Activity: Functional Assessment
Participation Activity
Purpose: provide participants with examples of questions they can ask families to learn about routines, interests, important people and places, and family priorities. We want to encourage people to examine their interactions with families in the context of functional assessment.
Instructions: Instruct participants to take out good questions activity sheet. Have them review the questions on the sheets and consider the questions they are already using to learn about families routines, activities, and priorities. Have them read through the list and ask them to think about three of the questions and what information they might gain from those three questions that may be helpful in IFSP outcome development. Then have them complete the two questions at the bottom of the handout.
Record some of the questions they came up with as a large group on the flip chart paper (to be used later)
*Note: this could also be done as an activity in supervision*
Wrap up: Talking points
-Service providers must listen closely and be alert to key information families may share related to a child’s participation and interaction in everyday activities. Once we know this information we can explore it more with the family to identity what interventions might be most helpful to the family.
-Not all families will readily provide the information needed to develop high quality outcomes. It is our responsibility as service providers to gather information not the families. With skillful conversation and good questions, service providers can engage families who share less information to discuss their priorities and needs at their comfort level on an ongoing basis.
-Sharing this information with other team members is vital to approaching outcome development from a family-centered perspective.
-This information can also be used as an icebreaker to begin IFSP meetings. Providers can review this information and remind the family and team members what was previously shared. Helping family members share information about their priorities helps define their roles as active participants in the process and remind the team of the focus for outcome development.
-In their packets they have a handout called “questions for eliciting family interests, priorities, concerns, and everyday routines” they can use with families going forward
Possible follow up activity
Purpose: To determine if the questions you developed/ask get the information that you wanted from the family?
Instructions: Have the large or break into smaller groups practice asking the “new” questions they developed to co-worker that is also a parent in the group. *Note this could also be done in supervision.*
Wrap up: Have a larger discussion about if and how these questions helped us better understand a families routines, concerns, and priorities
Potential discussion questions
-How did it feel to ask the questions?
-How did it feel to answer the questions?
-Did anyone have a question that go an answer they were not expecting?
-How could the information you learned be used in IFSP development?
-Ask if anyone has a plan/ideas on how to use this information going forward with parents?
Early Intervention Training Center Massachusetts Department of Public Health
FY17