Early intervention service coordination is a mandated service under Part C of IDEA, provided at no cost to families. Service coordination is defined as an active, ongoing process that assists and enables families to access services and assures their rights and procedural safeguards. This resource page includes links to national resources, Illinois resources, and recommended readings.
Your Role as a Service Coordinator
Service Coordination in Illinois
Your Professional Development
Recommended Resources on Service Coordination
This comprehensive site contains resources related to the "Service Coordination Online" training sponsored by EITP. The page includes resource versions of the training modules within each section, the SC Online workbook with activities related to the training, and resource pages containing PDFs, links, and other items referred to during the SC Online training. Please note that registration for this training is available at https://go.illinois.edu/EITPonline. For an overview of this training, please download At-a-Glance: Service Coordination Online (Blended) training (updated 12/13/19, pdf).
Developed by EITP in January 2021, this list provides the essential resources for service coordinators with Illinois-specific and national resources related to service coordination.
Service Coordination in Illinois
Illinois Service Coordination Model:
Illinois Service Coordination Systems of Supports:
Illinois Service Coordination Professional Development:
Key SC Resources in Illinois
- Child and Family Connections (CFC) Resource Page -This page includes the CFC Procedure Manual, the contact information for all 25 CFC offices (CFC Listing), Child Find directory, medical diagnostic locations, and CFC Consultative & Support Services such as Parent Liaisons and Local Interagency Council (LIC) Coordinators, as well as other resources specific to these offices.
- Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) - The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) is the lead agency for the Illinois Early Intervention System and their website includes a variety of links to support service coordinators in Illinois such as the Child & Family Connections Procedure Manual, EI Provider Handbook, and a guide describing the use of public and private insurance.
- Illinois Service Coordination Stakeholder Survey - Executive Summary - March 2020 (pdf)-A survey was developed by an IL SC Stakeholder group to gain a deeper understanding of required service coordinator knowledge, skills, and motivators for professional growth as identified by IL SC Stakeholders (service coordinators, program managers, parent liaisons, social-emotional consultants, and local interagency council coordinators). The impetus for the IL SC Stakeholder Group was Illinois’ participation in a National Service Coordination Leadership Institute hosted by the Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC).
- Theory of Action - Service Coordination (revised 12/21/21, pdf) - The EI System supports Service Coordination (SC) personnel in gaining and strengthening the knowledge, skills, and expertise necessary in order to provide the highest quality supports and services, informed by the best available evidence, for eligible children and their families. Service Coordinators (SCs) are recognized and valued as leaders with expertise on EI systems, family-centered practices, and community resources, and with skills in fostering family-professional, team, and community partnerships, and in facilitating and documenting the EI process. This document outlines the key supports needed to contribute to personnel outcomes for SCs and family outcomes. It also provides detailed "if/then" statements of these supports in action.
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This table lists the general and specific services that Service Coordination provides under the law.
Service Coordinator Responsibilities
Within the law, seven specific activities are the responsibility of service coordinators which are listed in Table 4.1 from Working With Families of Young Children with Special Needs edited by R.A. McWilliam. Copyright 2010 by The Guilford Press.
- Coordinate and implement evaluations and assessments.
- Facilitate and participate in the development, review, and evaluation of the IFSP.
- Assist family in identifying available service providers.
- Coordinate and monitor the delivery of available services.
- Inform families of the availability of advocacy services.
- Coordinate with medical and health providers.
- Facilitate the development of a transition plan to preschool services.
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Service Coordinator Outcomes
A series of studies conducted by the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Service Coordination has identified nine interrelated outcomes that should be achieved as a result of high-quality service coordination. These outcomes are listed in Table 4.2 from Working With Families of Young Children with Special Needs edited by R.A. McWilliam. Copyright 2010 by The Guilford Press.
- Families have access to support, information, and education to address their individual needs.
- Families are able to communicate the needs of their child.
- Families make informed decisions about services, resources, and opportunities for their child.
- Agencies and professionals are coordinated.
- Children and families receive quality service.
