Family Directed Assessment

Family directed assessments under Part C must be designed to determine the resources, priorities, and concerns of the FAMILY and to identify the supports and services necessary to enhance the family's capacity to meet the developmental needs of their child. 

Participation in a family directed assessment is voluntary on the part of the family. 

If a family directed assessment takes place the assessment must: 

• be conducted by qualified personnel; 

• be based on information provided by the family through an (1) assessment tool and also through a (2) personal interview with family members who participated in the assessment; 

• and incorporate the family's description of its resources, priorities, and concerns related to enhancing the child's development.

The information obtained through the family directed assessment is vital to helping other team members understand family dynamics, routines, and activities in order to assist the family. Whether and how much information a family chooses to share is voluntary. 

However, it will have more meaning to families and the team if the service coordinator explains to the family how this information will guide the team’s intervention work. The more insight the team has about the family along the way, the better the team will be able to link strategies to support outcomes. 

This information can be helpful in addressing or identifying any unmet medical needs or needs for community services and supports. This information also highlights strengths and supports that the family already has in place that will be helpful later in developing outcomes. Keep in mind that you can update this information at any time as the family’s needs and circumstances change. 

EXAMPLE: A family identifying that they would like more information about their child's diagnosis could be a potential outcome in the Child and Family Outcomes section of the IFSP. 

EXAMPLE: A family identified the need for childcare assistance, the service coordinator may identify this in the Needed Medical and Other Services section of the IFSP, along with steps taken to link the family to the identified program or support. 

EcoMapping helps the provider determine the family's informal, intermediate, and formal supports. 

The people living with the child are drawn in the innermost square or circle. The thickness of the lines connecting the family to the supports indicates three levels of support: extremely supportive, quite supportive, and present. Dotted lines represent stress.

The EcoMap is important for indicating to the family that we care about more than only the child in early intervention. It is also important because informal supports are a big predictor of child and family well-being. Finally, early interventionists "whip out the EcoMap" as the first resource when helping families arrive at solutions.

Identifying Outcomes

Identifying the family concerns and priorities helps the IFSP team:

• develop functional outcomes and 

• identify the services, supports and strategies to accomplish those outcomes. 

The identification of family resources helps the team:

•  know what family supports and strengths are already in place to address the identified outcomes. 

Determining Services and Supports

Because children learn best in the context of everyday activities, families are asked to describe their daily routines and activities in terms of what interests and engages their child (favorite people and preferred toys and activities), what's going well and what challenges they face. This will help the providers and parents determine the:

• routines in which to embed interventions and learning opportunities 

• personalize learning opportunities that will be highly motivating and engaging, and build on the child's strengths. 

 EXAMPLE: If a child loves bath time, it may be a natural opportunity to encourage the learning and use of more words, improving balance, reaching for and grasping toys, etc. 

Community Resources and Supports

Often families would like to participate in new activities or use community resources but need help to include their child with special needs. Providers can help families engage in new activities that will have natural learning opportunities for their child by :

• Accompanying the family on an outing

• Problem solving with families

• Preparing and supporting community providers are examples of ways