Category: Early Intervention

Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse, Parenting

You Are What Your Child Needs

Rebecca Swartz

Parents and caregivers of infants and toddlers often describe moments when they are watching, waiting, wondering, and worrying about their young children. They wonder whether their fussy baby is getting enough sleep or worry about whether their picky toddler is eating enough fruit and vegetables. They may find it hard to wait for a child to begin to crawl or talk and wonder about when their child may reach this milestone.

The love that parents and caregivers of young children feel for their rapidly changing infants and toddlers may be part of the reason this worrying and wondering begins. Parents and caregivers want to give infants and toddlers the best start they can. It is normal to worry whether they have enough resources or knowledge to help their child reach their fullest potential. They may wonder whether having more books, more toys, or signing their child up for more classes is what their child needs to grow and thrive. They may spend time worrying and wondering whether they are giving their child enough. This worry can lead to discouragement and feelings of inadequacy as a parent or caregiver. They may wonder: “Am I what my child needs?”

Each child in early intervention develops on a unique timeline. Early intervention families may find themselves worrying or wondering about whether their child is doing okay as they watch their child and wait for their child to reach particular milestones or skills. It can be difficult to avoid comparing your child’s progress to those of infants and toddlers who do not have a developmental delay or disability. This comparison can cause even more worry, which can be overwhelming.

In these moments, it is important to remember that you are what your child needs. He needs a loving caregiver who wants to help him grow. Every time you interact with your child by talking, playing, and doing daily tasks, you are building your child’s brain and helping his body become stronger and more skillful. You also are not alone. Reach out to your EI team, family, and friends for support and help.

Remember as a parent or primary caregiver, you have the most interactions and opportunities to watch your child discover her world. Share your observations and the things you wonder about with your EI team.

Sometimes you will need to wait to connect with an EI team member until the next EI session. While you wait, you can write down, video, or photograph the behaviors or skills you are wondering about.

Reaching out to your EI team can help you set aside worries about whether you are giving your child all that he needs. Remember, you are what your child needs! Involved, caring parents and caregivers working with their EI team to achieve outcomes give children a strong start.

Originally written for the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse Newsletter: https://eiclearinghouse.org/newsletter/2018spring/

Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse, Parenting

Positive Talk Builds Confidence

Rebecca Swartz

Babies and toddlers tune into messages from their caregivers. They are aware of their caregivers’ emotions and listen to their words. Because very young children are deeply connected with and tuned into their caregivers, it is vital that parents and caregivers be mindful about sharing messages that are a source of encouragement and positive energy.

Turning “don’t climb on the coffee table!” into “let’s go find a safe place in the back yard for you to climb” or turning “stop screaming!” into “I hear you’re angry when I tell you there’s no more cereal” can help caregivers feel calmer. Young children also follow positive directions more readily than negative discouragements.

Positive talk is not only beneficial for babies and toddlers. Positive talk and positive thinking also are important for parents and caregivers of children receiving early intervention services. Negativity can rear its ugly head when we are feeling discouraged or feeling impatient. Families in early intervention may be coping with their child’s complex medical or educational needs. Their development may not follow the typical progression of peers their age. This can lead to a negative cycle of thinking that gets in the way of noticing the important progress an infant or toddler is making in early intervention.

We can mindfully acknowledge these negative thoughts and reframe them with positive thinking, which can help us keep a positive attitude as we work toward EI outcomes. Reframing doesn’t make our sadness or frustration go away, but it can help us be more resilient and optimistic about the challenges we face with our child.

Here are a few examples of reframing negative thoughts into more positive ones.

When you think “my child can’t hear my voice due to hearing loss,” reframe it by thinking, “I know I am connecting with my child when we look into each other’s eyes.”

“My toddler cries and falls apart because he can’t use words to tell me what he wants” can become “we’re working on learning important words in sign language to help him communicate.”

“My friends are celebrating their babies’ first steps, but my child can’t walk” can become “Let’s enjoy my child’s new crawling skills by trying to climb on a pile of pillows to help build her muscles.”

Originally written for the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse Newsletter: https://eiclearinghouse.org/newsletter/2018spring/

Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse, Parenting

Set Me Up for Success!

Rebecca Swartz

The Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse has a new tip sheet called, “Set Me Up for Success!”. It is located here: https://eiclearinghouse.org/einotes/setup-success/.

Set Me Up for Success!

