Title: How Important are Early Intervention Service Coordinators in the Lives of Families
1How Important are Early Intervention Service
Coordinators in the Lives of Families?
Richard N. Roberts, Principal Investigator Diane
D. Behl, Co-Principal Investigator Linda D.
Goetze, Economist Rachel L. Johnson, Graduate
Research Assistant Melissa Gordon Emily
Nordfelt, Research Assistants Early Intervention
Research Institute Utah State University Logan,
UT 84322-6580 richard.roberts_at_usu.edu diane.behl_at_
usu.edu
2Research Questions
- How does service coordination support child and
family well being? - Does the service coordination model make a
difference? - What are the costs of service coordination?
3One-Stop Shopping Model
Family
One-Stop Center Provides
- Evaluation
- IFSP Development
- Service Coordination
- Primary and Secondary Health Care, Physicians
- Child Therapies/Development Specialist
- Mental Health
- Parent Training/Support
- Social Services
- Head Start/Daycare
- Public Health
- School District Offices
4Combined Roles Model
Family
Primary Early Intervention Program Provides
- Evaluation Eligibility Determination
- Service Coordination
- IFSP Development
- Child Therapies
- Parent Training/Support
Services Linked/Piggy Backed
Social Services
School District (Part B)
Public Health
Mental Health/ Counseling
5Independent Model
Family
Service Coordinator Provides
- Evaluation Eligibility Determination
- Service Coordination
- IFSP Development
- Child Therapies
- Parent Training/Support
6Conceptual Framework
Contextual Variables
Community Characteristics
System Characteristics
Service Coordinator Characteristics
Outcomes
Systems Outcomes1
Direct Service Outcomes1
Child and Family Outcomes2
1Relates to OSERS GPRA Part C Objective 1
2Relates to OSERS GPRA Part C Objective
2 Additional components/variations on Kagan et
al. (1995) model
7What are the Community Characteristics?
8Service Coordinator Characteristics
Self reported years experience in service
coordination
Self reported level of education
Key 1 HS 4 MA 2 AA 5 PhD 3 BA
9Service Coordinator Caseload
Per 1.0 FTE Mean
A
E
C
F
D
B
ANOVA by model (p.000) t-Tests
One-Stop/Indep. (p.000) One-Stop/CR
(NS) Indep./CR (p.000)
10Service Coordinator Activity Time Diary
of total time spent per activity
11Frequency of Contact with Service Coordinator
A Likert Scale was used ranging from 1 several
times a week to 7 every 7-12 months.
12Mean Number of Different Services Reported by
Families
of Services
A
E
B
C
D
F
(4.00)
13Child Health and Development Outcomes
- ANOVA results indicate no statistically
significant differences between models or sites. - Paired sample t-tests were used here to determine
any significant differences within site and model
changes in development.
Statistically significant change from Time 1 to
Time 2 (p lt .05).
14Child Health and Development Outcomes
of families reporting that their child has made
progress over the last 12 months (N 201)
15Child Health and Development Outcomes
of families reporting improvement in childs
health over the last 12 months (N 200)
16Family Well-Being Outcomes
Ease of contacting Service Coordinator/making
changes
A
C
E
B
D
F
ANOVA by model (plt.01) t-Tests One-Stop/Indep.
(p.006) One-Stop/CR (NS)
Indep./CR (p.000)
17Family Well-Being Outcomes
Early Intervention program fit with family routine
C
E
A
B
D
F
ANOVA by model (plt.01) t-Tests One-Stop/Indep.
(NS) One-Stop/CR (NS)
Indep./CR (p.000)
18Family Well-Being Outcomes
Service Coordinator as helpful
C
A
E
B
D
F
ANOVA by model (plt.01) t-Tests One-Stop/Indep.
(p.044) One-Stop/CR (NS)
Indep./CR (p.014)
19Costs of Service Coordination (per child
estimates)
Factors personnel salaries, qualifications,
caseloads, sources of funding, indirect rates,
etc.
20How Important are Service Coordinators in the
Lives of Families?
- All families report high levels of support,
understanding, and access to services due to
service coordination. - Families who have independent service
coordinators appear to feel less support than
other SC models. - There are no statistically significant
differences between models in regard to child
development. However, data were incomplete for
some sites.
21What are the Next Steps in this Research?
- Analyze the relationship among models, services
provided, and child severity/diagnosis. - Explore the family characteristics that influence
services provided and outcomes. - Replicate the study in other communities.
- Explore other SC models.
- Early intervention programs and researchers need
to be armed with evidence that SC and EI are
achieving desired outcomes.