EI
Terms
Terms
This Four-letter document contains the family’s outcomes and authorized EI services.
IFSP (What does these letters stand for?)
This meeting is held every three months to review progress, concerns, outcomes, and services.
What is the Quarterly Review Meeting (MDE meeting is every 10 months)
Notes:
- 6 month reviews and MDEs are required.
- IFSPs are not allow to be extended
- Providers should be aware of expired plans by paying attention to teamsync
What is Melanie's role with our Kids and Family Admin team
Melanie is the Early Intervention Coordinator for Kids and Family Early Intervention. She helps manage and organize the referral process from the time a case is received through the start of services.
She is the person who receives new referrals, sends referral information out to providers, and follows up to make sure services have started. Melanie also helps with filing and uploading documentation, including ECOs, and completes Good Faith Letters when needed.
If you need help finding contact information for a Service Coordinator or locating other referral details, Melanie can assist with that as well.
The caregiver brought a new toy, but the child only wants the empty box. According to EI best practice, this is what you should use.
The Box. . .
* Give us one example of what you can do with the box
A caregiver asks, “Why do I need to participate? Aren’t you here to work with my child?” Explain your role to the caregiver.
My role is to support both you and your child. I’ll model and practice strategies with you during everyday routines so you can continue using them between visits. You spend much more time with your child than I do, so your participation makes an important difference.
What is the ER? (what is it, not what does the letters stand for)
An official document that details a child's developmental strengths and needs, determines their eligibility for early intervention services, and outlines specific recommendations for support.
This letter documents the agency’s reasonable attempts to contact or schedule with a family.
The Good Faith Effort (GFE)
What is Miriam's roll at Kids and Family?
Overall, Miriam helps keep the behind-the-scenes pieces organized so that billing, personnel records, training documentation, audits, and other required agency information stay up to date.
Miriam oversees HR and billing for Kids and Family Early Intervention and helps keep many of the agency’s administrative systems organized. She manages billing-related responsibilities, including Team Sync and timesheets, and she also supports the new-hire process by collecting clearances and other required personnel documents.
She works closely with Kyah to prepare for agency, county, state, and federal audits by helping gather, organize, and maintain the necessary records.
Miriam also supports Tiffany with staff training documentation by collecting certificates for personnel files and helping providers upload their training information into the PA Keys Registry.
In addition to those responsibilities, Miriam handles several other administrative tasks that support our Early Intervention program. For example, completed ASQ forms should be sent to her so they can be uploaded into the PEIDS system.
The caregiver says, “He never does that for me!” This is your cue to stop demonstrating and give the caregiver an opportunity to do this.
Practice the strategy
The teacher says, “Can you take him to another room and work with him alone?” what would you say?
Early Intervention services should occur in the child’s natural environment and during everyday classroom routines. I’ll work alongside you and the child during activities such as play, circle time, meals, and transitions. I can model strategies, give you an opportunity to practice them, and provide feedback so you can continue using the strategies when I’m not here.
These are the familiar activities—such as meals, dressing, play, and bedtime—in which EI strategies should be practiced.
What are daily routines?
A provider who delivers additional time or makeup services must. . .
... document the reason and adjust future units to remain within the authorized service amount.
Team Sync tracks authorization by the session, not by the number of units billed. For example, if a child is authorized for a one-hour session but you provide and bill for 1 hour and 15 minutes, Team Sync will only deduct the scheduled one-hour session.
Because of this, providers are responsible for monitoring their authorized units and adjusting future sessions as needed to make sure they stay within the total amount of service authorized.
Who should you let know if you are expecting a new referral?
Melanie
*If there is an office closure please tell Kyah
What is the one toy or activity guaranteed to be more exciting to a toddler than every carefully planned activity in your therapy bag?
. . .(no wrong answer) bubbles, tickles, achoo, chase, youtube, singing, etc
How would you explain to to a caregiver Expressive vs. Receptive language language?
Expressive and receptive language are the two main parts of how a toddler communicates, where receptive language is taking information in and expressive language is putting information out.
Receptive Language (The Input)
What it is: How your toddler understands what you say.
Expressive Language (The Output)
How it works: It is using words, sounds, signs, or gestures to send a message.
