Services
The Bottom Line
Early intervention services:
Must be provided in settings that are natural or typical for a same-aged infant or toddler without a disability to the maximum extent appropriate AND
May be provided in other settings only when the services cannot be achieved satisfactorily in a natural environment.
Natural Environment
Early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities are provided:
To the maximum extent appropriate, in natural environments; and
In settings other than the natural environment that are most appropriate, as determined by the parent and the IFSP Team, only when early intervention services cannot be achieved satisfactorily in a natural environment.
Examples of Natural Environments:
family homes
community child care centers
church or synagogue play groups
public parks and pools
libraries
grocery and department stores
fast food restaurants
libraries
family vehicles
public transportation
birthday and holiday parties
movies
barbers
dentists
festivals and fairs
Who Decides Where Services Will Be Provided?
The IFSP team determines the appropriate setting for providing early intervention services to a child and their family.
The IFSP team may determine that a service will not be provided in a natural environment ONLY when early intervention services cannot be achieved satisfactorily in a natural environment.
Part C Services
Early Intervention services include but are not limited to:
Assistive technology device and services
Audiological services
Family training, counseling and home visits
Health services
Medical services
Nursing services
Nutrition services
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Psychological services
Service coordination services
Sign language and cued language services
Social work services
Special instruction
Speech-language pathology services
Transportation services and related costs
Vision services
Tips for Managing the Frequency & Length Discussion
Starting the Conversation
Explain to parents: Paint the picture of how Early Intervention works during your earliest contacts with families and again during the IFSP development meeting.
Centered around family: Remember that intervention means learning in all settings and contexts that are important to the child and family.
Start with 1x/week and be flexible: Be flexible in how you think about the frequency and length of EI services. Use 1x/week as a starting point and consider, as a team, if the child and family need support more or less often. Same with length of services.
Including the Family
New strategies: Ask the family how often they feel they would need support by someone to give them new strategies and intervention ideas.
Practice strategies: Ask the family how much time they think they’ll need to practice using intervention strategies with their child between visits.
Family Directed Assessment: Look at the family’s goals and priorities and determine services from there.
EI/family life balance: Consider with parents/guardians how to balance what they need with the many other things going on in their life and how they will fit our visits into their routines.
Other Things to Consider
Change in development: Consider the child’s pace of learning and how often his/her development is likely to change.
Child care: Include child care providers in the development and discussion of early intervention strategies.
Outcomes first: Don’t ever discuss service, frequency or length until AFTER the outcomes are developed. Outcomes should drive the decision making and be based on family priorities and concerns. Outcomes don’t belong to a discipline, they belong to the family.
Documentation
Projected Start Date:
Enter the date that the specific service can reasonably expect to begin.
Allow time in this projection for a parent to review the IFSP and provide informed consent in writing.
Services may actually begin as soon as consent is received.
This date should not be changed to reflect the actual start date of services.
Note: The start date for services as recorded in the student’s MARSS record is that date at which both the parent has signed the IFSP and the special education services have started.
Projected End Date:
SpEd Forms does include a field for the end date of services, and it needs to be completed in order to finalize the IFSP. However, the end date is not visible on the printed version of the IFSP. Because the printed version is what MDE would review for state monitoring, the end date is not a compliance concern.
If you are writing an IFSP following an annual IFSP meeting, listed services begin 14 days after the date the PWN is sent to the parent and they typically run for a duration of one year. Service Coordinators should indicate the end date of services as one of the following:
For children that are UNDER 2 years old: one calendar year after the listed start date of services
OR
For children that are OVER 2 years old: the day before their third birthday
i.e. If a child turns 3 on 3/10/2023, the end date of services would be 3/09/2023
Anticipated Duration:
Enter the anticipated duration for services.
For many children, the anticipated duration will be one year
For children who are already two years of age or older when the IFSP is being written or revised, the anticipated duration of a service should not extend beyond the child’s third birthday.
Length, Frequency, and Intensity:
Enter the length of time that the service is provided during each session, the number of days or sessions (frequency) that a service will be provided, and whether the service is provided on an individual or group basis (intensity).
Method:
Enter information on how a service will be provided. Early intervention services are provided in multiple ways. Below are examples of how services can be provided:
Direct services: given by a teacher or a related professional and provide instruction given to the child or family.
Consultative services: provided by a teacher or related-services professional to another teacher, related-services professional, or child care provider. Consultative services include cooperative planning and modification and adaptation of materials, equipment, or curriculum. It can also include direct child contact to monitor, observe, and follow up.
Transdisciplinary services: the primary service provider also has available a team of other professionals who can be called upon to discuss your child‘s developmental progress and appropriate services when needed.
Multidisciplinary services: two providers may make joint visits to the family.
If choosing this type of service, also fill in "joint with" box
Actual Location:
Provide the setting in which the service will be provided (e.g., home, child care, ECFE).
For each early intervention service that is provided in an environment that is NOT the natural environment for the child, provide a justification as to why the service was not provided in the child’s natural environment.
Funding Source if Other Than School:
For any service that is not funded through the education system, provide the source of funding. For example, when a public health nurse provides nursing services through the IFSP team process, the funding source could be reported to be Public Health. Similarly, if the county provides respite care that meets the definition of an early intervention service, the funding source may be County Social Services.
NOTE: This is a very rare situation. If a situation arises when you think you would do this, contact your Early Childhood Services Coordinator.
If IFSP team determines that the services can not be provided in the natural environment (natural environment is explained at the top of this page):
Check the box: Justification for service provided in location other than the natural environment
In the box titled, Environment in which service(s) are provided: describe the settings in which each listed service is provided.
Document the justification for those services in the box titled, *Team explanation of why service(s) cannot be provided in the natural environment.
In this section, the IFSP team is to explain how and why the team determined that the child’s outcomes could not be met if the early intervention services were provided in the child’s natural environment.
Explain how services provided in this segregated setting will be generalized to support the child’s ability to function in his/her natural environment or in the least restrictive environment for children nearing three years old.
*If any of the services identified in the Part C Services Early Intervention grid are provided in locations other than the natural environment, they must be addressed in this section of the IFSP.
List each individual early intervention service that is provided in an environment other than a natural environment.
Important note: For children who receive services in multiple environments, the team must report in MARSS the environment in which the child receives the majority of his/her early intervention services. The IFSP does not include a space to document the setting code as this code may change during the time the IFSP is implemented. The appropriate setting should be determined by the service coordinator and communicated to the MARSS reporter for the early intervention program.
Needed Medical and Other Services Listed
Explanation
The IFSP must identify medical and other services the child OR family needs or is receiving through other sources, but which are neither required nor funded under Part C of IDEA.
If the identified medical and other services are not currently being provided, include a description of the steps the service coordinator or family may take to assist the child and family in securing these other services. For example, since childcare is neither required nor funded under Part C of IDEA, the IFSP team may identify childcare, if appropriate, as an ‘other service’ in this section of the IFSP.
Documentation
In the box titled, Needed Medical and Other Services, enter any needed medical and other services the child or family needs or is receiving through other sources, but are neither funded nor required under Part C of IDEA in the space provided on the grid.
In the box titled, Steps To Be Taken To Secure Services (if services are not currently being provided), enter a description of the steps to be taken by the service coordinator or the family to secure the services. Including other services on the IFSP provides a comprehensive picture of the child’s total needs. The service coordinator to assist the family to access identified needed services, as appropriate, and to explore financial assistance for these services if necessary.
If there are no needs for medical or other services for the child or the child’s family check the box that indicates this topic was discussed and that there are no needs at the time the IFSP was developed.