Welcome to Unit 2: The Four Phases of Service Coordination
Phase 1: Getting Started

The “Getting Started” phase begins when the family is first contacted and ends with the development of the initial IFSP.

The Initial Contact
Informing Families of Their Rights and Responsibilities
Informing Families of the Availability of Advocacy Services
Coordinating the Performance of Evaluations and Assessments (including eligibility determination)
Facilitating the Development of the IFSP

Many service coordinators find it helpful to organize their work with families by creating checklists to ensure they have covered the legal timelines and paperwork required by HFS 90. As you learn more about service coordination responsibilities, consider creating your own checklist or refer to examples of service coordination checklists - (HTML version) to help you complete the required tasks. This sample forms checklist - (HTML version) and one program’s Intake Tips - (HTML version) may also help to organize your paperwork. The Maintenance of Early Intervention Records provides legal guidelines around confidentiality and record keeping.

Find out what checklists or other tools are used in your program and how they might support your initial conversations with families.

The Initial Contact

Getting to know and building relationships with families is an important aspect of a service coordinator's job. Building a strong relationship with a family will allow the service coordinator to assist them in identifying their strengths, concerns, priorities and resources. Important points to remember include:

·        Conversations with families follow an ecological perspective. This means that it is important to consider and be sensitive to a family's culture, priorities, relationships, environment, resources, supports, and current conditions.

·        The strength of the relationship that you build with a family will help to shape their overall Birth to 3 experiences.

* When making that first phone call or visit with a family, it is o.k. to be nervous. These conversations will get easier over time. Here are a few tips:

·        Make sure you are calling/visiting at a time that is convenient for the family;

·        Use family-friendly language – free of acronyms and professional jargon;

·        Do your homework if the child has a diagnosed condition (check the Family Village website or the National Association for Rare Disorders disability-specific information) so parents do not have to repeat basic information;

·        Be non-judgmental about a family’s decisions and lifestyle. Not every family will look like yours.

·        Think of good questions beforehand and be prepared to listen for family priorities (repeat what you have heard to ensure accuracy);

·        Explain your role as service coordinator (covered in Unit 1) and the family’s role as important decision-making partners in early intervention.

While getting to know families, you can invite them to talk about their strengths, concerns, priorities, and resources by using specific strategies and tools. Review the Identifying Family Concerns, Priorities & Resources Guide for an overview of the strategies and tools that can facilitate completion of a family-based assessment.

Perhaps the first materials you will share with a family will be the Families are the Foundation booklet. You should find a hard copy in your program office. Feel comfortable with this document and be prepared to explain the Birth to 3 Program. Make sure you understand thoroughly the eligibility process for the Birth to 3 Program which is discussed in further detail under Coordinating the Performance of Evaluations and Assessments.

It is important to consider the unique culture of each family. Scan through the PowerPoint presentation, "Working with Families from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds" - (HTML version), or an article of the same title for some perspective. You may also read Selecting Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Materials: Suggestions for Service Providers .

*  To learn more about how to best support families whose first language is not English, consider these practical strategies for Working With Interpreters. - (HTML version)

Additionally, the use of a Cultural Broker may facilitate building a relationship with families of diverse backgrounds. Cultural brokers are increasingly utilized in the human services and health care fields to bridge gaps between people of different ethnicities and keep pace with community demographics.

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Informing Families of Their Rights and Responsibilities

By law, families must be informed of the rights available to them from referral into and transition out of the Birth to 3 Program. This is called Procedural Safeguards. The National Early Childhood Assistance Center (NECTAC) document,  Assuring the Family's Role on the Early Intervention Team: Explaining Rights and Safeguards , provides tips and suggestions on how to inform families of their rights and responsibilities.

In particular, the figures on pages 3 and 6 of this document provide a step-by-step model and suggested explanations to use with families during each part of the early intervention process. Consider the conversations around procedural safeguards as an ongoing and powerful way to discuss a parent’s integral role on the early intervention team.

Additional Information about procedural safeguards under HFS 90 can be found on the Wisconsin Birth to 3 Training and Technical Assistance web site. Where?

·        Left tool bar: Click on Birth to 3 Basics

·        Click on Birth to 3 Overview (Be sure to review the items under "The Law" and information on mediation and resolving conflict.)

Informing Families of the Availability of Advocacy Services

It is often overwhelming for families to get hooked up to basic services in the beginning of their Birth to 3 experience. The art of service coordination is knowing when and how much information to share. Informing families of the availability of advocacy services is a required and ongoing process throughout your relationship with a family that can happen as early as Phase One. The service coordinator works to advocate with and for families to make sure that the necessary services, resources, and supports are available and accessible.  Advocacy is … Advocacy is Not from Des Jardins (1993), lists what activities might be considered advocacy and what falls outside the definition.

