Parent Handbook: Parent Dictionary of Early Intervention Words

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Parent Dictionary Of Early Intervention Words

* These are the required services under the Infant-Toddler Program. The definitions given here are very basic and lack details about what is required under the law. Complete definitions can be found in the North Carolina Infant-Toddler Program Manual available from your Child Service Coordinator.

Adaptive Development: Skills that children develop that allow them to take care of themselves and become independent (such as feeding and dressing).
Administrative Hearing: A formal process for settling disagreements about Infant-Toddler Program services. An Administrative Hearing Officer trained and selected by the state is in charge of the process.
Advocate: Someone who takes action to help someone else.
Area Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse Services (MH/DD/SAS) Program: This agency offers a variety of early intervention services and services for adults. The contact person for the Infant-Toddler Program is the Coordinator of Early Childhood Intervention Services.
Assessment: Observation and/or testing to determine a child's areas of strength and need.
Assistive Technology Resource Center: A place that teaches parents and service providers how to use special equipment. They also loan special equipment and developmental toys to children.
Assistive Technology Services and Devices*: An item or piece of equipment that is used to increase, maintain or improve the capabilities of an individual who has disabilities. This also includes evaluation to determine the need for equipment and help in understanding how to use the equipment.
Audiology Services*: Services related to a person's ability to hear. Such services provided by an audiologist may include a hearing evaluation as well as special equipment (hearing aid, etc.). Services also include instruction in ways of communicating (sign language, hearing training, language development) provide by a special hearing teacher.
Atypical Development: Unusual development of behavior or emotional skills (such as lack of interest in other children or adults, not being able to pay attention, extreme fearfulness or distress, or becoming easily frustrated).
Child Service Coordination* (or Coordinator): A free service for families of children with special needs, ages birth to five, that assists them with identifying, using, and coordinating services they need. The Child Service Coordinator is the person who provides child service coordination.
Child Development Specialist: See Early Childhood Teacher.
Cognitive Development: Skills that children develop that allow them to think, learn, problem-solve and remember.
Communication Development: Skills that children develop that allow them to tell others what they think, feel want, or need. Signs and gestures (such as looking and pointing) and talking are all means of communication.
Concerns: Areas that family members identify as needs, issues, or problems they want to address as part of the IFSP.
Consortium: A group of people in a community representing agencies that provide early intervention services to children and families in that community. This group meets to determine eligibility for children referred to the Infant-Toddler Program. This group may have a different name in some communities.
Disability: An impairment which is associated with a person'’s limitations in everyday activities.
Developmental Delay: When a child's growth or skill development is slower than that of most other children of the same age.
Due Process: The family's right to have a formal review of disagreements about services they or their children are eligible to receive by law.
Early Identification and Screening: Activities done to find children who are in need of special services.
Early Childhood Special Education Teacher: A specialist trained in child development and ways to effectively help children develop and learn needed skills. This person may provide special instruction in a child'’s home or in a center, or may be a teacher in a child care program.
Early Intervention Services: Services to help families with young children, ages birth to five years, with special needs. These services help young children grow and develop and support their families in caring for them. Some of these services are listed on page 15 of this handbook.
Early Intervention Specialist: A person who provides early intervention services. This person is sometimes called an early interventionist.
Eligibility: Eligibility is the definition of who qualifies to receive certain services.
Entitlement: A right to receive certain services, if eligible.
Family Counseling and Therapy*: Service to help families discuss concerns, work through emotional issues, or resolve conflicts or problems they are encountering. Often provided by someone called a family therapist.
FAPE: Free and Appropriate Public Education for children, ages three to twenty-one, who have disabilities. This is administered by the public schools, free of charge to families.
Fee: Charges paid to service providers, based on services provided.
Fine Motor Development: Skills that children develop which rely on their small muscles (such as holding materials, turning knobs, using snaps and buttons).
Gross Motor Development: Skills that children develop which rely on their large muscles (such as crawling, sitting, walking).
Health Services*: Services related to the medical/health field that help a child benefit from the other early intervention services he/she is receiving.
High Risk: Conditions which have the potential for causing problems in a child's development.
IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; Federal law which requires special services for children birth to age twenty-one years.
Inclusive: Services which are provided to children with special needs in settings which also serve those who do not have special needs. These services are typically located in a preschool, child care center, developmental day program, or day care home. When a child is in an inclusive setting, the early intervention professional works with the child in that setting, as well as provides consultation, training and support to the staff of the setting. An inclusive setting may also be called a natural environment.
Individualized Education Program (IEP): Written document which lists the services and resources a child will receive when they are eligible to receive their education through the public schools at age three.
Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP): A process to plan services for a child and his/her family, and a written document of that process. The process involves a joint planning effort between parents and specialists. The written document lists the services a child needs in order to grow and develop, and services the family needs in order to help their child grow.
Infant-Toddler Program (Part C of the IDEA): Early intervention services for children younger than age 3 and their families. Children and families participating in the Infant-Toddler Program are guaranteed by law certain rights to services.
Lead Agency: The agency within a state or area (county) in charge of overseeing and coordinating early intervention services. In North Carolina, the state lead agency for services to children from birth to age three years and their families is the Division of Public Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. For children ages three to five years, it is the Public Schools of North Carolina at the state level.
