1. Did you hear there is a new IFSP coming out?

2. Try Not to Panic!

3. Why Integrate the Child Outcomes Summary into the IFSP?
The three outcomes reflect the Mission of Early Intervention:
Part C early intervention builds upon and provides supports and resources to assist family members and caregivers to enhance children’s learning and development through everyday learning opportunities.
Mission and Key Principles of Early Intervention Services .pdf
Seven Key Principles Looks Like/Doesn’t Look Like pdf

4. More reasons why…… Makes the discussion more meaningful for families
They are a framework or a lens for viewing child functioning and planning intervention
Reorganizing our IFSP around them reduces duplicity
Saves time!
Will connect assessment and evaluation information
Staff have entered into a stronger partnership with families, sharing the responsibility for the evaluation narrative with the families to provide the information that isn’t collected by the assessment tool.

5. We will still ….. We will now….
Collect information within the framework of the three outcome areas and document it on Section A of the RI/ECSE COSF.
Section A is not considered part of the IFSP but more as a worksheet and should be kept in the file evaluation protocols.
Section A will be more like notes than narrative. Collecting information by outcome will be the first step in the assessment process.
Gather functional information through conversations with families throughout the intake and evaluation process from multiple sources
Complete all of the components of an initial IFSP meeting

6. We will no longer …... Complete the Child Routines and Activities
Pages 3 and 4 of the old IFSP have been eliminated because the RBI will provide a detailed view of routines.
If an agency created an approved tool for pages 3 and 4; this will no longer be required.
No longer do a separate COSF form

7. We have tools to help you:
The RI Functional Outcomes Discussion Sheet can be used as a tool to facilitate discussion related to the three global outcomes.
The following age anchoring tools are available for reference:
OSEP Outcomes Alignment with the RIELDS (Rhode Island Early Learning and Development Standards)
Rhode Island Early Intervention Child Outcomes Developmental Guidance
Larimer County Age Anchoring Tool for outcomes 1, 2 and 3
All have been aligned with the Global Child Outcomes

8. Process for Obtaining Functional Information
Obtain information from multiple sources
Inquire prior to intake whether the child spends significant time with other caregivers. Explain to the family the importance of gathering information from others who know the child.
Ask the family to arrange for that person to participate as part of the team in discussions about the child’s functioning and how the child’s functioning compares to peers. This may occur at intake or any time prior to the evaluation
In preparation for discussions about child functioning parents and other caregivers can be provided with Guiding Questions for Families or Guiding Questions for Teachers and other Caregivers.
If that person cannot participate in person an alternative method must be provided for obtaining the individual’s input to ensure a complete picture of the child’s development and functioning.

9. Family Directed Assessment
The ECO map and additional question has been included on Page 2A of the IFSP.
Together with the Concerns from Pages 1-2, meet the requirements of a Family Directed Assessment (to obtain the families description of their concerns, priorities and resources related to enhancing their child’s development).
The ECO Map provides an opportunity for rich discussion related to resources of the family.
Later on in the IFSP process the Routines Based Interview will provide additional information related to the concerns and priorities of the family. This will be used only for children that qualify for early intervention.

10. So what will this process look like?
The entry RI/ECSE Child Outcomes Summary Form Section B has been embedded into the IFSP (Pages 6-8) as the Assessment Summary and RI COS and will serve as both the COSF and the Evaluation Summary write up. There are two versions of this – one sorted by skill level and one in a narrative form

11. “Eval write up”
The Evaluation write up is now organized around the three child outcomes.
Functional information previously written in each domain will now be written by outcome.
Why? Because the three child outcomes are integrated across domains, how the child functions in all developmental areas will covered by the three outcomes.
The 5 domains of development must be incorporated throughout Outcomes 1,2 and 3. (not all necessarily all within one outcome area)

12. Organizing Functional Information
The information in each outcome should be organized by the categories of Age Expected (AE), Immediate Foundational (IF) and Foundational (F) skills.
Child functioning will be documented within the applicable categories.
Within each outcome, the child’s strengths (how the child is successful within the outcome) and needs (how a child may be having difficulty and how it is impacting the child's functioning with the outcome) must be documented.

13. Summarize Functional Information
The IFSP Team including the parent will select the summary statement (overall statement of functioning) for each outcome using Section C of the RI COSF (page 9 in the new IFSP).
At entry, the summary statement will be chosen after the RBI and prior to signing the IFSP.

