The Importance of the

Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)

 Ellen Trief, Ed.D., Associate Professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York in Blind and Visually Impaired and Severe/Multiple Disabilities Including Deafblindness

In 1986, amendments to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 were passed to provide education for children with disabilities from birth to age 3 under P.L. 99-457. In 1990, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) with provisions under P.L. 101-476 for early intervention. In 1997, IDEA, Part C (P.L. 105-17) was implemented for infants and toddlers from birth to age 3 who experience developmental delays or physical or mental conditions which might contribute to developmental delays (Chen, 2000).

The Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) has specific federal guidelines and is designed to document the following:

  1. The necessity for Early Intervention
  2. The type of Early Intervention the child will need
  3. The person/persons providing the services
  4. How often the services will be provided
  5. Time lines for implementation and evaluation of the services
  6. The types of environments in which the services will be provided
  7. Assignment of a service coordinator to monitor the plan and coordinate all services for the child and the family.

The federal requirements for the Individualized Family Service Plan are very specific and require the following components:

  1. Documentation of the child’s present level of cognitive, physical, communication, social/emotional and adaptive development based on objective evaluations.
  2. The family’s priorities and resources relating to enhancing the child’s development.
  3. Timelines and procedures to insure that major outcomes are achieved through the intervention.
  4. Providing  the child with natural environments or a justification of why services can not be provided in the natural environment.
  5. The specific early intervention services needed to meet the needs of the infant or toddler and the family. Documentation of method of service delivery, frequency and intensity of the services.
  6. The date the services will begin and the expected duration of those services.
  7. Choosing a service coordinator to take responsibility for the implementation of the IFSP and the coordination of all of the service providers.
  8. Transition of the toddler from early intervention to preschool.

Source: 20 USC1436 636(d) (June 4, 1997).(Bishop, 2000).

Just as the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a legal document for 3 to 21 year olds, the IFSP is a legal document for birth to 3 year olds. The IFSP is a written plan designed to meet the needs of both the family and the child. The parents can question, expand or disagree with the goals and objectives presented by other members of the team. The parent’s input is extremely valuable in the IFSP process because the parents play a critical role in the child’s early development and are often instrumental in helping the child attain the goals. 

The IFSP involves many people including:

·        Parents

·        Medical specialists

·        Psychologists

·        Service Coordinator

·        Funding agency representative

·        Teacher of the visually impaired

·        Physical therapist

·        Speech and language therapist

·        Orientation and mobility instructor

·        Occupational therapist

·        Feeding therapist

·        Social worker

In addition, recommendations for adaptive equipment can be made during the IFSP meeting. The team’s composition is often determined by the type of assessments the visually impaired child received during the evaluation process. The child may be assessed in one or several of the areas listed above.

The IFSP should be written in parent friendly language so that the goals and objectives are easily understood by all members of the team.

The importance of the IFSP is for each person working with the visually impaired child and his family to have a clear understanding of all aspects of the child’s program and to work toward the child’s attainment of these goals and objectives in a timely way. The cognitive, physical, communication, social/emotional and adaptive development of the child can only be achieved through a collaborative effort by all members of the team. (Bishop, 2000).

For a child with a visual impairment, the attainment of developmental milestones is critical from birth to age 3. The IFSP is a tool to help facilitate the acquisition of many goals and objectives for a child with a visual impairment.

References:

Bishop, V. (2000). Early Childhood. In Koenig, A.J. &Holbrook, M.C.

Foundations   of education, second edition, Volume II, Instructional strategies for teaching children and youth with visual impairments. (pp. 228-229). New York , N.Y. American Foundation for the Blind.

      Chen, D., ed. (1999). Essential elements in early intervention visual impairments and multiple disabilities. Baltimore , MD : Paul H. Brookes.

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