Setting the Stage

Description of the video:

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All right, let's
go ahead and get

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started. We're
gonna be together

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for the next 60
minutes or so.

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And we're gonna be
talking about How

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Early Messaging
Shapes Family

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Expectations About
Early Intervention.

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And this is a training
funded by First

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Steps, offered by the
Early Childhood Center.

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You have facilitators
in the room who are

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gonna walk you
through this. I'm just

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gonna provide a little
bit of information

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This is a training
intended for both

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Service Coordinators
and ED Team Members.

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All right. Service
Coordinators and ED

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Team Members are
often the first people

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families interact
with. ED Team Members

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play a critical role
as well. During that

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evaluation, families
are already forming

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ideas about what
the program is and

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how it works. Those
early interactions

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carry a lot of weight.
When it comes to

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understanding early
intervention, our words

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in these early
stages set the stage.

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So, early messaging
shapes how

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families understand
early intervention,

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what they expect
visits to look

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like, and how
they participate.

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The language we use
becomes the lens they

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use to interpret
everything that follows.

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So, you can see
here, there's an

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understanding of
early intervention,

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expectations for visits,

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and expectations around

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participation
and engagement.

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Another reason to
focus on this idea of

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setting the stage around
building expectations

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is its alignment with
DEC's recommended

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practices related
to families. Setting

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the stage through early
messaging is critical

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for this alignment
around family practices

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in particular and
teaming practices.

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When all team members,
Service Coordinators,

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ED Team Members,
providers, and families

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use clear and consistent
messaging, it does

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help families build an
accurate and consistent

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understanding of the
system. It supports

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family-centered practices
by ensuring families

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receive complete,
unbiased, and consistent

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information so they
can make informed

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decisions. It also
supports family capacity

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building because when
families understand that

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early intervention
is about coaching and

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supporting them in
everyday routines, they're

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better prepared to
actively participate.

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Equally important,
it reflects strong

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teaming and
collaboration practices.

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When all First Steps
team members present

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a united front in
common language, it

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reduces confusion
and builds trust. The

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key idea is that
early messaging sets

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expectations, and when
we align as a team and

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communicate clearly,
families are more

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confident, more
engaged, and better able

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to partner in their
child's development.

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So, let's take a few

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minutes to
reflect on this.

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Think about a recent
family early in

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their First Steps
journey. What do you

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think they believed
early intervention

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was? Take a little
time and I'll pause.

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Families often think
early intervention

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is therapy for their
child, someone who

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will fix this problem,
a specialist who

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will work directly
with their child, and

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sometimes families
think that this is

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someone who can give
me a break. And we've

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heard all of these
and probably more.

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So, where do these
ideas come from? Let's

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think for just a
moment about that.

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Thoughts? And I'll pause.

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When we're
talking about this

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with families, I
want you all to be

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rooted in the First
Steps mission. So this

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is straight from the
First Steps website.

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To partner with
families to provide

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early intervention
services for infants

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and toddlers with
developmental delays or

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diagnosed conditions.
And the goal is

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to help families
ensure their children

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receive services
to maximize their

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development, learning,
and future success.

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This is our mission,
but families don't

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automatically understand
that unless we explain

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it to them. That does
not mean that I'm

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saying we should read
our mission to the

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families or hand them
a handout with the

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mission on it necessarily,
but we do need to

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understand it ourselves
and we need to

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think about how we
translate it for families

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in the right ways and
at the right times.

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Because if we
don't define early

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intervention,
families will.

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So let's talk a
little bit about the

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difference between
the Therapy Model

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and the Educational
Model, because

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this is information
that you can

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think about translating
for families.

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So, let's walk through
first the Therapy

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Model, which is the
provider works with the

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child. The sessions
are child-focused, and

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practice generally
happens during the visit.

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Our model, the
First Steps

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model, is that
the provider works

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primarily with
the caregiver.

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This doesn't mean that
the provider isn't

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sometimes working
with the child to

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demonstrate something,
but the provider is

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there to support the
caregiver's education

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and ability to work
with their child.

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Strategies are
introduced and shared in

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routines. So the
natural routines of

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those families, we're
always in the natural

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environment. And
within that natural

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environment, there
are natural routines

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for each family. And
we try our best to

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embed our strategies
in those routines.

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Practice happens.

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Sure, we practice
things during the visit,

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but the majority of
the practice and the

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really important work
happens between visits.

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So, we're setting
caregivers up to be

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successful at carrying
things over between visits.

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And finally, family
confidence is central

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because if families
don't feel confident

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and competent to do
the things that we're

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asking them to do and
showing them how to do

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between visits, then
we're not succeeding.

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So, what happens if
we don't explain?

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When we don't
explain, like we said

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before, families
are going to assume.

