Unit 2/ Phase 1: Getting Started

Application Station:
Getting to Know Families

The following activities are designed to assist you in reflecting upon the information that is contained in this learning module and applying it to your practice. Below are a variety of activities to allow you to choose those that fit your needs, learning styles, and time commitments. If you like an activity, or find it particularly helpful, please feel free to share the information with your colleagues.

  1. As service coordinator, you are likely the first person to review Birth to 3 eligibility guidelines, parental cost share and procedural safeguards with a family. What is important to know and share regarding these concepts? What family-friendly language do you/will you use? Ask your supervisor what is expected from your program. Ask a co-worker what works well for them.
  1. Explore family-based assessment "best practice". Within the Identifying Family Concerns, Priorities & Resources Guide, strategies and tools are listed that can be used to assist you in approaching a family and working with them to identify their strengths, concerns, priorities, and resources. Consider this list of ten selected tools. Choose 2-3 different strategies or tools that you can review and possibly use with a family. Reflect on how each strategy or tool worked, or could work, for you.
  1. Read a story and reflect upon the IFSP process and the “Getting Started” phase with a family that has recently been referred to a Birth to 3 Program.
  1. Read Joni's story about one mother's early intervention experience and gain perspective on the importance of helping families to identify their priorities. Discuss the story with your supervisor or co-workers.
  1. Working with another person, use the Listening for Strengths, Concerns, Priorities, and Resources exercise from Pathways Trail Mix.

NOTE: This would be a good time to sit down with your supervisor or mentor to discuss what you have read and address any questions you may have. Use your Browser’s back button to return to the table of contents and move on to Phase 2. Or, you may wish to study the process and product of the IFSP in more detail in Unit 3.

 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.