Early Intervention Strategies for Success

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

 

Last month, we considered the first five DEC Recommended Practices under the Assessment strand. Now, let’s look at practices A6-A11. These practices encourage early interventionists to consider information from a variety of sources about the child’s skills and abilities across different routines, activities, and settings and to do this on an ongoing basis. These practices …

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 …

In September and October, we hosted a Talks on Tuesdays webinar series entitled, Getting from Here to There: Navigating the Transition from Part C to Part B. This series of two webinars focused on guidance for transition from early intervention (Part C) to early childhood special education (Part B). Presenters shared information about transition procedures, practical experiences and strategies …

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 …

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 …

Are you Service Provider A or Service Provider B?

Service Provider A always brings a bag of toys to each visit because this allows her to plan ahead. Having a toy bag ensures that she has the materials that she knows will work, which is great because many children she sees don’t have many toys. The children …

Both of Isabel’s parents are present for the visit, which offers you a golden opportunity to talk with them. When you ask how things are going with Isabel’s signing, her mother replies, “Well, she’d be learning if her father didn’t just do everything for her. Isabel doesn’t even have to sign at all.” These two sentences set …

The outcomes have been written, so now it’s time to determine services. The team sorts through possibilities for Arnold, a two year old with global developmental delays, and his family. Multiple team members recommend multiple services, then Winnie, the service coordinator, suggests they consider a primary service provider (PSP). The team decides that Patrick, the …

You drift from one intervention visit to another, seeing families and children all day. You might, if you’re lucky, have some time in the office before, between, or after visits to catch up on missed phone calls or emails, write contact notes, and/or attend a meeting or two. Your day is busy and full…so why …

Have you been sitting in an IFSP meeting and heard another team member say “Wait…isn’t that outcome too specific?” or “If we put one specific routine in there, does that mean that’s the only way we work on this outcome?”

If these questions sound familiar, then read on (or watch the video blog on this topic) because by the …

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