Familiarize yourself with your child’s Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). You will be better prepared to support your child when you review the IFSP draft before meeting with the IFSP team for the first time.
- Read the IFSP draft before the IFSP meeting: Be sure to ask for a copy for the IFSP draft with enough time to look it over before the meeting.
- The amount of time a family needs for review also might depend on whether the document is translated into a language besides English. Under state and federal law, parents have the right to information about their child’s education in a language they can understand.
- Review your child’s present levels and needs.
- Read the evaluation data about your child’s current strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, and developmental area.
- Read the family priorities and concerns for accuracy.
- The Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is a whole family plan, with the child’s primary caregivers as major contributors to its development and implementation. Carefully read the sections that refer to family priorities and concerns. Write down anything you would like to add or change.
- The IFSP includes goals, and progress is monitored to determine whether the plan is supporting appropriate outcomes. The plan is reviewed every six months and is updated at least once a year but can be reviewed at any time by request of parents or other team members.
- As you think of additional concerns and priorities, list them here to return to at the next meeting. Consider requesting a meeting before the six-month review for urgent or time-sensitive goals.
- Review any recommended resources.
- Explore the resources provided in the IFSP and make note of those you want to return to:
- Consider the major results/outcomes expected of your child.
- Note any that you may require breaking down a skill into smaller tasks to learn (or “chunking”) and any questions or concerns you may have about specific goals.
- Identify the services, including frequency and duration.
- If an infant or toddler is eligible, early intervention services are designed to meet the child’s individual needs. Read through the IFSP and identify your child’s services.
- Review the location (s) of service delivery.
- Services are typically provided in the child’s home or other natural environment, such as daycare. They may also be offered in a medical hospital, a clinic, a school, or another community space. Any services provided outside the child’s natural environment require a statement explaining the rationale for the placement.
- Identify the source of funding or payment for services.
- Washington State provides most early intervention services at no cost to families of eligible children. Some services covered by insurance are billed to a child’s health insurance provider, with the signed consent of a family caregiver. The early intervention system may not use health care insurance (private or public) without express, written consent.
- Part C of the IDEA requires states to provide the following services at no cost to families: Child Find (outreach and evaluation), assessments, IFSP development and review, and service coordination.
- Save your Family Resource Coordinator (FRC’s) information.