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Early On® Process for Families
Service Coordination
What is service coordination?
Service coordination, as defined by Part C of IDEA, is an active, ongoing process. It consists of the activities carried out by a service coordinator to assist and enable an eligible child and the child’s family to receive the rights, procedural safeguards, and services that are authorized to be provided under Part C. Each child eligible under Part C and the child’s family must be provided with one service coordinator. To be effective, the service coordinator needs to work in collaboration with the family and the other early intervention service providers.
Service coordination is a multi-faceted task. Service coordination can range from a relatively simple function to one which is extremely complicated and time-consuming. A service coordinator’s responsibilities can range from the relatively simple connection of a family to “Women, Infants, and Children” (WIC), a Medicaid supported program for supplemental nutrition, to assisting a family whose child is technology dependent in obtaining home nursing care. For Early On to meet the needs of families successfully, the service coordinators must make linkages among themselves, families they work with, the different disciplines providing early intervention supports and services, the participating public agencies, and their community support systems. Service coordination helps families to understand and navigate the complex system of early intervention services and supports.
Federal law lists seven functions of service coordinators in their work with infants and toddlers who have special needs and their families. These include:
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Coordinating the performance of evaluations and assessments; |
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Facilitating and participating in the development, review, and evaluation of Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs); |
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Assisting families in identifying available service providers; |
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Coordinating and monitoring the delivery of available services; |
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Informing families of advocacy services; |
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Coordinating with medical and health providers; |
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Facilitating the development of a transition plan to preschool services, if appropriate. |
Who should be the family’s service coordinator?
The family selects a service coordinator. Typically this is an individual with whom they have already had contact and feel comfortable, such as their most frequent service provider. It could be any one of their service providers or another parent of a child with special needs who is very familiar with the early intervention system, including regulations under Part C of IDEA and Michigan’s Procedural Safeguard Standards which protect the rights of families in Early On.
| Initial or intake service coordination: |
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The service coordinator is the single point of entry into the early intervention system. |
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The initial service coordinator, usually dedicated, (not a service provider), provides intake services and facilitates all activities during the first 45 calendar days or until the IFSP meeting. |
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At the IFSP meeting, initial service coordinators may be appointed as ongoing service coordinators and continue in this capacity with some families. |
| Dedicated service coordination: |
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The service coordinator primarily focuses on service coordination. She or he does not provide early intervention services. |
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Service coordinators may be employed by an early intervention program. |
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Service coordinators may be independent of the early intervention program, i.e., be employed by another agency, program, or by a private provider. |
| Early interventionist and service coordination: |
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The primary service provider also has service coordination responsibilities. |
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The home visitor provides both intervention services and service coordination to a given caseload of families. |
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All members of the multidisciplinary team have direct intervention responsibilities and a selected caseload of families for whom they provide service coordination. |
Service Coordination Practices throughout the IFSP Process
No matter which model of service coordination is used, individualized famly service planning is a family-centered, collaborative approach to early intervention. Facilitating the family-centered approach, including providing information to families about supports and services in natural environments, requires service coordinators and providers to consider families as equal partners throughout the IFSP process.
What is meant by the term supports and services? How do we develop supports for families?
Supports are those resources available to families which enable them to strengthen their social networks and better address their needs. Supports help families to build connections with community resources and services and should help communities to develop new resources when needed. Family supports should promote the integration and inclusion of children with disabilities into all aspects of community life.
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