Linking families to advocacy supports can help them to better understand their rights and serve as another source of support. Supports for families may come from within the early intervention program, however, there are numerous other sources of support for parents that result from parent-to parent matching, parent support groups, and state and community services.

Several advocacy organizations in Wisconsin include (click here for a printable version of these resources - (HTML version) to post):

Wisconsin FACETS – 1-877-374-4677:  A Parent Training and Information Center for the state of Wisconsin which offers programs to help parents support and enrich their children's lives.

Great Lakes Intertribal Council – Native American Family Empowerment Center: 1-800-472-7207: The Center provides an opportunity for Native American parents to gain updated knowledge and the confidence and empowerment they need to become effective advocates for their children.

Wisconsin Coalition for Advocacy – 1-800-928-8778: The Wisconsin Coalition for Advocacy (WCA) is a private, nonprofit agency chosen by Wisconsin's Governor to provide protection and advocacy for people with disabilities throughout the state.

ABC for Health – 1-800-585-4222: Advocacy and Benefits Counseling for Health is a Wisconsin-based nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to ensuring health care access for children and families, particularly those with special needs or who are at risk.

Family Voices of Wisconsin – 1-608-233-3726: Family Voices of Wisconsin provides information and training to families on accessing health and community supports and services. You will find a more comprehensive listing of links to Wisconsin advocacy organizations and resources on this website.

Leadership programming and supports for parents include:

Parents As Leaders (PALs) – 1-800-532-3321: PALs is a group of parents (of children with special needs birth to 6) and other caregivers who meet together five times during a year to learn about resources, connect with other families and develop leadership and advocacy skills.

Parents in Partnership – 1-608-266-5194: The Parents In Partnership program (PIP) is a four or five part leadership opportunity for parents, foster parents, or other care givers who have children, 6-14 years old, or youth 13-21 years old with special needs.

Some parent support groups include:

Parent to Parent of Wisconsin – 1-888-266-0028: Parent to Parent of Wisconsin provides the one-to-one connection for parents new to having a child with special needs, experiencing a time of stress or simply seeking support, resources and information with another parent who has been there

Find local parent support groups through your Children With Special Health Care Needs Regional Center and Wisconsin First Step: 1-800-642-7837: Five Regional CSHCN Centers in Wisconsin provide free and confidential assistance to providers and children with special health care needs and their families.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) 1-800-999-6673: NORD provides information on parent support groups and contacts for specific disabilities.

Coordinating the Performance of Evaluations and Assessments

The Birth to 3 service coordinator is often the first person to explain eligibility guidelines to a family and discuss the process for entering the program. Following a referral to the Birth to 3 Program, a child can follow one of three paths to determine if they are eligible for services. 1) A screening can occur to determine the need for an evaluation; 2) the team can determine eligibility based on a diagnosed condition; or 3) an evaluation can be conducted to determine eligibility. Evaluations and assessments are used to determine a child's eligibility for services in the Birth to 3 Program. A review of the Birth to 3 Flow Chart - (HTML version) will delineate these different paths. A list of Diagnosed Conditions also clarifies who is eligible for Birth to 3 services in Wisconsin. There are also specific guidelines to follow when determining eligibility for children who are considered Late Talkers - (HTML version), See the Late Talkers Eligibility Chart - (HTML version).

In summary, you will find that children are found eligible for Wisconsin’s Birth to 3 Program because of:

An awareness of the differences between an evaluation and an assessment is important, as well as knowing what qualified personnel need to be involved on the Early Intervention and IFSP teams, and how eligibility for services is determined. This is explained in the Assessment and HFS 90 slide show. Additional Resources available on "best practice" in assessment and evaluation are on the Wisconsin Birth to 3 Training and Technical Assistance web site. Where?

·        Left tool bar: Click on Birth to 3 Basics

·        Click on Evaluation and Assessment (see Tips for Parents under the heading “For And About Families”)

The article, Best Practices in Assessment - (HTML version), gives practical tips for professionals on how to prepare for an evaluation and answer families’ questions. Information is also provided in Spanish.

A service coordinator will work with a family to determine appropriate team members for evaluation and participation in the IFSP. Those team members chosen will be determined based on the needs of the child and the family and the services required. The Early Intervention Team (which conducts the initial evaluation) must consist of: 1) at least two qualified personnel from at least two disciplines in the areas of suspected need; 2) the parent(s); 3) the service coordinator (who in some cases may also be one of the “qualified personnel”), and; 4) at least one member of the team must have expertise in the evaluation of typical and atypical development and program planning. (HFS 90)

Much of a service coordinator’s job involves collaborating with other professionals and agencies on teams. Your teams may look differently depending on where you work – some programs contract with several outside agencies for therapy services while other Birth to 3 providers work together on the same team. The service coordinator often functions as team leader.

