Dana Childress, PhD, Author at Early Intervention Strategies for Success

Okay, be honest. Have you ever:

recommended that a family go buy books;
explained the importance of sorting colored teddy bears into matching bowls; or
listed “placing shapes in a 3-piece form puzzle” as an outcome on the IFSP.

If you answered yes to any of these, well, then you’re in the same boat as me …

This is the time of year when I can get in a slump. I’ve always loved my jobs in early intervention, but it’s just about now when I get a little jealous of teachers who work in the school system and their countdown til summer break. When I was in grad school eons ago, that …

I was making a visit late in the afternoon in a neighborhood that had a history of safety issues. It was unusual for me to visit at this time of day so I was a little apprehensive. I parked in front of the home, got out, and went to put my purse in the trunk …

Miguel is 19 months old and lives with a large family that includes his parents, three older siblings, an aunt, and his grandparents. He qualified for early intervention due to delays in gross motor development and low muscle tone. He’s also showing some slight delays in his expressive communication. During his assessment and subsequent intervention …

During the assessment, the professional team members notice some soft neurological signs in Seiko’s development, such as an indwelling thumb, slight scissoring of her legs, and low muscle tone in her trunk. Seiko was referred to early intervention by her pediatrician because she is 14 months old and not yet sitting or crawling. According to her …

Tyler is 20 months old and instead of playing with his toys or using his spoon to feed himself, he quickly throws them as soon as he picks them up. Tyler’s parents tell you that it’s really hard to manage during playdates or when they go out to eat. Tyler also rarely stays still to …

If we think about the best way to make the biggest difference in a child’s development, it makes sense that we will be most effective by working through the child’s most familiar people. Those familiar people, parents and caregivers, are the key to success. Positively impacting the child’s development is the reason for early intervention …

Is this you? Are you learning about using the coaching interaction style and finding that you’re stressed by what you think you’re supposed to be doing? How many reflective questions should you ask? Which question is the right one? Am I allowed to make suggestions or even interact with the child anymore???

First, take a deep …

Imagine that, without warning, you lost your job. Without your paycheck, you’ve gotten more and more behind on paying rent until you’re served with an eviction notice. You have two more days until you must leave your apartment and you don’t have enough money for a deposit on a new one. You have no family …

The answer to this question is that we really don’t know. There isn’t any research in our field that firmly states that a certain level of EI service frequency is most effective. When you think about it, it’s not difficult to guess why this might be. We don’t believe in a one-stop shop mentality; in …

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