1. Working With Families to Enhance Young Children’s Development and Learning
Robin McWilliam & Kimberly Resua
EIEIO
Department of Special Education and Multiple Abilities

2. Success Success at age 50… Having money Success at age 4… Not peeing
in your pants
Success at age 65… Having
sex
Success at age 70… Having a driver's license
Success at age 75… Having friends
Success at age 80… Not
peeing in your pants
Success at age 12… Having friends
Success at age 16… Having a
driver's license
Success at age 20… Having sex •
Success at age 35… Having
money

3. Outline
Family centeredness
Building family capacity
Outcomes
EIEIO

4. Family Centeredness

5. Context of Our Family Work
Frequent contact (e.g., weekly)
Not sporadic
Building capacity
Not ”treating” the child
Not “educating” the parent

6. Definition of Family Centeredness
Interactions with families
- Support-based approach
Decision making
Meeting needs

7. Interactions With Families
Informal and respectful
That’s not enough
Turnbull, A. P., Summers, J., Turnbull, R., Brotherson, M. J., Winton, P., Roberts, R., Stroup Rentier, V. (2007). Family supports and services in early intervention: A bold vision. Journal of Early Intervention, 29,
McWilliam, R. A. (2016). Metanoia in early intervention: Transformation to a family-centered approach. Revista Latinoamericana de Educación Inclusiva, 10,

9. Support Approach to Early Intervention
Emotional support (PROFS)
Material support
Informational support
Emotional Support
Material Support
Informational Support
McWilliam, R. A., & Scott, S. (2001). A support approach to early intervention:
A three-part framework. Infants & Young Children, 13,

10. Part 2 of Definition of FC
Opportunities to make meaningful decisions
Especially goals
Does not mean families get to choose services, frequency,
and intensity
Commitment to EBP
More is not better
Bailey, D. B., & McWilliam, R. A. (1990). Normalizing early intervention. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 10, 33.

11. Part 3 of Definition of FC
Meeting family needs
Child
Child-related
Family level
Family
McWilliam, R. A., Casey, A. M., Ashley, D., Fielder, J., Rowley, P., DeJong, K., Votava, K. (2011). Assessment of family- identified needs through the routines-based interview. In M. E. McLean & P. Snyder (Eds.), Young Exceptional Children monograph series No. 13: Gathering information to make informed decisions (pp ). Missoula, MT: The Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.

12. FC Practices in Routines-Based Model
Ecomap
Routines-Based Interview
(RBI)
Family goals
Primary service provider
Support-based home visits
- Family consultation
Tools (discuss later)
Next-Steps Form
Matrix
Ecomap
Goal attainment scale
Family Confidence Scale
Families in Early Intervention Quality of Life
MEISR
McWilliam, R. A. (2016). The Routines-Based Model for supporting speech and language. Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología, 36,

13. What’s “normal”
family life?

14. All the Intervention Occurs Between Visits
What dosage and quality of intervention does the child receive?

15. Capacity Building

16. Agreed-Upon Mission and Key Principles for Providing Early Intervention Services in Natural Environments
Mission
- 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.
Workgroup on Principles and Practices in Natural Environments. (2007). Agreed-upon practices for providing early intervention services in natural environments. Retrieved from July 6

17. Key Principles

18. Dunst’s Capacity-Building Framework
“Capacity-building early childhood intervention promotes parents’ or other caregivers’ skills, abilities, and confidence to provide children development-enhancing
learning opportunities.” (p. 66)
Swanson, J., Raab, M., & Dunst, C. J. (2011). Strengthening family capacity to provide young children everyday natural learning opportunities. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 9,

19. Single-Case Research Design on Parent Weekly Ratings of Their Responsive Teaching Effectiveness

20. Routines-Based Model and Family Capacity Building
Families decide what they want child and other family members to
do or know
Professionals use “family consultation”
Hoosiers Rule
Family’s agenda
Purposeful modeling
Discussion within routines
Likelihood and feasibility questions

21. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Family-Centered Services

22. Recommendations for ASD Services
How many hours of services per week are recommended for children with ASD?

23. Recommendations for ASD Services
The National Research Council recommends children with ASD engage in developmentally appropriate, planned services for at least 25 hours per week.
National Research Council. (2001). Educating Children with Autism. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

24. How Can We Achieve 25+ Hours of
Services for Young Children With ASD?

25. How Can We Achieve 25+ Hours of Services for Young Children With ASD?
Clinician-Implemented Intervention
Caregiver-Implemented
Intervention

26. ASD Research: Moving in the Right Direction
Caregiver-implemented intervention models for young
children with ASD
Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) (Rogers et al., 2012)
Project ImPACT (Ingersoll & Wainer, 2013)
Early Social Interaction (ESI) Project (Wetherby et al., 2014)
JASPER (Kasari et al., 2015)
And many more!

27. What Does the ASD Literature Tell Us?
Many studies have focused on •
caregiver and child outcomes
Fewer studies have focused on what happens between professional and caregiver
Professional
Caregiver
Child
Child
Caregiver

28. The Process of Coaching Caregivers

29. Services for Young Children With ASD
Caregiver-implemented intervention
- Key to 25+ hours of services per week
Professionals can facilitate caregiver-implemented
intervention via coaching
Additional research needed on coaching in caregiver-implemented interventions

30. Outcomes

31. Child and Family Outcomes
Family • Child
Family confidence
in helping child function
…in parenting
…in helping family
Family quality of life
Access to information and services
Child functioning
Overall life satisfaction
Family relationships
Engagement, independence,
and social relationships in
Home routines
Classroom routines
Goal attainment

32. EIEIO An office to gather scholars interested in early
intervention, young children’s development, strengthening
families, building up communities, and changing systems
Also to study implementation of the Routines-Based Model around the world
Become a UA Affiliate. The rewards are immeasurable…
literally!

33. Conclusion www.eieio.ua.edu
We can’t take family centeredness for granted
Learning opportunities happen throughout the day
We can aim for child engagement and functioning and
family quality of life
Come play in the EIEIO sandbox!