Local Interagency Coordinating Council (LICC): A community group of people which includes early intervention agencies, parents, and other interested parties that are committed to young children and their families. This group works to support all local early intervention efforts.
Mandated: Required by law to be provided to eligible persons and families.
Mediation: An informal process for settling disagreements about Infant-Toddler Program services. A Mediator trained and selected by the state is in charge of the process.
Medical Services*: Services provided by pediatricians or other physicians and medical consultants that diagnose a developmental problem, and evaluate a child's need for early intervention.
Mental Retardation: A condition where children learn and develop slower than most children.
Multidisciplinary Evaluation*: An assessment process that provides a description of the child's development, serves as a basis for developing an IFSP, helps in following the child's developmental progress over time, and can help to determine eligibility for Infant-Toddler Program services for some children. It may include specialists from a variety of backgrounds, such as special education, nursing, psychology, and speech, physical, and occupational therapy.
Natural Environments: See Inclusive
North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC): Administers the state's Smart Start Program. Provides some funding for early intervention services through local Smart Start Programs.
North Carolina Infant-Toddler Program Coordinator: Person at the state level responsible for seeing that the Infant-Toddler Program operates effectively.
Nursing Services*: Services provided by a nurse that evaluate the need for health care, and services that prevent health problems and promote healthy development.
Nutrition Services*: Services provided by a nutritionist that address a child's need for an adequate diet of food and drink that promotes good growth and development.
Occupational Therapy*: Services provided by a qualified occupational therapist, who helps children to develop fine motor skills, such as writing, using buttons and zippers, and holding small objects. These services can be provided in a variety of settings and ways.
Outcomes: Statements of expectations or changes that families want for themselves and their children as a result of early intervention services. Outcomes are written in IFSPs.
Physical Development: Moving, seeing, and hearing abilities.
Physical Therapy*: Services provided by a qualified physical therapist, who helps children to develop gross motor skills such as walking, running, and sitting. These services can be provided in a variety of settings and ways.
Preschool Program Services (Part B of the IDEA): Early intervention services for children ages three and four years. In North Carolina, these are provided by, or under the supervision, of local public school systems. Because of eligibility rules, not all children who have received Infant-Toddler Program services will qualify for Preschool Program services.
Priorities: A family's choices for how early intervention will be involved in the family's life; what is most important to the family.
Procedural Safeguards: Rules and procedures that protect rights specified by law.
Psychological Services*: Services provided by a qualified psychologist, who helps to identify and work with children who need help in developing thinking, learning, and remembering skills.
Public Law 99-457: A federal law adopted by North Carolina requiring early intervention services for children with special needs ages birth through five years and their families.
Recommended Services: Early intervention services which are felt to help children to grow and develop, but which are not required to be available to all children and their families who are eligible for the Infant-Toddler Program.
Related Services: A variety of special services such as occupational, physical, and speech therapy services for children, ages 3 and 4, who receive Preschool Program services from, or under the supervision of, the local public school system.
Required Services: Services which must be made available to all North Carolina children and their families eligible and participating in the Infant-Toddler Program, if these services are listed on the IFSP.
Resources: The strengths, abilities, and supports that a family can use to meet its needs.
Respite Services*: Support service which provides periodic relief (child care) for a family or family substitute on a temporary basis.
Sliding Fee Scales: A method for determining payment for services which is determined by a family's income and size, and possibly other factors
Smart Start: A group in your community that provides funding to local programs to help young children get ready for school. Funding is provided for important services such as quality child care and health care for children. The Smart Start group may be referred to as the local Partnership.
Social-Emotional Development: Skills that children develop that allow them to interact with others (playing, responding to adults and other children) as well as to express their emotions (laughing, crying, talking about feelings).
Social Work Services*: Services to a child and family which enable them to achieve their optimum potential. Such services provided by a qualified person, often a social worker, may include coordination of services needed, advocacy, counseling, information about and referral to needed resources, and intervention.
Special Instruction*/Education: Education and learning services provided in the home or in a center by a specialist trained in the education of children who have special developmental or behavioral needs.
Special Needs: The term used to describe children with developmental delays, or who are at risk of delays in their development.
Speech-Language Therapy*: Services provided by a qualified speech therapist/speech pathologist, who helps to identify and work with children to develop communication skills, which may also include swallowing and breathing techniques, which can affect the child's ability to make sounds. These services can be provided in a variety of settings and ways.
Surrogate Parent(s): A person knowledgeable of the Infant-Toddler Program assigned to represent a child and protect his/her rights during the evaluations and IFSP meetings if a parent or guardian is unknown or unavailable or if the child is in custody of the Department of Social Services.
Together We Grow: The name for the comprehensive, interagency system in North Carolina that provides early intervention services for children birth to age five and their families. There are two parts: the Infant-Toddler Program for children birth to three and the Preschool Program for children age three to five.
Transition: Transition means moving from one service provider or setting to another. A major transition for children with special needs and their families occurs when the child turns three years of age and is no longer eligible for the Infant-Toddler Program. The child must then begin receiving services from the Preschool Program, if eligible, or from other service providers in the community.
Transportation*: Help for families in getting to some of the services listed on the IFSP. Transportation is not available to all services and the amount of help is based on the family's need and resources.
Vision Services*: Services related to a person's ability to see. Services include evaluation of the child's ability to see. It also includes help from a special vision teacher in learning to move about as well as use special equipment (glasses, magnifying tools, large print books, etc.).

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