The Early Intervention Teaming Handbook: The Primary Service Provider Approach

Looking for the most effective way to ensure coordinated, family-centered services for young children and families? Get the second edition of this complete guide to the primary service provider (PSP) approach to teaming, the widely used, evidence-based model that makes one team member the consistent point of contact with a family. Now updated and aligned with the second edition of Rush and Shelden's The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook, this practical guide is your blueprint for better, more responsive care and services—and better outcomes for young children and families.

DISCOVER HOW TO:

• Fully introduce families to the procedures and practices of the PSP approach
• Select the most appropriate primary service provider for each family
• Gather information, conduct evaluation and assessment, and write functional IFSP outcomes
• Adopt a flexible, activity-based approach to scheduling that promotes child learning and development
• Establish a cohesive team that collaborates effectively
• Coordinate joint visits with other service providers
• Conduct successful, efficient team meetings to share expertise and resources

PRACTICAL FEATURES: Realistic case studies and transcripts from team communications give you vivid demonstrations of best practices, and more than 20 reproducible forms, tools, and checklists guide your team every step of the way as you implement the PSP approach.

WHAT'S NEW:
Alignment with DEC Recommended Practices - Alignment with the second edition of The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook - New Scenario Index and new Tool Index for easier navigation - Updated section of Frequently Asked Questions - Updated references

M’Lisa L. Shelden, PT, Ph.D., has a doctoral degree in special education from the University of Oklahoma. She also has a bachelor's degree in physical therapy from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and a master's degree in early childhood special education from the University of Oklahoma (Norman Campus). Dr. Shelden currently serves as the Chair and Program Director of the Department of Physical Therapy at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. Prior to joining the faculty at WSU, she served as Director/Researcher of the Family, Infant and Preschool Program (FIPP) in Morganton, North Carolina where she worked alongside Dr. Rush providing ongoing technical assistance to several statewide early intervention programs to implement evidence-based early intervention practices in natural settings from 2002–2018.

Dr. Shelden has over 30 years of experience as a physical therapist and special educator. In addition, she received a 2000 National Institute on Disabilities and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Mary E. Switzer Merit Fellowship. She is a graduate Fellow of the ZERO TO THREE National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Dr. Shelden has co-authored several articles related to early intervention teamwork, writing individualized family service plans (IFSPs), coaching, and supporting young children with disabilities and their families in natural learning environments. She has also written a chapter related to physical therapy personnel preparation and service delivery and co-authored a book titled Physical Therapy under IDEA (McEwen, Arnold, Jones, & Shelden, 2000; American Physical Therapy Association, Section on Pediatrics). Dr. Shelden has co-authored a previous text Coaching Families and Colleagues in Early Childhood (with Barbara E. Hanft & Dathan D. Rush; 2004, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.) as well as a chapter on using a primary coach approach to teaming in Working with Families of Young Children with Special Needs (McWilliam, 2010; Guilford Press). She and Dr. Rush are co-authors of The Early Intervention Teaming Handbook: The Primary Service Provider Approach (Shelden & Rush, 2013). Dr. Shelden has made numerous presentations nationally on topics related to IFSP development and implementation, transition, inclusion, evaluation and assessment, coaching, primary service provider approach to teaming, and provision of supporting children with disabilities and their families in natural learning environments.

Dathan D. Rush, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, has a doctoral degree in child and family studies from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a master's degree in speech-language pathology from Oklahoma State University. Dr. Rush is currently the Director of the Family, Infant and Preschool Program (FIPP) in Morganton, North Carolina. He provides ongoing technical assistance to several statewide early intervention programs to implement evidence-based early intervention practices in natural settings. Dr. Rush previously served as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, teaching early childhood intervention in the graduate program. He has more than 30 years of experience as a practitioner and early intervention program director and has managed a number of training contracts with various state agencies and organizations. He served as an editorial board member of Infants and Young Children until 2002 and has published articles in the area of coaching families in early intervention, in-service training, and teaming in early intervention. He is also a past president and former executive council member of the Oklahoma Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Dr. Rush has presented numerous workshops nationally on topics related to writing and implementing individualized family service plans, team building, using a primary service provider approach to teaming, coaching, and supporting young children with disabilities and their families in natural learning environments. Dr. Rush has also co-authored a previous book on coaching in early childhood intervention as well as a chapter on using a primary coach approach to teaming in Working with Families of Young Children with Special Needs (McWilliam, 2010; Guilford Press). He and Dr. Shelden are co-authors of The Early Intervention Teaming Handbook: The Primary Service Provider Approach (Shelden & Rush, 2013).