IFSPs & IEPs – Collaboration in Action by Dr. Sears

aalbores1 — 2025-09-07 07:43:16 UTC

In the IFSP, family involvement seems to be the medium through which services are acquired, delivered, and maintained. In EI settings, service delivery primarily takes place in the home but also possibly in the pre-school setting and family involvement is front and center stage. In IEPs, family involvement is still necessary and important, but it becomes part of a larger whole where other players (special education teachers, regular education teachers, etc.) also have a seat at the table - literally and figuratively!

aalbores1 — 2025-09-07 07:48:34 UTC

Goal writing in the EI setting where an IFSP is employed would look very "natural" in a sense that it would include children participating in everyday activities in and around their home or natural environment where they spend a lot of time. This could include seemingly simple but family-centered occupations like helping mom water the garden or pick fruit on the trees in the backyard. I also really love that the BriefCase article discussed the family members being the ones to determine whether or not a child has met an outcome. For an IEP, goal writing might be more focused on occupations pertaining to performance in the academic setting but not limited to activities that involve recess, lunch, and/or field trips.

aalbores1 — 2025-09-07 07:55:46 UTC

The purposes of IFSPs and IEPs differ to the degree that support surrounding each child is incorporated to help meet outcomes as well as the focus for participation based on each settings. I think this makes sense considering the natural and inherent changes that takes place in a childʻs life as they age and grow from primary participating in occupation in and around the home or natural environments to school or academic-based settings. This is important for our role in OT because we get to continually assess the child (P), environment (E), occupations (O), and performance (P) as they relate to participation and outcome measure that correlate with health, well-being and life satisfaction. As children develop, grow, and transform - so too should their plans/programs for success.

aalbores1 — 2025-09-07 08:02:16 UTC

I see a lot of similarities in collaboration with team members in EI and pre-school based services, especially in the considerations and consent that is important in order to move forward with IFSPs and IEPs. However, the IFSP team members only include people directly involved in the childʻs initial evaluation, the service coordinator, and service providers while the IEP team is required to consist of parents, at least one regular education teacher, a special education teacher, a local school district representative, a school psychologist, and the student. The team is expanded for IEPs which makes sense because the environments and occupations for the child have expanded by this time in their life as well.

2025-09-10 21:34:48 UTC

In the IFSP the family is central to the planning, care, and support of the child, often receiving coaching and training to meet their families goals. At home with Jose, we would evaluate and create an occupational profile to understand family/child priorities and needs. In the preschool, for Kiara, we would support the family to bring insight and support participation in collaboration with an interprofessional school based care team to learn more about Kiara’s strengths and challenges.

2025-09-10 21:35:01 UTC

Depending on Kiara’s strengths and challenges in a school setting, I might write goals that focus on attention, task completion, social skills and participation, whereas at home with Jose, goals may seem similar but differ in the way that they focus on play, motor skill development, etc.; depending on family’s needs.

2025-09-10 21:35:12 UTC

We would work with Jose and family in naturalist settings like home, daycare, with other caregivers, etc. In school, with Kiara we make work with tailored academic, socio-emotional, and scholastic learning material in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams.

2025-09-10 21:35:26 UTC

Collaboration can differ between EI and school based in that services transition from family-focused/child focus, including parent coaching and home/life skill development to centering the child and their skills related to academics. Additionally, collaboration in the school setting includes a broader scope of team and practice (i.e., school professionals and administrators).

2025-09-10 23:12:10 UTC

The IFSP is defined as the familyʻs Individualizes Family Service Plan. It is not just Joseʻs needs but heavy on how this plan services the whole family. Family involvement is key in EI and IFSP. First off, an IFSP cannot be created without the family wanting these services. The whole goal of the IFSP is to understand and address the families concerns and goals related to their child and their priorities for their child. With that input, the service team will be able to develop outcomes that are family-focused and child-focused, in which both the family and child is learning and growing. So family involvement is the driving force for the IFSP

On the other hand, for Kiara, an IEP focuses on the individual child and their unique learning needs. In the IEP, the family is still involved as a part of the IEP team but these goals and outcomes are academically focused to support their childs education. So Kiaraʻs family will be apart of the team and have a big role in how the IEP is developed.

2025-09-10 23:21:08 UTC

For goal writing in an IFSP, these goals can be family/caregiver focused goals or child focused goals. So for Jose, goals may be focused directly on Jose but it can also spotlight the goals the parents and family want, and provide them to be the learner. For example: A goal for Jose would be “Jose will feed self independently within 6 weeks” and a goal for the parent would be “Parent will support child’s self feeding by providing self feeding opportunities once per mean within 6 weeks.” Both are appropriate goals in an IFSP that is family centered and is in best interest of the growth of the child.

As for the IEP, my approach on writing these goals is to really center it around the student and making it academically relevant. Again, these goals really focus on the child's needs in the classroom. I would collaborate with other people in the IEP team to come up with goals that support Kiara in the classroom and her overall growth. These goals will be occupation based but focused on her academic learning.