Families reach EI outcomes by making the most of everyday moments. In early intervention (EI), we focus on how children learn during everyday routines. Caregivers can help children successfully participate by encouraging infants and toddlers to be active participants throughout the day. As a caregiver, you can:

Take Turns With Your Child

  • You do, I do! Wet a washcloth and let your child take a turn wiping his own face.
  • Wait for a response and help your child learn the routine. For example, say “so big” and wait for your child to hold her arms up over her head or help her hold her arms up.
  • Take turns stacking blocks or throwing bean bags or rolled-up socks into a basket.

Match and Follow Your Child

  • Notice where your child is looking or turn your head toward the sound your child is reacting to.
  • Respond to your child’s feelings by naming emotions such as sad, happy, and mad.
  • Copy your child’s action or sound. Wave your hand back at her wave or clap along with your child.

Challenge Your Child

  • Give your child safe and interesting objects and toys to explore. She may enjoy banging on pots or looking through a transparent cup.
  • Add to routines. Sing a new toothbrushing song, let your child fill and empty a laundry basket while you fold clothes, or play peekaboo with a towel during bathtime.
  • Present “dilemmas” for the child to solve, such as hiding a toy in a box and encouraging your child to find it or putting a favorite toy further away to encourage her to pull up and reach for it.

Get in Place to Connect

  • Position a nonmobile child so he can hear and see well.
  • Physically support your child to allow interaction by using pillows or your hands.
  • Use all of your spaces, such as a blanket on the floor, a grassy patch, or playground as places for interactions.
Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse, Parenting

New Tip Sheet Series: Everyday Early Intervention

Rebecca Swartz

The staff of the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse has started to work on a new series of Tip Sheets called, “Everyday Early Intervention.” The first in the series is called “Couch Time.” We hope that families find these to be practical and useful suggestions for integrating EI Outcomes into everyday routines. Find the tip sheet here: https://eiclearinghouse.org/einotes/couchtime/.

Everyday Early Intervention: Couch Time

Many families enjoy spending time relaxing on the couch together. The couch can be a great place to sit together to talk, read, and play.  Moments on the couch can also be times to work on early intervention outcomes. Here are some ideas to help you fit learning and development goals into everyday routines.

Climb a Couch Cushion Mountain

Stack two or three couch cushions or pillows and encourage your child to use his arms and legs to climb up the mountain. Reaching and climbing strengthens large muscles. As your child grows stronger, add another cushion to the stack for a bigger climb or encourage your toddler to build the stack.

Cruise and Play

Encourage the large muscle development of infants and toddlers that are not quite walking by encouraging them to cruise the lengths of the couch. Take the cushions off your couch and place favorite toys toward the back. This will encourage a child to pull herself up to stand and reach toward the back of the couch to get to the toys.

Build a Blanket Fort

Stretch a blanket or sheet between your couch cushions and chairs to create a blanket fort. Crawl in and out of the fort to work on large muscle development. Talk together about who is inside or outside the fort and how the blanket makes a little house. Using words such as on, in, out, and under builds children’s spatial vocabulary and conceptual knowledge.

Snuggle Up and Read

Keep a basket of books near the couch so you always have something for story time. Reading to young children is essential for building their language skills and conceptual knowledge. Read favorite books again and again. Encourage your child to point to the pictures as you read by asking questions such as “Where is the brown doggy?”

 

Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse, Parenting

Build Skills While Exploring Outdoors

Rebecca Swartz

 

Warm weather means it is a great time to explore the outdoors. Outside play is a wonderful opportunity to work on early intervention (EI) outcomes. Talk with your EI team about strategies and activities that may be especially useful for your family as you work on your EI outcomes. As you talk, you can brainstorm how everyday activities can become opportunities to practice new skills.

For example, consider the fun warm weather pastime of blowing bubbles. Infants and toddlers love to see bubbles magically fly from a bubble wand. Did you know that when you are blowing bubbles you are working on many skills, including:

  • Oral motor skills: Blowing bubbles develops the small muscles in your child’s mouth as they pucker their lips and blow bubbles. Strengthening these muscles is important for developing their ability to form clear sounds when speaking and to eat and swallow safely.
  • Gross motor skills: Your child can reach to pop bubbles and build hand-eye coordination as they reach. Walking toddlers and infants may follow the bubbles on their feet and practice their moving skills.
  • Eye tracking skills: Younger infants and toddlers learn to follow the bubbles with their eyes.
  • Vocabulary and concept development: As you talk to your child about bubbles, you expose them to words such as clear, soapy, float, and pop.
  • Cognitive development: When young children touch a bubble, it pops, giving them a chance to explore cognitive concepts such as cause and effect.
  • Joint attention: Smiling and laughing together builds strong relationships and helps children learn to connect with others and discover shared interests. Who can help but smile as bubbles float by?