14. Why Routines Based Interview (RBI)?
Research shows that RBI is an innovative method to determine a family’s functional goals or outcomes, otherwise known as target behaviors.
Family priorities need to be reflected in the IFSP
Outcomes should be broad enough to cover a variety of ways of displaying the target behavior yet narrow enough to know what is really being addressed
The strategies or action steps should aim directly at the identified functional problem
If applicable, the process for developing IFSP's needs to include caregivers other than the family such as childcare providers when developing outcomes
Routines–Based Early Intervention – Supporting Young Children and Their Families. R.A. McWilliam,

15. Information from RBI
New information gained from the RBI must be considered prior to selecting a summary statement in each outcome area.
Information which impacts the picture of the child’s level of functioning must be:
Included in the applicable outcome area and designated an AE, IF or F skill. (ie. We would add to what is already written on COS Form B)
Remember: the RBI is not done for children not eligible or who are over 33 months.

16. Who is expected to be doing RBI?
All persons trained in the RBI must do the RBI as part of the IFSP process; persons not yet trained in the RBI will complete a new document Daily Activities and Routines, based on concepts of the RBI in order to obtain information related to daily routines which will inform the outcome development process.

17. Determining eligibility
When making the eligibility decision, teams must discuss the child’s functioning and development compared to same age peers based on multiple sources of information (Section A done using Guiding Questions) and using Section B of COS as the framework for discussion with family for eligibility purposes.

18. What needs to be documented to determine eligibility?
For eligible children, describe the child’s functioning using the language of the child outcomes process (age expected, immediate foundational and foundational skills or their meaning such as “ like a younger child” or “like a much younger child”).
It is permissible for the full narrative (COS B) to be written after the IFSP/Eligibility meeting. However it is required that enough information is written on Section B at the Eligibility/IFSP meeting to support eligibility.

19. What if a child is not found to be eligible?
The RI Assessment Summary/RI COSF is completed for children not eligible.
Is it expected that a brief summary of the child’s skills functioning would be summarized and largely would fall under the category “age expected”.
The summary MUST specifically address the reason for referral and initial concerns.
IFSP Pages 6-8 (COS B) as well as the Evaluation Results page of the IFSP must be completed and given to the family.
The parent MUST be informed of their procedural safeguards and their right to dispute the decision.

20. What other changes are in the new IFSP?
The cover page now requires the date for when the RBI was completed
Page 1 Your Family, Support and Resources: This page has been redesigned and includes general questions related to reason for referral, health history, sleep, nutrition and whether lead testing has been completed. These questions will help to identify possible developmental concerns.
Page 2 Your Family, Support and Resources (cont’d): This page has also been redesigned and asks about general daily activities. It is not meant to be as in depth as the RBI but rather to gather enough information about developmental concerns to determine eligibility. There is also a question related to child care (a new field for entry into Welligent). There is also a question inquiring about any cultural considerations the family would like to share.

21. What other changes are in the new IFSP?
Page 2A Your Family, Support and Resources Eco Map: This page has been designed to fulfill the requirements of a family directed assessment. There is room here to record the EcoMap (although providers are not required to use this page for the EcoMap)
Because of RI’s definition of developmental delay focuses on child and family functioning, an additional question related to other circumstances which may impact child/family functioning such as trauma, homelessness, illness, depression has been added.
Pages 3 & 4: The Hearing and Vision Screenings: have been embedded in to the IFSP.
Page 5: Rhode Island Early Intervention Evaluation Results: is essentially the same, however, one slight change includes the requirement to indicate the standard score in the results column if the score is less than 1.5 standard deviations. Previously this was left blank, now you must put <1.5 SD if this is the case.

22. What other changes are in the new IFSP?
Page 6-8 Assessment Summary and RI COS B pages:
These pages should describe how the child uses his/her skills across domains in meaningful ways related to the 2 global child outcomes. It should:
- include examples of things the child does and does not yet do and a sense of the mix of skills observed
- include information from multiple sources and observations across settings
- include specific examples of the child’s functioning related to the content for each outcome.
• Providers should check that when all 3 outcomes are completed: all domains have been addressed; child strengths and needs/concerns have been identified with a focus on the child’s participation in typical activities and family routines; and the child’s functioning is described in relation to same age peers using the language “like a younger child; like a much younger child, etc) or AE; IF and F.
• The description has enough detail to support the overall statement of functioning (rating)

23. What other changes are in the new IFSP?
Page 9 Assessment Summary/RI COS Section C: This section summarizes the child’s development in each outcome area that the team (including the family) has agreed upon (i.e summary statement). This activity takes place after the RBI and prior to signing the IFSP. The rating # is not specifically discussed with the family. Page 10 The IFSP Child/Family Outcomes page had been previously changed to eliminated strategies. Page 11 Services page is essentially the same. Page 12 Plan for Providing Service in the Natural Environment has been condensed into three sections to reduce duplicity Page 13 Acknowledgement of the IFSP page is the same.