2025-09-10 23:27:51 UTC

The IFSP is the family’s Individualized Family Service Plan for children from birth to age 3. Its main purpose is to address the family’s priorities and concerns for their child, while supporting the child’s developmental needs in daily life. The IEP, on the other hand, is the Individualized Education Program for children age 3 and older, focusing on the child’s specific learning needs in the school setting. Its purpose is to support the student’s access to learning and success in the classroom environment.

As an OT, this means that how I write goals and monitor progress changes. For an IFSP, goals are written in family focused, tied to daily routines, and progress is often tracked through parent report and any observation we get from sessions. For an IEP, goals must be education focused and progress is monitored from report from the different teammates and data collected from assessments

2025-09-10 23:32:46 UTC

On both sides, collaboration is very needed. The team members in an IFSP include people involved in the initial evaluation, the service coordinator, and the service providers. Each person brings something to the table, but the family is the main driver of the team. Making sure collaboration with the family is well kept is the key to success in early intervention.

As for the IEP, the team includes the family, teachers, the local school district representative, other professionals and the student. Collaboration here shifts more toward supporting the child’s learning in the classroom. What is important to note is that once the student can advocate for themselves, they become the most important person to collaborate with because they know their own strengths, interests, and needs

2025-09-12 04:34:59 UTC

IFSP: Jose's family will guide the goals and be involved during treatment sessions. There is much more parent-provider collaboration, training, and support.

IEP: Kiara's family will be in conversation with school support team during IEP meetings to discuss Kiara's goals related to academic participation and engagement. They will not typically be involved during treatment sessions.

2025-09-12 04:39:49 UTC

IFSP: goal writing is family-centered and progress/monitoring will be reported by family members and OT evaluations. IFSP will use more narrative reports and notes to record progress during interventions.

IEP: goals writing is about academic participation and reported by teachers, school administrators, parents, and OT evaluations. Some schools may have their own, pre-set goals to pick from, other times, OTs create goals-based off teacher reports and evaluations. An IEP will use more data collection or short summary of interventions for each student. School administrators have more influence in how progress is reported.

2025-09-12 04:50:31 UTC

IFSP's purpose is to support developmental needs and daily routines with families. IEPs support a student's participation in academia. My role as an OT will change due to the focus and creation of goals, the setting and style of interventions, and levels of collaboration with others for "team tiny human"

2025-09-12 04:54:00 UTC

IFSP: Many times, I will be the only care provider available for the family. Relationships and rapport are deeper and sessions are more holistic.

IEP: I will be collaborating with teachers, possibly other therapists or skilled nursing, and families to support a student. There will be more people to brainstorm with AND there will be more cooks in the kitchen...

kabe4_1 — 2025-09-12 18:42:13 UTC

Collaboration is very important for team members in the early intervention and pre-school settings. For early intervention the team's members will focus heavily on the families concerns and priorities in addition to the child’s needs. They will create a developmental plan that will help enhance the child’s development in their natural environment. For preschool-based services the team members will collaborate to help support the child's learning in their school environment. The team's members will focus on strategies that consider the child’s learning concerns, needs, and priorities.

kabe4_1 — 2025-09-12 18:42:23 UTC

The purpose of an IFSP is to provide early interventions services for children ages birth to three years of age. These services are given in the child’s natural environment to help facilitate their development. The purpose of an IEP is to provide school-based services for children ages three to twenty-one years of age. These services are delivered in the classroom and serve to support the child’s educational goals. It is important to be aware of the purpose of these documents to know what services the child is receiving and what goals are appropriate.

kabe4_1 — 2025-09-12 18:42:32 UTC

For an IFSP goal writing I would focus on typical developmental milestones to monitor change. We can use these milestones to monitor the child’s progress based on an average norm. The family can also be a part of the goals to monitor the effectiveness of the strategies we provide them with. For an IEP goal writing I would also focus on typical development milestones to monitor change. They would be altered more to skills needed for school such as hand grasps, hand writing, and problem-solving skills.

kabe4_1 — 2025-09-12 18:42:43 UTC

For the IFSP families are a part of the entire intervention process. The services are given in the natural environment of the child whether that's at home or at a daycare. Most of the time the caregiver of families is presenting and engaging during the session. The family's concerns, needs, and priorities are considered while developing the care plan. Which included strategies for the family to support their child’s development. For the IEP, the family is not present or engaged during the delivery of the session. The services are delivered in the child’s school environment with their classmates and the teachers. The family is still involved in the development of the interventions by expressing their concerns and priorities during the IEP meeting.

2025-09-14 21:53:58 UTC

In each plan it is important to include the family in the decision making process and to understand their values and concerns. In an IFSP, the family is very involved and participates in the interventions to learn strategies and support carryover to daily tasks and demands. In an IEP, the family engages in the decisions and creating of the plans, but majority of the carryover and involvement in interventions leans on the school staff. Also, the outcomes of IFSPs will also consider the family’s needs and impacts to the family holistically where IEPs are focused on the academic needs of the child.