What is the difference in caregiver coaching vs. direct therapy model?
Caregiver coaching focuses on training the parent or family member to use developmental strategies during daily routines, whereas a direct therapy model has the professional work one-on-one with the child while the caregiver watched.
Unlike an IEP, which focuses heavily on educational goals, an IFSP must include outcomes centered on this. . .
Family (Outcomes focus on family routines and priorities).
This Kids & Family team member can help connect families with resources for financial assistance, diapers, food, clothing, and other essential needs.
social worker
You arrive at daycare, and the child’s nose is running, one shoe is missing, and circle time has already become chaos. What is the unofficial EI provider survival skill you need most?
(no wrong answer) flexibility, patience, humor, prayer!
How would you explain a DBA to a caregiver?
"A developmental-behavioral assessment is an extra tool and another way for us to better understand your child and make sure they are getting the right support. It is not a test, and there is no passing or failing. During the assessment, a specialist spends time learning about your child through play, observation, caregiver input, and everyday routines.
The goal is to identify your child’s strengths as well as any areas where they may need extra support, such as communication, play, movement, behavior, or managing emotions. We then use that information to help develop recommendations and a plan that supports your child’s growth and progress.
What does FGRBI stand for?
FGRBI stands for Family Guided Routines Based Intervention.
FGRBI stands for Family Guided Routines Based Intervention. It is an evidence-based approach used in Early Intervention to help young children learn and make progress during the everyday activities they already do with their families.
The “family guided” part means that parents and caregivers are active partners in the process. Providers work alongside families by listening to their priorities, modeling strategies, problem-solving together, and coaching caregivers on ways to support their child throughout the week.
The “routines based” part means that learning happens within natural routines such as meals, getting dressed, bath time, play, going outside, or getting ready for bed. Instead of focusing only on what happens during the therapy session, strategies are built into activities that are already meaningful and familiar to the child and family.
The overall goal is to help families feel confident using simple strategies throughout their daily routines so children have many opportunities to practice new skills between visits.
True or False: A medical diagnosis automatically qualifies an infant or toddler for Early Intervention services in Philadelphia, even without a documented 25% developmental delay.
True. (Children with diagnosed physical or mental conditions with a high probability of developmental delay automatically qualify).
When should you reach out to Aaron Homnick?
When you want to say hi, send him a letter to say how great your supervisors are, and or thank him for the holiday gift.
Please use the Kids and Family administrative team as a resource for problem-solving and support. Because Kids and Family has three different departments, each administrator has a primary role, but we also work together to make sure providers get the help they need.
Kyah Nixon, Early Intervention Director, and Tiffany Jackson-Williams, Clinical Supervisor, can assist with Early Intervention and Kids and Family policies, procedures, clinical questions, and provider support. Tiffany also helps coordinate provider training and training-related requirements.
Melanie, our Early Intervention Coordinator, manages the Birth–3 referral process and can assist with referrals, referral information, service start dates, Service Coordinator information, Good Faith Letters, and other referral-related questions.
Miriam supports HR, billing, Team Sync, timesheets, personnel documentation, training records, and other administrative needs.
Esther is the Agency Manager and helps oversee operations across Kids and Family’s three departments. Because her role is agency-wide, she does not typically handle Birth–3/Early Intervention-specific tasks. Those questions should first be directed to the EI administrative team.
At Kids and Family, we are an all-hands-on-deck team. While everyone has their primary responsibilities, we support one another and will make sure you get connected to the right person if you’re not sure who to ask.
this question isn't very FUN. . .
This specific legal notice must be signed by parents in Pennsylvania to give consent for the placement and services outlined in a preschool IEP.
NOREP (Notice of Recommended Educational Placement)
How would you explain Occupational Therapist/Therapy to a caregiver?
Pediatric occupational therapy helps young children build the skills they need to participate in everyday routines and activities. For young children, their daily “occupation” includes things like playing, learning, eating, getting dressed, using their hands, managing sensory needs, and interacting with others.
When a child is having difficulty with some of these everyday activities, an occupational therapist, or OT, can help. The OT looks at what may be making the task hard and uses play-based strategies and practice to help the child become more successful, independent, and confident.