Collaborating with Families: Supporting and Including Caregivers in Early Intervention

An essential element of early intervention services is the inclusion of families throughout the intervention process. Caregiver-mediated intervention consists of caregiver coaching and collaboration, supporting interactions between the caregiver and child, as well as supporting caregiver learning and competence (Friedman & Woods, 2012). In order to implement caregiver-mediated intervention, early intervention providers must hone their abilities to collaborate with and support caregivers to deliver high-quality services, empower caregivers, and build competence (Friedman & Woods, 2012). It is important for interventionists to build consensus with caregivers on the child’s short term and long term goals, as well as opportunities for learning within the family’s everyday activities. During the initial stages of intervention, it is critical for interventionists to gain information from families, as well as share information related to child development and the child’s needs. It is important that early intervention providers have coaching strategies and conversational strategies to ensure their conversations are clear, supportive, collaborative, and educational in order for caregivers to best implement strategies for their children. Interventionists should use coaching strategies to match caregivers where they are, from the initial stages of intervention to caregiver independence, ultimately building caregiver capacity. An interventionist’s ability to recognize family strengths and stressors while coaching caregivers is essential to successful early intervention, and can naturally lead to opportunities for crucial conversations surrounding the child’s development, the family system, and family stressors and supports. These conversations are built on a foundation of sharing and gaining sensitive information with a caregiver about the family as a whole and the child’s particular needs. Collaboration with families and building capacity in caregivers are ongoing processes throughout the course of early intervention, allowing caregivers to be well-equipped to utilize skills in everyday life as children continue to grow and develop