a little practice. The tips and “do not list” are perfect for parents, childcare providers, and others who are looking for simple guidance on what they can do right now to positively affect a toddler’s language development. Be sure to check out the article Kimberly posted too! Lots of great resources!

TIPS! – Keep the book with you so that you can read a bit here and there between visits! Start a book club at work to discuss and share insights! You can also start a book sharing club where you and your colleagues share favorite EI books to cut down on costs and share the wealth of knowledge!

I truly believe that it is the responsibility of each early interventionist to take responsibility for his/her own professional development and commitment to keep up with current information. We owe it to ourselves and especially to the children and families we are lucky enough to support!

What are your favorite books and journals? How do you keep up with current information?

The post Reading Between Visits appeared first on Early Intervention Strategies for Success.

A new student walks into your office and sits down on the first day of her practicum. You begin your orientation about your program, starting with an overview of early intervention. You start by discussing Part C of IDEA and about halfway through your explanation, the student politely interrupts and asks…”What’s Part C again?” Yikes.

If you are student, please don’t be offended because we’ve all been there. There is SO much to learn when entering the EI field that it is difficult to take it all in. One of the very best ways to learn about EI is to see it in action, which is why practica and internships are so important. Even more important than seeing it is actually participating and getting hands-on experience with children and families in natural settings. Nothing is more powerful than being a part of the change you see in a child’s development through early intervention, which is why WE as early intervention personnel must step up and take time to train students. Easier said than done, I know, with high caseloads and limited resources, but the alternative is unacceptable too. We want to work with well-trained, highly qualified colleagues and the students you meet are your future colleagues.

What can you do to support them? Here are a few DOs and DON’Ts:

DO volunteer and share the experience

There are always students needing practical experience so volunteer to be a mentor when the need arises. Share what you know and I promise that you will learn from your student too.Help your student make connections with other providers in other disciplines. Encourage them to join visits with other providers. You might have to help them make these arrangements but it’s worth the effort to broaden their experiences.

DON’T have your student be your personal filing clerk

Students say that the best part of their experiences are the practical work they do with families. Sure, a little bit of filing helps you, but make sure that they actually get hands-on experience with families (supervised of course). Let them take the lead with a family you regularly support, write up the contact notes, and plan for visits. Let them “get their feet wet!”

DO coach and reflect

Just as we do with families, use coaching to help students learn how to support children and families. Follow each session with reflection to help the student think about what happened and why. The ride in the car back to the office offers a perfect time for reflection.

DON’T spend the visit talking to the student about the child/family

First, ask the parent’s permission to bring a student and let the parent how the visits will work. Include everyone in all discussions and use teachable moments as opportunities for everyone to learn. Prepare the student for her role during the visit by giving history before you both meet the family. During the visit, be sure that you don’t end up talking about the child and family as if they weren’t there. I have seen this happen and it takes the provider being mindful to avoid it.

DO Let your student practice completing paperwork

I know, this one sounds really dull but paperwork is a real part of EI. Have your student write an IFSP based on the IFSP team discussion, then compare what he wrote with the actual IFSP. Have him complete the same assessment tool you’re using during the team assessment then compare findings (once back at the office).  Invite him to write a contact note after a visit and critique it together.

When you can, invite a student along and share your wealth of knowledge and experience!

What other DOs and DON’Ts do you have for training students?

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