Early Intervention Service Coordinator

After referral to the early intervention program, our service coordinator, Jared, met with us to talk about the program and arrange Maggie's initial evaluation. Jared has worked hard to arrange evaluations, find appropriate therapists and guide us through the labyrinth of early childhood services.

From our perspective, the most important role of the service coordinator is at the evaluation stage and the initial IFSP. There was never any doubt that Maggie qualified for services, so Jared's main role was to get the therapies started quickly. (Maggie's evaluation by the state's Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities has her as borderline eligible for services for that office, but that's a different program entirely and another story.)

We knew immediately after the evaluation that Maggie was eligible for services. The first evaluation covered physical therapy and special education instruction. Jared started writing up Maggie's IFSP while we were still sitting in our sun room. We didn't really understand what an IFSP was at the time, but the system doesn't run without the IFSPs so we know better now.

For us, the most important thing in the IFSP is the frequency and length of therapy visits. This is the level of services for Maggie. If it didn't say two times a week, Maggie wouldn't get two PT sessions per week. The other parts are important, the outcomes, the steps, and the strategies, but it is driven by the frequency and duration of the visits. Below is Maggie's IFSP addition following her OT evaluation.

Once the IFSP was established, Jared's next step was to find the appropriate therapist for Maggie. It's a small world, so Jared knows most the people who are OTs, PTs, SLPs or SEITs. Our first PT only wanted to schedule one session per week. We felt strongly that Maggie needed two and her IFSP provided for two. We told Jared the first PT wouldn't work and now we are thrilled to have Misty working with little Maggie.

It took a few months to find and coordinate 4 therapists and a social worker for us, but now it runs fairly smoothly. We try to keep Jared up to date, especially regarding medical developments, but otherwise we juggle any schedule changes directly with Maggie's therapists. Service coordinators will come into the picture again at the six month and one-year progress evaluations

 
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What's in an IFSP?

 

IFSP stands for Individualized Family Service Plan. Basically it is a list of goals for your child in one or more domains of development. At first we found this a little hard. When asked what we wanted for Maggie, well, we wanted full development on par with the level of her peers. Now I think we have a better sense of the role of the IFSP. It is basically a list of goals, but it takes a comprehensive approach to the intervention. Here's the list from the NY Department of Health about IFSPs.

  • A statement of your child's present level of functioning.
  • With your permission, a statement of your family's resources, priorities, and concerns related to your child's development.
  • A statement of the major outcomes expected from early intervention services.
  • A statement of the early intervention services, including transportation, needed to meet your child's and family's needs.
  • A statement of the natural environments where early intervention services will be provided. "Natural environments" means settings where infants and toddlers are typically found in the community.
  • When your child is in day care, and when needed, a plan for early intervention service providers to train the day care staff to meet the needs of your child.
  • A physician's or nurse practitioner's order for early intervention services that require an order from specific medical professionals.
  • A statement about other services, including medical services, that are needed by your child and family that are not provided by the Early Intervention Program.
  • The projected dates that services will begin, as soon as possible after the IFSP meeting, and the period of time during which the services will be delivered.
  • The name of the ongoing service coordinator.
  • If your child is turning three, the steps to help your child and family change to other services, including preschool special education services.