This page provides resources related to quality teaming and collaboration in early intervention.
Articles and Links
Select the "Teaming and Collaboration" button of the online edition of the Division of Early Childhood (DEC) Recommended Practices in Early Intervention/ Early Childhood Special Education (2014) to learn more about these best practices. Additional resources related to the DEC Recommended Practices can be found on the left-hand side of the page.
DEC Checklists and Practice related to Teaming and Collaboration from ECTA Center:
This article from the Early Intervention Strategies for Success Blog: Sharing What Works in Supporting Infants & Toddlers and their Families in Early Intervention (a resource of the Virginia Early Intervention Professional Development Center) focuses on delivering feedback.
This site offers useful, general tips to avoid miscommunication and to promote effective work.
This article from the journal Infants & Young Children, 22(3), 211-223 is available for free download and reviews the literature on the transdisciplinary approach to early intervention services and identifies the essential elements of this approach.
This short video and article on clear verbal and written communication.
Modules
EITP Resource Modules on "Using Facilitating Skills to be an Effective Host"
These presentations cover 5 different areas related to facilitating team meetings.
- Defining Facilitation: 6 min. 51 sec. This module will review what it means to be a facilitator and the role of the service coordinator as an IFSP meeting facilitator.
- Roles of a Facilitator: 8 min. 52 sec. This module will examine the important roles that a facilitator fulfills.
- Facilitating Teaming: 9 min. 20 sec. This module will discuss some strategies for facilitating team members with various personality traits.
- Facilitation Tips: 11 min. 47 sec. This module will cover facilitation tips for a smooth and effective IFSP meeting.
- Overcoming Facilitation Barriers: 11 min. 51 sec. This module will review strategies for overcoming barriers you may encounter as a meeting facilitator.
Coaching Families is a training module designed to support service providers in delivering evidence-based practices by revisiting key information fundamental to the coaching approach for service delivery. The learner will be able to utilize the Texas ECI Coaching Checklist in real scenarios through guided-practice activities. Video demonstrations are infused throughout the module providing the learner opportunities to observe the five components of coaching, including the following: Joint Planning, Observation, Action/Practice, Feedback and Reflection. (Source: Texas ECI)
Videos
CONNECT Video 3.3: Conversation with examples of attending and active listening
From the Connect Modules, this video module explores active listening during a team meeting between two teachers.
Early Intervention: A Routines-Based Approach- Part 3: Changing the Mindset
This clip is from the Virgina Early Intervention Professional Development Center and includes providers sharing how they changed their own practices and what it took to make the change.
Families Front and Center: The Power of Coaching
In this video from the FIT FOCUS Video Library, a developmental vision specialist describes and illustrates how she used video recordings of her early intervention home visits as a foundation for self-reflection and refinement of her practice and her shift to using coaching in her practice.
How to Run an Effective Team Meeting
This clip from Rasheed Ogunlaru, Coach–Speaker–Author, describes how to run an effective team meeting.
The IFSP Video
This example from EITP provides an example of an IFSP team meeting in which many things go wrong.
Virginia Early Intervention Professional Development Center Videos
This video library includes the Virginia Early Intervention Professional Development Center listing of all videos for training and personal change.
Print References
Brookfield, S. D. (1986). Understanding and facilitating adult learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Flaherty (1999) p. xii. Flaherty, J. (1999). Coaching: Evoking excellence in others. Boston, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
McWilliam, R. A. (2010). Routines-based early intervention: Supporting young children and their families. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.
Raab, M., Dunst, C.J., & Trivette, C. M. (2010). Everyday Child Language Learning Reports, 2(1).
Rush , D,D., & Shelden, M.L. (2008). Common misperceptions about coaching in early intervention. CASEinPoint, 4(1), 1-4.
