{"id":821,"date":"2013-05-14T12:51:58","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T16:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veipd.org\/earlyintervention\/?p=821"},"modified":"2020-06-25T02:37:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T02:37:43","slug":"writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.veipd.org\/earlyintervention\/2013\/05\/14\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing an Honest, Balanced and Meaningful IFSP Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TeeterDoes this sound familiar?<\/p>\n

Devin is a happy little boy who enjoys playing with musical toys, splashing in the bathtub, and looking at books with his grandmother. During the assessment today, Devin was able to stack three blocks, scribble with a crayon, and point to four pictures in a book. He\u00a0sat independently, pulled to stand at furniture, and crawled across the floor to get to his mom when she called his name. He is beginning to take a few steps\u00a0but is not yet walking without his hands held. Devin uses approximately 12 words and signs to communicate and understands simple 1-step directions, such as give me, come here, and find your ball. He tantrums often throughout the day and can be difficult to calm down. He is a good eater and feeds himself using his fingers. He has begun to use a spoon with lots of spilling. He primarily drinks from a bottle but can use a sippy cup as well….<\/p>\n

Sounds like Devin is doing quite well developmentally, doesn’t it? From this IFSP narrative, you have no idea that Devin is actually 28 months old and is showing global developmental delays. What is missing from this narrative? What is needed so that any reader\u00a0clearly understands\u00a0Devin’s developmental status?<\/p>\n

Writing an Honest, Balanced IFSP Narrative<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The IFSP narrative is intended to provide a summary of the child’s developmental status based on information gathered from the child assessment. This summary should include the child strengths AND functional limitations and needs. It can be so easy to over-emphasize the child’s strengths and the skills a child can do in an effort to have present a positive perspective. When we do this, we are sharing only half of the story. Every child has areas of strength and limitations and understanding both is vital to developing individualized outcomes and intervention strategies.<\/p>\n

The IFSP narrative should present an honest description of the assessment findings and do so in a balanced manner that helps others understand what the child can do and what he has not yet mastered. This helps the parents understand the child’s development from a holistic and functional perspective and recognize what skills and abilities come next. It also provides background information for understanding family priorities related to what goes well for the child and where the struggles may be and why.<\/p>\n

The OTHER Problem with this Narrative<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Did you notice the other problem? This narrative reads like a list of test skills in paragraph format. When a narrative is written like this, it can be very difficult for families, child care providers, insurance reviewers, and others to understand the relationship between the skills the child demonstrated based on test items and the functional abilities and struggles that occur in everyday life. Many states are moving to crafting the IFSP narrative from the perspective of the three OSEP child outcome indicators (i.e., positive social-emotional skills, acquisition of skills and knowledge, and use of appropriate behaviors to meet needs). Framing the IFSP narrative using the child outcomes can help\u00a0all team members understand and use assessment information to inform intervention decisions.<\/p>\n

Here are a few tips to help you write an honest, balanced and meaningful IFSP narrative:<\/h2>\n

Adopt a holistic, integrated\u00a0perspective of development. <\/strong>Always remember that all areas of development are related.<\/p>\n

Be sure you understand what each item on the assessment tool actually tell you about a child’s development.<\/strong> See the post Put Away the 1 Inch Cubes!<\/em><\/a> for more info.<\/p>\n

Describe development in terms of both what the child can do and what he has not yet mastered.<\/strong> Share information about skills the child does not have in a positive, straight-forward manner by describing “next skills” and talking about how these relate to daily life. (Ex: Next skills for Devin involve more independence with walking, feeding himself, and communication. Devin has a small vocabulary of words now\u00a0that he uses to name people and favorite toys. When he can use more words, he will be able to tell his family what he needs more easily which might help decrease his tantrums since his family feels that he gets frustrated when they are unable to understand him…)<\/p>\n

Remember that development occurs in the context of everyday interactions and routines.<\/strong> This is true for all children and is an important perspective to have when explaining assessment results and how they relate to the child’s abilities and challenges in daily life.<\/p>\n

Use the three OSEP child outcomes as your guide.<\/strong> For more information on the child outcomes, visit The Early Childhood Outcomes Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have one team member write the narrative, instead of having multiple team members write separate parts.<\/strong> One team member will likely find it easier to integrate information across the three OSEP child outcomes and across\u00a0assessment domains. When you ask each assessment team member to each write a summary, you may be less likely to receive an integrated description if the assessor(s) views development from the lens of his\/her domain.<\/p>\n

Be sure that the IFSP narrative clearly explains why the child needs early intervention services.<\/strong> While the narrative is\u00a0not the place to designate outcomes or services, it should make it clear why the child is in need of intervention.<\/p>\n

The first step to improving how you write IFSP narratives is to go back and review narratives you have previously written. Look through the lens of these suggestions. Have a colleague read your narratives and provide feedback. If you find a narrative that needs improvement, practice rewriting it so that you will be ready\u00a0to\u00a0write it better at\u00a0the annual IFSP review.<\/p>\n

What strategies do you use to help your team write balanced narratives?<\/strong> Share your ideas in the comments below!<\/p>\n

\n

Additional Virginia resources for writing IFSPs:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Infant & Toddler Connection of VA Practice Manual<\/a><\/p>\n

VA Early Intervention Professional Development Center’s<\/a> IFSP & Outcome Development<\/a> topic page<\/p>\n

Online module – IFSP 101: Introduction to the Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia’s IFSP Development Process<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does this sound familiar? Devin is a happy little boy who enjoys playing with musical toys, splashing in the bathtub, and looking at books with his grandmother. During the assessment today, Devin was able to stack three blocks, scribble with a crayon, and point to four pictures in a book. He\u00a0sat independently, pulled to stand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[139,11,14,16],"tags":[23,31,48,50,64,104,112],"class_list":["post-821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-ifsp-development","category-practical-strategies-for-intervention","category-service-coordination","tag-assessment","tag-challenges","tag-early-childhood","tag-early-intervention","tag-ifsp","tag-service-coordination-2","tag-strategies","clearfix"],"yoast_head":"\nWriting an Honest, Balanced and Meaningful IFSP Narrative - Early Intervention Strategies for Success<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.veipd.org\/earlyintervention\/2013\/05\/14\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dana Childress, PhD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/14\\\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/14\\\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dana Childress, PhD\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/912e5da6aba7fba3a723c90a678d1146\"},\"headline\":\"Writing an Honest, Balanced and Meaningful IFSP Narrative\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-14T16:51:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-25T02:37:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/14\\\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1004,\"commentCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/14\\\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/shutterstock_76676275-300x224.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"assessment\",\"challenges\",\"early childhood\",\"early intervention\",\"IFSP\",\"service coordination\",\"strategies\"],\"articleSection\":[\"All\",\"IFSP Development\",\"Practical Strategies\",\"Service Coordination\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/14\\\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/14\\\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.veipd.org\\\/earlyintervention\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/14\\\/writing-an-honest-balanced-and-meaningful-ifsp-narrative\\\/\",\"name\":\"Writing an Honest, Balanced and Meaningful IFSP Narrative - 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