- Children and families participate in supports and services that are coordinate, effective, and individualized to their needs.
- families acquire and/or maintain a quality of life to enhance their well-being.
- Families meet the special needs of their child.
- Children's health and development are enhanced.
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In December 2020, the Division of Early Childhood (DEC) and IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA) released the Joint Position Statement on Service Coordination in Early Intervention to acknowledge the importance of early intervention service coordination and recognize the expertise and needs of the professionals who provide this service. This statement includes Knowledge and Skills for Service Coordinators as well.
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The National Service Coordination Training Workgroup and Division of Early Childhood (DEC) developed the Knowledge and Skills for Service Coordinators (KSSC) (pdf). To learn more about the nationwide survey findings and how the information was used to finalize the KSSC please see our RKSSC Nationwide Survey Highlights & Response to Suggestions. An infographic, visual aid, and crosswalk are also available for additional historical information regarding the development process of the KSSC over the last three years.
The DEC Service Coordination Community of Practice (DEC SC CoP) held a webinar titled The Foundation for Excellence - Understanding the Knowledge and Skills for Service Coordinators on 12/3/20 that produced the additional KSSC resources and webinar recording.
Checklists and Systems for Organizing Service Coordination Activities
Service Coordinators support many different families and it is difficult to remember every activity that needs to be done for every child/family at all times. The following resources provide some examples of resources service coordinators can use to stay on top of the multiple activities they complete on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
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This table developed by EITP includes the various aspects of a family’s journey through early intervention and strategies service coordinators may consider as they plan “with” the family, rather than “for” the family.
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The table below includes the various aspects of a family’s journey through early intervention and strategies to consider as you plan “with” the professionals on your team.
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Communication Tools
Service Coordinators work with many different teams and the following tools can help foster good communication with families and early interventionists.
- IFSP Team Contact List (pdf)
- Outgoing Voice Mail Examples (pdf)
- Meeting Memos - Service Coordinators who plan for IFSP reviews in advance can outline expectations for early interventionists which fosters good team communication and helps ensure full team participation at IFSP meetings. Below you will find some sample meeting memos that service coordinators can adapt to include their contact information and distribute to teams in the weeks/months before an IFSP review is due. For more information on policies and procedures related to IFSP reviews please review the Child and Family Connections Procedure Manual.
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Documentation
Documentation is a very important service coordination activity. Below are a few resources and examples that demonstrate the level of detail that service coordinators should include when documenting activities in the permanent case record. For more information on recordkeeping policies please visit the Child and Family Connections Procedure Manual under Recordkeeping.
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Family-Centered Practices
- Checklist for Assessing Adherence to Family-Centered Practices (pdf) - This CASEtool describes the development and use of the Family-Centered Practices Checklist for promoting the use of and adherence to evidence-based family-centered help giving practices. It provides a basis for joint or self-reflection as a way of evaluating one's behaviors against a set of behaviorally stated evidence-based practice indicators.
- Family Considerations (pdf) - This resource is an optional component of the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). Service coordinators may choose to complete this worksheet with families or give it to families to complete on their own. The Family Considerations page provides a place for families to share some information about their child and family, their routines, their concerns, and other resources.
- EITP Family-Centered Practices Resource page - This website contains a variety of resources related to family-centered practices in Early Intervention to help you learn more about families, engage them in conversations to develop their knowledge, educate and promote family rights, and develop a cooperative, lasting relationship.
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Meeting Facilitation Tools
Service Coordinators are responsible for coordinating and facilitating team meetings. As a facilitator, service coordinators must ensure that everyone has an opportunity to share and that the family has a chance to express their priorities, becoming active participants in the meeting. Meeting facilitation can be challenging, but the resources below provide helpful suggestions for supporting meeting facilitation and open communication.
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Created in August 2025, this comprehensive packet has criteria, examples, and resources related to each of the main steps involved in developing an IFSP as a team. This packet can also be found using the short url https://go.illinois.edu/DevelopIFSP and the following areas can also be linked separately:
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The Center for Parent Information and Resources (formerly NICHCY) dedicates a page on its website to Part C of IDEA: Early Intervention for Babies and Toddlers. The site includes information on what has recently changed about the Part C programs.
