Imagine: you are sharing your deepest wishes with a trusted friend. You are sharing a cup of coffee on the couch and you feel led to begin a conversation about your goals for the coming New Year. You share your regrets from the past year and your hopes and dreams about how you envision this …
Get the Backstory: Validating and Valuing Family Input
Successfully Engaging Caregivers in the Child Outcomes Summary Process Virtually
Despite not being able to meet in person, tele-intervention (telehealth) has brought new opportunities to think about how we are talking about the child outcome summary process. Let’s be completely honest. Tele-intervention forces us to use good teaming practices because there cannot be any side conversations among professionals and everyone is only able to see …
Call to Action! Service Coordination and Early Intervention – DEC/ITCA Position Statement
The presence of an engaged service coordinator who understands the role and skillfully conducts the many responsibilities of the position ensures a well-coordinated approach to EI service delivery. It is widely acknowledged in the EI field that families have the right to high-quality, individualized EI services; our field must commit to including service coordination in …
A Gift for You – New “Parents and Early Intervention” Video from EITP Illinois
You’ve worked really hard this year. You’ve stretched to fit into a mold of providing early intervention (EI) that was unlike any you’d ever experienced before. You struggled, you persisted, and you succeeded. You did it because you love what you do. You also did it because you love the families.
This new video, Parents …
AAC in EI: Debunking Common Myths and Misconceptions
Amanda and I met while working at a special education charter school as an Assistive Technology specialist and special education teacher. Somehow, several years later, we have both ended up working in EI. Amanda currently works as a Speech-Language Pathologist providing EI services and AAC evaluations in DC and I am a Developmental Therapist in …
Logan is Not a Number! – Explaining the Child Outcomes Process
Logan’s annual IFSP review is underway and you are excited to celebrate his progress. You’ve been working with his family for a year so you’ve seen the steady pace at which Logan continues to develop. When he first entered early intervention, he was only two months old and doing most of the things a two-month-old …
Service Coordinators: Speak Up and Share Your Value!
Alice (service coordinator) joins Jodie (therapist) on an intervention visit to see Max and his mother. When they walk into the home, Jodie reminds Max’s mother that Alice is here and says, “She’s just here to do the paperwork.” Alice keeps the smile on her face as she greets the family, but inside is cringing …
Self-Actualization: Hello, I am the Parent of a Child with Disabilities
We are at the end of our discussion on the levels of awareness of parent of young children with disabilities. We have explored the ostrich phase – a time when a parent has a lack of awareness about disabilities and may not recognize the characteristics of a disability displayed by his or her child. Additionally …
Extra! Extra! Read All About…Integrating the Decision Tree
Have you heard the news? Assessment teams all over Virginia are integrating the Decision Tree (PDF, New Window) into practice (Drum Roll Please). The Decision Tree is a tool used for teaming and family engagement during the child outcomes summary process.
Let’s imagine that a team from Collaboration County is successfully using the Decision Tree. What …
An Invisible Bridge – Collaborating with Language Interpreters
You know the feeling…wishing you could speak the family’s language so you can build that strong relationship that’s so important in early intervention (EI). It can be challenging to coach a family when you have a language barrier, but a good interpreter can help you overcome that challenge. I recently met a new colleague with …