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And when expectations
are not clear,

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caregivers tend to
step back, visits tend

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to become more provider
-led, and caregivers

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often will rely on
what they've heard

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or experienced
previously. So, they will

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make assumptions
about how it should go

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based on either an
experience with a

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previous sibling or
something their neighbor

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told them, as we've
discussed earlier.

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So, how might you explain
early intervention

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to a family? Given
what we talked about

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around what you have
heard families think

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about the difference
between the Therapy Model

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the Educational Model -
how would we explain

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early
intervention and the First

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Steps model to families?
One of the things

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that we talk about is
how there's a difference

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between, "The therapist
will work with

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your child," and, "The
therapist or the provider

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will work with you."
Even a shift as subtle

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as that really does
shift the emphasis

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from therapist-child
to therapist-caregiver.

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Consider some
phrases like this. "We

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work differently
than clinic therapy..."

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"Providers work with YOU..."

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"You'll be practicing..."

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"We'll work together..."
So, all of this is

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fairly subtle. It
doesn't take a lot.

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We're not giving
lectures and we're not,

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you know, handing out
the mission statement

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necessarily. But,
here we are just in

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the subtle wording,
shifting the focus.

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What would you adjust
while keeping the

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message clear? So, what
are some things that you

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say all the time - that
you have either adjusted

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over the years already
to emphasize our

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focus or that you
imagine you could adjust

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in your role as Service

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Coordinator and
Team Member?

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I'll pause while
you discuss

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that for a few
minutes. So,

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let's just go over
a few more examples.

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I imagine that
you all have

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wonderful examples
to share with one

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another, so we can't
offer you all of

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them, but here are
just a few more.

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And again, the purpose
of these examples is

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to try to be clear
and try to center

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participation when we are
talking about what the

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early intervention
work in Indiana looks

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like. So, first one,
"Your providers will help

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you learn strategies
to use throughout the

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week, so progress
continues between visits."

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"Your provider will
ask questions and

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observe, and they'll
also ask you to

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try some things
during the visit that

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will help you feel
confident about using

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them when the
provider isn't around."

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Last one, "They may
show you how to do

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something and then
have you practice.

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That way, they can
give you suggestions."

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Okay, anyone
have anything to

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add there? I
can pause. This is what we're

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going to spend the
majority of our time

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doing. And this is
just an opportunity

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to let some of these
words and these

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language shifts roll
off your tongue a

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little bit because
we can say, "Yes, yes,

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we should be doing
that." But it's

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harder when we try to
get it to come out.

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So, what we're going
to do is have the

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facilitator that's
present for you offer

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some scenario
handouts. You can

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look through it. There's
some scenarios

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for Service
Coordinators and

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also scenarios for
ED Team Members.

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And when it is, you'll
get into groups of

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three, and when it is
your turn to be the

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professional role, then
you will pick a scenario

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and navigate that
scenario. Work on using

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the participation
language we talked about.

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Work on validating
where the family is

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coming from while
explaining what early

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intervention is and thinking
about that supportive

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messaging that is
also preparing the

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family for the
participation and engagement

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that we're hoping
we're going to have. So,

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you're going to choose
a scenario. The one

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person in your group
of three will be the

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professional, one will
be the family member,

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and one will be the
observer. The observer

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should be looking for,
"How is the provider

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doing this?" And, "What
seems to be working well?"

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Take five or six minutes
and then switch and

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then switch again. And
then at the end, we

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will debrief with your
facilitator. You are

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welcome each time
whoever becomes the

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professional next is welcome
to choose a different

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scenario if they'd
like to, no need to

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stick with the same
one, unless you want to.

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So let's stop for
just a minute and

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let you debrief
before we go on.

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Some things to
consider while you're

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debriefing. What did the
provider say that clearly

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shifted the expectation?
What description

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of EI felt particularly
helpful? And, what

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language made the
caregiver role clear?

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All right, once you've
had that conversation,

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we want you to end
with just taking

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another moment to
think about, "What's some

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language that might
work for you?" Obviously,

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all of these things
aren't going to roll

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off your tongue, but
what's one shift you

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can make? It might be
as simple as saying,

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"I'm going to stop
saying that the provider

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is going to come out
and work with you,

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with your child," and I'm
going to start saying,

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"The provider is going
to come out to work

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with you." I'm going
to start with

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whatever it is that
kind of stuck with

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you today. And then if
there's a misconception

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that you all have
discussed throughout

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this time that
you think is worth

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thinking about and
reflecting on and addressing

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more in the way
you describe early

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intervention, then
please take a moment

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to think about that.
And if you'd like to

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share, you're more
than welcome to. I

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will pause before we
have our last slide.

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All right, this is our
last slide. We have

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a survey link here.
You can use the QR

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code or the link to
get a credentialing

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certificate for today.
And if you would like

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some more information
about talking with

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families, you can go
to the web link here,

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which will take you to
a page that has videos

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and handouts around
talking with families,

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particularly about
coaching, but also

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about just messaging
around EI in general.

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Thank you for joining us.