Description
More on Family Service Coordination (Part C of IDEA)
As part of the mission of the Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC) (ecpcta.org), the national TA center supported a group of service coordination professionals, including service coordinators, state administrators and state professional development providers, to work together to envision the types of support that might be available to service coordinators across the United States. A result of that work is the position statement developed by The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the Infant Toddler Coordinator Association (ITCA) (2020). (dec-sped.org/position-statements) or (ideainfanttoddler.org/position-statements.php)
This position statement acknowledges the importance of early intervention (EI) family service coordination and recognizes the expertise and needs of the professionals who provide this service. Because of the complex nature of service coordination and the essential role of service coordinators in the EI process (Bruder et al., 2005; Childress, Nichols, & Schnurr, 2019; West, Duggan, Gruss, & Minkovitz, 2018), it is the position of the DEC and ITCA that service coordinators must have the knowledge, skills, administrative support, professional development, and resources they need to provide the highest quality services to children and families.
Within the position statement, the guidance document, Knowledge and Skills for Service Coordinators (KSSC; see Appendix A; Workgroup on Recommended KSSC, 2020) was created. This guidance is designed to support state and local programs to ensure consistency in the hiring and training of service coordinators in early intervention.