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- Service Coordination under Part C - ECTA provides a compilation of resources on service coordination under Part C including the definition under IDEA, training resources, policy statements, and research completed on service coordination.
- The Early Intervention/IFSP Process (pdf) - This flowchart explains the Early Intervention and Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) processes in an easy-to-follow, 1-page layout.
- Resources for Writing Good IFSP Outcomes - Resources include information packets, online training resources, documents, and presentations developed by national researchers and a variety of states for writing family-guided IFSP outcomes and developing functional prioritized outcomes as an IFSP team.
- Early Childhood Part C and Part B Requirements Related to Transition Timelines (pdf) -A resource developed by ECTA in collaboration with the WRRC for Early Childhood Transition Initiative in April 2010. This resource includes step-by-step activities, regulatory references, and performance plan indicator measurements related to transition timelines. For more resources on transition please visit the resource page titled Transition.
- Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C of IDEA) -This resource includes a variety of links related to Part C of IDEA and recent Part C updates. Some of the resources include a basic overview of IDEA, minimum components, lead agencies, and national program data.
- Interagency Coordination - ECTA recognizes the need for coordination and communication across agency lines to effectively provide the array of necessary services for young children, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities and their families. This resource includes links to IDEA requirements for coordinated services, Head Start information and resources, and information on and examples of interagency agreements.
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Recommended Readings
All books are available on loan from the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse Lending Library.
- The Early Intervention Guidebook for Families and Professionals, 2nd edition (2016) by Bonnie Keilty, Teachers College Press. IBSN-13: 978-0807757734
- This book includes information, strategies, and resources to promote the family professional partnership. There is a section on service coordination that includes service coordination tasks, expectations, and checklists.
- Working with Families of Young Children with Special Needs (2010) by R.A. McWilliam, The Guilford Press. ISBN-13: 978-1606235393
- This book promotes the most advanced thinking about appropriate methods of working with families of young children with disabilities. It includes an entire chapter on service coordination written by Mary Beth Bruder.
- Seven Essentials for Family-Professional Partnerships in Early Intervention (2017) by Bonnie Keilty, Teachers College Press. ISBN-13: 978-0807758373
- This book is about digging deeper and looking closer at what it takes to have successful relationships with each and every family. The author explores seven partnership concepts, brought to life through the words and perspectives of families and professionals themselves. New and veteran professionals can use the lessons learned from these accounts to more effectively work with families. Each chapter ends with Questions for Daily Reflection to help early intervention professionals continue to develop their practice. The final chapter describes themes that result from and span the seven concepts as well as the systems needed to support successful family–professional partnerships.
- The Early Intervention Workbook: Essential Practices for Quality Services (2013) by Lynda Pletcher and Naomi Younggren, Brookes Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-1598572247
- Discover the 7 key principles and associated practices for effective early intervention services—and start putting them into action today! This easy-to-use, fillable workbook reveals not only what every EI professional should be doing in their practice, but also how to do it, with practical tips, activities, and strategies they can use to improve their work with children and families right away.
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Taking Care of You
Service Coordinators face many different types of challenges on a daily basis. The following resources give service coordinators some self-care tools to help them accomplish their work and minimize their stress.
- Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation provides relaxation and stress reduction resources. Below you will find a few examples of some resources found on their website.
- Managing the Environment - The following resources are tools to help service coordinators manage their environment so they can successfully accomplish the many tasks they are working on in the manner that works best for them.
- Three Building Blocks of Reflective Supervision - ZERO TO THREE's work over the last quarter-century has found that reflective supervision promotes and supports the development of a relationship-based organization. This approach expands on the idea that supervision is a context for learning and professional development. The three building blocks of reflective supervision-reflection, collaboration, and regularity-are outlined in this resource.
