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First Steps: Service Coordinator
Unit III Lesson 2: Plan for IFSP
We are ready to start on the service coordinator role in the IFSP process. This includes planning the IFSP meeting and gathering assessment information. First, click here for the bubble chart that explains this process. From the chart these three concepts emerge:
1. Plan and carry out necessary assessment activities needed for IFSP development
2. Develop composition of the IFSP team
3. Plan IFSP development meeting and notify the participants
in writing.
The next step is to review an IFSP team meeting and planning worksheet. Remember that each family is unique and has to be assessed according to their needs. These needs include not only those of the child receiving services but the needs of the family. Think about the purpose of the activities listed, how you would review this with families, and some strategies you could use to ensure the families are involved in the meeting and planning.
IFSP Team Meeting and
Planning Worksheet
IFSP Development
Discuss the IFSP document and development meeting with the family
Develop the agenda for the meeting
Discuss the time, place, and length of the meeting
Discuss who will facilitate the meeting and who will document the discussion
Assign ongoing service coordinator
Complete development of the IFSP
Identify providers, if possible, through service provider matrix
Obtain informed, written parental consent to proceed and implement IFSP
Process CFO authorization for IFSP services
Assist family in identifying needed providers, if not already accomplished, and give copies of IFSP to family, physicians, and providers
Let’s spend some time looking at what Part C of the law says about planning the IFSP meeting and gathering assessment information. Please read, Part C, Sections 303.342—303.343 below.
Part C, Sections
303.342—303.343
Sec. 303.342
Procedures for IFSP development, review, and evaluation.
(a) Meeting to develop initial IFSP—timelines.
For a child who has been evaluated for the first time and determined to be eligible, a meeting to develop the initial IFSP must be conducted within the 45-day time period in Sec. 303.321(e).
(b) Periodic review.
1. A review of the IFSP for a child and the child’s family must be conducted every 6 months or more frequently if conditions warrant, or if the family requests such a review. The purpose of the periodic review is to determine—
i. The degree to which progress toward achieving the outcomes is being made; and
ii. Whether modification or revision of the outcomes or services is necessary.
2. The review may be carried out by a meeting or by another means that is acceptable to the parents and other participants.
(c) Annual meeting to evaluate the IFSP.
A meeting must be conducted on at least an annual basis to evaluate the IFSP for a child and the child’s family, and, as appropriate, to revise its provisions. The results of any current evaluations conducted under Sec. 303.322(c), and other information available from the ongoing assessment of the child and family, must be used in determining what services are needed and will be provided.
(d) Accessibility and convenience of meetings.
1. IFSP meetings must be conducted—
i. In settings and at times that are convenient to families; and
ii. In the native language of the family or other mode of communication used by the family, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.
2. Meeting arrangements must be made with, and written notice provided to, the family and other participants early enough before the meeting date to ensure that they will be able to attend.
(e) Parental consent.
The contents of the IFSP must be fully explained to the parents and informed written consent from the parents must be obtained prior to the provision of early intervention services described in the plan. If the parents do not provide consent with respect to a particular early intervention service or withdraw consent after first providing it, that service may not be provided. The early intervention services to which parental consent is obtained must be provided.
(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1820-0550)
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1436)
Note: The requirement for the annual evaluation incorporates the periodic review process. Therefore, it is necessary to have only one separate periodic review each year (i.e., 6 months after the initial and subsequent annual IFSP meetings), unless conditions warrant otherwise.
Because the needs of infants and toddlers change so rapidly during the course of a year, certain evaluation procedures may need to be repeated before conducting the periodic reviews and annual evaluation meetings in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section.
Summary: The initial IFSP process is a cooperative effort by the service coordinator and the family to define the boundaries that will provide services, or the review that will determine that services are not needed. Services are dependent on these rules being followed.