Developing Parent Competence and Confidence - Empowering Early Intervention Parents

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

Developing Parent Competence and Confidence – Empowering Early Intervention Parents Suffolk County, NY Population: 1,474,927 The Suffolk County Department of Health Services’ Early Intervention Program has trained staff and providers in the Routine Based Intervention Model of service provision, in an effort to return to the original intent of Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), a family-centered service model. The Suffolk County Early Intervention Program (EIP) is a program for children from birth to the age of three years with identified developmental delays. This model focuses on therapists coaching parents and caregivers. Therapists have been trained to support and strengthen the parent’s confidence and competence to work with their child and promote learning and development. County Service Coordinators have been taught to write Individual Family Service Plans (IFSPs) that reflect the parent’s concerns and to focus on routines, natural learning opportunities and functional outcomes. The program outlines promoting family confidence, competence, and expectations as parents, taking advantage of already existing community opportunities and allowing children to be a part of their family and community. The devotion of training staff and providers led to an increase in knowledge and understanding to parents and the decision to change early intervention strategies to incorporate the information learned. Over 600 Suffolk County therapists have been trained to utilize this parent coaching model.