2025-09-14 21:54:13 UTC

I think goal writing and progress monitoring with an IFSP should be done in collaboration with the family of the child, focusing on what is most important to them and how satisfied they are with the interventions and progress. For an IEP, I still believe the family should be involved in what goals are important, but the emphasis will be on how to help the child be successful in school so there will be a stronger emphasis on the information from the school caregivers and the progress they see with the interventions and set goals. In this case, I would look to the school professionals to describe what is challenging and what goals they believe are most important to address.

2025-09-14 21:54:27 UTC

One of the main differences in purpose is where the child is working to thrive. For an IFSP, the goals are focused on the child thriving in their natural daily environments like home, the park, daycare, etc. For an IEP, the focus is on the child’s success in an academic environment meaning school and the classroom with similar aged peers. The purpose of each is very important but brings a different focus. For a child to be successful in their role as a child, they will need to be successful in both areas, but the focus of each IEP and IFSP is dependent on age and an IFSP is transitioned to an IEP at 3 years of age. When this happens, if a child is still not thriving in their natural environments outside of school, they would need to seek additional services that are not necessarily provided at the state level. This is important to the OT role because the goals and focuses will be different, but also because the advocacy will need to be different to support each individual child’s needs.

2025-09-14 21:54:41 UTC

In early intervention, collaboration may be more challenging depending on the cross-over contact with other team members and how much information the families are willing and able to share. In a school setting, chances are there will be more cross-over with other team members allowing greater collaboration of treatment and care. Also, from what has been shared by our 2nd year classmates, the roles of an OT/PT/Speech etc in early intervention tend to blur and all work to teach and support the families/caregivers to be the best interventionists for the child. In a preschool setting, the lines are more clear and defined to each individual discipline.

nresendis1 — 2025-09-14 22:07:02 UTC

I believe family involvement can look different depending on the plan. In an IFSP for Jose, family is central, the goals are based on family priorities and routines, and services are provided in natural environments like the home or daycare. The parents play a big role in identifying what matters most and in carrying over strategies throughout daily life. As for an IEP for Kiara, family input is still important but the focus shifts toward the child’s participation in their educational setting. The parents contribute to planning, but goals are tied more to school performance and classroom needs, with teachers having a more direct role in implementation.

nresendis1 — 2025-09-14 22:12:27 UTC

The IFSP goals are written in family friendly language and focus on functional participation within daily routines such as, eating, play, and dressing. The progress monitoring is collaborative, with updates happening during regular family check-ins and often adjusted flexibly. As for an IEP, goals are written in educational terms, measurable within the classroom, and tied to state standards or school based participation. The progress is documented formally and shared through periodic reports, aligning with the school’s reporting schedule.

nresendis1 — 2025-09-14 22:24:43 UTC

I believe that the purpose of an IFSP is to support both the child and the family in early intervention, promoting development in natural settings and empowering caregivers. The purpose of an IEP is to ensure the children can access and participate in their education, focusing on individualized supports within the school system. This distinction matters for our future profession because in early intervention, the therapist is a coach and partner to families, while in schools, our future profession is part of an educational team targeting access, participation, and academic related functional skills.

nresendis1 — 2025-09-14 22:34:20 UTC

In early intervention (IFSP), collaboration is more flexible and family-driven. We as OTs would partner with parents, service coordinators, and sometimes daycare providers to weave strategies into daily routines. As for the preschool or school services (IEP), our collaboration is more formal and multidisciplinary, involving teachers, special educators, speech and language therapists, and administrators, with meetings scheduled according to legal timelines. Our professional role as OTs in schools often involves consultation with teachers and supporting classroom modifications, while in early intervention it involves direct parent coaching and modeling strategies in natural contexts.

2025-09-15 07:03:42 UTC

I feel like collaboration is an important with your team regardless of the setting, however it can be slightly different based on setting. Both settings require communication with parents and families. Early intervention has a little more involvement where the parents and families are concerned. In pre-school based, you also have the other teachers/ staff as well as the parents. You may also have interactions with SLPs and Psych.

2025-09-15 07:23:33 UTC

IFSPs are family centered which looks at the overall development of the child and what the family needs within their natural environment. IEPs are education centered and focus on what the child needs in a school setting. In an IEP, an OT's role is to provide information on the child's body function and sensory processing,when addressing fine motor skills, handwriting, self-care, and participation during school activities. During an IFSP, an OT will help determine the child's strengths and challenges concerning their development. They collaborate with the family and other team members to develop a plan to address the child's needs and the families priorities.

2025-09-15 07:30:23 UTC

Since IEPs are short term goals, I would create goals that would be a few week time periods in length versus over months ( those would be more long term goals for this setting), depending on how many times a week I would see them.

IFSPs goals I feel like would be more monthly than weekly because you can create more goals that way. Kids learn pretty quickly but also consider they may need more time to process. But on the other hand you can change goals to be weekly considering the families involvement and to ensure accuracy of your recommendations.

2025-09-15 07:34:41 UTC

Family involvement with Jose will look a lot different than with Kiara because his services are more client/ family centered. His family involvement is a lot higher because you are in direct collaboration with them. With Kiara, you might only see the family during the IEP if they chose to attend and you don't have as much collaboration with them. Your goals would be more school centered versus what she needs at home in her natural environment.