Home Infant Toddler Program Parent Handbook

What Will My Child Service Coordinator Do?

Your Child Service Coordinator can help you:

• contact the Consortium about a referral to the Infant-Toddler Program.
• understand your rights under the Infant-Toddler Program.
• decide about your child's needs, your choices for services, and the ways of getting those services.
• find answers to questions you have about your child, and help you talk with other specialists involved with your child and family or with other families.
• decide what information you want, how much you want, and how you want to get it (for example, through reading material, watching videotapes, or talking with other parents or specialists).
• decide how involved you want to be with each of the early intervention services.
• find resources, including funding sources, that may be helpful for your child and family.
• plan when things need to get done, and decide who should do them (things like sharing information, finding resources, getting services and needed equipment).
• make appointments for services, and help you schedule appointments so they don't interfere with other important activities in your family's life.
• locate, enroll in, and check on services for your child and family.
• plan for changes in services by talking about options, visiting new programs, and making plans to prepare everyone for the change. This includes planning for services when your child reaches age three. (See information about transition at age three.)
• settle any disagreements with your early intervention team about things like eligibility for services, types of services offered, and fees for services.

"When my two girls were born two months premature, and later diagnosed with long-term disabilities, I felt so helpless. I felt my life had spun out of control and my whole family was affected. Early intervention gave me and my family a chance to be actively involved in helping my girls reach their full potential. We were able to work together, seek out other families for support and ultimately, put our lives back on track."

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