FLORIDA EARLY STEPS LEARNING CENTER
Exchange Information
WELCOME
On this page, you will discover different types of information exchanged with families and how this information informs Early Steps supports and services.
What is exchanging information?
Information about child and family routines, supports, child skills and functioning in routines, and family priorities helps inform IFSP outcomes, priority child skills, and embedded strategies.
Part 1: Exchange Information about Child and Family Routines
Everyday child and family routines provide repeated opportunities for infants and toddlers to practice new skills. The Early Steps approach to caregiver coaching enhances caregivers' knowledge and skills about how to support their child's development and learning in everyday routines. Collaborative conversations about the family's and child's routines help inform child and family outcomes, 3- and 6-month progress indicators, priority skills, and embedded strategies that providers will support caregivers to use.
Part 2: Exchange Information About Child and Family Supports
Exchanging information with families about their informal and formal supports helps identify resources and people who can help enhance family capacity and support families to achieve desired outcomes for their child and themselves. Service coordinators and providers continue to exchange information with families about existing and desired informal and formal supports throughout their participation in Early Steps as their child learns new skills and the family's priorities, preferences, resources, and people in their lives change over time. Collaborative conversations, together with tools such as an ecomap, can support the exchange of information about child and family informal and formal supports.
Part 3: Exchange Information about Child Participation
and Skills in Routines
Early Steps service coordinators and providers collaborate with families to exchange and integrate information about child participation and skills in routines from multiple formal and informal sources. This information is used to inform the IFSP and Child Outcomes Summary (COS) ratings and help make decisions about functional child outcomes, 3- and 6-month progress indicators, and strategies. Collaborating with the family to exchange and integrate information that includes their observations of their child's participation and skills in routines begins to enhance the family's capacity to identify and support their child's skills in these routines.
Part 4: Exchange Information about Child and Family Priorities
Providers or service coordinators use information exchanged about child and family routines, supports, and child participation and skills during routines to help caregivers identify early intervention and embedded intervention priorities for their child and family. Identifying and clarifying family- and caregiver-identified priorities is essential for developing IFSP outcomes, 3- and 6-month progress indicators, and strategies based on family priorities and preferences.
