The early years of a child’s life are most important. From ages birth to 3, rapid learning and brain development take place. The goals of early intervention are:
|
The Alaska Early Intervention/Infant Learning Program provides services for children with a developmental delay or eligible diagnosed condition ages 0-36months. Families with children who meet the eligibility criteria are entitled to a range of services defined under federal law. Services are delivered as part of an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) developed in partnership with families. These services at Sprout include the following:
|
Step 1: Refer
If you are concerned about your child’s development the first step is to refer your child to our program. You can do this by calling Sprout at (907) 235-6044, emailing refer@sproutalaska.org, or by connecting with one of our community partners listed below.
Step 2: Family Interview
The first action of your Family Service Coordinator is to get to know you, your family, and your child. We gather birth and health history, information on your family’s daily routines and activities, and family priorities, strengths and concerns.
This information helps to guide our next step, evaluation.
Step 3: Evaluation
ILP uses a play-based assessment to evaluate your child’s development.
Specialists from two different disciplines complete the evaluation. These disciplines may include an early childhood educator or special educator, social worker, speech-language therapist, occupational therapist, and/or physical therapist. Our program looks at all areas of your child’s development during the evaluation. This includes gross motor, fine motor, expressive communication, receptive communication, cognitive, self-help and social emotional development.
Step 4: Eligibility
After the evaluation is completed, an eligibility determination meeting is scheduled. At this meeting, your family service coordinator reviews the results of your child’s evaluation and together, as a team, we discuss your infant or toddler’s eligibility. If your family is not eligible for our program, we may make recommendations for other community resources for your child and family. If your child is eligible, we will continue the process and develop a plan for services, called an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).
Step 5: Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)
The IFSP identifies your family’s daily activities, support network, resources, and child and family goals.
We create this plan together with your family. The IFSP also identifies how often your family will receive services. Every 6 months we review the goals of your IFSP. However, we can review your IFSP at any point. Before 12 months have passed, a new developmental evaluation will happen. The team will use that information to discuss continued eligibility for services.
Step 6: Transition at age 3
At age three your child transitions out of our program.
Beginning one year from your child’s third birthday, your family service coordinator will discuss transition options available to your child. Your family will receive a transition booklet to guide you through this next step. Because this is a voluntary program, parents may have their infant or toddler exit our program sooner than their third birthday.
Families can call Sprout and connect with a developmental specialist to learn more and refer your child for a developmental evaluation. Medical Providers, educators, OCS workers, social workers and other community partners can contact Sprout to submit a referral or email us at refer@ sproutalaska.org.