Be creative when you think of places for summertime play. The sandbox, the park, the community pool, the farmers market, and the zoo are all exciting places to explore in warm weather.

Let’s consider swimming. The pool is a great place to cool off and enjoy time together. Your EI team’s developmental or physical therapist can help you find the right equipment to help your child be safe in the water or teach you how to hold your child so you both feel safe and secure.

A trip the zoo or county fair might seem overwhelming, especially for a child with sensory challenges. Your EI team can help you find picture books to help your child become familiar with the upcoming experience and plan so the pace and timing of activities are enjoyable for all of your family members. Adaptations such as a picture schedule or noise cancelling headphones could help your child manage this new experience.

Your EI team can help you think of adaptations you may need to make to help your child successfully explore these spaces. They are a resource to help you think of equipment or strategies to add to your favorite summertime activities.

Through planning and teamwork with your EI team, you can be ready for a full summer of fun and learning!

This post was originally written for the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse. See the original post here: https://eiclearinghouse.org/newsletter/2018summer/

Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse

Learning Body Care Routines: Take It a Step at a Time

Rebecca Swartz

Very young children need support and opportunities to learn to carry out body care routines. The amount of support they need varies by the child’s age, skill level, and the amount of opportunities they have had to practice a particular skill. They begin learning the routines of body care even when they are young infants.

Caregivers can describe the steps and actions they are taking as they carry out diapering, dressing, and feeding cleanup routines. Saying, “I am wiping your chin with a washcloth to clean the applesauce dribbles” helps a child learn the words and actions associated with a body care routine. As an infant grows older, a caregiver might hand the child the washcloth and encourage him to wipe his own face.

Body care routines are wonderful times to practice skills. Young children use motor skills for manipulating washcloths, toothbrushes, combs, and other body care items. They use their thinking or cognitive skills to remember the steps in the correct order. They use language skills to describe the steps or ask for help. When they learn to do these things independently, they build confidence in their abilities and determination. This enhances their social and emotional development.

Teaching the steps and sequence involved in a body care task and mastering the motor skills to do each step can seem overwhelming job for caregiver. It often seems easier for adults to do these tasks for very young children. However as children grow bigger, it is important to remember that their desire for independence also increases. With planning and consistent effort, even very young children can participate in body care routines.

Your EI team can help you develop strategies to break down body care tasks and adapt them for your child’s ability. There are tools such as adaptive spoons or toothbrushes that can help children who need more motor support. Picture directions with a sequence of steps or teaching the final steps of a routine first and working backward can help you and your child feel a sense of success and be able to say, “You did it! Good job!”

A child does not have to be able to do every step of a body care routine by himself to participate. For example, let’s consider Laura, a 2-year-old who is learning to use a walker.

Her mom and her developmental therapist list out all of the steps in Laura’s handwashing routine at home. They decide who will do each step. Laura cannot climb up on a stepstool to reach the sink, so she will need an adult to help her get onto the stepstool to reach the sink. The faucet is also hard to turn, so mom will do that step for now.

Laura wants to pump the hand soap herself. She still needs some hand over hand help from mom to push the pump. She loves rubbing her hands together to make bubbles, and this is a step she can do by herself. Laura builds independence and confidence when her mom encourages her to try the steps in the process she can do, even though she may not be able to do the whole handwashing routine by herself until she is older.

Take it one step at a time and involve your child in daily care routines. Trying small steps can lead to big gains in independence and skill.

Originally written in collaboration with the EIC  staff for the EIC Newsletter: http://eiclearinghouse.org/newsletter/2017fall/.

 

Steps for Handwashing Who Can Do This?
1. Climb up on the stepstool to the sink Laura, with help
2. Turn on the water Mom
3. Wet your hands Laura
4. Pump soap on your palm Laura, with help
5. Rub hands together to make bubbles Laura
6. Rinse bubbles from hands Laura
7. Turn off the water Mom
8. Dry hands Laura
9. Climb down from stepstool Laura, with help
Early Intervention

Welcoming Families Receiving Early Intervention Services into Your Early Childhood Program

Rebecca Swartz

I have a new article in the September/October 2017 Issue of Child Care Exchange Magazine.

Welcoming Families Receiving Early Intervention Services into Your Early Childhood Program 

This article is intended to be used as a training guide for child care program staff. This article is free for Exchange subscribers and non-subscribers can download up to 5 articles for free each year by creating an account.

I would love to hear whether this article would be useful embedded in a course or in training sessions. Please contact me with your thoughts.