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Transition Tools
The following tools were developed by CFC 7 to help quickly determine dates and schedules for the transition of children from EI to ECSE:
- Transition-Discharge Schedule (pdf)- printable schedule to view all birth dates and see the exact dates for when the discharge meeting (120 days) and transition meeting (90 days) are due
- Transition Calculator (Excel file)- enter the child's birthday into the calculator to get the exact dates for meetings from the Transition-Discharge Schedule; a printable schedule is included in this file.
- Transition Timetable (pdf) - visual aid to identify the month when transition needs to begin (i.e. 6 months before the 3rd birthday) for a child based on their birth month
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National Part C Service Coordination Survey (11/2017)
Ever wonder how the strengths & challenges of service coordination in Illinois compare to those nationally? A National Part C Service Coordination survey was conducted across eight (8) states in November 2017 with over 700 respondents! We are excited to share the result summaries with you:
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The National Service Coordination Training Workgroup and EITP hosted a webinar on March 28, 2018, titled "The Role of the Service Coordinator in Building Relationships in Early Intervention", and plan to host future webinars as well. To learn more about this webinar, including a recording of the webinar and resources related to it, please visit https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/7857/606983.
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Service Coordination Communities of Practice (SC CoPs)
A community of practice includes three fundamental elements: a domain of knowledge that defines a set of issues; a community of people who care about this domain; and the shared practice that they are developing to be effective in their domain (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002). The following CoPs may be of interest to individuals who are interested in connecting with others around the knowledge and shared practices related to service coordination:
- Illinois Service Coordination Forum is a place for service coordinators and individuals who have a role in providing training and technical assistance to service coordinators currently working in the Illinois Early Intervention System to partner and support each other in the very important work that they do. Visit the workspace to learn more. Also, register for a forum meeting to join upcoming meetings!
- National Service Coordination Community of Practice (SC CoP) through the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) offers service coordinators the opportunities to network with others across the nation, share SC-related resources and tips, and learn about topics relevant to providing high-quality service coordination. Visit the SC CoP page on the DEC website to learn about upcoming events and to join by adding your name to the membership roster: https://www.dec-sped.org/servicecoordinationcop
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This article from Infants & Young Children was written by Dana Childress, Melissa Schnurr, and EITP's Professional Development Specialist Sarah Nichols! The article discusses survey results from the National Service Training Workgroup. Respondents suggested that service coordinators experience the following needs: (1) balancing the workload by reducing the number of families served per service coordinator and decreasing the amount of paperwork; (2) improved compensation and funding; and (3) better and more frequent training opportunities. Findings from this survey were analyzed and used by representatives from participating states to determine state and national action plans for improving the professional development and identity of service coordinators, with the goal of prioritizing support for this important part of the early childhood intervention workforce.
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The Keeping In Touch (KIT) monthly newsletter was developed and distributed by the Comprehensive Personnel Development System (CSPD) for the Department of Defense (DoD) Army Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS). This KIT series titled “Understanding Service Coordination Essentials” includes information on what service coordination is, the desired outcomes of service coordination, models of service coordination, strategies for carrying out service coordination activities under Part C of IDEA, direct and indirect examples for how service coordinators implement Division for Early Childhood Recommended Practices (DEC RPs), an overview of national service coordination initiatives and strategies to overcome common challenges service coordinators face.
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This archived webinar from December 17, 2019, provides an overview of the national status of service coordination under Part C of IDEA for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. The presenters describe three data sets collected to measure aspects of service coordination and discuss the challenges facing service coordinators and families as reported in the data, and provide associated references and resources (pdf) related to the webinar.
Worksheets with Examples and Practices to Reflect on Service Coordination Activities Aligned with the DEC Recommended Practices
The DEC Recommended Practices (DEC RPs) provide guidance for administrators, practitioners, and service coordinators around the following topic areas: Leadership, Assessment, Environment, Family, Instruction, Interaction, Teaming and Collaboration, and Transition. EITP has created a worksheet for each DEC RP topic area, which includes examples of direct and indirect connections within service coordination activities aligned with the DEC RPs. The worksheets are fillable PDF forms and can be used individually or as a whole to go through all DEC RPs.
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