Check Tips for Planning and Running a Successful Meeting and Ways to Move a Meeting Along to help you improve your skills in this area.

Specific knowledge and expertise is also important when assessing children who do not speak English as their first language. Visit the Culturally & Linguistically Appropriate Services website for support and resources or see the document Early Identification of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children (Aged 0-5) from the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC.)

Following the evaluation, all members of the EI team discuss their findings together, make a joint recommendation and prepare an early intervention team report. The report must include results of the evaluation; a determination of eligibility or non-eligibility and a referral, if the parent requests and consents, to other programs from which the family and child may benefit. See more specific information regarding the EI Team report in HFS 90.

Once eligibility is determined, the EI Team may conduct additional assessments and observations and begin to make recommendations about potential services for a child and family. In early intervention, all families with a child who is eligible or may be eligible for services are entitled to a set of core services at no cost, as outlined in HFS 90:

·        Identification and referral

·        Screening

·        Evaluation

·        Assessment for an eligible child

·        Development of the IFSP for an eligible child and family

·        Service coordination for an eligible child and family

·        Protection of parent and child rights by means of the procedural safeguards.

Service providers and parents may also consider other potential services for a child who is eligible for the program. These services are subject to a cost share based upon parental income. (It is important to understand the parental cost share system and know how to explain it to families. A sample form for determining cost share is located here.) Other early intervention services, as outlined in HFS 90, include:

Additional Information on the professionals who provide some of the above services can be found on the Wisconsin Birth to 3 Training and Technical Assistance web site. Where?

·        Left tool bar: Click on Professional Development/Training, click on Professional Development Information (Under each profession, you will find links to the professional association, licensing requirements, and basic requirements of the profession under the law).

·        Left tool bar: Click on Birth to 3 Basics, click on Health Resources to access information about the role of the pediatrician and nutrition services.

·        Need to search for available providers in your area? You can call toll-free to Wisconsin First Step  1-800-642-7837 (an information and referral service to assist Wisconsin families who have children with special needs) or visit the Public Health Data Base.

Facilitating the Development of the IFSP

Some program teams may move right from the EI Team meeting and determination of eligibility to the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) Team Meeting. Other teams may schedule the IFSP meeting for a later date. The initial IFSP meeting must be conducted within 45 days of the referral for initial evaluation for all children found eligible for early intervention services. To be in compliance with the law, be sure to review the Birth to 3 Timelines - (HTML version). Consider using one of the example checklists - (HTML version) referred to above to help you organize your work. Some programs use an Initial IFSP Checklist. - (HTML version)

In most programs, the service coordinator is responsible for scheduling the IFSP meeting. It is important to schedule the meeting according to the family’s preferences, provide written notice, and ensure team member participation. IFSP meeting discussions will focus on family strengths, concerns, priorities, and resources, as well as family routines. IFSP outcomes will then be developed from needs occurring in the family's routines as well as information learned from evaluations and assessments of the child's current level of functioning. Further information on the IFSP document and its content is available in Unit 3 of this on-line learning module.

In addition to the professionals who may provide the above services, the family may elect to have additional members attend the IFSP meeting. They can include, among others:

It is important to know how to encourage participation in team meetings, particularly by parents. Resources available to help you are available on the Wisconsin Birth to 3 Training and Technical Assistance web site. Where?

·        Left tool bar: Click on Birth to 3 Basics

·        Click on Service Coordination, under Additional Resources and Tools

o       Techniques for encouraging participation in meetings

Application Station: Family-Based Assessment
One of the most important jobs of a service coordinator is to build a good relationship with the family. Take some time to understand what the "best practice" approaches are for assisting families in identifying their strengths, concerns, priorities, and resources. Complete Application Station: Family-Based Assessment to find out how.

 These modules were developed from a combination of materials, including:

1)      Pathways Service Coordination Project, Waisman Center-University of Wisconsin-Madison, funded by a number of grants from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. These materials were developed and field tested for several years within Wisconsin and several other states throughout the nation, leading to these publications: Pathways Trail Mix: A Collection of Ideas and Training Activities in Early Intervention Service Coordination (1999); Pathways in Early Intervention Service Coordination: A Video & Companion Guide (1996); and Pathways: A Training and Resource Guide for Enhancing Skills in Early Intervention Service Coordination (1996)

2)      Wisconsin Personnel Development Project/Birth to 3 RESource Training materials posted on the Birth to 3 Training and Technical Assistance Website

3)      Portage Project, CESA 5 Training Materials

4)      Materials and forms created by Wisconsin County Birth to 3 Programs

5)      Resources available on the Internet that have been developed by other programs throughout the country.