 

Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse

Early Intervention Fits Right In

Rebecca Swartz

No two EI families are exactly alike. The daily activities that families participate in and the places they spend time vary. The Illinois Early Intervention program supports families in ways that are flexible, individualized, and tailored to the family’s preference. Early intervention staff and providers focus on partnering with families to work together to help infants and toddlers learn and develop. The routines and activities common in one family may be different than those in another family. Young children increase their knowledge and skills best when new activities and strategies are a part of that child’s regular routines and daily life.

The early intervention team approach revolves around helping families to use strategies that will help infants and toddlers develop their skills during everyday activities in their natural environments. Natural environments are home and community settings in which children and families with and without disabilities regularly participate. These spaces might look different for different families and different children. One child may spend most weekdays outside the home at a local child care center, while another child might have daily visits to grandma’s house. These places are the child’s natural environment. And early intervention services can fit right into these routines and spaces.

Many things influence the daily routines of infants and toddlers. Daily routines are a part of family life. Family life includes interactions with various family members, shared activities, and shared values and culture. Differences in family life are expected because there are no two families exactly alike. Some differences might include the types of first foods given to young children, whether children are encouraged to feed themselves, their family’s sleeping arrangements, the language used to communicate, and whether a child is encouraged to try to move about on the floor or whether they are carried for longer periods of time.

Cultural differences may influence child care and work arrangements. Some working families will choose to enroll their child in a child care center or home while others are more comfortable with care from a relative or friend. Some cultural influences may be more subtle, such as differences in how caregivers respond to children’s feelings. For example, some caregivers will allow children to fuss when upset and others will rock, bounce, or carry upset children to calm them.

High-quality EI services are provided to all families. Each family’s culture is reflected uniquely in their everyday life. The early intervention program empowers families as their child’s first teacher and learns from families how they embrace their cultural beliefs and practices to offer services that are meaningful.

This sharing begins during the initial screening and evaluation process in which the family describes their everyday routines and talks about their child’s challenges and strengths and continues as families begin to participate in the EI program when their child is deemed eligible.

This rich exchange of information will help the EI team plan interventions and strategies that fit into a family’s lifestyle and help the child learn to develop and grow to his or her fullest potential.

Originally written in collaboration with the Illinois EI Clearinghouse Staff for the Early Intervention Clearinghouse Summer 2017 Newsletter

Early Intervention, Early Intervention Clearinghouse

Teaming for Outcomes

Rebecca Swartz

In the early intervention (EI) program, the family, service coordinator, and EI professionals are a team. When an EI team gathers, the conversation often involves talking about outcomes. In early intervention, we use the word outcomes to describe what family members want to see happen for their child and their family as a result of their participation in the EI program. These outcomes are listed in the individual family service plan (IFSP). This plan identifies the family’s concerns and priorities for meeting their child’s needs.

Making progress toward outcomes is the result of the many small and big steps the family and EI service providers take as they work together. EI team members need to help each other understand the family’s routine so they can choose and use strategies that work well for the family. Let’s consider an example of how an EI team can work together to plan strategies for a toddler to reach an IFSP outcome related to communication.

Lucy is 24 months old. She receives EI services for a delay in language development. When Lucy’s family and their EI team meet to write her IFSP, they decide one overall outcome they want to work toward is encouraging Lucy to give a verbal response when she normally would point or nod. The team talks about times during everyday routines that Lucy’s family could encourage her to use words and build her vocabulary.

Lucy’s family loves to play outside. The team decides to have a speech therapy session at the playground to develop strategies to encourage Lucy to use her words. The speech therapist and her family practice ways to encourage Lucy to respond with words and increase Lucy’s vocabulary. Now, when Lucy gets to the bottom of the slide, her dad says, “That was fun! The slide is slippery and fast. Do you want to slide again?” He waits, and then if Lucy responds by shrieking with delight, he says, “You are excited! Tell me ‘yes’ if you want to slide again.” “Ess!” says Lucy.

Every park playtime becomes an opportunity to work toward the outcome of improving Lucy’s language skills. By encouraging Lucy to use more words and continuing to use descriptive words himself, Lucy’s dad helps her take more and more steps toward their outcome of using her words to communicate.

Focusing on daily routines is how EI teams meet IFSP outcomes. This EI Clearinghouse newsletter contains resources you can use to support language development at home, understand who is on your EI team, and work together toward outcomes. With every little step, an EI team gets closer to achieving IFSP outcomes as well as building a strong foundation for future growth.

Originally Written in collaboration with the  Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse Staff for the Spring 2017 Newsletter